February 18, 1864

Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina

Today we are launching the Hunley for the third time. We are using this submarine to fight the Union blockade of Charleston Harbor. It is on a mission to sink the Union battleship, the USS Housatonic. While it is important to gain grounds and I hope for them to sink the Housatonic, I am nervous because I don’t want to lose any more men. As a general with the confederacy, keeping my troops safe is very important to me. My reputation is very important to me as well and people know me – the name General P.T. Beauregard is well respected and I don’t want to ruin that. Last August, 5 crew members died in the Hunley because they didn’t know how to use it and they didn’t know the port well enough. Three crew members escaped. We tried again last October. The crew were doing practice drills in the harbor and they couldn’t get the sub to resurface. All 8 of the crew died, including the ship’s builder, Horace Hunley. I told Lieutenant Dixon, ‘I can have nothing more to do with that submarine boat. This is more dangerous to those who use it than to [the] enemy.’ Even though I don’t think it’s a good idea, I got a lot of pressure from my lieutenant and one of the subs builder’s, William Alexander, who convinced me to use it. I had asked them not to go below the surface. I will discuss this with my men by the fire over some whiskey.

February 19, 1864

Today I received word that The Hunley was successful in sinking the USS Housatonic. It was a successful mission but the submarine never returned to the dock. I knew that this was risky and I had hesitations about it. We are no longer getting a signal from the submarine, so all we can do is wait. This was the first time a submarine sunk an enemy ship, but there was still loss. I will pray for my crew members and their families.