S.C. Nixes Honor for Confederates

Associated Press ^ | September 30, 2003 | staff writer

[Grand Old Partisan]

The eight crewmen of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley will not lie in state at the South Carolina Statehouse, a lawmaker said.

Reports that the crew would be brought to the Statehouse drew criticism from business and civil rights leaders who said it would be disrespectful to have Confederates honored in the building.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Have at it!

[Grand Old Partisan]

FYI

[Bikers4Bush]

Idiocy abounds.

[Grand Old Partisan]

And to think, all they had done was sink a U. S. warship!

[GOPcapitalist]

And to think, all they had done was sink a U. S. warship!

...the first submarine ever to do so in the history of the world!

[Princeliberty]

They did die fighting for the state of South Carolina
so there is nothing wrong with honoring them
and they certainly a lot of courage getting inside
that thing.

[Rocket1968]

These men died honorably for a cause they beleived in. How can anyone be dishonored or disrepected by allowing them to lie in state? We have to get this PC crap behind us. Slavery and the Civil War are part of our history. We cannot and should not pretend it didn't happen. Wouldn't it be better to take the opportunity to honor our history while at the same time showing our warts? I fail to see how dishonoring these dead sailors, helps the cause for equality today.

[Bikers4Bush]

Two sides to every story.

Whether you think it was right or wrong, the last time I checked those states legally voted to leave the union and then the rest declared war on them.

The pc jackals of this country would re-write history if they were permitted.

Nobody would suffer if these men were honored for their part in naval history.

[warchild9]

The South Carolina statehouse, like every statehouse in our country's thirteen states, is occupied territory: occupied by Washington's puppets, as they have been for almost a century and a half. These heroes should lay in state as near where they fell as is practicable: perhaps where the Hunley was launched, or built.
Until the people of South Carolina turn off their television sets and start thinking about their country instead of sports, proper honor for our fallen heroes will never be paid.

[joesnuffy]

"Civil" Rights arent for everyone

[PeaRidge]

I wonder if the SC chapter of the NAACP will be at the funeral procession in Charleston to honor the Hunley crewmember that was also Black?

[Grand Old Partisan]

I would be very interested in a link to a website about the black crewman.

[Non-Sequitur]

I wonder if the SC chapter of the NAACP will be at the funeral procession in Charleston to honor the Hunley crewmember that was also Black?

There was as crewman named White, but I don't think that there was a crewman named Black.

But if you're talking African-American then perhaps you can identify which member of the crew you're talking about?

[Between the Lines]

Until the people of South Carolina turn off their television sets and start thinking about their country instead of sports, proper honor for our fallen heroes will never be paid.

The burial date for the members of the crew, who perished at sea nearly 140 years ago, has now been set for April 17, 2004 at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina. The Hunley crew will be buried with full military honors, alongside their compatriots who lost their lives in previous Hunley missions. The burial will be preceded by an eight day memorial period, with a day of images and information devoted to each of the eight crew members.

This is the third crew of the Hunley that South Carolina has burried, all with full military honors. It is the people who brought modern politics into this that have dishonored their memory.

[Between the Lines]

Black Crewman Aboard Submarine Hunley

This was reported last year. Sorry the link is in PDF format.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Thanks, but this is very unimpressive. A DNA test revealed the guy was black? Puh-lease? Is there any evidence from the time, any mention by anybody that the guy was black. Any confirming information on Absolom Williams? Also, the article mentions there being 70,000-150,000 black Confederates, which is ridiculous, it escaping notice at the time that the Confederate army was about 20% black. Yes, thousands of slaves and impressed "free" blacks dug trenches and drove wagons, but that did not make them soldiers. None were armed. These laborers "served" the rebels in just the same way as field hands "served" their masters.

[Non-Sequitur]

This was reported last year.

Interesting. Especially since the Hunley website doesn't list an Absolom Williams on the last crew. They do list an Absolum Williams on the first crew, but his body had been recovered after the first sinking of the Hunley in August 1863.

[x]

These men died honorably for a cause they beleived in. How can anyone be dishonored or disrepected by allowing them to lie in state?

Allowing them to lie in state in the capitol would amount to a state endorsement of their cause. It would be divisive for no purpose.

If people want to honor them privately, fine, but I can't see singling these Confederate sailors out for an honor not accorded to those who died for our country.

Not granting them a special honor denied to other brave soldiers and sailors hardly means "dishonoring" them. If anything, granting special privileges in this case would mean dishonoring those who fought for America in our more recent wars.

[Moose4]

Anybody else catch the mild irony that the Hunley crew will lie in state onboard the USS Yorktown at Patriot's Point in Mount Pleasant? Two points:

1) Eight brave Confederate soldiers being honored by lieing in state onboard one of the most distinguished ships in the United States Navy, permanently moored across from the city from which they sailed. I think it's a nice touch.

2) They'll be onboard the same ship that John Pierre Kerry (D-Paris) used as the backdrop for his Presidential beret-in-the-ring speech.

}:-)4

[Grand Old Partisan]

Perhaps you missed the irony of the bodies being honored by a ship of the same Navy which the Hunley sank?