Name: Lecture on CSS H.L. Hunley
Start: 2025-02-24T18:00:00-06:00
Location: Scottish Rite, Orient of Arkansas

Shortly before 9:00 p.m. on the night of February 17, 1864, naval history was made in the waters just outside the outer harbor of Charleston, S.C. The first successful sinking of an enemy ship by a submarine occurred when the H.L. Hunley, an eight-man submarine in service to the Confederacy, attacked and sunk the Union ship, The Housatonic, anchored at Rattlesnake Shoals in the Atlantic as part of the Union blockading squadron. This successful torpedo attack was not repeated in naval warfare for another 50 years. The Hunley was a unique weapon which had been designed, built, tested, armed and financed by Masons. She was commanded on that fateful night by a Mason. With the involvement of a number of Masons in her history, the sub could be called a Masonic “secret weapon” for the Confederacy. This presentation tells the story of her conception, construction, service and resurrection from the floor of the Atlantic some 136 years after the successful attack.
James H. Chuck Morgan, III, 33° GC will present a historical program on the CSS H.L. Hunley at an open meeting of the Valley of Fayetteville. The lecture is free. Dinner will be $10 per person. Please call 501.375.5587 or email [email protected] to RSVP by February 19th.