Alabama claims

Alabama claims claims made by the U.S. government against Great Britain for the damage inflicted on Northern merchant ships during the American Civil War by the Alabama and other Confederate cruisers that had been built, fitted out, and otherwise aided by British interests. William H. Seward failed to reach a settlement while he was Secretary of State. However, his successor, Hamilton Fish, brought about the Treaty of Washington (1871), which provided for arbitration. Charles Francis Adams for the United States, Alexander J. E. Cockburn for Great Britain, and three members from neutral countries constituted the tribunal, which met at Geneva in 1871-72. The arbitrators threw out American claims for indirect losses, but they awarded the United States $15.5 million for all the direct damage done by the Alabama and the Florida and for most of the damage caused by the Shenandoah. The British were absolved of blame in the cases of several less important cruisers.

Alabama claims made by the US against Britain for losses caused in the Civil War by British-built Confederate ships, particularly the cruiser Alabama, which captured or destroyed 66 ships before being itself sunk in June 1864. The case helped establish international rulings for the limitations on a neutral government in wartime, and in 1872 the tribunal decided that Britain was legally liable for losses caused by the Alabama and other ships.

Alabama claims (1872) Award of US$155 million compensation to the USA against the UK for damage inflicted by Confederate ships built in England during the American Civil War (1861–65). An international tribunal ruled that the British government had violated its neutrality by allowing the ships to be built on British territory.