After all, it isn't often this sleepy, Quiet Corner town learns it's linked with one of the nation's most historic naval battles.

But when South Carolina researchers found the identification tag of local resident Ezra Chamberlin in the wreckage of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley last week, local historians' eyes grew to the size of propellers.

"It's a historian's dream," said Ledogar, a self-described history nut who must visit the nearest home of an ex-president wherever he vacations.

The Hunley, as depicted in a 1999 TNT cable television movie, was a primitive Confederate submarine that sank off the Charlestown, S.C., coast Feb. 17, 1864. It sank after successfully attacking the Union blockade ship Housatonic.

The ID tag discovered by researcher Bob Neyland has local historians so excited, they called in State Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni.

The discovery also raises the question of why a Union soldier's ID tag was found on a Confederate sub.

The hope is Bellantoni can arrange the exhumation of Chamberlin's grave at Old Westfield Cemetery to provide clues as to how his identification tag ended up in the submarine's wreckage.

"What we want to do is get him off the hook -- that he didn't die on the Hunley," Ledogar said while standing next to Chamberlin's grave Friday. "We want to put closure on this."

Immediately after the news of the discovery broke, Killingly Historical Society researchers plunged into dusty books and old newspapers in search of the truth of Ezra Chamberlin's demise.

What they ended up with, however, were more questions.

"We kept coming up with the same question: 'Is he or is he not buried there,'" Ledogar said.

Ledogar has talked with officials at the South Carolina State Historical Archives, where the ID tag is, to try and determine possible scenarios. Among them:

Chamberlin was a defector to the Confederate side and was serving aboard the Hunley.

He was a prisoner of war and forced to serve on the Hunley because of the danger of submarine warfare at the time.

He was a spy for the Union looking to sabotage the Hunley.

Chamberlin was killed July 11, 1863, at the battle of Fort Wagner in South Carolina. A Confederate soldier took his ID tag as a souvenir, wearing it around his neck when the submariner died aboard the Hunley, which sank after successfully sinking a Union blockade ship.

Ledogar said he believes the last scenario most likely happened, especially since records indicate a Hunley Confederate crewman was on the same battlefield where Chamberlin reportedly died.

What isn't known, however, is whether Chamberlin's remains made it back to Killingly. If they did, Ledogar said he believes the case will be closed and Chamberlin never was aboard the ship.

One thing certain is Ledogar wants to get the ID tag back to Killingly. He said he will talk to South Carolina officials about that.

"It should be sent home to where it belongs," he said.

A little history

Meanwhile, Killingly Historical Society President Natalie Coolidge and society researcher Marilyn Labbe are studying the Hunley and the battle that claimed Chamberlin's life.

No matter where Chamberlin died, it probably was far from pleasant.

Coolidge said the Hunley's story is fascinating, as it chronicles a desperate South's plight to break the Union blockade at Charlestown toward the end of the war.

The ship was so risky, dozens of sailors drowned during training runs because it simply filled with water, she said.

Worse, however, was the air quality, since the Civil War predated any technology allowing oxygen storage.

"It was an experimental submarine and it was the first one to prove the viability of submarine warfare," Coolidge said. "They had to have a candle to detect when the air was bad. If it went out, they had to come up."

The Battle of Fort Wagner wasn't much better.

Citing old editions of the Windham County Transcript and several compilations of local Civil War veterans, Coolidge and company deduced Chamberlin likely was killed at that South Carolina battle.

According to an 1889 government compilation, the Battle of Fort Wagner was a nighttime attack in which the Union -- outnumbered five to one -- still attempted an attack at the Confederate fort.

Despite that, Chamberlin's unit -- Company K of the 7th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry -- held its ground before retreating two miles to the nearby beaches.

Much excitement

The fact somebody local is linked to such an historic moment has the local historical society excited.

And any publicity for the Killingly Historical Society, they say, is just as exhilarating.

"Every day, we compile and preserve records here. And if we get a little deviation that's exciting, it helps us out," Ledogar said. "It's our only pay."

Staffed by volunteers, the society has a museum full of stories like Chamberlin's at 196 Main St., inside the old library building.

For these volunteers, the quest for knowledge, especially of the local variety, is as fulfilling as a paycheck.

"We were enthusiastic because it was something I didn't know about," Coolidge said. "So when we started digging into history books, it gave me a lot of information that I didn't know."