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The star of the show this weekend was replica of sub
BY DAVID CASTELLON
dcastell@visalia.gannett.com
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/p ... 002/NEWS01
[Has one cut-out side view of the interior]
Hundreds of people came to Mooney Grove Park this weekend to get a glimpse of the Civil War.
But while some were expecting to learn about how the war was fought on land by reenactors playing the roles of Union and Confederate soldiers, the visitors also got the unique opportunity who see how the war was fought in the water.
Organizers of the annual reenactment arranged for a rolling replica of the CSS H.L. Hunley, a confederate submarine with the distinction of being the first submarine to ever sink a ship in war, to be on hand for the weekend event at Mooney Grove.
Seeing it was not only a thrill for several people who came to see the battle reenactments, but also for some of the performers, themselves.
"It's an amazing thing" said Vic Reeves, a custodian from Lindsay High School who played to part of a Confederate soldier for the Civil War Reenactment Society, which put on the free event.
He was one of dozens of people who gathered around the 40-foot-long black sub which — if a section of the hull hadn't been cut out so people could see the inside —looked more like a large propane that might be found on a local farm than the modern version of a submarine.
Several looked at it and wondered how it floated let alone how it succeeded in sinking the 300-foot-long Union frigate, the USS Housatonic, near the Port of Charleston on Feb. 17, 1864.
The next time a sub would sink a warship would not occur for about 50 more years, said John Dangerfield, retired marine machinist from South Carolina who developed the tools to open the hull of the real Hunley after it was recovered from the Cooper River near the Port of Charleston in 2001.
Remains of all eight men aboard were found along with tons of mud that had leaked inside.
As for how the sub sank shortly after sinking the Housatonic, that remains a mystery, Dangerfield said.
"How did they get air in this thing?" asked Karen Crow of Visalia.
She added that she has a hard-enough time understanding how sailors voluntarily get into modern submarines — let alone how anybody would climb aboard the Hunley, which barely had enough room for all the men to sit upright.
What surprised some even more was the sub's power source — the crewmembers themselves, who turned a series of hand -ranks to rotate the propeller.
"They were desperate times," said Reeves as he looked at the replica sub. "It was a very tight spot to be in."
"I thought it was really great. Interesting," said Barbara Miller of Tulare, who came to the reenactment Saturday with her daughter, Adriana, 10. "We just decided to come out and learn some history."
That included watching the battles and talking to the people playing the parts of Union and Confederate soldiers.
After watching the soldiers "die" in their simulated battles Saturday, Barbara Miller said: "It's frightening, actually. I hope it never happens again."
Organizers said the crowd was good Saturday — about 400 to 500 spectators.
Richard Wagner of Fowler, commander of the reenactors' Confederate brigade, gave much of the credit for the good attendance to the weekend weather.
BY DAVID CASTELLON
dcastell@visalia.gannett.com
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/p ... 002/NEWS01
[Has one cut-out side view of the interior]
Hundreds of people came to Mooney Grove Park this weekend to get a glimpse of the Civil War.
But while some were expecting to learn about how the war was fought on land by reenactors playing the roles of Union and Confederate soldiers, the visitors also got the unique opportunity who see how the war was fought in the water.
Organizers of the annual reenactment arranged for a rolling replica of the CSS H.L. Hunley, a confederate submarine with the distinction of being the first submarine to ever sink a ship in war, to be on hand for the weekend event at Mooney Grove.
Seeing it was not only a thrill for several people who came to see the battle reenactments, but also for some of the performers, themselves.
"It's an amazing thing" said Vic Reeves, a custodian from Lindsay High School who played to part of a Confederate soldier for the Civil War Reenactment Society, which put on the free event.
He was one of dozens of people who gathered around the 40-foot-long black sub which — if a section of the hull hadn't been cut out so people could see the inside —looked more like a large propane that might be found on a local farm than the modern version of a submarine.
Several looked at it and wondered how it floated let alone how it succeeded in sinking the 300-foot-long Union frigate, the USS Housatonic, near the Port of Charleston on Feb. 17, 1864.
The next time a sub would sink a warship would not occur for about 50 more years, said John Dangerfield, retired marine machinist from South Carolina who developed the tools to open the hull of the real Hunley after it was recovered from the Cooper River near the Port of Charleston in 2001.
Remains of all eight men aboard were found along with tons of mud that had leaked inside.
As for how the sub sank shortly after sinking the Housatonic, that remains a mystery, Dangerfield said.
"How did they get air in this thing?" asked Karen Crow of Visalia.
She added that she has a hard-enough time understanding how sailors voluntarily get into modern submarines — let alone how anybody would climb aboard the Hunley, which barely had enough room for all the men to sit upright.
What surprised some even more was the sub's power source — the crewmembers themselves, who turned a series of hand -ranks to rotate the propeller.
"They were desperate times," said Reeves as he looked at the replica sub. "It was a very tight spot to be in."
"I thought it was really great. Interesting," said Barbara Miller of Tulare, who came to the reenactment Saturday with her daughter, Adriana, 10. "We just decided to come out and learn some history."
That included watching the battles and talking to the people playing the parts of Union and Confederate soldiers.
After watching the soldiers "die" in their simulated battles Saturday, Barbara Miller said: "It's frightening, actually. I hope it never happens again."
Organizers said the crowd was good Saturday — about 400 to 500 spectators.
Richard Wagner of Fowler, commander of the reenactors' Confederate brigade, gave much of the credit for the good attendance to the weekend weather.
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