CHARLESTON - One crewman aboard the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley, Frank Collins, came from a town that saw one of the fiercest battles of the Civil War: Fredricksburg, Va.

Another is a bit of a mystery, a foreign-born Confederate sailor known only by his last name, Miller.

Details of the men's lives and facial reconstructions were released Wednesday amid preparations for Saturday's burial of the eight crewmen from the sub that was the first in history to sink an enemy warship.

The Hunley sank the Union blockade ship Housatonic off Charleston on Feb. 17, 1864. But the Hunley sank minutes later with its crew. It was raised off the S.C. coast almost four years ago.

Collins was big for his time, more than 6 feet tall, and was thought to be the largest and possibly strongest crewman.

Forensic genealogist Linda Abrams said Collins' father and grandfather were cobblers and Collins might have been their apprentice. While some of the crewmen had notches in their teeth indicating they used pipes, Collins had notches indicating he likely worked with metal needles, researchers said.

Collins was listed as a day laborer in the 1860 census, a time he would have been about 20. He had been raised by his grandparents and, when his grandfather died, researchers think Collins would have had to provide for his family.

Although one of the biggest men on the sub, Collins sat near the middle of the Hunley, which would have made it difficult to get to the two hatches in an emergency, researchers said.

The crewman named Miller was foreign-born and had been in America for only a short time before the war, according to forensic analysis.

He was a heavy smoker and had many injuries during his life. He carried a wooden pipe, which was found during the excavation of the sub. The remains of Miller were found with two Confederate infantry buttons, which would indicate service in the German Artillery.

Thousands of Civil War re-enactors are expected to take part in Saturday's funeral procession leading from Charleston's Battery about five miles to Magnolia Cemetery.