Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Alabama Claims

ALABAMA CLAIMS, a series of claims made in 1871 by the United States against the English Government for damages done to shipping during the Civil War, after a formal discussion between the two governments in 1865, and fruitless conventions for their settlement in 1868 and 1869. These damages were inflicted chiefly by the “Alabama,” an armed vessel of the Confederate States, which was fitted out in a British port and permitted to sail in violation of existing international law. A tribunal, created in 1871 to pass upon these claims, held its sessions in Geneva, Switzerland, during the year 1872, and awarded the United States the sum of $15,500,000 in gold, in satisfaction of all claims at issue.