Kearsarge Peak is named after...

Kearsarge Peak is named after the Union frigate that captured the Confederate raider C.S.S. Alabama, the primary blockade runner and overall thorn-in-the-side of Union shipping in the Civil War. The Captain of the Alabama (for which the Alabama Hills are named) is my great-uncle times five. We wanted to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the Alabama being captured by the scurvy-ridden Kearsarge outside Cherbourg, France by taking Uncle Semmes’ sword, a treasured family heirloom, to the summit to Kearsarge Peak to show those damn Yankees a thing or two. Alas, the weekend before the anniversary I climbed the peak and found it a pile not worth repeating. My daughter, nephew, wife and self instead took the sword from the skipper of the Alabama to Kearsarge Pass instead. No Yankees were present. This picture was taken on our way back from Kearsarge Pass to our camp in the Alabama Hills. I think Uncle was pleased.