It may come as a surprise for many people that one of the most notable Civil War naval battles took place in France...or just off the coast of France...on June 19, 1864. The CSS Alabama had been wreaking havoc on Union shipping for years, until mid-June 1864 when it entered the harbor at Cherbourg for repairs. Word of her arrival reached US forces and the USS Kearsarge set off for Cherbourg to destroy her. The story is a great one, and it is told well in this article:
https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/wars-and-events/the-american-civil-war--1861-1865/the-battle-of-cherbourg.html
I will let you read the details for yourself, but as it relates to classical music, I couldn't help but wonder if any of the thousands of people who watched the battle from the shore would perhaps go to a concert later that same day. Paris is about 300 km from Cherbourg, a pretty easy train trip even in 1864. Assuming the battle took place in the morning...I am not sure what time it did happen...any one of the spectators could have made it back to Paris for a concert. So I looked at the June 19, 1864 edition of Le Petit, a daily newspaper in Paris. Top of the list was a 7:15 pm performance of the Marriage of Figaro by Mozart.
What a day that could have been...to witness an historic Civil War naval battle, then be back in Paris for a production of Mozart's most well loved opera.
On another artistic note, the famous French painter, Edouard Manet, painted the battle. He was not witness to it, but he used descriptions from those who did witness it to paint this that same year. The picture now resides at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
