officer promptly accepted it.

The news of the impending battle was telegraphed far and wide, and
excursion trains were run from Paris and other points to Cherbourg. On
Sunday, June 19th, fully 15,000 people lined the shores and wharves, and
among them all it may be doubted whether there were more than a hundred
whose sympathies were not keenly on the side of the _Alabama_. France
was intensely in favor of the Southern Confederacy, and nothing would
have pleased Louis Napoleon, the emperor, better than to see our country
torn apart. He did his utmost to persuade England to join him in
intervening against us.

With a faint haze resting on the town and sea, the _Alabama_ steamed
slowly out of the harbor on Sunday morning, June 19th, and headed toward
the waiting _Kearsarge_. The latter began moving seaward, as if afraid
to meet her antagonist. The object of Captain Winslow, however, was to
draw the _Alabama_ so far that no question about neutral waters could
arise, and in case the _Alabama_ should be disabled, he did not
intend to give her the chance to take refuge in Cherbourg.

[Illustration: THE SINKING OF THE "ALABAMA," THE MOST FAMOUS OF ALL
CONFEDERATE CRUISERS.

The battle between the _Kearsarge_ and the _Alabama_ took place off the
coast of Holland, June, 1864. "The famous cruiser was going down, and
the boats of the _Kearsarge_ were hurriedly sent to help the drowning
men. The stern settled, the bow rose high in the air, the immense ship
plunged out of sight, and the career of the _Alabama_ was ended
forever."]

Three miles was the neutral limit, but Captain Winslow continued to
steam out to sea until he had gone nearly seven miles from shore. Then
he swung around and made for the _Alabama_. As he did so, Captain Semmes
delivered three broadsides, with little effect. Then fearing a raking
fire, Captain Winslow sheered and fired a broadside at a distance of
little more than half a mile, and strove to pass under the _Alabama's_
stern, but Semmes also veered and prevented it.

Since each vessel kept its starboard broadside toward the other, they
began moving in a circular direction, the current gradually carrying
both westward, while the circle narrowed until its diameter was about a
fourth of a mile.

From the beginning the fire of the _Kearsarge_ was much more accurate
and destructive than her antagonist's. Hardly had the battle opened when
the gaff and colors of the _Alabama_ were shot away, but another e