Ironclad virginia the day she fought the monitor at the battle of hampton roads. Late in 1862, he is transferred to columbus. He is the First Official captain of the css chattahoochee. He stays in command here for about a year, and then we have two more captains after that. The crew is a strange combination of individuals, river rats from port cities from columbus to apalachicola. It is very multinational. Any time you have the opportunity to preserve a ship, it is first of all a very expensive undertaking. Most people dont make the connection, especially in the modern era. We can get in a car and drive almost anywhere. But in an earlier age, most people and they traveled far distances, they have to travel by water. This represents the basic Transportation Needs of an earlier period. We hope people understand the links, the extent the confederates are going through to be able to conduct a war against an industrial superior opponent. This is the story of columbus, the south, and the story of the war, how the war developed and eventually was won by the north. We also want to get a sense of local history. This is a real aspect of local history. This is a ship built right here on the chattahoochee river, built by local people coming together for whatever reason but completing a project for a greater goal. Head to the Columbus Museum for the troublemakers and trailblazers exhibit on prominent residents of columbus, georgia. We are at the Columbus Museum in columbus, georgia. This is the troublemakers and trailblazers exhibition. The goal is to spotlight people from our area considered normal,ome, not quite or going against the grave when they were alive. But now we may see them in a different light. We may admire them. Besome cases, they may still controversial. There are often two sides to many of the stories. We are looking at artifacts related to the life of Carson Mccullers, columbuss most famous author. She was born here in 1917 and spent all of her early life here. She really spent her childhood exploring the city of columbus. Everything from the riverfront and the businesses on broadway to the fancier homes and some of the suburbs to the housing of white male workers and africanamerican neighborhoods, including where some of the Domestic Workers she knew what have lived. She had a wonderful eye for feelings ofthe people who were outsiders and outcasts. Throughout her life, she talked of feeling alienation or loneliness in many ways, although she always had many friends. She did a wonderful job of capturing those feelings in her writings. The other wonderful part of her novels and short stories is most of them take place in a very thinly veiled version of columbus. If youre familiar with the city, it is very easy to pick out the particular streets and businesses she is talking about. Many of her characters are inspired by people she knew in her life or heard stories about from other people. It is a wonderful way to really get a sense of how Carson Mccullers felt about her hometown, both the good and the bad, and also just to capture a wonderful early 20th century, mid20th century sense of what columbus really was like as a community. Carson mccullers left columbus when she was 18 years old. And though she returned frequently to visit her mother and her family, her primary residence was in new york city. And in nine at, new york. And in nyack, new york. She once told a friend that she had to visit the south periodically to renew her sense, that a little tongue in cheek there. But she felt more comfortable in some ways in new york. And she loved to entertain. What we have here on loan from the Carson Mccullers center, part of columbus state university, several artifacts from her home in new york. Like the record player or the ice bucket would be essential for her, of course, with all of the parties she liked to throw. Carson also unfortunately suffered from physical maladies throughout her life. She had a misdiagnosed case of rheumatic fever as a young teenager and that affected her throughout her life and ultimately led to her having several strokes before her early death at the age of 50 in 1967. So this cane that we have here