The Civil War is taught in high school.
I learned the basics in school and visited several National Park Battlefields up and down the east coast. It seemed like the Civil War basically took place in the eastern United States and on the Atlantic Ocean. There were some skirmishes further west, but I wasn’t taught about them in school.
So, imagine my surprise when I was researching for my trip to Alaska, and I learned about a Confederate ship raiding in the Bering Sea. I was intrigued.
The ship was the CSS Shenandoah commanded by Captain James Wadell. This commerce raider attacked Union ships, trying to break the chain of supplies. By 1865, there were very few Union ships to raid, so the Shanandoah followed the Yankee whaling fleet into the Pacific. They successfully burned several ships and learned of the much larger whaling fleet in the Bering Sea. The Shenandoah was in Micronesia at this point and unaware that the war had ended on April 9.
In June 1865, they hit the jackpot near Alaska, seizing or burning twenty-three whaling ships, and taking over 1,000 prisoners and tons of goods. They continued pillaging until August when they came upon a ship with a fairly recent newspaper. That is how Captain Wadell learned that the war had ended. Some historians think the captain had heard rumors before August, but he probably ignored them considering the source.
I just covered the basics here. For a more detailed story, go to Alaska Public Media. This epilogue to the Civil War deserves to be taught, even if no guns were ever fired and no men were killed. It’s a fascinating ending in the far west of the country, even more so since the United States didn’t even buy Alaska until 1867.
Footle and Grok 