National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus - Exhibits

Exhibits

The highlight of the museum is the 180-foot (55 m) hull of the CSS Jackson (also known as the CSS Muscogee), an ironclad ram put to fire in the Chattahoochee River by the Union troops of Gen. James H. Wilson and recovered from the bed of the river in the 1960s. Also on display are what's left of the CSS Chattahoochee and an intact rowboat from the USS Hartford. Two models of the warships USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (the former USS Merrimack), used in the Turner Broadcasting film Ironclads, and recreated full-scale sections of three other civil war-era warships are among the hundreds of Civil War artifacts located in the museum. There is also a battle experience theater that will put visitors right in the middle of a Civil War battle and an interactive Confederate ironclad ship simulator offering visitors an opportunity to experience 19th century naval combat first hand.

A large Civil War naval flag exhibit is the newest addition to the museum. According to executive director Bruce Smith, it is the largest display of navy related flags from the Civil War anywhere in the nation. Fourteen flags representing ships and forts from the entire scope of the Civil War are seen in this new exhibit, which is entitled “Ramparts to Topmast: Flags of Triumph and Despair.”

The museum also has the largest collection of surviving Brooke cannons made in Selma, Al. These four cannon are two 7-inch rifles, one 10-inch smoothbore, and one 11-inch smoothbore. The 11-inch smoothbore is the Largest surviving Brooke.