Although the American Civil War was fought almost entirely on land, it also had a naval component to it. As part of its “Anaconda” plan to starve the South into submission, the Union Navy blockaded every major port city in the Confederacy, cutting off its supplies and munitions. The Confederacy, in turn, undertook a naval campaign of “commerce raiding”, attacking Federal shipping in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. And of course the Civil War saw the first widespread use of “ironclad” warships.
The National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus GA centers on the naval side of the war. The exhibits include two Civil War shipwrecks that have been recovered and restored, reproductions of several others, and a collection of artifacts.
In 1862, the Confederates laid down the hull of a new ironclad gunboat, to be named CSS Muscogee, at the shipyard in Columbus GA. Originally built as a stern paddle wheeler, she proved to be too heavy to launch, and was then completely rebuilt as a twin-propeller ironclad and renamed CSS Jackson. When Union troops reached Columbus in April 1865, near the end of the war, the Jackson was almost finished but had not been launched. The Federal troops towed the ship out into the Chattahoochee River and burned her to the waterline. Some of the sunken ship’s machinery was recovered in 1910, and the hull itself was raised in two pieces in 1962 and 1963. Today the ship is on display at the museum, as conservation and preservation work continues.
The Museum’s other ship is the gunboat CSS Chattahoochee. She was built as a wooden steam frigate (propelled by both sails and steam engines), and entered service with the Confederate Navy in February 1863. In April, while on the Apalachicola River in Florida, the Chattahoochee’s boiler exploded and sunk the ship. The hull was re-floated from the shallow water and went to the shipyard in Columbus in December for repairs, re-entering service in February 1864. When Federal troops approached Columbus in April 1865, the Confederates scuttled the Chattahoochee. In 1963, some of her engine machinery and the stern section of her hull were raised. They are now on exhibit at the museum.
Some photos from a visit.
For those who don't know, I live in a converted campervan and travel around the country, posting photo diaries of places that I visit. I am currently wintering in Florida.
