DARLINGTON -- It was a long shot, and even if it was successful, there was scant hope that it would change the course of the war. But it would send a clear message to the Union that the Confederacy still had a few surprises left for Yankee forces blockading Charleston.

So begins the legend behind the CSS H.L. Hunley, the world's first submarine successfully used as a weapon of war in the sinking of another vessel, the Union warship USS Housatonic.

The attack was successful as the Hunley rammed the Union blockade's flagship with a 500-pound black-powder charge mounted on a spar at the bow, which quickly sent it to the bottom. However, the experimental submersible would soon follow after, pulling away and detonating the explosive, taking with it all hands onboard.

The reasons it was lost were unknown and the tiny submarine would remain the stuff of legend for more than a century before once again seeing the light of day in 1999.

On Saturday, Sandy Kendall of Darlington will be one of 50 men who have been chosen to escort the crew of the Hunley to their final resting place after spending 136 years at the bottom of Charleston Harbor. As many as 10,000 people, including 6,000 Civil War re-enactors, are expected to march in the funeral procession.Organizers expect another 20,000 spectators to attend the funeral.

This wasn't the first time the Hunley had sunk, having been resurrected from a watery grave on at least three previous occasions when it was being put through trial runs, clearly defining the risks of such an undertaking.

That's one of the reasons Kendall has an unshakable respect, almost a reverence, for the ultimate sacrifice made by the Hunley's eight-man crew on the night of Feb. 17, 1864.

For him, being one of their pallbearers is a singular honor. He's one selected from among 3,000 applicants that will have the privilege of serving this duty.

"Charleston was under siege by Union forces and times were very hard," he said. "Men were fighting to protect their families and their way of life. The men who served upon this forlorn vessel gave their very lives for this endeavor."

Kendall has been assigned to the casket of Cpl. J.F. Carlsen, a Scandinavian believed to have been between 21 and 23 years old when he died. He had previously joined the Confederate Army in McClellanville and became a member of the S.C. German Light Artillery. He would later volunteer to serve onboard the Hunley in its first and final mission of the Civil War.

Kendall's fascination with the Hunley and her fallen crew comes honestly, having already served as a member of the Florence County Historical Society as well as being a member of the board of directors for the Friends of the Florence Stockade.

Surprising discoveries

The raising and restoration of the Hunley have revealed several surprises to investigators, not just about the nature of the vessel, but also its crew, Kendall said.

"There was one body that was not of European descent," he said, possibly referring to Private J. Miller. Little is known about him except that he was between 42 and 47 years old when he died and, like several others of the crew, had no known next of kin.

Hunley commanding officer Lt. George E. Dixon was also somewhat of an enigma. Doctors told him he should have died at the Battle of Shiloh when a rifle ball struck him in the leg. A gold coin in his pocket absorbed the shot and it was said that Dixon kept it with him as a lucky charm wherever he went from that point on.

During excavations of the Hunley interior and the removal of its crew the gold coin was discovered with Dixon's remains. On it was inscribed "Shiloh....April 6, 1862....My life Preserver...G.E.D."

Another unexpected discovery was that the Hunley was found resting in an orientation that pointed it exactly toward its launching point onshore, lending some credence that it was on its way back following the attack. But what sent it to the bottom is still a mystery.

"They did find some places on the ship where it had been damaged and there was some speculation that it could have been hit by small-arms fire," Kendall said.

Further analysis of the hull showed no apparent damage to its dive planes and there's some speculation that the Hunley
purposely was put to rest on the bottom.

Kendall said an intentional grounding of the sub would have made sense, considering that Union vessels on the surface had likely begun patrolling a search pattern for her. Additionally, the Hunley had ridden the outgoing tide to reach the blockading fleet and was unable to fight against that flow to get back to shore until the tide reversed.

It's possible, Kendall said, that the crew didn't drown, but simply ran out of time as the cold of the surrounding waters lowered the inside temperature and the air was gradually exhausted.

"When they went into the vessel, they found that there were no signs of struggle," Kendall said. "They were sitting at their stations. The theory is they might just have gone to sleep."

Week-long vigil

Today begins the end of their long journey to final rest. The week-long vigil begins today onboard the USS Yorktown memorial at Patriots Point in Mt. Pleasant where the Hunley crew will lie in state. During the next several days, they will be led by horse-drawn caissons and honor guard detachments to various other places of worship around Charleston, finally being buried with full military honors in Magnolia Cemetery on Saturday in what will be the last funerals of the Civil War.

The crew joins two other Hunley crews already buried there. The first crew drowned in the fall of 1863 when water from the wake of a passing ship flooded the submarine at its mooring. A few weeks later, a second crew, including designer H.L. Hunley, died during a test run.

Above this last crew will fly the 50-star U.S. flag, something Kendall said is indicative that the occasion will transcend being a ceremony for Confederate war dead, recognizing above all that the crewmen were Americans.

"These men were American patriots," Kendall said. "These were not men that were looking for glory. This was a mission that they were knowingly going into that they more than likely would not return from. That defines to me what a patriot is.

"We must honor them for their courage and fortitude, and give them closure to this tragic, but historic occurrence."

-- The Associated Press contributed to this story.