CSS ''Alabama''s South Atlantic Expeditionary Raid commenced shortly after the

Confederate States Navy The Confederate States Navy (CSN) was the naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate States Congress on February 21, 1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American ...

ship left

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

and the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

and cruised south toward

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the south

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

. The raid lasted from about the beginning of February 1863 to the end of July 1863. The primary area of operation during this expeditionary raid, was the Atlantic seaboard of South America starting from the northern end of Brazil then ranging up down along the Brazilian coast before finally heading east toward southern Africa.

Raid overview

CSS ''Alabama'' worked its way slowly down the east coast of

in the most devastating of its seven raids, capturing or burning dozens of enemy

Yankee The term ''Yankee'' and its contracted form ''Yank'' have several interrelated meanings, all referring to people from the United States. Its various senses depend on the context, and may refer to New Englanders, residents of the Northern United St ...

vessels. From this raiding area off the coast of Brazil, CSS ''Alabama'' made its way into the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

by way of the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is ...

to continue its unhindered wrecking of enemy commerce in the Indian Ocean as far as

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Raid bounty

References

* Hearn, Chester G., ''Gray Raiders of the Sea'', Louisiana State Press, 1996. * Howe and Matthews, ''American Clipper Ships 1833 - 1858 Volume I'', Dover Publications, 1986. * Luraghi, Raimondo, ''A History of the Confederate Navy'', U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1996. {{DEFAULTSORT:Alabama, CSS, South Atlantic Expeditionary Raid South Atlantic Expeditionary Raid