The Confederate States Submarine H L Hunley
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Names of the Crewman of the CSS H.L. HUNLEY

 

These lists are from The CSS H.L. Hunley, Confederate Submarine, R. Thomas Campbell, Burd Street Press, 1999.

They were desperate, they risked it all in an effort to defeat the enemy.  They paid the ultimate price.

Crews lost, may they Rest In Peace:

 

29 August 1863 (these first four escaped)

Lt. John Payne, CSN, Commanding
Lt. Charles H. Hasker, CSN
Charles L. Sprague
Jeremiah Donivan
Frank Doyle, CSN
John Kelly, CSN
Michael Cane, CSN
Nicholas Davis, CSN
Absolum Williams 

Lt. John Payne, CSN, Commanding, and Lt. Charles H. Hasker, CSN, along with two other seamen eascaped.

 

15 October 1863

Horace L. Hunley, Civilian, Commanding
Thomas Parks, Civilian
( in the rear of the boat )
Robert Brockbank, CSN
Joseph Patterson, CSN
Charles McHugh, CSN
John Marshall, CSN
Henry Beard, CSN
Charles L.Sprague, Civilian
absent Lt. Dixon who was away on business

None escaped. May they Rest In Peace.

 

Note: These names are being revised. See the Article about Hayes. March 7, 2002

17 February 1864.  The last crew, who made their kill, and all went to the bottom of the Atlantic.

Lt. George Dixon, CSA, Commanding Lieutenant George E. Dixon, commander of the submarine, H.L. Hunley during it's final expedition against the USS Housatonic, was never commissioned in the Confederate Navy, and remained a member of company E of the 21st Alabama Volunteers. He was a Kentuckian by birth (although a resident of Mobile), and an engineer by profession. This engineering knowledge served him well when he volunteered for command of the Hunley. Although one source indicates that his crew in the final expedition of the Hunley were also members of his company, the Naval Official Records indicates that five of these men were actually sailors from the Confederate States Navy, and one from Confederate artillery service.
Cpl. C.F. Carlson, CSA newly assigned second in command, member of the German Light Artillery,Captain Wagener's (South Carolina) company of artillery.[2]
James A. Wicks, CSN,boatswain's mate
Arnold Becker, CSN, seaman
Fred Collins, CSN aka Seaman Frank J. Collins
C. F. Simpkins, CSN -C. Simkins, CSS H.L. Hunley, died February 17, 1864, when that vessel attacked the USS Housatonic, off Charleston, South Carolina. [ORN 1, 15, 337.]
Seaman Joseph Ridgeway, CSN, seaman, CSS H.L. Hunley, died February 17, 1864, when that vessel attacked the USS Housatonic, off Charleston, South Carolina. [ORN 1, 15, 337.]
___ White
___ Miller (Miller or White could be James Hayes or crewman wearing Chamberlin medallion)
Second in command Lt. William Alexander was no longer in the Charleston Area

None escaped.  May they Rest In Peace, and their names be not forgotten.

 

References:

 

[1] See the volume, Brief Historical Sketches of Military Organizations Raised in Alabama During the Civil War, reproduced from WIllis Brewer's Alabama: Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men from 1540 to 1872, by the Alabama State Department of Archives and History, 1966, page 623; also the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, volume 15, pages 335 - 338.

 

[2] Mark K. Ragan, Union and Confederate Submarine Warfare in the Civil War, page 150.


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