William B. Poole

He Held the Helm While a Confederate Raider Sank

William B. Poole was born in 1833 in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Much of his early civilian life is not preserved in the same detail as his wartime service, but by the American Civil War he had entered the United States Navy and was serving as a Quartermaster aboard USS Kearsarge. His position placed him in one of the most demanding areas of shipboard responsibility, where maintaining the vessel’s course and responding precisely to orders could become critically important during combat.

By 1864, USS Kearsarge was operating in European waters while the Union Navy searched for Confederate commerce raiders. Among the most dangerous of those vessels was CSS Alabama, which had spent nearly two years attacking United States merchant shipping across international waters. Her operations disrupted American commerce and made her one of the Confederacy’s best-known naval raiders.

In June 1864, Alabama entered Cherbourg, France, in need of repairs. Kearsarge soon arrived off the French coast under Captain John A. Winslow. Because Cherbourg was a neutral port, the Union ship remained outside French territorial waters. The situation developed into a direct confrontation when Alabama prepared to leave harbor and meet Kearsarge at sea.

On the morning of June 19, 1864, Alabama steamed out from Cherbourg. Once the ships had moved into international waters, one of the most famous single-ship engagements of the Civil War began.

William B. Poole was at the helm of Kearsarge.

As Quartermaster, his responsibility during the battle was fundamental to the ship’s maneuvering. The two warships moved through a sustained artillery engagement while their commanders attempted to gain favorable positions. Kearsarge and Alabama followed curving courses around one another as their guns exchanged fire, placing enormous importance on disciplined steering and the ability to maintain the course ordered from the command position.

Poole remained at his station while Confederate fire struck around the Union warship. His conduct at the helm became the defining moment of his military career. The official recognition of his action emphasized that he steered Kearsarge in a cool and highly creditable manner throughout the engagement and that his divisional officer specifically commended his gallantry under enemy fire.

The battle continued for roughly an hour before Alabama suffered fatal damage. Kearsarge’s gunfire opened the Confederate vessel near the waterline, and Alabama began taking on water. Captain Raphael Semmes ultimately struck his colors, and the famous Confederate commerce raider sank off the French coast.

For the Union Navy, the destruction of Alabama was an important victory. It ended the career of a vessel that had caused serious disruption to American merchant shipping and demonstrated the effectiveness of the long Union effort to pursue Confederate raiders across international waters. For Poole, the engagement transformed a demanding naval duty into an act of recognized gallantry.

His conduct was formally recognized later that year. Navy General Order No. 45, dated December 31, 1864, included William B. Poole among the sailors honored for their actions during the Civil War. He received the Medal of Honor for his service aboard Kearsarge during the destruction of Alabama.

The Medal of Honor had been created only a few years earlier during the Civil War and had become the United States’ principal decoration for exceptional military conduct. Poole’s award did not recognize command of the ship or service at one of its guns. Instead, it honored the courage and professionalism he displayed at the helm while Kearsarge maneuvered under enemy fire.

That distinction makes his story particularly significant. Naval battles depended not only on commanding officers and gun crews but also on sailors performing specialized duties throughout the ship. Poole’s responsibility was to steer the vessel accurately while the battle developed around him. His Medal of Honor preserved the importance of that role in the official history of the engagement.

Poole’s Civil War naval service also placed him within the service later recognized by the Navy Civil War Campaign Medal. The Navy established that campaign medal in 1908 to recognize officers and enlisted personnel who had served in the naval service during the Civil War between April 15, 1861, and April 9, 1865. Poole’s documented service aboard Kearsarge during the 1864 action fell directly within that qualifying period.

The medal was established after Poole’s lifetime, however. He died four years before its authorization, so its place in his military legacy reflects recognition of his qualifying Civil War service rather than a decoration personally presented to him during his lifetime.

Following the war, the surviving record of Poole’s civilian life is considerably less detailed than the account of his Medal of Honor action. His historical reputation remained closely connected with Kearsarge and the extraordinary naval battle fought off Cherbourg.

He lived for another four decades after the engagement. William B. Poole died on August 15, 1904, in Lynn, Massachusetts. He was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Lynn.

His legacy rests on a role that could easily have disappeared into the larger story of the battle. He was not the captain who ordered Kearsarge into action, nor one of the gunners whose shells struck Alabama. He was the Quartermaster entrusted with the helm while two warships fought at sea.

On June 19, 1864, as cannon fire crossed the waters off Cherbourg and Kearsarge maneuvered against one of the Confederacy’s most feared commerce raiders, Poole held his station and steered the Union ship through the fight. His composure under fire helped carry Kearsarge through a historic naval victory and earned him the Medal of Honor.

The sinking of CSS Alabama became one of the most celebrated naval actions of the American Civil War. Within that larger victory, William B. Poole’s individual contribution was permanently recorded: a Quartermaster at the helm, performing his duty under fire with the steadiness and courage that brought him the nation’s highest military decoration.