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Personal
Life:
James
Dunwoody Bulloch was born on the 25th June 1823 near Savannah, Georgia,
the only child of Major James Stephens Bulloch and Esther Amarintha
Elliot.
He
married Elizabeth Caskie in 1851. After her death he married Hariott
Cross Foster and had his five children.
James
Bulloch died on the 7th of January 1901 at 76 Canning Street in
Liverpool aged 77. He died from cancer and cardiac failure.
He
was buried in Toxteth, and on his grave is inscribed:
"an American by birth, an Englishman by choice."
Career:
At
16 James joined the U.S. Navy and quickly rose to the rank of Lieutenant
but soon he hit a ceiling and needing money for his family he resigned
his commission and took service with the Cromwell Steam Company.
At
the outbreak of the Civil war in 1861 he was in command of a passenger
mail ship, Bienville, which he was asked to sell to the Confederates.
He refused but promised to resign his commission and join in their
campaign.
When
he arrived at his next destination, New York, and saw that his passengers
were Union soldiers who were travelling to the south to put down
the rebellion he resigned immediately and reported to the Confederate
States Navy department to sign up.
His
task: To procure ships from Europe for use in the battles.
Bulloch
was sent by Stephen Malloy (Secretary of the Confederate States
Navy Department) to Liverpool to purchase and / or build ships for
use by the navy. Under English law it was illegal for UK companies
to supply armed war vessels to warring fractions - Bulloch was sent
to acquire ships without being caught breaking the laws.
Bulloch
arrived in Liverpool on 4th June 1861.
He
enlisted the help of a number of people in his attempt to purchase
vessels:
George
Alfred Trenholme acted as a banker for the Confederate and enabled
James to circumvent certain paperwork which may have linked the
purchases to the confederate.
Mr.
F. Hull, solicitor who advised him that he could purchase ships
as a private individual without infringing the 'British Enlistment
Act', providing they weren't equipped for war.
Bulloch
was investigated by a number of men who tried to prove he was purchasing
war ships but he managed to stay ahead of them.
However
Bulloch really wanted to return to commanding ships but he proved
too valuable in his current role and was beaten to the command of
the Enrica (renamed the Alabama) by Captain Raphael Semmes.
Bulloch
was never pardoned for his role in the war and became a British
citizen. He remained here, as a cotton trader. He died at the home
of his son-in-law Alderman Maxwell Hyslop Maxwell (76 Canning Street)
in Liverpool on 7th January 1901 and is buried in Toxteth cemetery.
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