Dear Reader:
Thursday afternoon I was back in the ” blog room” when I heard a knock and the wonderful ” Miss ” Jo” ( Dufford) was coming through the door calling out to me…” Remember now…you were ” Second Choice.”
” You got lucky today!” she laughed and held out a box filled with a huge sandwich, dressing, pasta … Jo continued ” I was taking it to a couple who have both been under the weather but neither was home…. so…..”
” So by default I get this scrumptious looking lunch?” I replied. ” You just happened to be the closest house on my way home.. said Jo… so you won the ” Second Choice prize meal!”
Not only was I honored but also famished… a win-win for me… especially since I needed some more information on an historical keepsake that Jo had given me for Christmas and I wanted to re-tell the story. And here it is!
” The Secret Story Inside the Hunley”
Charleston is known for its historical sites but ever since the Civil War submarine ( The Hunley) was pulled up from its watery grave ( sank in 1864) on August 8, 2000 it has found its home in the Hunley Museum… or Warren Lasch Conservation Center-Cooper river.
( *** Mandy remembers she was one of hundreds of spectators watching the Hunley being raised in her dad’s boat but, unfortunately, the water was choppy with so many boats and she got so seasick she was previously pre-occupied hanging over the railing and missed the historic moment as it broke through the surface. )
Today the love story, however, of the romance between Lt. George Dixon and his fiancée Queenie Bennett, who gave him a $ 20 dollar Double Eagle gold piece to put in his pocket as a lucky charm… captures the tourists’ immediate attention… especially when they hear how it saved his leg and life at the Battle of Shiloh.
A musket ball hit him in the thigh… normally costing him his leg ( and because of the unsanitary amputation procedures) usually one’s life… except he had the gold coin in his pants pocket… the coin was bent but took the brunt of the musket ball.
( Today these bent gold coins are sold as souvenirs along with a short paragraph telling about the romance and the battle of Shiloh… but when Jo went… she lucked up and one of the archaeologist conservationists, who had actually held the coin that was in the vest pocket of Dixon’s remains/ having fallen out… had handwritten these notes. Just amazing!!! Lucky Jo and she gave it to me… my luck continues! ) What a gift Jo!
Though Dixon kept a permanent limp he still understood how fortunate he was but little did he know a greater fate awaited him on February 17, 1864 in the dark waters outside Charleston harbor.
On that night Lt. Dixon commanded the CSS Hunley, the first submarine in history to sink an enemy ship in battle. He and seven crew men slipped beneath the water in the hand-cranked submarine-navigating toward the Union warship USS Housatonic.
They deposited the charge and back propelled as quickly as possible so the union vessel could be detonated by a pull cord. The explosion sank the Housatonic in under five minutes but, unfortunately, it also sent Dixon and his crew to the bottom of the Charleston Harbor… becoming their tomb.
After securing the submarine in the museum tank… in 2000, the gold coin was found near the hull where the commander had sat… probably fallen this time from a vest pocket. It bore the initials G. E. D. and inscription ” My Life Preserver.” ( Many historians agree that it might seem like ” the lucky charm” had lost its charm the second time around… but instead, they reason, it allowed Dixon to find his true place in history.)
Now you know there would be no way for ghost stories not to circulate from this tragedy… since ghost stories abound in Charleston. ( Even when the Hunley crew were being interred in Magnolia cemetery… many apparitions appeared in snapshots taken during the funeral.) And since it is February now… here’s a couple of sightings for you.
1) Today, every February 17, if one goes to Charleston Harbor-the water’s edge, you might just see a light in the distance, hovering just above the surface of the water. The Hunley crew were instructed to surface and light a signal lantern, after sinking the Union war ship – Housatonic. Witnesses back then reported seeing a light right after the warship sank.
Other strollers and tourists today, walking by Charleston Harbor in the evenings around February… have reported seeing the ghost submarine surface for a few minutes when the moon is full before returning into the dark waters.
So until tomorrow… now you see why being ” second choice” sometimes can still earn you the gold? ( Thank you Jo for my historical artifact that I will treasure forever.
Today is my favorite day! Winnie the Pooh
