Confederate Sub Crew Taken to Burial Site

Yahoo! News ^ | Apr 17, 2004 | AP

[yonif]

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Thousands of men in Confederate gray and Union blue and women in black hoop skirts and veils escorted the crew of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship, to their final resting place Saturday.

In what has been called the last Confederate funeral, the coffins of the crew members, draped in Confederate flags, were first taken to Charleston's Battery and placed in a semicircle, a wreath set in front of each.

Then, a column of the uniformed re-enactors stretching a mile and half took the crew of the Hunley, which sank outside Charleston Harbor, to their final resting place in Magnolia Cemetery. It took the column more than an hour to file into the cemetery.

Randy Burbage, a member of the South Carolina Hunley Commission, said it was a testimony to the crew that so many people had come to pay tribute to "eight Americans who died for a cause they believed in so long ago."

"There are some who have scoffed at our efforts to pay tribute to these men saying that because they were Confederates, they don't deserve so high an honor," said Ronald Wilson, the commander in chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (news - web sites). "It is our duty to respect and remember these individuals."

The coffins were to be taken by horse-drawn caissons from the Battery about five miles to Magnolia Cemetery, where the remains will be buried.

Fourteen Southern governors were invited to the ceremony, but declined to attend. Most cited scheduling conflicts, but some observers speculated they may be wary of the political implications of attending an event with thousands of Confederate re-enactors.

The hand-cranked Hunley made history on Feb. 17, 1864, when it rammed a spar with a black powder charge into the Union blockade ship Housatonic.

But the sub never returned from the mission. It was found off the South Carolina coast nine years ago and was raised in 2000 and brought to a conservation lab at the old Charleston Naval Base.

About 40 relatives of Hunley crew members were in Charleston Saturday.

Emma Busbey Ditman of Silver Spring, Md., said she learned about 12 years ago that she had a relative aboard the Hunley. She is the great-grandniece of crewman Joseph Ridgaway, who was born on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

"It's been very emotional. My father died when I was a little girl and I knew almost nothing about father's family when I was a child," she said. "For me, it's finding my family."

The crew buried Saturday was the third crew to die aboard the submarine.

The first crew drowned in the fall of 1863 when waves from the wake of a passing ship flooded the sub at its mooring. A few weeks later a second crew, including designer H.L. Hunley, died during a test dive.

The members of the third crew were being buried next to the other crews in a plot shaded by oaks and palmettos.

Rebecca Farence of Harrisburg, Pa., said crewman Frank Collins was her great-grandfather's half cousin.

"These are just extraordinary men — brave and strong who did a marvelous thing," she said.

___

On the Net:

Friends of the Hunley: http://www.hunley.org

[Destro]

With the Hunley the South did rise again symbolically. By the way the Sec. of the Confederate Navy was Jewish.

[mean lunch lady]

Randy Burbage, a member of the South Carolina Hunley Commission, said it was a testimony to the crew that so many people had come to pay tribute to "eight Americans who died for a cause they believed in so long ago."

"There are some who have scoffed at our efforts to pay tribute to these men saying that because they were Confederates, they don't deserve so high an honor," said Ronald Wilson, the commander in chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (news - web sites). "It is our duty to respect and remember these individuals."

People need to remember that Abraham Lincoln himself ordered that the song "Dixie" be played to honor the Confederate Army and the fact that they fought for what they believed. at least that's what I have read, I was not actually there.
My husband and I watched a fascinating show about the Hunley and the things that were found aboard the sub. There was a gold piece that was believed to be just a myth that was found along with many other things. The story was that it saved a man's life by stopping a bullet, I think.

[kennedy]

So how many people would have volunteered to be among the third crew of an experimental craft knowing that everyone in the first two crews had died?

[DakotaGator]

Fourteen Southern governors were invited to the ceremony, but declined to attend.

Cowards!

[ovrtaxt]

The CSA Sec. of the Navy was Jewish? I didn't know that. Judah Benjamin, also Jewish, was Sec. of State, IIRC.

They were real racists, those Confederates! </ sarcasm>

[jocon307]

Agreed! May these long dead submariners finally rest in peace.

[Riley]

The story was that it saved a man's life by stopping a bullet, I think.

That's correct. You can get an EXACT replica of the gold piece, engraving and all. I was given one as a gift.

http://store.hunley.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=FOTH&Category_Code=LTD

[mean lunch lady]

Cool! Thanks for the tip, my husband would love a meaningful keepsake like that. He always has loved history and when he was in school he took every History class he could.

[Khurkris]

Rest in Peace Good Soldiers.

[the_rightside]

Whatever happened to all the spirited debates over Blue & Gray issues?

[Destro]

he was it. Same Jew - held many offices.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Let me guess. The governors of the eleven confederate states (including Perry here in Texas) and maybe OK, MO, and WV?

[GregB]

Does anybody know if there is any video? I had family on both sides. It seems to me that the south was fighting for States Rights. I need to read up on it. I do have book of pictures and some stories especially of the Irish at Gettysburg. It was some story. Chicken Governors..Its a shame when so few make so many do stupid things..in the name of political correctness....

[snopercod]

The South Shall Rise Again.

[let us cross over the river]

We were there, and there are no words to describe it. To stand right by the caissons as they were putting the caskets on them after the morning ceremony , to the parade of hundreds and hundreds of re-enactors, and others dressed in period dress , awesome doesn't even begin to describe it.
We felt so fortunate to be a part of history.
I hope that a dvd comes out, but I don't know.

[let us cross over the river]

There was more than one estimate of the crowd being over 30 thousand . Charleston did shine today

[let us cross over the river]

ping

[Liberty Valance]

IIRC there is supposed to be a National Geographic special about this on MSNBC Explorer. I'll check the TV schedules.

[let us cross over the river]

Thanks for the info, I'll be looking for it.