From
November-December 2004
Confederate
Submarine
H. L. Hunley
Herbert S. Goldberg, 33°
Freemasons and Civil War Re-enactors
were essential parts of elaborate ceremonies in Charleston,
S.C., honoring the
crew of the H. L. Hunley, a Confederate submarine whose commander,
George E. Dixon, was a Mason. Photos:
Ill. McDonald L. “Don” Burbidge,
33°,
Valley of Charleston, S.C.
Charleston, South Carolina, is
known as the “Holy City” since its skyline largely
consists of a multitude of church steeples. Charleston is
also called the “Historical City” because of
the numerous historical events that have occurred there before,
during and after the Revolutionary War. While driving along
the Battery of Charleston Harbor, you will observe the numerous
cannons installed along the edge of White Point Gardens.
These cannons are remnants of the Revolutionary and Civil
Wars. From this same Battery, the first shots of the Civil
War were fired on Fort Sumter by Citadel Cadets in an attempt
to remove the Union soldiers stationed there.
One of the major historical events that occurred in Charleston
happened in February 17, 1864, when the Confederate submarine, H.
L. Hunley, commanded by Lt. George
E. Dixon, sank the Union blockader, Housatonic, an accomplishment way
ahead of that day and time. This was the third crew to make an attempt to sail
a "torpedo" that
operated underwater. The first crew sank the sub at the dock, and five of the
eight crewmen drowned. Next, Horace Hunley accidently sank the sub in the
middle
of the harbor, killing himself and seven others. Bro. Hunley was a Master Mason,
who served as Secretary of Mt. Moriah Lodge #59 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Other
Masons involved were: James R. McClintock (Mobile, Ala., #40), William Alexander
(Mobile, Ala., #40), John R. Fretwell (Lavaca Lodge #36, Lavaca, Texas, and Grand
Master
of
Texas,
1868), and Edgar Singer (Lavaca Lodge #36).
These setbacks and frustrations nearly consummed Lt. Dixon.
The Confederates wanted action, not excuses. His mission
was to sink an enemy warship by means of a tiny
iron boat that sailed beneath the waves. It didn’t matter that such a
feat had never been done before. Dixon was desperately trying to keep the strange “fish-boat” from
claiming a third crew. The Confederacy needed a victory, and a lot of people
hoped to get it from this little privateer torpedo boat, this submarine, the
H. L. Hunley.
William Alexander, a machinist, designed some of the Confederacy's
deadly guns. But in late 1862, Dixon’s friend was working
on a less conventional project. His machine shop, Park and
Lyons, was helping a group of entrepreneurs build
a torpedo boat that would operate underwater. James McClintock was the designer/engineer.
While some folks laughed at the notion, Dixon was taken
with the idea. The way the boat worked was deceptively simple.
It carried a crew of five, four
men to
power the propeller with handcranks, and a fifth to steer. Ballast tanks
took on and expelled water to control the level at which the sub sailed.
The boat,
called the American Diver, went through months of delays before it was
launched in the winter of 1863. It was lost while under tow
near the mouth of Mobile
Bay. After finding new investors, the designers and engineers went back
to the drawing
board. The new submarine benefited from two years of trial and error. It
was 40 feet long, carried a crew of eight, dove underwater, and resurfaced
gracefully.
The need for this secret weapon was more needed in Charleston than in Mobile,
so it was secreted by rail across the South.
Lt. Dixon and William Alexander, the sub’s designer, persuaded Gen. P.
G. T. Beauregard, the sub’s owner, to give the "fish-boat" another
chance. They had divers salvage it from the Cooper River channel. Together,
the two men refurbished the sub in Mount Pleasant. Dixon raised a crew,
taking most
of the men from the CSS Indian Chief. He felt that he had the right crew
and the right boat. After many practice sailings, Dixon was waiting for
the right
weather conditions. On February 17, 1864, The H. L. Hunley finally sailed
on its final voyage. The Housatonic was sunk, but unfortunately the Hunley never
surfaced and took Dixon and the crew to their deaths.
Since records of the submarine and its crew were never
kept, no official duty or pay records were found. The Confederate
Navy was unclear who
the crew members
were or even the number of crew members on board. The H. L. Hunley became a mystery, one which lingered for 140 years in the
ocean off the coast
of South
Carolina.
The submarine was finally located in 1995. On August 8, 2000, the vessel
was raised from its watery grave with a great deal of fanfare and was
placed on
a barge and taken up the Cooper River to the old Naval Base. Crowds
of people lined
the shore to watch the sub go by, and many boats accompanied it up
the river. Much of what is known about the crew of the Hunley comes from
forensic and
genealogical science and historical research accomplished on the interior
of the submarine
since it was raised from the ocean.
The Hunley was placed at the Warren Lasch Conservation
Lab in North Charleston, and over the next few years was
partially disassembled
by removing hull
plates and carefully removing the debris within the hull, spoonful
by spoonful, until the bones of the crewmen and articles of personal
belongings
were
found.
Tours
of the Hunley will be available at the Conservation Lab at $10 per
visitor.
Now came time to bid farewell to the third and final crew
of the H. L. Hunley. On Saturday, April 17, 2004,
which began as a rather
warm
day,
Civil War
re-enactors prepared for full military honors for the final eight
sailors from the Confederate
submarine H. L. Hunley. The entire Grand Lodge lines from
Alabama and South Carolina were present at the funeral. The Grand
Lodge officers of Alabama opened Mobile Lodge #40 (now known as
McCormick-Mobile #40) at a breakfast meeting on the day of the
funeral. Bro. Randy Burbage, the leader of Charleston's re-enactors,
a member of the
state Hunley
Commission,
and also
Chairman of the Hunley Funeral Committee,
delivered part of the eulogy for the eight sailors at the
Battery
in White Point Garden. Afterwards, the march began down East Bay
Street to Magnolia Cemetery to the sailor’s final resting
place, a distance of four miles. The Masonic procession had about
50 Masons, and hundreds of other Masons were present at the cemetery,
where they participated in the "Funeral Grand Honors" (an
innovation made to the 1843 funeral service). Many re-enactors
wore woolen
uniforms which made if very difficult to
march that
distance in the heat. The eight bodies were placed on horse-drawn
caissons. Besides the uniformed re-enactors,
the procession included the Scottish American Military Bagpipers,
The Cabell-Breckinridge Brass Band from Virginia Military Academy,
and a multitude of Masonic Brothers
all decked out in tuxedos, aprons, and collars. Women re-enactors
were also in the march dressed in black long dresses, depicting
bereaved widows. The streets
were lined with crowds of people observing this historical event.
The entire event from the eulogy at the Battery, the procession,
and the funeral service
was displayed on television.
The procession arrived at Magnolia Cemetery where music
was played by the 5th Alabama Band, the 8th Georgia Band,
and the Citadel
Bagpipers. Approximately
50,000 spectators and re-enactors gathered at the cemetery to
witness the funeral
ceremony. After prayers by the attending clergy, Senator Glenn
F. McConnell, Chairman of the Hunley Commission, gave the following
speech:
WE ARE HERE TODAY TO HONOR EIGHT MEN WHOSE LIVES AND DEATHS
HAVE CREATED AN AMAZING LEGACY. IT IS A LEGACY THAT WILL
SERVE TO
INSPIRE THE WORLD
FOR GENERATIONS
TO
COME.
THE LEGACY BEGAN ON FEBRUARY 17, 1864. ON A COLD WINTER’S
NIGHT, THESE EIGHT MEN TOOK THE FIRST STEPS FROM THEIR LODGINGS
TO BATTERY MARSHALL ON SULLIVAN'S
ISLAND TO THE PLACE WHERE THE H. L. HUNLEY WAS DOCKED, AWAITING
THEIR ARRIVAL.
THE STEPS THEY TOOK ALONG THAT PATH CONTINUE
TO ECHO DOWN
THE CORRIDORS OF TIME. THEIR STEPS LAUNCHED A JOURNEY WE
CONTINUE
TODAY.
AS THEY WALKED THE SHORT DISTANCE TO THE SEA, BEFORE THE
SUN WOULD RISE AGAIN, THESE EIGHT MEN WOULD CHANGE THE WORLD.
THE POET HENRY LONGFELLOW WROTE A PASSAGE THAT CARRIES
SPECIAL MEANING FOR US. HE WROTE:
"LIVES OF GREAT MEN REMIND US
WE CAN MAKE OUR LIVES SUBLIME
AND DEPARTING LEAVE BEHIND US
FOOTPRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME;
FOOTPRINTS, THAT PERHAPS ANOTHER
SAILING O'ER LIFE'S SOLEMN MAIN,
A FORLORN AND SHIPWRECKED BROTHER,
SEEING, SHALL TAKE HEART AGAIN."
THE CREW MEMBERS WHO WALKED TOWARD THEIR DESTINY THAT NIGHT
WERE YOUNG MEN IN THE PRIME OF LIFE, A BAND OF BROTHERS,
FILLED WITH
HOPE FOR
THE FUTURE.
WE CAN ONLY WONDER WHAT THOUGHTS FILLED THEIR MINDS. MOST
PROBABLY, THEY WERE THINKING OF THEIR FAMILIES--THEIR HEARTS
FILLED
WITH LOVE FOR THEIR
LOVED ONES
AND THE HOMES THEY DREAMED OF RETURNING TO AT WAR’S
END.
AS THEY WALKED THROUGH THE NIGHT, THEY MUST HAVE GLANCED
AT EACH OTHER. THEY MUST HAVE STUDIED THE FACES, THE EXPRESSIONS,
THE
BEARING, OF
THEIR COMRADES.
TO ALL APPEARANCES, THESE WERE NORMAL MEN READY TO PERFORM
A TASK.
THEY HAD TO KNOW THE STAKES WERE HIGH. THEY HAD TO KNOW
THAT THE RISK THEY WERE TAKING WAS EXTREME. BUT THEY PROBABLY
DID NOT IMAGINE
THAT
THE FOOTPRINTS
THEY
WERE MAKING ALONG THAT PATH THAT NIGHT WOULD LEAVE SUCH A
LARGE AND PERMANENT IMPRINT ON THE SANDS OF TIME.
ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY YEARS AGO, THIS CITY WAS IN SHOCK.
CHARLESTON WAS UNDER SIEGE, ISOLATED BY MILITARY BLOCKADES,
CONSTANTLY
ROCKED BY ENEMY
FIRE. THE
MISERY, THE SUFFERING, AND THE FEAR THAT GRIPPED THE CITY
WERE PALPABLE.
NOT ONE OF THESE EIGHT MEN CAME FROM THIS CITY. IN FACT,
NONE OF THEM WERE FROM SOUTH CAROLINA. MOST WERE NOT NATIVE
SOUTHERNERS.
HALF WERE
NOT EVEN
BORN IN
AMERICA. AND YET, THESE MEN VOLUNTEERED TO BOARD AN EXPERIMENTAL
AND DANGEROUS CRAFT TO SAVE THIS CITY FROM DESTRUCTION. THEY
BEGAN
A JOURNEY
INTO THE
DARKNESS IN ORDER TO GIVE LIGHT TO THOSE THEY LEFT BEHIND.
BY TODAY'S STANDARDS, THE EIGHT MEN OF THE HUNLEY WERE
MOSTLY SLIGHT IN BUILD. AND YET THEY CARRIED THE WEIGHT OF
THIS
CITY ON THEIR
SHOULDERS AS THEY LAUNCHED
A DESPERATE EFFORT TO DEFEND THE PEOPLE OF CHARLESTON. CONFIDENCE,
BRAVERY, AND FAITH LET THEM ON CRANK BY CRANK ON WHAT WOULD
BE MORE THAN THEY
KNEW--THE
LONG
JOURNEY HOME. THEIR MORTAL REMAINS WOULD DISAPPEAR INTO THE
DARKNESS AND FOR 136 YEARS, THEIR CORPSES WOULD REST SILENTLY
IN A WATERY
GRAVE BENEATH
THE
OCEAN’S
FOAM.
THEN ON AUGUST 8, 2000, AT APPROXIMATELY 8:35 AM, 136 YEARS
AFTER THEY BEGAN THEIR MISSION THEY WOULD LIFT OFF THE BOTTOM
OF THE
ATLANTIC OCEAN, STILL
IN THEIR DUTY STATIONS, AND BEGIN AGAIN THE LONG JOURNEY
HOME. FOR THE WORLD AND
FOR THEM, THE LONG WAIT WAS OVER. AS THEY APPROACHED THE
GROUND THEY SOUGHT TO DEFEND, THOSE WHO KNEW THEM IN PERSON
WERE GONE,
BUT THOSE
WHO KNEW
THEM IN SPIRIT
WERE WAITING. THE EMPTY DAYS OF WAIT HAD PASSED TO A CROWDED
DAY OF
HOMECOMING AND APPRECIATION. WHAT WAS ONCE A MILITARY SECRET
HAD BECOME A HISTORICAL
AND TECHNOLOGICAL WONDER. IN THE CREW’S LOSS, THERE
WAS NOW THIS GREAT GAIN.
TODAY, WE REPAY THAT DEBT OF THEIR
CARRYING THE BURDENS OF
OUR CITY ON THEIR SHOULDERS BY CARRYING EACH OF THEM ON OURS.
UNTIL
THIS TIME,
140
YEARS AFTER
THEIR SACRIFICE, THESE MEN WERE MOSTLY ANONYMOUS TO US. WE
KNEW A FEW OF THEIR NAMES BUT NONE OF THEIR FACES. THE FACTS
OF THEIR
LIVES
WERE
SHROUDED
IN MYSTERY.
TODAY, AT THIS PLACE AND AT THIS TIME, WE CAN MEET THEM.
WE CAN SAY HELLO EVEN AS WE SAY GOODBYE.
FIRST THERE WAS THE COMMANDER, GEORGE DIXON.
AS HE WALKED ALONG THE PATH TO BREACH INLET THAT NIGHT,
HIS THOUGHTS PROBABLY FOCUSED ON HIS DUTIES. THE SUCCESS
OR FAILURE
OF THE
MISSION WAS IN HIS
CHARGE. BUT HE PROBABLY ALSO WONDERED WHAT HIS LOVE, QUEENIE
BENNETT, WAS DOING THAT
NIGHT. CHANCES ARE THAT HE HOPED THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION
OF THIS MISSION MIGHT MEAN HE WOULD SEE HER AGAIN SOON. HE
PROBABLY
HOPED
SHE WAS PRAYING
FOR HIM AND
THAT SHE WOULD NOT WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT HIS SAFETY.
OF ONE THING WE CAN BE CERTAIN: HE WAS CHECKING HIS LEFT
POCKET, TENDERLY CARESSING THE 20 DOLLAR GOLD PIECE HE ALWAYS
KEPT
THERE. IT WAS HIS
LIFE PRESERVER, THE
GIFT SHE HAD GIVEN HIM FOR GOOD LUCK. HE DERIVED COMFORT
FROM THE HOPE THAT THE COIN WOULD HELP HIM THROUGH THE NEXT
FEW
HOURS, PROTECTING
HIM FROM HARM,
JUST
AS IT HAD AT THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. GEORGE DIXON KNEW HE HAD
ASSEMBLED AN EXTRAORDINARY CREW, A CREW HE DESCRIBED IN A
LETTER AS THE
BEST HE HAD
EVER SEEN.
WALKING WITH HIM THAT NIGHT WAS JOSEPH RIDGAWAY, THE SECOND
IN COMMAND. JOSEPH WAS A 28-YEAR-OLD NATIVE OF MARYLAND WITH
MUCH
EXPERIENCE
ON SHIPS.
WALKING CLOSE BY, DIXON COULD SEE JAMES WICKS, A TRUE VETERAN
OF NAVAL CONFLICTS. WICKS HAD SERVED IN THE UNITED STATES
NAVY FOR
20 YEARS
BEFORE JOINING THE
CONFEDERACY.
RIDGAWAY AND WICKS, BOTH 5' 10" TALL, WERE ALSO BOTH
EXPERIENCED AT SEA. THEY COULD BE COUNTED ON TO HANDLE THE
REAR BALLAST TANK VALVE, THE PUMP, AND
THE FLYWHEEL BRAKE, ALL CRITICAL ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE MISSION
AT HAND. AS THE CREW WALKED THROUGH THE NIGHT, DIXON COULD
ALSO SEE ARNOLD BECKER, A 19-YEAR
OLD SEAMAN, THE YOUNGEST MEMBER OF THE TEAM. BORN IN GERMANY,
STILL SPEAKING WITH A THICK ACCENT, BECKER HAD WORKED AS
A RIVERBOAT SAILOR AND SERVED ON A NUMBER
OF BOATS, INCLUDING THE INDIAN CHIEF. AT 5' 5 1/2",
BECKER COULD EASILY SLIP INTO THE OPERATION OF THE BELLOWS
TO BRING FRESH AIR INTO THE UNDERWATER
CRAFT SOON TO BE KNOWN AS THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL SUBMARINE
IN THE WORLD.
WALKING WITH BECKER WAS ANOTHER EUROPEAN, A
SAILOR NAMED
C. SIMPKINS, WHO HAD ALSO SERVED ON THE INDIAN CHIEF. AT
44 YEARS
OF AGE,
STANDING 5' 10", SIMPKINS
COULD BE COUNTED ON TO HELP KEEP THE POWER IN THE CRANK.
DIXON, RIDGAWAY, WICKS, BECKER, AND SIMPKINS WERE JOINED
THAT NIGHT BY THREE OTHERS. ONE WAS FRANK COLLINS, A 23-YEAR-OLD
SEAMAN WHO
STOOD A
FULL SIX
FEET TALL. CONFIDENT AND POWERFUL, COLLINS HAD ALSO SERVED
ON THE INDIAN CHIEF.
THE FINAL TWO MEN WHO WALKED DOWN THE PATH TO THE SEA WERE
CORPORAL CARLSON AND PRIVATE MILLER. CARLSON HAD A BACKGROUND
IN THE GERMAN
LIGHT ARTILLERY.
MILLER
WAS AN INFANTRYMAN. BOTH WERE TOUGH AND WELL-PREPARED TO
TURN THE CRANKS THAT WOULD POWER THE HUNLEY ON ITS SECRET
JOURNEY.
WHEN THEY ARRIVED AT BREACH INLET THAT NIGHT, ALL EIGHT
CLIMBED INTO THE BELLY OF THE HUNLEY, MANNED THEIR STATIONS
AND SLIPPED
AWAY INTO
THE DARKNESS
OF
THE SEA. WE KNOW THEY KEPT THEIR APPOINTMENT WITH HISTORY
THAT NIGHT. WE KNOW THAT
THE COURAGE AND THE HEROISM THEY BROUGHT TO THEIR MISSION
ROSE TO THE LEVEL OF LEGEND. BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY ACHIEVED
THAT
NIGHT MARITIME
HISTORY AND
TECHNOLOGY MANKIND USES TO CONQUER THE SEA CHANGED ON OUR
PLANET FOR
ALL TIME.
BUT THE WORLD HAS NEVER BEEN GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO HONOR
THESE MEN UNTIL TODAY. AND IT IS FOR THAT PURPOSE THAT SO
MANY AMERICANS,
AND
SO MANY PEOPLE
FROM AROUND
THE WORLD, HAVE GATHERED HERE TODAY FOR THIS SOLEMN OCCASION.
BY INEXPLICABLY FAILING TO RETURN HOME, WE ARE REMINDED OF
THE UNPREDICTABILITY
OF
LIFE AND OUR OWN MORTALITY. IN THE SOLEMN REMEMBRANCE OF
THEM, WE ARE REMINDED
OF
THE POSSIBILITIES
THAT EXIST BECAUSE OF OUR COMMUNION WITH GOD.
A WISE PRIEST ONCE SAID THAT THE BEST HOMILY THAT COULD
EVER BE PREACHED IS WRITTEN BY A LIFE WELL-LIVED. THAT IS
THE
LIVES OF
THE CREW OF
THE HUNLEY:
WHO SAW DUTY AND DID IT,
WHO SAW DANGER AND CONFRONTED IT,
WHO SAW TRUTH AND FOLLOWED IT,
WHO SAW NEED AND SATISFIED IT,
WHO SAW HOME AND DEFENDED IT,
WHO SAW FAITH AND FOLLOWED IT.
THESE WERE MEN, BY THE JOURNEY OF THEIR LIVES AND THEIR
ADHERENCE TO FAITH, POINTED US IN THE DIRECTION OF GREATNESS.
THEY HAVE TAUGHT US THAT LIFE IS A PRECIOUS GIFT FROM GOD
THAT WE SHOULD CHERISH EACH DAY. THEY HAVE REMINDED US THAT
DEATH
IS BUT
A GATEWAY
TO LIFE EVERLASTING
FOR THOSE WHOSE FAITH IS STRONG. AND THEY HAVE ILLUSTRATED,
HEROICALLY, FOR ALL TIME, WHAT THE GOSPELS TEACH US, “THAT GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS,
THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE ON BEHALF OF OTHERS.”
AS AN ARTICLE OF FAITH, I BELIEVE THE EIGHT MEN OF THE
HUNLEY ARE WATCHING OVER US TODAY. WITH THE HELP OF GOD,
WHO IS
THE ALPHA
AND THE OMEGA,
THE BEGINNING AND THE END, THEY HAVE BEEN RETURNED TO US,
AND FROM THE OLD
THERE IS THE NEW.
WHEN WE LIFTED THE HUNLEY FROM THE SEA, WHEN WE BROUGHT
HER LOVINGLY BACK TO THIS CITY, AND EVEN AS WE CONTINUE TO
TELL
HER STORY
AND TO PRESERVE HER DIGNITY
FOR ALL TIME, I BELIEVE THE SPIRIT OF THESE EIGHT MEN HAS
BEEN WITH US AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE WITH US. IN THESE MOMENTS,
WE ARE UPLIFTED
BY
THE
ETERNAL
TRUTH
THAT THE SPIRIT IS GREATER THAN THE FLESH AND IN DEATH THERE
IS LIFE.
TODAY, WE CONTEMPLATE THE STEPS THEY TOOK 140 YEARS AGO--THE
STEPS THAT LED THEM FROM THE SAFETY OF THEIR LODGINGS TO
THEIR INCREDIBLE
SACRIFICE
AND
ULTIMATELY TO THEIR APPOINTMENT WITH DESTINY. WE ARE TOGETHER
WITH THEM ON THE LAST LEG
OF THE JOURNEY HOME, SHARING THE MEMORIES OF THEIR LOSS AND
SHARING THEIR SUCCESS. IN GOD'S GRACE, FOR THEM AND FOR US,
IT IS NOT
THE END BUT THE
BEGINNING. WE
TAKE PRIDE IN THEIR BRAVERY, AND WE MARVEL AT THEIR INVENTIVENESS.
WE SEE THEIR IMAGES AND SENSE IN OUR MEMORIES THEIR CLOSENESS,
EVEN THOUGH
TIME
HAS PROVIDED
US GREAT DISTANCE. AND LIKE OLD FRIENDS, WE GRIEVE AT THEIR
DEATHS.
THOSE QUIET FOOTSTEPS, TAKEN SO LONG AGO ON FEBRUARY 17,
1864, ARE NOW HONORED AND MAGNIFIED ON THIS OCCASION BY THE
THANKFUL
THUNDER
OF THE
THOUSANDS OF
NEW FOOTSTEPS, OF MEN AND WOMEN FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD,
WHO HAVE COME TO THIS PLACE
TO HONOR THESE EIGHT EXTRAORDINARY PIONEERS.
WE ARE REMINDED IN THE GOSPEL THAT ON THE FIRST EASTER
AN ANGEL SPOKE TO MARY AND SAID, "WHY DO YOU SEEK THE LIVING AMONGST THE DEAD?" WE NEED TO
HEED THAT REMINDER. THEY ARE NOT HERE IN THOSE COFFINS. THEY HAVE GONE AHEAD.
THUS, LET THEM BE OUR COMPASS, NOT OUR SORROW, FOR THEY POINT US TO IMMORTALITY.
OUR EMOTIONS THUS BECOME ONES OF APPRECIATION, NOT SADNESS.
WELCOME HOME. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COURAGE. THANK YOU FOR
YOUR ACCHIEVEMENT. YOUR JOURNEY IS NOW COMPLETE. YOU KNOW
ALL THAT YOU LOST AND ALL THAT YOU WON. YOUR
LASTING LEGACY BECOMES A REMINDER THAT FREEDOM DID NOT COME EASY FOR ANY GENERATION
OF AMERICANS AND THAT FOR FREEDOM TO ENDURE FOR GENERATIONS TO COME, FAITH
AND COURAGE LIKE THAT EXHIBITED BY THE MEN OF THE HUNLEY MUST BE MADE TIME AND AGAIN
UNTIL THE END OF TIME. AND THOSE OF US STILL LIVING MAKE THIS SOLEMN PLEDGE:
FOR SO LONG AS WE LIVE, WE SHALL NOT FORGET YOU, AND WE WILL LET YOUR LEGACY
INSPIRE US TO DO SUCH GREAT WORKS THAT WE ALSO MAY HEAR FROM THE SUPREME COMMANDER
OF THE HUNLEY ON OUR LAST DAY, "WELL DONE."
SO, TO LT. GEORGE E. DIXON AND SEAMAN ARNOLD BECKER, QUARTERMASTER
C. SIMPKINS, SEAMAN FRANK G. COLLINS, CORPORAL J. F. CARLSON,
PRIVATE J. MILLER, BOATSWAIN
MATE JAMES A WICKS, AND QUARTERMASTER JOSEPH RIDGAWAY, GOODBYE UNTIL WE MEET
AGAIN.
GOD BLESS YOUR SOULS. GOD BLESS US ALL. AND GOD BLESS AMERICA.
Following Senator McConnell’s speech, a Masonic funeral
was held for Lt. George E. Dixon since he was a Freemason
and a member of Mobile Lodge No. 40,
of Mobile, Alabama. After a brief introduction by MWB Jack A. Marler, 33°,
Grand Master of Ancient Freemasons in South Carolina, W. Bro. Wayne
E. Sirmon, 33°, Valley
of Mobile, Ala.; Chairman, Masonic Education Committee, Grand
Lodge of Ala.; and Past Master of McCormick-Mobile Lodge
No. 40, performed the Masonic
funeral
service which
was published by the Baltimore Masonic Convention of 1843.
There were six brothers
representing the Civil War Lodge of Research, No. 1865, AF & AM, members
of the South Carolina Masonic Research Society, Masons from Alabama, South
Carolina and a few others in attendance. Masonry received great exposure before
the thousand
attendees and the thousands who viewed the ceremony on television.
It was noted that Bro. Dixon received the Entered Apprentice
Degree on April 20, 1863, passed to the Fellowcraft Degree
on April 27, 1863, and raised to the
Sublime Degree of Master Mason on May 4, 1863. He was also a Royal Arch Mason.
Following the Masonic funeral service, the procession was
held to carry the eight caskets to the burial plot for the
Internment Rites. All eight caskets were placed
in a common grave. After 140 years, the members of the third crew of the Hunley were put in their final resting place. The funeral ceremony concluded as the
notes of “Taps” drifted across the cemetery grounds, thus concluding
the long history of the H. L. Hunley.
Note: Some of the historical facts are from the Charleston
Post and Courier, Sunday, April 11, 2004.
 |
Herbert S. Goldberg
is
a Past Master of Friendship Lodge No. 9, Charleston,
S.C.; Past District
Deputy Grand Master 1st Masonic District; Past Masonic
Service Association Representative; Past Director
of Omar Ritualistic Divan and Past Masters Unit.
He is Chairman
of the Albert G. Mackey Library/Museum Committee
of Charleston County Masonic Association; Chaplain
of Mariner Lodge
No. 2, Charleston; Almoner and Control Room Director,
Valley of Charleston; and Director of the Scottish
Rite Foundation of South Carolina. Contact: HStrudel@aol.com
|
