Kell, John McIntosh (1823-1900) to Raphael Semmes
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05591 Author/Creator: Kell, John McIntosh (1823-1900) Place Written: Sunny Side, Georgia Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 28 December 1874 Pagination: 4 p. : envelope ; 21 x 31 cm. Order a Copy
Writes to Semmes about "my recollection of the capture of the Whaling Ship Levi Starbuck." Gives a detailed description of the events leading up to the ship's capture and the situation of the Levi Starbuck's prisoners on board -- "I most solemnly hold that no prisoners on board of the Alabama were treated with severity" but "greater restrictions were necessary...perhaps confinement in irons." Mentions that a man named Whitney claims that "the loss of the use of his hands" occurred while he was imprisoned on the Alabama and calls the accusation "simply absurd." Writes that Whitney reminds him of "that scamp Forrest," a sailor who was "a prime mover in that mutinous row in Martinique."
In the fall of 1862, Semmes and Kell captured seven vessels in the Caribbean. They faced a mutiny near Martinique which ended in a court martial and the discharge of the leader, Forrest, from the Confederate Navy.
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