A First For The Confederacy

During the Civil War, the Hunley submarine made history.

It became the first submarine disaster when it sank in August 1863, killing five men as it prepared for its trial run for the Confederate cause. It was recovered and sank again during a training exercise. It was resurfaced once again.

This time, on its first combat mission, the Hunley made history by being the first submarine to sink an enemy warship, the Union blockade ship Housatonic. Soon after, it sank for a third and final time, killing nine crewmen. In all, 22 men were killed on the Hunley.

The bodies of at least four of those first five men who died have now been found and are being exhumed to be properly buried. State Senator Glenn McConnell, who also is the chairman of the Hunley Commission, joined CBS This Morning from the archaeological site in Charleston, South Carolina.

Archaeologists began digging Tuesday at The Citadel's Johnson Hagood Stadium. The Hunley's first crew drowned in August 1863 while the experimental sub was moored at Fort Johnson. The stadium is located over what once was a graveyard for destitute mariners. The bodies were supposed to be exhumed by a contractor before the stadium was built, but it has recently come to light that this didn't happen.

"For almost 135 years, we didn't know where they were. Using historical records and tracking, we came back to the site where we were several years ago, digging up Confederate marines and sailors," says Senator McConnell.

McConnell, a Civil War hobbyist, is the chairman of the Hunley Commisson and the person credited with spearheading the Hunley Project. He explains that the Hunley was a secret weapon on a secret mission, making investigation into its fate and that of its crew difficult even now.

The goal now is to inter together the sailors who died in all three incidents. The members of the second crew, who died during a practice dive, were buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, and the bodies of the third crew remain inside the Hunley on the ocean floor.

"Bring the three back together, bring the Hunley back and recondition her a final time for service. That service will be to speak to generations to come in the next millennium. This is a story of bravery," McConnell says.

As for the submarine itself, the wreck of the Hunley was discovered in 1995 and is expected to be raised. The Hunley Project, a $20 million effort, will culminate with the sub being featured in a new $9 million wing of the Charleston Museum.

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