joined General Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina with the conferred rank of Brigadier-General in the Confederate States Army. And, shortly afterwards, was surrendered to General Sherman, as part of that army, he having taken the precaution of having his parole describe him, both as an Admiral in the Confederate States Navy and a Brigadier-General in the Confederate States Army.
In his career with the Sumter and Alabama, not only did Admiral Semmes demonstrate his ability to do the enemy the greatest damage possible in the least time, wholly within the requirements and rules of legitimate warfare, but he showed himself the true, chivalrous naval officer, the unexcelled disciplinarian, the learned international lawyer, the man of the most scrupulous probity and the modest, unassuming gentleman. He was ever kind and courteous to his officers, upon whom he looked as members of his family, and, although dealing with crews made up of almost every nationality except Americans—many of whom were tough subjects—he kept them under thorough control, not by means of curses and blows, but through the magnetism of his force of character, and doing everything possible for the promotion of their health and comfort, so that harmony and mutual confidence prevailed between officers and men.
In the condemnation and destruction of his prizes, he never made a single mistake, although many of them had endeavored to disguise their nationality by sailing under false papers, which described them as neutrals.
He never permitted the molestation of the private effects of any of the officers, crews or passengers of his captive vessels nor treated them otherwise than with kindness and respect. And he prohibited the appropriation by his officers and men of even as much as a box of cigars or pair of gloves from the cargoes of his prizes. Whatever was suitable and necessary for the supplying of his vessels was turned over to the purser, issued out by him, as Confederate property, and as such accounted for to the government. His care for those under his control was unbounded. First and last he had as many as 500 men under his command of the two vessels—the Sumter and Alabama—and as many as 2,000 prisoners were confined for shorter or longer
