COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — The National Civil War Museum is in the midst of what it hopes will be a fruitful, but costly, undertaking. An estimated $1.25 million is set to go into preserving and reconstructing Civil War-era artifacts and the creation of a new exhibit.
At a press conference on the morning of Oct. 25, the museum announced its plans to add a new exhibit, “Columbus: A Civil War City,” which will build upon pre-existing exhibits in the museum with a local focus. It will also highlight Horace King, a Black freed slave most known locally for being a master craftsman and bridgebuilder. King played a key role in constructing Civil War naval vessels, such as the C.S.S. Jackson and C.S.S. Chattahoochee, parts of which are displayed in the museum.
“This is about education, this is about economic development, it’s about tourism. This is about growth,” said Georgia State Representative Teddy Reese, a member of the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee and a key supporter of the project.
According to Reese, the exhibit addition and upgrades will not just aid Columbus financially, but offer valuable insight into the Civil War history of the area. He harkened back to a saying often repeated by his grandmother, “You cannot know where you’re going if you don’t know where you came from.”
The National Civil War Naval Museum aims to present the navies of both the Union and the Confederacy, said Executive Director Holly Beasley Wait. She continued on, saying the addition of the Columbus exhibit would only help to convey the story fairly.
“We’re going to talk about battles produced, why it was produced, and who worked in those factories along the riverfront and why they worked there,” Beasley Wait said.
Columbus is largely known as the site of the final battle of the Civil War. Many ships used during the conflict were also…
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