If you want to give yourself indigestion, pick up a copy of the Washington Times some time.
Today's edition has an
article on the various hero's welcomes for several Confederate sailors who died on board the world's first submarine to kill an
enemy -- read
American -- ship.
Scroll down and you'll see that the Times expects 100,000 people to attend one such ceremony in South Carolina.
Much as I love the South -- and I do love the music, food, and most of the people -- this just boggles my mind.
From the
article :
RICHMOND -- An honor guard of Confederate cavalry re-enactors yesterday solemnly bore the remains of a Civil War submariner to the state Capitol as more than 100 people looked on.
A seaman on the first submarine to sink an enemy ship, Frank Collins was killed Feb. 17, 1864, when the H.L. Hunley sank near South Carolina after having sunk a Union ship.
"He is a patriot to both Virginia and his nation, the Confederate States of America," Brag Bowling, commander of the Virginia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) said during a memorial service yesterday. "Men like Frank Collins are special, and we are so proud to bring him home."
A separate ceremony was held yesterday for a Maryland Confederate sailor.
...
SCV member and color guard commander Jeff Ellett recounted a lively history of the Hunley, which attacked the Union ship USS Housatonic in Charleston Harbor, ramming it with a torpedo packed with explosives.
The Housatonic exploded, and the Hunley soon sank with it a few miles out in the Atlantic Ocean.
"There was an explosion, and within five minutes the pride of the Union Navy lay at the bottom of the Atlantic," Mr. Ellett said.