Gone But Not
Forgotten
This 1999 Confederate funeral was the largest in South
Carolina from 1871
until the recent burial of the CSS Hunley's last crew in April, 2004, and it was
exactly like the services for the Hunley crew. Thousands attended as 22
Confederate sailors and marines, and a child, excavated from the old
mariner's graveyard near the Ashley River in Charleston, were reinterred. Their graves had
accidentally been covered-over when the Citadel built its football stadium on
the site decades ago.
All 23 were buried with full military honors by reenactors in period dress and other dignitaries after being carried on
horse-drawn caissons in a procession for four-and-a-half miles, from the
Battery, where the service began, to their final resting place at Soldier's
Field, Magnolia Cemetery.
Also recovered during the above-referenced dig were
four sailors from the first crew of the Confederate submarine CSS Hunley, who
were buried at a later date with the fifth crewman, who had been subsequently
recovered from the same site. Those five Hunley crewmen had lost their lives
when the Hunley went down in the Ashley River off Fort Johnson, at the tip of
James Island.
The history of the recent recovery of the Hunley, as well as the
loss of that first crew, is included along with fascinating interviews with Hunley Commissioner Randy Burbage, and Dr. Jonathan Leader. There is also
captivating and sometimes emotional footage of the placing of the remains in
coffins a few days before burial. The stirring music of the Rebelaires plays as
the graves are filled in on this sacred ground. Pay with credit card, PayPal or
plain-old-check in the mail.
