The CSS Alabama's Gulf of Mexico Expeditionary Raid commenced shortly after the Alabama left Bermuda and the Atlantic coast and cruised south toward the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea near the Gulf of Mexico. The raid lasted from about the middle of November, 1862 to the end of January, 1863. The primary area of operation during this expeditionary raid, was the southern seaboard of the United States starting from Dominica then ranging up along Cuba and to Galveston, Texas before finally heading south again toward Jamaica.