George E . Dixon George E . Dixon ( 1837 ? - February 17 , 1864 ) was a first lieutenant in the Confederate Army in the American Civil War . He is best known as the commander of the Confederate submarine H . L . Hunley during her successful mission to sink the Union blockading ship USS Housatonic off Charleston , South Carolina . Life and death . Although Dixon ' s early life is largely unknown , the 1860 census lists him as a 23 - year - old native of Kentucky or maybe South Carolina . He was a steamboat engineer and had lived in New Orleans , Louisiana before moving to Mobile , Alabama . Dixon ' s expensive tailor - made uniform and jewellery found on his remains suggests that he was a man of some wealth . Dixon was a Mason , and a member of Mobile Lodge No . 40 . Minutes of Union Chapter No . 3 , Royal Arch Masons , indicate that Dixon visited that body on March 20 , 1863 , which proves he was also a York Rite Mason . The famed Albert G . Mackey was the presiding officer at that particular meeting . Dixon was a member of a pre - war militia company , the Washington Light Infantry of Mobile . In the autumn of 1861 , the Washington Light Infantry became Company A , 21st Alabama Infantry Regiment . Dixon by then was a sergeant . He would later be promoted to lieutenant . In March 1862 , Dixon ' s regiment proceeded to Corinth , Mississippi , and the following month took an active part in the Battle of Shiloh , losing 200 men killed or wounded out of the 650 engaged . Dixon himself was severely wounded in the left leg . Luckily , a $ 20 gold coin he carried as a good luck piece saved his leg , and possibly his life . However , the impact seriously damaged his femur and Dixon would limp for the rest of his short life . Following the battle , the regiment was reorganized and returned to Mobile to man the city ' s defenses as artillerymen . It was during the uneventful garrison duty at Mobile that Dixon became interested in the submarine that Horace Lawson Hunley was building . On February 17 , 1864 , Dixon commanded the Confederate submarine on her first and only attack on the Union Navy . He was successful in sinking his target , but it ' s believed that either return rifle fire from the Housatonic , or the close proximity of its own ordinance when detonated , damaged the submarine , causing her to sink during her attempted return to shore . Dixon and his seven crewmen all perished . After the submarine was located and recovered in 2001 , Dixon ' s remains were identified . His home Lodge , now known as Mobile - McCormick Lodge No . 40 , and the Masonic Grand Lodges of Alabama and South Carolina participated in the military and Masonic funeral rites when the remains of the submarine ' s crewmen were interred on April 17 , 2004 in Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston , South Carolina . Gold coin legend . A romantic legend concerning George Dixon and his gold coin has been told for more than a century . Dixon is said to have been given the gold coin by his sweetheart , Queenie Bennett . She asked him to carry it for good luck and as a token of her affection . Dixon kept the coin always with him , and at the Battle of Shiloh it was in his trousers pocket . During the fierce fighting on April 6 , 1862 , Dixon was struck in the upper thigh by a minié ball . When he examined the wound , he discovered the bullet had struck the coin directly in the center , bending the coin but saving his leg by absorbing much of the impact . Following the recovery of H . L . Hunley , the story was partially verified by the discovery of the gold coin with Dixon ' s remains . Forensic anthropologist Diane France was hired to study the recovered skull of Dixon . Reconstructing Dixon ' s appearance , she found the man in a photograph Queenie Bennett ' s family had always presumed to be Dixon was not him . The inscription on the coin fails to mention Bennett , but it does confirm that it stopped a bullet at Shiloh . The United States $ 20 double eagle coin was minted in 1860 and is clearly deformed from the bullet ' s impact . Both the coin itself and a wound on Dixon ' s femur were found to have traces of lead . The reverse of the coin is inscribed with four short lines : Shiloh April 6 , 1862 My life Preserver G . E . D . Other contemporary evidence also suggests the legend may be true . James M . Williams , who was also a member of the Washington Light Infantry and Company A of the 21st Alabama Infantry , wrote his wife about Dixon the day after the battle : Corinth - April 8th , 1862 Dear Lizzie The letter was published in " From That Terrible Field - Civil War letters of James M . Williams , Twenty - First Alabama Infantry Volunteers " , ( University of Alabama Press , 1981 , John Kent Folmer , ed . ) Williams was Dixon ' s close friend and named his first son George Dixon Williams . The damaged coin is now on display with other artifacts and the submarine Hunley herself at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center . Image of Gold $ 20 coin http : / / www . civilwaralbum . com / misc4 / hunley _ dixon _ coin1 . htm