On June 19, 1864, the Union sloop-of-war USS Kearsarge laid in wait outside the French port of Cherbourg for the Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama. The Confederate warship had wreaked havoc on American shipping and the Union Navy from the Gulf of Mexico to South Africa since it was launched in 1862. It accrued worldwide fame for capturing hundreds of ships, burning dozens of Union vessels and taking thousands of prisoners. After two years of hunting the rebel ship, Capt. John Winslow