Faced with the possibility of protests, Sen. Glenn McConnell is distancing himself and the Hunley Commission from plans to have the bodies of eight dead Confederate sailors lie in the State Capitol.

However, McConnell, R-Charleston, has not definitively ruled out having the bodies of the sailors from the sunken Confederate submarine, the Hunley, lie in state in the State Capitol in Columbia for three days next April.

The lying-in-state plans had been posted on a Hunley Web site. They were removed last week, around the time a reporter from The State newspaper began asking questions about the matter.

Having the Confederate bodies at the State Capitol would be a high point of an extravagant 10-day burial ceremony, largely in Charleston, that is expected to be one of the largest funerals in state history.

Tuesday, McConnell’s office released a statement stressing, “The commission has not finalized nor does it have any plans at this time to have the Hunley crew lie in state at the State Capitol before the burial on April 17, 2004.”

McConnell also said, “There are myriad issues surrounding this potentiality that will have to be considered, especially the reticence that some commission members have, myself included, about the crew lying in state on Good Friday and Easter weekend.”

McConnell could not be reached Tuesday.

The State on Sunday ran a story about the plans. The story quoted business and civil rights leaders as saying they were concerned such a high public tribute for Confederates might spark civil rights protests and harm the state’s image and economy.

Only the most honored public officials have lain in state in the State Capitol in recent S.C. history. They have included the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, the late U.S. Rep. Floyd Spence, the late U.S. Sen. Olin Johnston and the late U.S. Sen. and S.C. Gov. James F. Byrnes.

Numerous South Carolina-born soldiers who were killed in Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Gulf War and Iraq were not accorded the honor of lying in state.

This week, civil rights and business leaders, reacting to McConnell’s latest statement, said they hoped the matter was settled.

“It would do nothing but create controversy. We are still dealing with the Confederate flag flying outside the State Capitol,” said Sen. Darrell Jackson, D-Richland, who said people in the state’s black community have told him protests over the Hunley sailors would be larger than those over the Confederate flag. At the height of the flag controversy, protests attracted tens of thousands of people.

“These Confederate soldiers not only fought for slavery, but they fought to overthrow the United States government,” Jackson said. “The Confederacy attacked the U.S. government, and to allow them to lie in the State Capitol — that upset people.”

Rep. Joe Neal, D-Richland, said he applauded McConnell for apparently changing his mind.

“If McConnell is reading the tea leaves and perceiving it will be a match to a powder keg, he’s right. He should heed that intuition and encourage the ceremony to be held elsewhere,” said Neal.

Neal added, “To do that (have them lie in state) is to reopen all those old debates about the Confederacy and the Confederate state of mind in South Carolina.”

Hunter Howard, president of the S.C. Chamber of Commerce, said he respected McConnell’s decision. “We look forward to working with him with an appropriate way to honor the Hunley soldiers.”

Ike McLeese, president of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce, said the idea to have Hunley sailors lie in state would have apparently become “divisive,” and he approved McConnell’s apparent dropping of the idea.

“While they are due a proper and respectful burial, we have better things to do with our time and resources,” McLeese said.

In his Tuesday news release, McConnell characterized the Hunley Web site where the funeral plans were posted as a “volunteer” site. He also criticized The State’s Sunday story as “premature.”

However, the official Hunley site links directly to the Hunley funeral site. On the “volunteer” site is notice of an important formal message from McConnell.

Also, there are numerous details about the funeral, including registration forms for people to fill out if they want to be in the official Hunley funeral parade and other events.

McConnell said it would be up to the Hunley Commission — a state board he created and heads — to set the final funeral plans.

“The commission will meet soon with regard to finalizing all plans for the Hunley burial,” McConnell said in his news release.

The eight sailors who would lie in state are from the Hunley, which was raised in 2000 off Charleston’s coast. On Feb. 17, 1864, it became the first submarine in history to sink an enemy ship, the USS Housatonic, in wartime. The same night, the Hunley went down with its crew.

Promoting the Hunley and its crew and raising money to build a $40 million museum have been priorities for McConnell, leader of the S.C. Senate.

McConnell describes the Hunley crew as being in the tradition of brave, freedom-loving Americans fighting for a cause. For the most part, he avoids questions of slavery and what would have happened to the slaves had the Hunley crew been victorious and the Confederates won the Civil War.

“I hope that citizens from both political parties, all states and indeed all nations join us in honoring the crew of the world’s first successful submarine,” McConnell said in his news release.

Reach Monk at (803) 771-8344 or jmonk@thestate.com.