VISITING
THE HUNLEY
by James
Banfield
Seeing History Come Alive:
An exclusive interview with Randy
Burbage
By James
Banfield
In the life of a young
teenager by the name of Randy Burbage, something
important happened. His brother gave him a book
on a Confederate submarine named The H. L.
Hunley. The story, which described the history
of the submarine, fascinated young Randy. It was
the first submarine to sink an enemy ship by
attacking it with a “torpedo”. Also, it was a
long lost confederate submarine that was built
in 1863.
That young man would become
very knowledgeable of the history of H. L.
Hunley and her three crews. Randy read of the
battle of Shiloh and Lt. Dixon. He also read of
Dixon being wounded at Shiloh, and of the gold
coin he carried in his pocket. In battle, a
bullet struck this gold coin, which was in his
pocket, and tore through his leg, lodging in his
buttocks and later removed by the doctor. The
Doctor gave the coin back to him. From that time
on, it was known that Dixon always carried that
Gold coin in His pocket. Such was the legend
told.
Years later, Mr. Burbage
had the opportunity of doing a presentation of
the Hunley and its history for the Govenor of
South Carolina. To make a long story short,
Randy Burbage is now officially with The H. L.
Hunley as he is a member of the Hunley
Commission. Randy was instrumental in bringing
all three crews together in one resting place.
This, in itself, was a major miracle!
8:39AM August 8, 2000,
Randy Burbage, along with many other
dignitaries, stood on deck watching the H. L.
Hunley break the surface of the Atlantic Ocean
after lying on the sea floor for more than 130
years.
Back in the early 1964, 100
years after the sinking of the Hunley, in my own
senior year of high school, I had the unique
privilege of studying The Civil War under a
history teacher who knew how to bring history to
life, especially the Civil War. How I wanted to
go back in time to see the Monitor, the Merrimac
(As the South called her “The Virgina”), and The
Hunley, which was the Confederate submarine that
saw action and sank the “Housatonic”.
Local historian, Ms. Betty
Jane Barker Miller introduced me to Mr. Burbage,
at a meeting of the The Sons of Confederate
Veterams. Mr. Burbage, who is the South Carolina
State Commander of the Sons of Confederate
Veterams, gave the presentation of the Hunley at
that meeting.
The Hunley is located at
the Warren Lasch Conservation Center at the Old
Charleston Naval Base. We were met at the H. L.
Hunley with our host, Randy Burbage
himself.
Randy Burbage & James
Banfield
As we entered the building,
there was a full wall mural of the cast of the
Turner Movie, “The Hunley”. Admission to the
exhibit is only $10.00 each. My first impression
was that there is just so much to see! It
wasn't just the Hunley being exhibited, it was
just about everything related to the Civil War:
weaponry, film presentations, lecture areas, a
souvenir store, amazing. I felt overwhelmed, as
if I was being immersed into history
itself!
Randy Burbage & James
Banfield
Charlie Rook,
with James
Banfield
As we entered the first
exhibit area, ex-submariner, Charlie Rook
greeted us. Charlie described to us how the crew
had to bend over inside the sub. There, before
us was the actual mock-up of the Hunley that was
used for the filming of the inside shots of the
submarine in the movie. Charlie motioned for me
to get in and see how it felt to be in those
close quarters while cranking the propeller.
James Banfield in the "Mock
Up."
James Banfield & Randy
Burbage
There was also an exhibit
of a shoe and other artifacts that were
discovered on board the submarine. I found out
from Mr. Burbage that the whole project was
treated as an “Archaeological dig”. As on an
actual dig, they gridded out the inside of the
submarine as well, charting positions, items,
everything. Nothing was left to
chance.
Over against the wall was a
display of something remarkable, a fiberglass
ring of some sort. We were told of the story of
one man who wanted to take an actual measurement
of the shell of the submarine. The Fiberglass
ring is the result of that effort. We also met,
'Doc' Murray who had a comprehensive display of
various confederate weapon, and other
memorabilia used during the civil war.
Randy Burbage explaining about
the facial
reconstruction.
Next we came to the busts
of the third crew, which was an incredible
exhibit. They took the skulls and created them
up to the point of revealing their physical
facial features. It was so realistic to see
those 8 men's faces and one of them even had a
pipe in his mouth. I asked Randy, “How did they
know to put a pipe in this man's mouth?” His
answer was, “They discovered that his teeth were
worn down from gripping pipes with his teeth.”
There was also a picture above the men's busts
showing their positions in the submarine, and in
the enclosed glass case the busts were in the
order that they were found in the
sub.
In meeting the guard on
duty who was posted at the entry door to the
room that housed the Hunley, we commented that
in no way could the history of what we were
experiencing be relayed through print.
The wonder of seeing, with your own eyes,
the artifacts which are now a part of history,
and the personalities that it took to make up a
combined crew, was awe inspiring.
These brave men who gave
their lives in doing what they felt they had to
do, just seemed to come alive before our very
eyes! You could sense the reverence for those
who gave their lives, as well as the historical
ramifications of everything around you.
Ahead, an incredible
experience is conveyed through print and
pictures of an impossible mission given to Randy
Burbage and yet, even in adverse conditions, the
mission was accomplished.
In the above section we saw
the beginning of the Tour of the Hunley, now we
can see the Hunley herself! Yes, finally, we
came to the Hunley herself! We went up a set of
stairs to view the Hunley, which was still lying
at the same angle she was when lying on the
floor of the sea. The truss, which was used to
bring her up from the bottom of the ocean, was
right there holding her up in water that was
being monitored at 67 degrees.
You could see the
bow-plane, the port-hole in the forward “conning
tower”, which was merely a small hatch lifted up
above the surface of the submarie. The place
where the spar was mounted of the lower part of
the bow, even the upper small spar to control
the rope that would detonate the charge that
would be left behind after ramming its prey. You
could see the propeller aft of the
ship.
There I was remembering my
classroom back in California, reading about the
history of a submarine that was driven by shear
man-power and now here I was standing right in
front of history! H. L. Hunley's design was
right before me. I had a myriad of questions for
Mr. Burbage and he gladly answered therm all. I
could barely take it all in.
Then we were in for a
special surprise! Mr. Burbage led us to the
other side of the submarine and we were able to
actually see inside the historical submarine.
You could see the hand-crank and the bow-plane
lever used by Lt. Dixon. I asked Mr. Burbage,
“Whose position was that in the opening?” and
his answer was quick and decisive, “That was
Becker's position. Dixon's was just in front of
him on the other side.”
Coming down off the high
platform, we had one more stop along the way. I
have to admit, this one was special. Critics
scoffed at the idea and the history of a gold
coin that was supposedly carried around by Lt.
Dixon. Some have said it was just a silly
legend, of a gold coin being carried by Dixon
which was dug out of him by a doctor at the
Battle of Shiloh. Yet, when chief archaeologist
Maria Jocobsen was about to lift out the lower
part of Dixon, she felt a surrogated ridged
coin. She knew what it was and at that moment
the legend, the so-called “myth” , became a
substantiated reality. Randy told us the story
of the first time he saw the coin and actually
held it!
You could see the amazing
excitement as he was telling it and reliving it.
So incredible, so blessed was this man, to be
involved in such a project! Wait until you see
the coin, the ring and the broach, which are
encased in a glass case. This in itself was like
icing on the cake!
Randy Burbage & James
Banfield
Magnolia Cemetary, Charleston,
SC
We thanked Mr. Burbage for
the exclusive tour, but we had one more stop yet
to go – the final resting place of the crew of
The Hunley. On our way to Magnolia Cemetery,
where a lot of the South's military are buried,
Mr. Burbage told us of his search for the crew
of the Hunley, and how one 5' stone pillar with
36 names inscribed on it started him on the
quest to find the crews of the Hunley. This
incredible story can be found in the book, “The
Raising of the Hunley” by Brian Hicks and
Schuler Kropf, published by Ballatine Books.
He stopped about midway
into the cemetery (Magnolia Cemeter) and we got
out and there was a line of new grave markers.
All of them were Confederate war heroes. He
mentioned how through a fiasco of some kind, the
stone markers of the old cemetery were removed,
but the graves were left untouched as they built
a football stadium over the cemetery.
Incredible.
After years of research
Randy was able to feel confident where they
laid. All tolled, there were 62 bodies uncovered
at the stadium. 57 were right there in the
middle of the cemetery in the same proximity as
the 5' pillar that started Mr. Burbage on the
search for those listed on the pillar. This was
an incredible, exciting experience as we were
being told the story first hand!
The awesome, reverent
moment when Randy just kneedled before the first
oversized casket of the remains of the first
crewmen, knowing that he had found the missing
crew members, and there is so much history about
how the members were discovered that you need to
read of it all in the book mentioned above.
Graves of the last 8 man crew of
the Hunley
We then drove about a
minute to the very back of the cemetery, and
there was the whole plot, with all 21 of the
Hunley's crewmembers together. Two full 8 man
crews and one 5 man crew, of which 3 of the
original crewmembers escaped the first sinking
of the Hunley. What was amazing, was that in the
crew of the second sinking, there was a young
man of 14 +/- a couple of years. His skeleton
was of a very small stature.
AS we stood there in front
of the plot, I felt such reverence, standing
before all 21 crewmembers, knowing that these 21
men gave their lives in the service of the
Confederacy. There to the left of me, was the resting
place of the final 8 man crew that was on the
Hunley when she was raised from the floor of the
Atlantic Ocean. They are all in the same order
as they were on board the submarine. I felt such
an honor to be there before these men. It was
obvious that the graves were special to Randy,
since he was picking up debris from off of some
of the graves.
Randy Burbage &
James Banfield
Magnolia Cemetary, Charleston,
SC
All the crewmembers of the
Hunley are more than just names and faces to
this man, Randy, who was instrumental in
bringing all three crews of the Hunley together
in one plot. I sensed they were “brothers” to
him.
You know, I think I heard
something, or was it just my
imagination?
Someone was calling out
“Roll Call”:
“Capt. H. L. Hunley? Here
...
Frank Doyle? Here
...
John Kelly? Here
...
Absolum Williams? Here
...
Nicholas Davis? Here
...
Michael Cane? Here
...
Thomas Park? Here
...
Robert Brockbank? Here
...
Joseph Patterson? Here
...
Charles Sprague? Here
...
Henry Beard? Here
...
John Marshall? Here
...
Charles McHugh? Here
...
(And the last
crew)
Lt. George Dixon? Here
...
Arnold Becker? Here
...
James Wicks? Here
...
Fred Collins? Here ...
Mr. C. Simpkins? Here ...
Joseph Ridgeway? Here ...
Mr. C.E. Carlson? Here ...
Mr. Miller? Here ...
And I heard Mr. Burbage
say, “The Hunley's Crew is all present and
accounted for, Sir!”
“Thank You Mr. Burbage,
post the watch!”
And Mr. Burbage, The
Honorary 22nd Crew Member of the
Hunley, who brought them altogether, said, “Aye
Aye Captain.”
Yes indeed, today was like
“Seeing History Come Alive” and when you visit
“The H. L. Hunley” at the Old Charleston Naval
Shipyard, you will see history come alive,
too.
