Alexander Alderman Semmes

Alexander Alderman Semmes (January 18, 1825 – September 22, 1885) was a career United States Navy officer, who served with distinction in the American Civil War. He was a cousin of Confederate naval hero Raphael Semmes, and also of Confederate general Paul Jones Semmes.

Early life
Alexander Alderman Semmes was born in Washington, D.C., on January 18, 1825.

Naval career
Semmes became a midshipman on October 27, 1841. He attended the United States Naval Academy and became a passed midshipman on August 10, 1847. He was promoted to master on September 14, 1855, and to lieutenant the next day, September 15, 1855. He became a lieutenant commander on July 16, 1862, and commander on July 25, 1866. He attained the rank of captain on August 24, 1873, and was promoted to commodore on March 10, 1882.

Civil War service
Semmes served on the side-wheel steamship USS Rhode Island (1861) as a lieutenant during the first year of the war, during which time the vessel captured the Confederate schooner Aristides off Charlotte harbor. In March 1862, he was given command of the screw steamer USS Wamsutta (1853), and participated in the Battle of the Riceboro River.

Semmes was promoted to lieutenant commander in July, and given command of the new screw propeller gunboat USS Tahoma (1861) on October 17, 1862. Serving in the East Gulf Blockade Squadron commanded by Admiral Cornelius Stribling, he was able to make seven captures off the west coast of Florida, as well as launching an expeditionary attack at Tampa Bay and engaging the shore batteries at Gadsden Point in April 1863.

In August 1864, he became commander of the Passaic-class monitor USS Lehigh (1863), participating in the bombardment of Fort Pringle, and in the operations at Charleston until that city surrendered. He co-operated with Gen. U.S. Grant's army, fought the Howlett's House batteries, and was present at the fall of Richmond in 1865.

Postwar service
Semmes was made captain of the sloop of war USS USS Alaska (1868), and in around December 1875 was ordered by President Grant to Cape Palmas, Liberia, in a show of force to stop the Grebo-Liberian War. Semmes pulled into Cape Palmas on 3 February 1876.

In 1880, Semmes was made the third president of the Board of Inspection and Survey, which had been formed in 1868. He served as the board's president until June 1883. At the time of his death, he commanded the Washington Navy Yard.

Personal life
Semmes married Mary Dorsey of Baltimore, Maryland, in 1864. He died in Hamilton, Virginia, in 1885 at the age of 60.