In the Shadow of the Alabama: The British Foreign Office and the American Civil War (New Perspectives on Maritime History and Nautical Archaeolog) - Hardcover

Long, Renata Eley

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1612518362 ISBN 13: 9781612518367

Publisher: Naval Institute Press, 2015

Synopsis

This book looks at an allegation of betrayal made against a young Foreign Office clerk, Victor Buckley, who, it was claimed, leaked privileged information to agents of the southern States during the American Civil War. As a consequence, the CSS Alabama narrowly escaped seizure by the British government and proceeded to wage war on American shipping. Victor Buckley's background is examined against the hitherto erroneous belief that he was an insignificant member of the foreign office staff.

The American minister Charles Francis Adams oversees a network of spies endeavoring to prove contravention of The Foreign Enlistment Act. The South's agents, Captain James D. Bulloch and Major Caleb Huse, are the prime targets, and a battle of wits ensues as Bulloch oversees construction of his ships on Merseyside.

A member of a prominent City family offers to enlist the help of a relative who, he claims, holds a confidential position in the Foreign Office. The Confederate agents are soon receiving information about the status of Anglo-American diplomacy and are able to outwit the Union spies and dispatch arms and supplies to the South. Their coup d'état is achieved with the arrival of a message that hurries the Confederate's most formidable warship out of British waters.

After the escape of the Alabama, the government moves to curtail Bulloch's operations. When the war ends in 1865, investigations begin into the circumstances surrounding the Alabama's departure. As America demands reparation, evidence apparently incriminating Victor Buckley is acquired, but before the claim reaches its hearing in Geneva, diplomatic moves (some involving Anglo-American Masonic influence) result in a treaty and ensure that no allegation is made against any individual member of foreign office staff. Queen Victoria, anxious to see the Alabama claims settled, is spared embarrassment.

A scandal erupts in the foreign office in 1878 as a freelance clerk, Charles Marvin, leaks sensitive information to the press and subsequently writes of his experiences, revealing much of the ethos of the office pertinent to Buckley's story. The writer Arthur Conan Doyle becomes fascinated by Anglo-American diplomacy and the Alabama question, and, soon after joining a London gentlemen's club where Buckley's alleged contact is a member, writes a Sherlock Holmes story involving a Foreign Office clerk's apparent betrayal.

Coincidentally, Conan Doyle has been acquainted with Buckley's associate some years earlier, and he soon makes a thinly veiled appearance in a fictional work by England's most famous crime writer.

About this title

About the Author:

Renata Eley Long is a freelance writer and historian who has lived and worked on both sides of the Atlantic. Her childhood in Cornwall and Bristol fostered an early interest in maritime history that developed into a passion for research and unearthing the untold stories of the past.

Review:

"Long's work is exceptionally well researched in terms of details regarding the British government's inner workings during the time of the American Civil War and for a few years surround the period. She has done a remarkable service to the historiography of the American Civil War, particularly the international relations element, by adding this wealth of insight to the scholarship." -- U.S. Military History Review

"In the Shadow of the Alabama is written with a refreshing lack of academic jargon. Long is a freelance writer-historian whose book-jacket bio lists no academic credit. One hopes that the comment 'writes like a novelist' wouldn't be an insult; most historical novelists would love to write as well."--America's Civil War

"Why is the Alabama claims case still worthy of study and this book still relevant? Despite advances in technology since the time of the Civil war, diplomatic histories give a reader insight into the inner workings of foreign relations, which haven't really changed that much since then. And of course, the citizens and even governments of ostensibly neutral nations will always find compelling reasons to interfere in other nations' wars, and with that in mind, Long has written an intricately-crafted cautionary tale."--The Daybook, Hampton Roads Naval Museum

"This is a very readable synthesis of an extremely important episode in Anglo-American history. Specialists will revisit familiar events and be pleased to have a reliable and up-to-date account. In the Shadow of the Alabama follows the 'traditional' interpretation of British views of the American Civil War established in the 1920s, accepting British elite support for the Confederacy and working class support for the Union, overlooking recent, more complicated interpretations. It is a nice addition to the field."--International Journal of Maritime History

"The author has done a good job to bring the times and people to life in what was really a cat-and-mouse game--but a game with deadly results."--Sea Classics

"The mysteries surrounding the Alabama are explored in this new book. There are a number of them and each is given a thorough look, allowing the reader an in-depth look at the political machinations of the American and British governments at a critical time in their relations. The involvement of the British in the American Civil War is full of intrigue, and this story of the vessel is a fascinating tale well presented."--Military Heritage

"This new examination of Buckley's role as a possible Foreign Office mole is Long's greatest contribution to the literature on British supporters of the Confederacy. More germane is the impressive variety of rare and in some cases heretofore unused personal accounts and memoirs Long has uncovered, including privately printed internal histories of the British arms companies that supplied the Confederacy and the memoir of British Confederate sympathizer M. J. Butcher."--H-Net.org

"Long's story is at its best when framing the struggle that went into creating the special relationship between Great Britain and the United States."--JAMP (Journal of America's Military Past)

"In the Shadow of the Alabama contributes to the growing literature on Civil War diplomacy though its interesting profiles of sometimes obscure figures and useful survey of Anglo-American interactions over shipbuilding and arms distribution." --Michigan War Studies Review

"This is a worthwhile read, a detective adventure overlaid by multiple layers of mystery."--The Northern Mariner

About this edition

• Publisher: Naval Institute Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1612518362
• ISBN 13: 9781612518367
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 280