The first meeting of the 2008-09 season of the North Louisiana Civil War Round Table, today at 7 p.m., will focus on the CSS H.L. Hunley, the world's first successful military submarine.

The presentation on the man-powered submersible will be presented by Dr. Tom Pressly, a local physician and Civil war researcher, and will be staged at the Bossier Parish Historical Center, 2206 Beckett St., Bossier City.

The Hunley sank in February 1864 after attacking and destroying the federal sloop USS Housatonic. However, the Hunley also was lost in that attack, and remained one of the Civil War's enduring mysteries until her remains were found by diver Ralph Wilbanks, who was under contract to author Clive Cussler.
Mike