An Englishman's View of the Battle between the Alabama and the Kearsarge / An Account of the Naval Engagement in the British Channel, on Sunday June 19th, 1864

AN ENGLISHMAN’S VIEW OF THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE ALABAMA AND THE KEARSARGE.
AN ACCOUNT OF
THE NAVAL ENGAGEMENT IN THE BRITISH CHANNEL, ON SUNDAY, JUNE 19TH, 1864. FROM INFORMATION PERSONALLY OBTAINED IN THE TOWN OF CHERBOURG, AS WELL AS FROM THE OFFICERS AND CREW OF THE UNITED STATES’ SLOOP-OF-WAR KEARSARGE, AND THE WOUNDED AND PRISONERS OF THE CONFEDERATE PRIVATEER.
BY FREDERICK MILNES EDGE.
NEW YORK: ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, No. 770 BROADWAY. 1864.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, By ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
EDWARD O. JENKINS, Printer and Stereotyper, 20 North William Street.
This Record OF A MOST GLORIOUS VICTORY GAINED IN THE CAUSE OF JUSTICE AND HUMANITY, IS DEDICATED TO THAT NOBLE OFFSPRING OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE The Sanitary Commission of the United States, BY THEIR OBEDIENT SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. London, July 14, 1864 .
The writer of this pamphlet is an English gentleman of intelligence now residing in London, who has spent some time in this country, and is known and esteemed by many of our best citizens. He visited Cherbourg for the express purpose of making the inquiry and investigation, the results of which are embodied in the following pages, and generously devotes the pecuniary results of his copyright to the funds of the Sanitary Commission.

The importance of the engagement between the United States Sloop-of-war, Kearsarge, and the Confederate Privateer, Alabama, cannot be estimated by the size of the two vessels. The conflict off Cherbourg on Sunday, the 19th of June, was the first decisive engagement between shipping propelled by steam, and the first test of the merits of modern naval artillery. It was, moreover, a contest for superiority between the ordnance of Europe and America, whilst the result furnishes us with data wherefrom to estimate the relative advantages of rifled and smooth-bore cannon at short range.