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In August 2000 archaeological investigation and excavation culminated with the resurrection of ''Hunley'' from its watery grave. A large team of professionals from the Naval Historical Center's Underwater Archaeology Branch, National Park Service, the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology and various other individuals investigated the vessel, measuring and documenting it prior to preparing it for removal. Once the on-site investigation was complete, harnesses were slipped underneath the sub one by one and attached to a truss designed by Oceaneering, International, Inc. Then after the last harness had been secured, the crane from ''Karlissa B'' began hoisting the submarine from the mire of the harbor. On August 8 at 8:37 AM the sub broke the surface for the first time in over 136 years where it was greeted by a cheering crowd in hundreds of nearby watercraft. Once safely on its transporting barge, Hunley finally completed its last voyage back to Charleston, passing by hundreds of spectators on Charleston's shores and bridges. The removal operation reached its successful conclusion when the submarine was secured inside the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in a specially designed tank of freshwater to await conservation.
In August 2000 archaeological investigation and excavation culminated with the resurrection of ''Hunley'' from its watery grave. A large team of professionals from the Naval Historical Center's Underwater Archaeology Branch, National Park Service, the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology and various other individuals investigated the vessel, measuring and documenting it prior to preparing it for removal. Once the on-site investigation was complete, harnesses were slipped underneath the sub one by one and attached to a truss designed by Oceaneering, International, Inc. Then after the last harness had been secured, the crane from ''Karlissa B'' began hoisting the submarine from the mire of the harbor. On August 8 at 8:37 AM the sub broke the surface for the first time in over 136 years where it was greeted by a cheering crowd in hundreds of nearby watercraft. Once safely on its transporting barge, Hunley finally completed its last voyage back to Charleston, passing by hundreds of spectators on Charleston's shores and bridges. The removal operation reached its successful conclusion when the submarine was secured inside the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in a specially designed tank of freshwater to await conservation.
==Extracting the remains==
The sub was partially-dismantled to grant better access to the crew compartment, revealing much of their remains to be encased in marine concretion. Each crewman was given a dual-letter identification based upon their position from fore to aft: the individual found forward was labeled “AA”; the man at the first crankshaft handle was labeled “BB” and so on; this was done to aid in removal of the remains to the lab and proper identification later. When blocks of concretion were removed and excavated, it was revealed that each crewman had died at their stations; there was no jumbling of any remains as would have been expected from one or two men fighting to get out of the flooding sub. Unusually, the portion of the compartment facing up (the sub was found lying at an angle) contained small stalactites, indicating that the compartment had air inside for a number of years after her sinking, and leading investigators to conclude that it was asphyxiation - and not drowning - that killed the crew; they surmised that Dixon may have quietly placed ''Hunley'' on the bottom to await the ebb tide as well as to avoid Union vessels coming to the aid of ''Housatonic'', and lost his life when his air ran out.
In addition to Dixon, six men have been identified by name as being onboard:
*Arnold Becker (crewman BB), possibly a former U.S. Navy seaman based on uniform remains; operated the 1st crankhandle and the snorkel bellows system.
*C. Simkins (crewman CC), Confederate Navy quartermaster, operated the 2nd crankhandle.
*Frank G. Collins (crewman DD), seaman, operated the 3rd crank handle.
*J.F. Carlsen (crewman EE), Confederate artillerist, operated 4th crank handle.
*“Miller” (crewman FF), a name possibly bestowed on him later by William Alexander, a former Confederate soldier and a survivor of ''Hunley'''s first sinking.
*James A. Wicks (crewman GG), boatswain and former U.S. Navy crewman who deserted south, operated the 6th crank handle.
*Joseph F. Ridgeway (crewman HH), H.L. Hunley’s second-in-command, and operator of the aft ballast tanks.
Four of these men (BB, CC, EE, FF) were European by birth; the remainder were Americans. Three men had recoverable DNA, and of these, two were positively identified via comparison with living descendents.
Since Dixon's relatives are unknown and he left no living descendents, DNA was out of the question despite being collected; Dixon could only have been identified from analysis of his remains, artifacts found within or near his remains, and the position of his remains onboard Hunley. He was given the identification label of “AA”; as commander of the submarine he would have been expected to navigate the vessel - the sub's compass was located there, as well as glass view-slits at the forward hatch; in addition he would have operated the dive planes and adjusted the trim of the sub via the forward ballast tank.
Dixon’s left femur was recovered and examined; it was found to have a healed fracture near the ball joint, confirming the injury sustained at Shiloh. What was needed was the coin rumored to have been carried by him since his injury; until the recovery of H.L. Hunley from the bottom of the Charleston Harbor in 2000 it remained a rumor until Dixon’s remains were removed to the lab so archaeologist Maria Jacobsen could excavate the concretion in his operating station.
In 2001 Jacobsen succeeded in recovering a United States twenty-dollar gold piece. Minted in 1860, the coin bore the profile of Lady Liberty on the observe and the U.S. eagle and shield on the reverse; it was also bent out of shape, the clear path of a bullet mark on the observe side of the coin. But it was the reverse side of the coin which revealed something previously unknown. After his recovery from the Shiloh battlefield, Dixon had the coin taken to a jeweler, who sanded a portion of it flat and placed an inscription:
:''Shiloh.''
:''April 6, 1862''
:''My Life Preserver''
:''G.E.D.''
After identification and study was completed, the remains of the crew were interred in Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston on April 17, 2004, alongside the graves of the previous crews in what has been billed as the “last Confederate funeral.” Artifacts recovered, as well as ''Hunley herself'', can be viewed at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center.
==References==
*Longmore, Thomas. ''A Treatise on Gunshot Wounds''; Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott & Co, 1862.
*Chisholm, Julian J. ''A Manual of Military Surgery''; Richmond, VA, Wets & Johnson, 1861.
*Kloeppel, James. ''Danger Beneath the Waves: A History of the Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley''. Sandlapper Publishing, Inc, Orangeburg, South Carolina, 1992.
*Ragan, Mark. ''Submarines, Sacrifice, & Success in the Civil War''. Charleston: Narwhal Press Inc., 1995.
*Moody, William H. (ed.) ''Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion'', Series I, Volume 15. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1902.
*Jacobsen, Maria. ''H.L. Hunley Project: 2004 Archaeological Findings and Progress Report''. Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program, February 2005.
*Hicks, Brian, and Kroft, Schuyler. ''Raising the Hunley''. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002.
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