produced a San Francisco newspaper reporting the flight from Richmond, Virginia, of the Confederate Government 10 weeks previously. However, the newspaper also contained Confederate President Jefferson Davis's proclamation that the "war would be carried on with re-newed vigor". Waddell then captured 10 more whalers in the space of 7 hours just below the Arctic Circle. On August 3, 1865, Waddell finally learned of the war's end when he met at sea the Liverpool barque Barracouta, which was bound for San Francisco. He received the news of the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston's army on April 26, Kirby Smith's army's surrender on May 26, and crucially the capture of President Davis and a part of his cabinet. Captain Waddell then knew that the war was over. Waddell lowered his Confederate flag, and the CSS Shenandoah underwent physical alteration. Her guns were dismounted and stored below deck, and her hull was painted to look like an ordinary merchant vessel. Captain Waddell presided over the last official lowering of the Confederate flag when he surrendered the CSS Shenandoah to Captain Paynter of on November 6, 1865 in mid-river on the River Mersey at Liverpool. The banner was lowered in front of the crew and of a Royal Navy detachment who had boarded the vessel - this marked the last surrender of the American Civil War. The very last act of the Civil War involved Captain Waddell walking up the steps of Liverpool Town Hall with a letter to present to the Mayor of Liverpool surrendering his vessel to the British government. Later life Waddell did not return to the United States until 1870, when he became captain of the commercial steamer City of San Francisco. He later was in charge of the State of Maryland's oyster regulation force. He died at Annapolis, Maryland on March 15, 1886, and was buried at St. Anne's Cemetery in Annapolis. Namesake The Charles F. Adams-class guided missile destroyer USS Waddell (DDG-24) was named for him. See also Bibliography of the American Civil War Blockade runners of the American Civil War References Further reading External links James I. Waddell Diary, 1863-1864 MS 144 and Ann Sellman Iglehart Waddell Scrapbooks, 1842-1949 MS 8 held by Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy 1824 births 1886 deaths Confederate States Navy commanders People from Pittsboro, North Carolina People of North Carolina in the American Civil