On July 13, 1824, James Iredell Waddell was born in Pittsboro, North Carolina, to Francis Nash and Elizabeth Davis Moore Waddell. His grandfather was Alfred Moore, lawyer, rice planter, Revolutionary soldier, legislator, attorney general, superior court judge and associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. His great-grandfather was Hugh Waddell, colonial military and political official. With so much military background in his family, it seemed destiny Waddell would follow in his forefather’s footsteps. 

     Waddell was raised by his grandmother and went to school at the Hillsborough Academy. At age 17, he joined the Navy. Shortly after reporting, Waddell dueled another Navy midshipman and received a serious leg wound. He would limp for the rest of his life. 

     Waddell served in the Mexican War on the Somers in the Gulf of Mexico. During the Mexican War, Waddell proved to be a useful navigator, and he later transferred to Annapolis, Maryland to receive advanced navigation courses from the Naval School, known today as the United States Naval Academy.

     From 1850 to 1857, Waddell served on the German-town and the Release, patrolling South America. In 1858, he was again transferred to Annapolis to teach navigation. 

     In 1859, Waddell was then given duty in the Pacific Ocean. He would remain in this position until the outbreak of the Civil War. When the Civil War started, Waddell resigned and joined the Confederate Navy.

     In 1862, Waddell was named a lieutenant in the Confederate Navy.

     Later in 1862, Waddell took command of the Shenandoah, a British vessel purchased by the Confederacy previously named the Sea King. The Shenandoah's first assignment was to destroy a New England fleet. Waddell and his crew were extremely successful in the eyes of the Confederacy, capturing 38 ships and destroying 32, worth a total of $1,772,223. 

     In January 1865, the Shenandoah docked in Australia for three weeks. This docking raised many questions of Australia’s supposed neutrality in the war. Union officials tried to have the ship retained while in Australia, but officials refused. Many Australian elites also invited Shenandoah crewmates inside their homes and to expensive galas. By the end of the three weeks, 40 stowaways were also on the Shenandoah, raising questions if the so-called stowaways were actually recruits. 

     Waddell learned from newspapers found on a captured ship that Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox months earlier. However, the paper also mentioned Jefferson Davis’ Danville proclamation that pushed the South to continue fighting. 

     Waddell chose to ignore Lee’s surrender and continue fighting. However, in August, Waddell received definite word that the South had lost. 

     Waddell decided to take the Shenandoah to Europe in order to avoid capture, as the Union had always considered the Confederate ships pirates. 

     On Nov. 6, 1865, the Shenandoah reached Liverpool, England and surrendered to the British government. This surrender was the last one of all Confederate cruisers and was done by the only Confederate cruiser to sail around the world. 

     Waddell decided to stay in England until public opinion toward him subsided. In 1857, he became captain of the San Francisco for the Pacific Mail Company. However, in 1877, the San Francisco hit an uncharted reef and sank. 

     Waddell returned to Annapolis and took command of a police force in charge of oyster fleets in the Chesapeake Bay. 

     On Mar. 15, 1886, Waddell died of a brain disorder. Waddell’s legacy is extremely notorious as he continued fighting for the Confederacy even after the end of the war. However, Waddell and his crew were never tried for their crimes against the Union. 

     Photographs of Waddell and his wife, Ann Sellman Igleharton Waddell, are on file at the North Carolina State Archives, Hillsborough Historical Museum and North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina.