Semmes helped popularise the phrase "war between the states" through his memoir title and advocated a Lost Cause interpretation. He lived from 1809 to 1877 and remained on the United States Navy's rolls from 1826 to 1861, though he spent much of that period practising law. His legal training is visible in the way he argues and writes. The political purpose of his books makes them sources to interrogate. They preserve accounts of war at sea, mid-nineteenth-century naval practice, and the reasoning Semmes wanted readers to associate with command. Their use in studying leadership depends on examining that self-presentation alongside the decisions described.
Chapter · 42:12-43:50
The political and professional legacy of Semmes's books
Semmes's books advanced a Confederate interpretation of the Civil War while preserving detailed accounts of nineteenth-century naval warfare and command decisions.