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WEST POINT — On Thursday, the executive director of the National Civil War Naval Museum talked about a place that remains an undiscovered jewel for many in the Chattahoochee Valley despite the fact it’s visited almost daily by people from all over the world. Located in Columbus, the National Civil War Naval Museum overlooks the Chattahoochee River and is home to the largest surviving Confederate warship, The CSS Jackson, along with wreckage of the CSS Chattahoochee.

Other exhibits include a replica of the USS Hartford with its berth deck, ward room and captain’s cabin, an actual cutter, or “ship’s boat” from the USS Hartford, a full-scale replica of the USS Monitor’s famous turret, and an immersive panoramic dockside exhibit and interior view of the CSS Albemarle.

A native of Waycross, Georgia, Holly Beasley Wait is a graduate of Florida State University. She has more than 34 years of experience in museums and historic preservation. She has worked at the Museum of Florida History in Tallahassee and at the Civil War History and Art Museum in Corsicana, Texas. Wait has been at the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus since 2015.

“I have been lucky in my last two positions to work on Civil War history full time,” she said. “I think everyone knows about Robert E. Lee and General Grant and their place in Civil War history. Everyone knows about the major b battles . Gettysburg in particular is a special place for a lot of reasons.”

But not that much is known about the Civil War’s naval battles, and Wait would like to help change that. She wants to people to get the feel of what the ship captains and their crews went through. They were among the first to go to sea on ships made of iron. “They were on big boats with big guns,” she said. “Each day they were at sea, danger lurked as they felt the wind in their hair and the ocean spray on their faces. Our mission is to tell the story of both navies, both Confederate and Union.”

For years, what remained of the Jackson and the Chattahoochee sat in open air underneath an outdoor pavilion.

Things started to change in 1996. The City of Columbus earned some money by hosting some events in the Atlanta Olympics. City officials looked for ways to put it to public use. A Confederate naval museum was one of those options.

A 40,000-square-foot museum off Victory Drive is a result of that. Throughout the process, public support has been vital. The museum gets no government funding, but receives ample donations from members. For $30, an individual earned the rank of ensign and is eligible for membership benefits and a discount on items at the museum store. For $60, an individual has the rank of master and for $125 they are a lieutenant with full family benefits.

Wait likes to talk about the history of Columbus both before the war and afterward. Before the war, Columbus was second only to the Confederate capital of Richmond in terms of industry in the Confederate states. The iron works produced armaments for war and other military goods were produced in the port city. “We talk about technology and craftsmanship,” she said. “We try to collect as much Union material as we have Confederate. We want everyone to come to the museum and learn about the naval history of the Civil War. The Civil War has often been called the defining moment in American history. More books have been written about the Civil War than there were days in that war.”

Program Chairman Rea Clark said he had visited the museum and had been most impressed, especially by its collection of flags.

Because they need to be identified from distant locations while out on the sea, ship flags then to be much larger than the ones on flagpoles.

“There’s one flag on display in the museum that would cover an entire wall in the room where we are meeting,” Clark said.

Wait said that many of the flags came from the collection of Gustavus Fox, who at one time was the assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy.

The museum has the largest collection of Civil War-related naval flags in the U.S. The collection includes various flags from ships and coastal forts, signal flags and admirals’ pennants.

The museum’s timeline exhibit takes the visitor month to month through the war showing naval events and features many of the museum’s most rare artifacts such as the uniform coat of Captain Catesby Jones and Admiral Farragut’s two-star hat insignia.

A visit to the museum makes the case that West Point and Columbus have a lot in common. Both were founded on the Chattahoochee in 1828. Both have long associations with industry. The first bridges in both towns were built by Horace King, the master builder of the covered bridge. April 16, 1865 is an important date in history for both places. It was Easter Sunday, and some of the final fighting in the Civil War took place in those two locations. West Point was the place the last fort fell and Columbus was the setting for the last land battle of the war. Fort Tyler surrendered late in the afternoon; Columbus fell to Union troops that night.

“The Battle of Columbus didn’t last long,” Wait said. “There weren’t many able-bodied men to resist a Union attack from the Alabama side of the river.”

It was similar to what had taken place earlier in the day at Fort Tyler. Most of the resistance was from untrained old men and boys along with soldiers who were recovering from wounds.

Columbus is famous for the Ilges House, the home of blues singer Ma Rainey and famed writer Carson McCullars. There’s also a connection to Coca-Cola inventor Dr. John Pemberton.

Wait said the museum continues to be a work in progress. A fire in 2021 was a setback but not as bad as it could have been. It was limited to the pole barn area housing the engines of the Jackson. What remains of the iron engines are still in pretty good shape. 

“We want everyone to come to the museum and learn from it,” Wait said. “We have all kinds of events. We have a Fire the Cannon Day in April. I enjoy doing Victorian Teas. We will have a 20 Days of Christmas promotion this year.”

In September, the museum played host to a Smoke on the River, Hogs & History event that was a lot of fun. It was a barbecue sanctioned by the Georgia BBQ Association and Kansas City BBQ Society. There were cooking demonstrations using Civil War-era utensils and techniques.

Some of the biggest groups coming to the museum at the school groups from the Atlanta area.

The National Civil War Naval Museum tells a local story that has a national impact. “You need to know where you came from to know where you are going,” Wait said. “We have had people coming there from all over the world. Our museum is having a definite economic impact for Columbus and the surrounding area.”