The Hunley Funeral Wreath
Raphael Semmes Camp 11 provided the official Wreath for the Hunley Funeral in April 2004. Other Crewmembers' caskets were provided wreaths by the Hunley Commission. This Wreath was placed with Lt. George E. Dixon's casket.
The design of the wreath is based on the floral elements of the Great Seal of the Confederate States of America as was the Ribbon's color (mounted at the top, however, instead of at the bottom). This Wreath had been used in the Confederate Memorial Day Observance in Mobile in the year 2000.Because of the fact that the crew is buried in Charleston's Magnolia Cemetery and that Mobile's Hunley Monument is in Mobile's Magnolia Cemetery, as well as that the tradition in Charleston is to have a Magnolia Wreath for Confederate Memorial Day observances, magnolia leaves were placed over the lower portion of the Wreath. The leaves appended to the frame were taken from the closest tree to the Southeast of the Hunley Monument and the largest tree to the South of the Monument.
At the bottom can be seen a boll of Alabama Cotton picked in Baldwin County. Barely visible in this photo is a sprig from a cedar tree which hangs over the grave of 1st Lieutenant Louis P. DeMouy of the 21st Alabama, Dixon's unit. This sprig is attached just below the cotton boll.
A Camp 11 compatriot was assigned the honor of handling the Wreath during the Funeral.