 The CSS "Shenandoah" was commissioned as a commerce raider by the Confederacy to interfere with Union shipping and hinder their efforts in the American Civil War.A Scottish-built merchant ship originally called the "Sea King", it was secretly purchased by Confederate agents in September 1864.Captain James Waddell renamed the ship "Shenandoah" after she was converted to a warship off the coast of Spain on October 19, shortly after leaving England.