This book tells the story of the Civil War as fought on the high seas by Raphael Semmes, the Confederacy's most famous and revered naval officer. Yet, many of his Northern contemporaries considered the Yankee-hating Semmes nothing more than a pirate. In either guise, Semmes commanded the most successful sea raider of all time--the C.S.S. Alabama. During a two-year cruise, Semmes's Alabama took nearly 100 federal merchant vessels out of the war and became a household word on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line.