Edwin Maffitt Anderson

Edwin Maffitt Anderson (died January 28, 1923) was a Confederate naval officer, serving on board the shipping raiders CSS Alabama and CSS Sumter as well as the master of the blockade runner CSS Owl.

Biography

Born in Georgia, Anderson entered the Confederate Navy in October 1861, enlisting as a master's mate and being promoted within a month to midshipman. Briefly serving under Captain Raphael Semmes aboard the CSS Savannah, he was sent across the Atlantic and, in August 1862, joined the Alabama in the Azores just before its official commission and would remain aboard the commerce raider throughout its entire career. Wounded during the battle with the USS Kearsarge on June 19, 1864, in which the Alabama was sunk, Anderson was rescued by the Deerhound, a British yacht, and taken to England.

On his return to the Confederacy, he encountered the blockade runner Owl and agreed to joined its crew as an acting master and, by the end of the war, had won promotion to lieutenant. Anderson would later reside in Savannah, Georgia, where he lived until his death on January 28, 1923.

References

• Linedecker, Clifford L., ed. Civil War, A-Z: The Complete Handbook of America's Bloodiest Conflict. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002. ISBN 0-89141-878-4