Union Medallion Adds to Mystery of Confederate Sub

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Archeologists said Friday they have discovered a Union medallion inside the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley, which went down off the South Carolina coast during the Civil War after becoming the first submarine to sink an enemy ship in battle.

The medallion, made either of copper or bronze, bore the name of a Connecticut soldier who had enlisted with the Union army in a volunteer unit. He was killed in July 1863 during an assault on Ft. Wagner on Morris Island near Charleston, researchers said.

Union soldiers in the Civil War were not issued dog tags, so many had medallions made to wear into battle so their remains could be identified if they were killed.

“This find creates more mysteries than answers,” said state Sen. Glenn McConnell, who has led efforts to recover and preserve the Hunley, built by the Confederacy to try to break Union blockades of Southern ports.

The Hunley sank on Feb. 17, 1864, after plunging a 90-pound charge into the hull of the Housatonic, a Union ship enforcing a blockade of Charleston harbor. The ship sank minutes after the explosion ripped a hole in its hull, but the Hunley never returned from its historic mission.

The submarine was raised from the sea floor last year and brought to a custom-built laboratory in Charleston, where crews are working to excavate sediment that filled the 43-foot long vessel, solve the mystery of why it sank and restore the submarine so it can be put on display.

The medallion found inside the Hunley had a picture of George Washington on one side. The other side had the name of the soldier, Ezra Chamberlin, his unit--Company K, Regiment 7 of the Connecticut Volunteers--and Sept. 9, 1861, the day he entered military service.

Chamberlin was reported killed on July 11, 1863, at the Battle of Ft. Wagner, the Union’s first assault on Morris Island outside Charleston. There are a grave and headstone for Chamberlin in his hometown of Killingly, Conn.

Roughly the size of a half-dollar coin, the medallion was worn around the neck of the Hunley’s first mate. It may have been a battlefield souvenir or given to the Confederate sailor in a dying request by Chamberlin to notify his family in Connecticut.

Researchers also speculated Chamberlin could have been a turncoat who defected to the Confederacy only to die on the Hunley, or was a Union spy trying to sabotage the submarine.

“It’s possible that further excavation will lead to more answers,” said Warren Lasch, chairman of Friends of the Hunley, which is funding the restoration work.

Archeologists have removed about three-quarters of the sediment from the vessel. They have recovered partial remains of eight of the nine crewmen.