Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Confederate sub crew to be remembered here

This past weekend I had the honor of attending with my family the burial of the third and final crew of the H.L. Hunley. The Confederate submarine made history on Feb. 17, 1864, when it became the first submarine in history to sink an enemy ship.

After sinking the U.S.S. Housatonic near Charleston, the Hunley headed for home, gave the pre-arranged signal to soldiers on shore via a signal lamp, then disappeared until the year 2000 when it was raised, and the crew’s remains were recovered.

The scientific and historical data collected from the submarine has been well-documented, and will continue to impress as more is learned.

It is, however, the ceremony that prompts me to write. Despite the lackluster coverage by the national and Atlanta media, the event was a spectacular, somber, dignified, and emotionally moving event. The procession that escorted the eight individually horse-drawn caissons, each carrying the Confederate flag-draped coffin of one of the crew, included some 6,000 Confederate reenactors and many others representing both historic and modern military units.

From beginning to end, the column was more than a mile long. It included hundreds of women dressed in period mourning dresses of black, bagpipers from the Citadel and other Scottish organizations, Union reenactment units that paid honor to their fellow Americans. There were hundreds and hundreds of members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. A contingent of ladies from the United Daughters of the Confederacy walked the 4.5 miles to Magnolia Cemetery. The procession was simply awe-inspiring.

I watched the event standing next to a family from Wisconsin. I met people there from Ohio, Colorado, California, Missouri, Arizona, Poland, Germany, England and Australia. All were moved by the sincerity of the crowd and were respectful of the history and heritage of not only South Carolina, but all the South.

The event was televised live across South Carolina, and was the dominant front page story in the Sunday papers of that city. I’m sorry that more of you here were not able to see and know more about this event.

On behalf of the estimated 30,000 people that attended the funeral, we can only say that it was a fitting tribute to eight very brave men who gave their lives fighting for their country in time of war.

These men will be honored again on Monday, April 26, during our annual observance of Confederate Memorial Day. I invite all of our citizens to come to Heritage Park in Fayetteville at 7 p.m., and be witness to a patriotic service that will honor all Confederate veterans that served, and especially those that died, including more than 300 Fayette Countians.

Scott K. Gilbert, Jr.

Commander, Gen. Lafayette McLaws Camp #79

Sons of Confederate Veterans

Fayette County, Ga