More About the Hunley

This article begins….”For nearly 150 years, the story of the Hunley’s attack on the USS Housatonic has been Civil War legend. And it has been wrong.”

Oops.

Well, correcting myths, legends and poor history has been habit around here, so let’s dive in.

In this case it isn’t so much intentionally reporting incorrect history or revising history to make it more interesting –it’s just that we didn’t have all the pieces of the puzzle.  As new pieces are scrutinized from the wreckage we have to adjust the story.... even if it’s been part of the story for over a hundred years.

In this case eyewitness accounts at the time of the attack have been debunked because a piece of the Confederate submarine’s torpedo was found to be attached to its spar. This means the Hunley was much closer to the blast –within 20 feet.

 You can read the whole thing here.

 So far, the part of the romantic part of the story regarding Queenie’s coin has NOT been debunked, and for that I’m very glad.  

You can read THAT party of the Hunley story here, which I wrote in 2009.