Horace Lawson Hundley (Confederate marine engineer)

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Lawson_Hunley
• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10886&ref=wvr

Southern Planter, Lawyer, Legislator, Merchant, Submarine Pioneer, Promoter, Patriot.

Horace Lawson Hunley was born in Sumner, Tennessee on Dec. 29, 1823. Hunley would eventually walk many paths in his life: Deputy Collector of Customs in New Orleans, State Legislator for the state of Louisiana, lawyer, merchant, a successful Southern planter and most notably, submarine innovator and financier. In the early months of the Civil War, Hunley, as a keen businessman, realized the importance of keeping the supply lines with Europe open in a way that few in the new Confederacy understood. The North, being far more industrial than the South, had a larger, more modern fleet to block shipments from Europe.

Hunley knew that if the South were to succeed against such a strong Navy, they would need to be cunning and innovative. In an attempt to do just this, Hunley would soon join James McClintock and Baxter Watson to design and finance a submarine. Hunley would end up giving more than his fortune and name to the world's first successful submarine. On October 15, 1863, during a test run, the 40-year old died with his crew when the H.L. Hunley was accidentally trapped on the bottom of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Hunley gave his entire legacy to a vessel that would send a ripple of mystery, fascination and commitment all the way to this very day - and beyond.

Horace Lawson Hunley (June 20, 1823, Sumner County, Tennessee – October 15, 1863, Charleston, South Carolina), was a Confederate marine engineer during the American Civil War. He developed early hand-powered submarines, the most famous of which was posthumously named for him, H. L. Hunley.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._L._Hunley_(submarine)

Though he was born in Tennessee, Hunley's parents (including mother Louisa Harden Lawson and father John Hunley) relocated to New Orleans. Hunley served in the Louisiana State Legislature and practiced law in New Orleans. In 1861, after the start of the American Civil War, Hunley joined James R. McClintock and Baxter Watson in building the submarine Pioneer. In order to prevent her capture, she had to be scuttled when New Orleans fell to Union forces in early 1862.

After an unsuccessful attempt at building another submarine with McClintock and Watson, which ended in the vessel's sinking in Mobile Bay, Alabama, Hunley funded by himself a third submarine.

Five men from the first crew of H. L. Hunley died during early tests when she was accidentally swamped by the wake of a passing ship through her open hatches; four managed to escape. A second crew was recruited in Charleston.

On October 15, 1863, though he was not part of the crew, Hunley decided to take command during a routine exercise. The vessel again sank, and this time all eight crew members were killed, including Hunley himself. The vessel was later raised and used again in the first successful sinking of an enemy vessel by a submarine in naval history.

Horace L. Hunley was buried with full military honors at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina on November 8, 1863.