Magnolia Cemetery

On the way out of Charleston today, we stopped at two places - Magnolia Cemetery and the H.L. Hunley exhibit. Both were worth the side trip in their own ways. First we hit Magnolia. This place is your vision of the deep South, with old trees draped with Spanish moss along winding drives around the many stones. I wish I had a few hours to wander around, but no such luck. There was a sign at the entrance that you don't see everyday telling you not to feed the gators - it is against South Carolina state law. Too bad I didn't get any glimpses while we there. There are about 35,000 buried there, of which 2,200 are Confederate graves. Don't believe there are any Yankees in there, but not sure about that. The cemetery is 128 acres that opened in 1849 on the grounds of a former rice plantation right on the Cooper river. Really a beautiful setting.

If we had more time we would have stuck around for the service that was getting ready to start. Not some pour soul getting buried, but the actual service for the Confederate Memorial Day that I mentioned earlier in the week. There were re-enactors along with mourners ( including one woman all dressed in mourning ), as well as a collection of dignitaries and onlookers. I do have to give them credit for the passion they display in remembering their history, no matter which side you were on. So many people today have no idea about what happened 150 years ago.

The Hunley exhibit was very interesting. I was at a presentation this morning where Sen. Glenn McConnell spoke about the history of the Hunley, and more importantly the efforts to raise it and preserve it after it's discovery on the ocean floor. If you saw the movie or read about it at the time, you may remember some of this. The sub sank twice before it was ultimately successful in it's mission. In one instance all the crew drowned, and in the other case most of them. Hunley himself was lost in this second mishap. Still, George Dixon was able to persuade Beauregard to let him raise a crew and try again. On February 17, 1864 they took three hours to go four miles out and attack the Housatonic. The attack was successful, sinking the ship in four minutes as the powder magazine blew up. This was the first successful attack by a submarine in history. Pretty remarkable that the South were the ones to pull it off, especially late in the war.

One of the more exciting things they found in going through the recovered ship was a gold coin. There had been a story about George Dixon and the coin, but no one really knew if it was just a myth over the years. The story goes like this: when Dixon went to war his girlfriend Queenie ( who was 13 by the way) gave him a $20 gold coin for good luck. He was shot at the battle of Shiloh in 1862, and the gold piece took the direct hit from the bullet. Fast forward to the present day. The gold coin they found was twisted from a bullet (confirmed by analysis) and it was inscribed on the back about Dixon having been at Shiloh. It wasn't a myth after all. They also found a diamond ring and broach as well, presumably gifts for Queenie that she never saw.

The Hunley signaled shore that the mission was successful, but never returned. To this day, the mystery has yet to be solved about what happened.