2011 Annual Meeting Speaker
2011 FOCL ANNUAL MEETING
DR.NICHOLAS BELLANTONI
The Friends of the Connecticut Libraries held their annual meeting and award ceremony at the South Windsor Public Library. The featured speaker was Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni, the Connecticut State Archeologist, who is a Friend of the Lucy Wells Library in Newington. He thanked the Friends for supporting the libraries of Connecticut. The libraries do preserve the past as well as document the present history with its many resources.
Since it is the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, Dr. Bellantoni spoke of the H.L. Hunley submarine. This was the first combat submarine of the Confederate States to sink an enemy warship, the USS Housatonic. Dr. Bellantoni with his energetic style and good humor unfolded the mystery of the Connecticut ID tag found on the sunken Hunley.
In 1995, the Hunley was found resting on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. It was uninjured and well preserved considering it was found buried deep within the sand and silt of the Charleston Harbor. It was a mystery where the Hunley disappeared to the night of 1864. What was also discovered was an ID tag on one of the Hunley’s crew members. The name on it was Ezra Chamberlain, Private, 7th Connecticut Infantry, Union Forces. Southern folks wanted to know: What was a CT Yankee doing under the sub? That’s when Dr. Bellantoni start digging for evidence.
Dr. Bellantoni brought us back to the time when the North and South conflicted. Northerners wanted more control of the southern ports. General Winfred Scott formulated a plan to defeat the Confederacy by blockading Southern ports and then sending an army down the Mississippi Valley to outflank the Confederacy. Blockading prevented most sea-going vessels from leaving or arriving along the Confederate coast line. The Southerners had a plan of their own. Horace L. Hunley assisted in inventing a small submarine. After several trial runs of constructing a water vessel the H.L.Hunley was born. This project was developed in Alabama and supported by the Confederate States Army. By 1863 the Hunley, nearly 40 feet long, was ready to launch.
On August 12, 1863, the Hunley was shipped to Charleston, South Carolina. The Hunley sank on August 29, 1863, during a training exercise and killed five members of the crew. In October 1863, again the Hunley sank. Not only did it kill 7 crew members , it also killed Horace Hunley. The third attempt worked. On February 17, 1864, when the moon was out and no clouds, the Hunley attacked and sank the USS Housatonic which was on Union blockade duty. This was the first submarine that successfully attacked an enemy sea vessel. However, the Hunley never returned from this mission.
The mystery of the missing Hunley remained in the Atlantic Ocean for many years. In 1995, author Clive Cussler found the Hunley resting on the ocean floor. This was a historic find. The Hunley was 100 yards away from the Housatonic. A team of underwater archaeologists lifted the vessel out of the water and safely shipped it to Charleston, South Carolina. Anthropologist examined the remains of the crew. An interesting fact is that our bones record what we eat. Therefore, they were able to determine that four crew men were American born; and four were European born. This was based on the chemical signatures left of the men’s teeth and bones from their diet. The position of the men indicated that they died at their stations. Dr. Bellantoni told of several stories of the Hunley crew. One was the ID tag that was found that had a Connecticut soldier’s name on it. That’s when Dr. Bellantoni got involved.
Using library sources and the Killingly Historical Society, Dr. Bellantoni was able to trace Ezra Chamberlain’s roots. Ezra was 21 – 23 years old when he enlisted in the servce; his father was a carpenter; the family had hard luck, and that the family dies out in 1952. Ezra was listed as MIA or taken as prisoner since he never returned from a battle fought in South Carolina. Was he taken as prisoner of war and put on the Hunley? DNA samples were taken from the dead crew members and it was found that it was not Ezra Chamberlain. It was Joseph Ridgeway who found the ID tag and kept it as a token of war.
This mystery was solved forensically. Ezra died on the battlefield. The Hunley was recovered after 137 years of being lost in the sea. If you are interested in the Hunley, you can always become a Friend of the Hunley, which is located in South Carolina.
Even though Connecticut was not so much involved, it was a good story, especially being told by Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni!
