THE HUNLEY SUBMARINE
The Porpoise was a haunted boat. It sank
twice before its fateful encounter with the
USS Housatonic. Aug. 29, the Porpoise
is commanded by CSN Cmdr. John A.
Payne who takes the boat out on a training
maneuver into the Charleston harbor with
a nine man Navy crew. Due to a number of
mishaps, including human error, the boat
sinks costing five members of its crew their
lives. The second sinking of the Porpoise
occurred on October15, when Capt. Hunley
went hunting for the USS Indian Chief which
had been moored on the Cooper River. He
lines up the Porpoise for its attack and due
to human error, his, the Porpoise goes down
losing all hands. Both times the Porpoise
was raised and salvaged.
On Feb. 14, 1864, Lt. George E. Dixon
takes command of the boat he renamed H.L.
Hunley on its last mission. His objective
was to sink the USS Housatonic which was
anchored 2 miles off Plymouth Point in the
Charleston harbor. Armed with a FretwellSinger torpedo fixed with a barbed point on
the front of it, Dixon smashes the barbed
spar into the rear quarter of the unsuspecting
ship. He orders the crew to reverse direction,
detonates the torpedo, blowing a hole in the
Housatonic resulting in the death of 7 Union
seamen. Lt. Dixons ill-fated mission is the
first time in history that a submarine, using a
remote controlled torpedo, sinks an opposing
ship. The H. L. Hunley never returns to its
base; it sunk in 29 feet of cold murky water,
1000 feet from its prey, with all hands lost.
In 2001 the H. L. Hunley was raised from
its watery grave and was enshrined at the
Warren Lasch Conservation Center located
in Charleston, South Carolina.
Even with the loss of the H. L. Hunley,
The Texas Coast’s Best Regional Magazine
Singer and his secret unit continued to wreak
havoc against the Union war blockade.
Singer’s torpedoes became the Confederate
mine of choice for protecting its harbors.
Aug. 5, from his flagship the USS Hartford,
Admiral David P. Farragut, reportedly
uttered the phrase, “Damn the torpedoes, full
speed ahead” at the battle for Mobile Bay.
Members of The Secret Service had sewn
torpedoes up and down the harbor except for
a small channel protected by the guns of Fort
Morgan. The channel provided an escape
route for Confederate blockade runners
to exit Mobile Bay with their precious
cargoes of cotton. Besides mining Southern
waterways, Singers agents became adept
at blowing up Union railroad bridges. J.D.
Braman loved to boast to the Confederate
leadership just how many Union railheads
he had destroyed. But it all came to an end
in May 1865.
April 9, 1865, in the parlor of the house
owned by Wilbur Mclean at Appomattox
Courthouse, Virginia, an appointment was
kept between two opposing Generals.
Robert E. Lee, dressed in a new uniform
of Confederate gray, and Ulysses S. Grant,
chose to wear his field uniform of blue,
sitting at separate tables surrounded by aides,
sign documents ending hostilities between
their respective armies. Hostilities did not
cease until May which, ironically, ends with
a Southern victory at the battle of Palmetto
Ranch along the lower Rio Grande.
The mission of the Singer Secret Service
ended quietly as its members returned home
to Lavaca. On July 8, at a Federal office in
Lavaca, the members of the Secret Service
simply sign a parole of honor stating they
would no longer serve the Confederate
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States, or any other country, and pledging
their allegiance to the United States.
Edgar returned home to his wife, Harriett,
to begin his after war life. He moved his
family to Marlin, Texas, located in Falls
County sometime between the 1870 and
1880 census. He continued as an inventor of
various gadgets:
• Cotton seed huller (1870)
• Improvement for brick molds (1875)
• Improvement for Bale ties (1879)
• He had also patented improvements to
his uncle’s Sewing Machine (1859)
He invested in three very successful gold
mines located in Boulder, Colorado, and had
interests in a silver mine in the El Paso area.
Edgar died