Semmes family.

Raphael Semmes was born 1809 Sept. 27 to Richard Thompson and Catherine Taliaferro Middleton Semmes in Charles Co., Md. His parents died when he was a boy. He was raised in Georgetown, District of Columbia, by his uncle, also named Raphael Semmes. In Norfolk, Va., 1832, he passed his naval tactics examination and he was first in his class. He studied law in Cumberland, Md., and was admitted to the bar in 1834. On 1837 May 5 he married Anne Elizabeth Spencer and in that same year he was commissioned a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.

In 1841 he was sent to the Pensacola Navy Yard in Fla. In 1842, while still working in Fla., he moved his family to a house on the west bank of the Perdido River in Ala. After commanding several ships, he was given command of the brig Somers in 1846. The brig capsized in a squall while blockading Vera Cruz during the Mexican War. He was acquitted by a Court of Inquiry.

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