| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 96.2

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 96.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

The H. L. Hunley: The Secret Hope of the Confederacy. By Tom Chaffin. (New York: Hill and Wang, 2008. xxvi, 324 pp. $26.00, ISBN 978-0-8090-9512-4.)

Since the 1860s people have been interested in how Confederates developed and employed submersibles during the American Civil War, and Tom Chaffin's study is the most thorough treatment of the subject. Chaffin examined personal and official documents in numerous collections to piece together the determined efforts of Southerners who intended to build a submarine craft capable of sinking a Federal warship. Some Confederates thought submersibles could weaken or lift the Federal blockade of Southern ports. Chaffin has concluded that the Louisiana businessman James McClintock designed, built, and tested the experimental submarine boat powered by human muscle that carried the name H. L. Hunley. McClintock's friend and co-worker, Horace Hunley, put his name on the boat. Supported by line drawings, maps, illustrations, and photographs, Chaffin's book provides clear technical details of how McClintock, Hunley, and other colleagues built the first Confederate submersibles carrying names such as Fish Boat and Pioneer. Work on these boats proceeded in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, before shifting to Charleston, South Carolina.

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