Editing Raphael Semmes (section)

== Early life and education ==
Semmes was born in [[Charles County, Maryland]], on Tayloe's Neck.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.militaryimagesmagazine-digital.com/2023/11/15/semmes-an-iconography-of-rear-admiral-raphael-semmes-c-s-navy/ | title=An iconography of Rear Admiral Raphael Semmes, C.S. Navy | date=15 November 2023 }}</ref> He was a cousin of future Confederate general [[Paul Jones Semmes]] and of future Union Navy Captain [[Alexander Alderman Semmes]].{{citation needed|date= September 2013}}

He graduated from [[Charlotte Hall Military Academy]]<ref>Maryland. State Board of Education. ''Twenty-sixth Annual Report of the State Board of Education, Showing the Condition of the Public Schools or Maryland, for the Year Ending July 31, 1892''. Baltimore, MD: Press of Thomas & Evans, 1893, p. xlix.</ref>
and entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman in 1826. Semmes first served on the ''Lexington,'' cruising the Caribbean and the Mediterranean until September 1826, when he was placed on leave for ill health. After a short convalescence, he served on the USS ''Erie'' for part of 1829 and on the USS ''Brandywine'' (formerly ''Susquehanna'')<ref name="auto">{{cite web | url=https://eu.ydr.com/story/news/history/blogs/yorkspast/2015/06/18/susquehanna-brandywine-lafayette/74059716/ | title=The Susquehanna becomes the Brandywine for Lafayette }}</ref> for the rest of 1829 and the first nine months of the following year. On September 29, 1830, he was posted to the USS ''Porpoise'' of the West Indies squadron, which was attempting to suppress piracy in the Caribbean.<ref>Confederate Raider – Raphael Semmes of the Alabama by John M Taylor p16 ISBN 0-02-881086-4</ref> Semmes then studied law and was admitted to the [[bar (law)|bar]]. He was promoted to lieutenant in February 1837.<ref>Fox, p. 23</ref>