**** Rebel With A Cause ***
Staged by Sefton Libraries Local History Service and opened by Mr. Bob Jones & Mr R.oy Rawlinson.
The exhibition, containing matetrial supplied by this site, and by Mr. Bob Jones, a local historian,
covered the life of James Dunwoody Bulloch, from his arrival in Liverpool, on 4 June 1861, to his death here on 7 January 1901.
The opening ceremony was very well attended by both the public and the local press.
The Liverpool Daily Post for Tuesday August 7th devoted the whole of page 3 to this event.
At right can be seen an example of the library`s advertising literature or the event.
for further information call Crosby Library Local history Unit 0151 257 6401
An integral part of the ceremony was the presentation to the Crosby library, on behalf of the United Daughters Of The Confederacy, colour copies off all the resolutions from the Bulloch Commemoration event. This was the official gravemarking of james Dunwoody Bulloch, and Irvine Stephens Bulloch, on the 100th anniversary of James`s death. The presentation was made by Mr Bob Jones, and Roy Rawlinson read a message of goodwill from Mrs Annette Elam Wetzel.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy was honored to have been able to sponsor the grave marking ceremony for James Dunwoody Bulloch and his brother, Irvine Stephens Bulloch, in Toxteth Park Cemetery, Liverpool, on January 7, 2001.
Both these men, from Georgia, served the Confederacy well and faithfully in the Confederate States Navy, one as Captain, and ultimately, Commander Bulloch, and the other as a midshipman, rising to the rank of lieutenant. After the War Between The States was lost, they remained in Liverpool as
businessmen and cotton merchants, and contributors to English commerce.
We can think of no better place in all of England than the Crosby Library to
place these copies of the resolutions of tribute issued by Southern
organizations on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the death of James Dunwoody Bulloch. He is closely associated with your town, having made his home in Waterloo during the years of the War Between The States, and having met with Commander Raphael Semmes possibly at the Liver Inn to plan the cruise of the CSS Alabama.
Now we come to the second phase, the continuing efforts to remember the
contributions of the Bulloch brothers to English and Southern history. This
is the hard, and daily work, sometimes yielding little reward: efforts to
include places of Confederate history in the already present Liverpool
Heritage Walk sites, marking the graves of Arthur Sinclair, Sr., and of John
Low, and restoring the gravestone of Irvine Stephens Bulloch in Toxteth Park Cemetery.
Your exhibit will do much to assist in those efforts. Aside from the fact
that the Bulloch brothers were maternal uncles of U. S. President Theodore
Roosevelt, they were contributing citizens first of two countries, and then,
of England, doing their duty as they saw that duty. We trust that your
exhibit will portray them in that light.
With continued help from our friends in Crosby, Bootle, Liverpool, Southport and elsewhere, the United Daughters of the Confederacy will continue efforts to commemorate the Bulloch brothers on this side of the Atlantic, and will return to Liverpool in July, 2003, to mark the graves of Low and Sinclair, and to rededicate the restored stone of Irvine Stephens Bulloch. It is our hope to visit your library at that time.
On behalf of our President General, and with good wishes for continued good fortune to you and all our friends and compatriots in England, |
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Bulloch was pictured top left, and the Aalabama top right.
Also shown was a photograph of the exhibition with, reading left to right, Mr Mark Sargant, Library Archivist, Mr. Bob Jones, Historian, and Mr. Roy Rawlinson.
This photo is at right, at this stage (7 Aug) I only have a scanned copy from the paper available.
The full text of the report appears below.
He has been dubbed the unsung hero of the Confederate forces in the American Civil War.
James Dunwoody Bulloch was sent to Liverpool as a secret agent in 1861 to
raise funds for the Confederate cause.
He provided some of the most feared warships in history including the CSS
Alabama, built at Laird's shipyard in Birkenhead.
When the war ended in 1865 with victory for the Union, he was exiled in
Liverpool as a traitor and is buried in Smithdown Road cemetery in Toxteth.
Now, 100 years after Bulloch's death, his incredible tale of intrigue is
being honoured at an exhibition in Crosby library, a few streets away from
where he lived.
Southport's Roy Rawlinson, who runs a website called When Liverpool Was
Dixie, said: "Most people have heard about the Alabama's links with
Liverpool. It became the most successful raider of all time.
"But how many have heard of James Dunwoody Bulloch? He is an unsung hero and
a genius of the Confederate navy in Europe.
"But there is a tragic side to this story. Commander Bulloch lies in a
foreign field, forgotten by most of his countrymen, yet this man has earned
the right to stand alongside Robert E Lee and Thomas Stonewall Jackson in the
Confederate hall of fame.
"This is what this exhibition is all about."
Bulloch was born in the southern state of Georgia in 1823. At the outbreak of
the war, he offered his services to the Confederate states and was sent to
Liverpool in the guise of a naval purchasing agent.
His brief was specific - he was given one million dollars and told to buy six
steam propeller vessels.
He helped supply 33 blockade runners as well as being responsible for the
biggest single delivery of arms into the South. A fundraising event in St
George's Hall in 1864 brought in £20,000 for wounded Confederate soldiers.
Mark Sargant , south Sefton's local history librarian, said: "Liverpool was
picked as the heart of the Confederate cause in Europe because of the cotton
links with the southern states.
"It was the biggest port in the world at the time and the mercantile class in
Liverpool had sympathies with the American south.
"When the Union states blocked southern ports, cotton imports to the city
dropped to virtually nothing. It had a massive knock-on effect in the mills
of Lancashire where cotton hands were laid off and sent to the workhouse.
"Under these circumstances, it wasn't that difficult for Bulloch to find
people willing to help the Confederate cause."
Bulloch lived in a number of homes in Waterloo, including one in Marine
Terrace. He brought over his wife, Harriet, and children Stuart and Martha
and employed servants.
It all helped him create the image of a family man and deflect any suspicions
about his real role.
With his cover in place, Bulloch set up an unofficial Confederate embassy at
10 Rumford Place in the city centre to mastermind the building of the
steamships.
It was the offices of cotton merchants Fraser Trenholm and the company was
used to handle Confederate cash raised in the city.
The first of the cruisers to be built was the CSS Florida in June, 1861. She
was initially named Oreto and a rumour was spread she was an Italian ship.
But Bulloch's clandestine operations had not gone unnoticed by Union spies
following him in Liverpool.
Even so, he stayed one step ahead in the cat-and-mouse game and the ship left
for the States without any problems.
But it was the CCS Alabama which proved to be Bulloch's masterpiece.
To fool the Northern states, he ordered it under his own name from the
Laird's shipyard in 1861.
Given a false name, "Enrica", she sailed for the Azores where she was renamed
and fitted out as a warship.
The Alabama cost £47,000 but became the most destructive raider in maritime
history. The crew boarded 447 ships, including 65 Union vessels and took
2,000 prisoners.
She was sunk after a battle off Cherbourg in 1864.
The Confederates surrendered a year later and slavery was abolished.
Ironically, the last Confederate ship to surrender was the CSS Shenandoah in
the River Mersey in 1865.
Local historian Bob Jones, who has helped to set up the Bulloch exhibition,
said: "After the war, Bulloch was treated as a traitor when all he had done
was help the cause he believed in.
"He was forced to stay in Liverpool because he was the one person the United
States wanted to put on trial.
"His life is fascinating. It's James Bond stuff when you think about it."
by Ian Latta, Liverpool Daily Post
Report from Crosby Herald, Thursday 16 August 2001.
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* ** * *
Bulloch Exhibiton In Liverpool.
Rebel With A Cause
Staged by Sefton Libraries Local History Service and opened by Mr. Bob Jones & Mr R.oy Rawlinson.
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First board of exhibition.
Overview
Centre section.
L to R.
Roy Rawlinson, Bob Jones, Mark Sargant and Richard Harris.
Richard is the great great grandson of W.C Miller, builder of the Florida, and great grandson of Capt. James Alexander Duguid, who delivered the Florida to Capt. John Newlands maffitt.
L to R Mr. Mark Sargant, of Crosby Library, Mr Bob Jones, Local historian, and Mr Roy Rawlinson, webmaster, When Liverpool Was Dixie.
RoyRawlinson
The Exhibition
The Exhibition
The Exhibition