A half-scale replica of the H. L. Hunley, a civil war submarine, made an appearance at the Leslie Sugar Cane Festival November 2. Pastor Jack Cowart is a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, C.S.S. Chattahoochee, 2314.

Cowart told how long the model took to build. “It took about five months to build it. I had help.” He told how he initially started it with his engineer outside of Chipley. “We did part of it there, but it got too big for us.” Cowart told how it was finished in Panama City at Metal Works. “I had the idea, I had the dream, they made it a reality.”

Cowart stated people were initially skeptical of the project. “Folks didn’t think we could do it. We had people in my camp, they laughed about me trying to do this.” He now has plans for a full size replica.

Cowart told how the original Hunley sunk the Housatonic, but the explosion went off too soon, killing the crew of the Hunley in the process. “The bomb on the front there had about 120 pounds of black powder. 120 pounds is about seven pounds of C4.”

He detailed the explosion. “They rammed the ship, the bomb was planted, they were supposed to back up 100 foot. That night, they came back 20, which [is] about to the edge of the ship, and the rope knotted, or something happened, and that rope pulled the detonator cord, and it exploded too close to the ship.” Cowart stated the crew was instantly killed by the percussion.