Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Hunley hoopla ignores other side of story
The State ^ | 11 April 2004 | JOHN MONK

Posted on 04/11/2004 5:14:37 AM PDT by aomagrat

This week’s six-day funeral of the crew of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley will be a celebration of a thin slice of history — a brief, trailblazing underwater mission that resulted in the sinking of a Union ship.

But the pageantry surrounding the Hunley also will be a denial of other histories, a sanitizing of one of the most controversial American eras, some historians say.

Nowhere will it be mentioned that if the eight-man Hunley crew had been on the victorious side of the Civil War, 4 million black people would have continued to be slaves, the historians point out.

Nowhere will it be mentioned that, at the time of the Hunley’s mission, South Carolina’s 291,000 whites were forcing 400,000 black slaves to work without pay and with scant hope of freedom.

“The war was fought to perpetuate slavery,” said William Hine, history professor at South Carolina State University. He was one of about 75 S.C. professors who signed a public statement in 2000 saying the historical record “clearly shows” that the South’s wanting to preserve slavery was the fundamental cause of the Civil War.

“The whole Southern way of life was wrapped around slavery, and even though many white Southerners did not own slaves, it was still essential for their way of life,” Hine said. “People fought for that way of life even though they were not slave owners.”

Hunley Commission member John Courson, a Republican state senator from Columbia, said his commission really hasn’t discussed issues like secession or slavery. “The Hunley is such a unique story in itself, and it has a life of its own.”

That story involves the submariners’ courage; the new technology that enabled the Hunley to become the first submarine to sink a ship; and a tragic love story between its lost commander, Lt. George Dixon, and his intended, Queenie Bennett, Courson said. “All of that transcends anything else associated with the War Between the States.”

‘THE BRIAR PATCH’

Not dealing with the broader political and social context of history is nothing new when it comes to today’s slimmed-down modern treatments of long-ago events, some historians say.

“This happens all the time,” said historian Dan Carter of the University of South Carolina.

One of the best television documentaries ever was Ken Burns’ series on the Civil War, Carter said.

“It’s a heart-tugging film,” he said. “But you come away from that series with a very limited understanding of the broader context of the Civil War.

“By not looking at that context, you avoid having to take sides,” Carter said. “If you write about the heroism of the Southern soldiers — and my grandfather was one — nobody objects to that. But if you write about why they fought, then you are in the briar patch. Because the truth of the matter is — although the soldiers fought for many reasons — the cornerstone of the Confederacy rested upon slavery.”

Carter said if a Hunley museum is ever built — and a $40 million facility is planned — it will offer an opportunity to teach people about issues like slavery.

Museums have become an important tool for the public to learn about the past, he said. “We’ve had this explosion of interest in museums. More and more, Americans gather their ideas of history, not from dull history classes, but from historical museums.”

Hunley Commission member Randy Burbage said that when a museum is built years from now, officials hope to present the Hunley in the context of naval ships and technology in that era.

“It’s a maritime and naval story, not just involving that night,” he said. “That is one of the unique things of the War Between the States — how technology evolved from the archaic smooth-bore weapons into more modern warfare, including submarines.”

Asked whether slavery should be part of the Hunley’s context, he said, “I don’t have any comment on that right now.”

On the Hunley’s Internet site, the section about history includes no mention of slavery in a brief discussion of the Civil War.

The history section begins, “The Civil War-era was one of industrious innovation, fascination and sweeping cultural change. Not only would the country forever be changed, but warfare would be drastically transformed by the events that unfolded during this armed conflict of brother against brother.”

‘GIVE US SLAVERY OR GIVE US DEATH’

Most authoritative history books these days, such as Walter Edgar’s “South Carolina: A History,” leave little doubt slavery was a main cause of the Civil War.

In South Carolina, historians say, nearly all whites deeply believed the proper function of a black person was to be a slave.

In 1835, S.C. Gov. George McDuffie said “slavery bears the marks of divine approval” and urged execution of anyone urging freedom for slaves. McDuffie’s views were typical of Southern whites of his time. Another South Carolinian, Edward Bryan of what is now Colleton County, put it this way: “Give us slavery or give us death.”

In 1858, one of history’s most famous pro-slavery speeches was given by a South Carolinian, U.S. Sen. James Hammond.

Hammond told fellow senators that it is a law of nature that every society needs a “mud-sill” class to do “menial work, to perform the drudgery of life. This is a class requiring but a low order of intelligence and but little skill. ... ... Fortunately, for the South, she found a race adapted to that purpose. ... We use them for our purpose, and call them slaves.”

Slavery was big business in South Carolina and made riches for slave owners. (More than 40 percent of white S.C. families owned slaves, according to Edgar.)

And 30 years after the Civil War ended, some S.C. whites were yearning to have their slaves back, saying without slaves, white men could not be truly free.

In 1895, at the S.C. Constitutional Convention, delegate George Tillman, a former Edgefield County slave trader and congressman, said: “We (whites) are not a free people. We have not been free since the (Civil) War. ... If we were free, instead of having Negro suffrage, we would have Negro slavery. Instead of having the United States government, we would have the Confederate States government.”

ONE SMALL ENCOUNTER

In the military context of the Civil War, the Hunley’s attack was one small encounter among thousands of skirmishes and battles over four years.

The Hunley’s exploit was Feb. 17, 1864, and did not affect the war’s outcome. Although the Hunley sank a Union ship, a federal blockade continued to cut off Charleston.

At that time, 14 months before the war’s end, there was a lull in the fighting.

The summer before, Gen. Robert E. Lee had failed at Gettysburg in his daring gambit to force the North to yield by invading the Pennsylvania countryside.

Three months after the Hunley’s attack, a huge Union Army under Gen. Ulysses S. Grant started to fight through Virginia to Richmond. The Army would claim victory at Appomattox in April 1865.

Meanwhile, as 1864 wore on, Confederate armies were losing in the west as Union Gen. William T. Sherman rampaged through the South.

In that context, the Hunley’s victory was militarily insignificant.

The most modern comprehensive history of South Carolina, by Edgar, makes only a one-sentence passing reference to the Hunley and doesn’t even include it in its giant index.

However, Edgar does mention another Civil War exploit in Charleston Harbor — the daring 1862 hijacking of a Confederate ship by slave Robert Smalls. Taking a cargo of ammunition and escaping slaves, Smalls posed as a Confederate officer and brought his boat through Confederate lines to the Union blockade.

‘THE WORLD’S FIRST SUBMARINE’

Still, the Hunley has military significance.

In his “The Civil War: A Narrative,” a widely admired trilogy, Shelby Foote devotes three detail-filled pages to the Hunley.

“She was, in short, the world’s first submarine,” Foote writes.

An intriguing historical question is whether the Hunley was built, at least in part, by slaves.

No one knows for sure. But S.C. State historian Hine is willing to speculate.

“Much of the labor in the South was done by slaves, and I would be at least more than mildly surprised if slave labor was not involved either in its direct construction or in the materials that went into the construction,” Hine said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: civilwar; confederate; dixie; hlhunley; hunley; slavery
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-23 last
To: Dr. Juris
Jaffa is credited with Goldwater's famous quote ...

Well, shut my mouth and call me cornpone! I Googled it, and you are indeed correct.

At this point, the only rejoinder that comes to mind is:
HILLARY WAS A "GOLDWATER GIRL" IN '64!

A silly ad hominem, but that just shows how dumbfounded I am by this bit of trivia.

21 posted on 04/11/2004 8:01:40 AM PDT by Madstrider
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Madstrider
The founders told us in what respects we're all equal - in our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (property would have been a better third word).

I take no responsibility for the modern construction of the Constitution - I abominate it. I would probably vote to impeach at least 6 of the current justices for amending the constition by judicial fiat in contravention of the article V amendment procedures.

Can we agree on this: if alive today, Davis or Lincoln, unlike Kerry, would know what to do with Arab Terrorists.
22 posted on 04/11/2004 8:17:05 AM PDT by Dr. Juris
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: aomagrat
I received this e-mail this week from the Friends of the Hunley, I post it here FYI.
I have heard thru the grapevine that there may be a shocker in the facial reconstruction data which may dazzel a few.
Which is why I expect that the above article mentions slaves having a connection to the sub.
If anyone wants more info on this weeks events, drop me a Freepmail and I'll forward any Hunley info to you.
Robe

Subject: Hunley Member Update

Dear FRIENDS of the Hunley:
We have both a solemn and exciting weekahead of us with the Hunley crew finally being given the Burial they have been deprived for over a century. This historic moment would not have been possible without your generous and ongoing support.
There are several items I wanted to share with you that will be going on during the upcoming week.
First, as many as you know, Friends of the Hunley recently completed working with National Geographic to create a second hour-long documentary that will take the viewer along on our process of discovery about the crew.
The documentary will cover the facial reconstruction process and how Hunley staff and consultants are piecing together information to learn more about the crew who manned the first successful combat submarine.
The documentary, titled Forensic Case: The Hunley, will air this Sunday, April 11 on MSNBC at 8PM. Please check your local listings to confirm thatthe show will air at that time in your area.
Secondly, I know many of you will be coming to the Burial on April 17th, but for those of you in South Carolina who cannot attend, the entire procession and service will be aired on ETV's South Carolina Channel on Saturday, April 17th, from 9am - 3pm and then re-broadcast on that night
from 6pm - 12am.
Additionally, ETV will air an edited 90-minute version on Sunday, April 18th at 1.30pm. Finally, starting Monday, April 12, we will be sending you email updates throughout the week so that you can learn more about the Hunley crew in the days before their Burial.
Again, thank you, FRIENDS, for all you have done for the Hunley project.
Warren Lasch
Chairman, Friends of the Hunley

23 posted on 04/11/2004 10:47:08 AM PDT by Robe (Rome did not create a great empire with meetings, they did it by killing all those who opposed them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-23 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson