for nearly a century. >> fort benning was established on macon road in columbus, georgia, on approximately 85 acres of land in october of 19 18th -- 1918. on that day the war came to a close and there was talk of closing fort denning. many officers who had served in the american expeditionary forces to france went before congress to testify that had our soldiers had better training they would not have suffer the casualties that they did in just 210 days of actual combat, so it was determined by congress that we would keep fort benning on a smaller scale and luckily for us, it survived. >> but first, go on board the css jackson, one of only four surviving ironclads dating back to the civil war. >> we are in the national civil war naval museum on the banks of the chattahoochee river. the purpose of the naval museum is to tell the stories of the navy's during the civil war. we are the only facility that focuses entirely on that particular story. we are in a unique place, right here inside the museum are the remains of a confederate ironclad, the css jackson. this was an ironclad builds in columbus during the war. specifically, we are about a midship of the vessel. this section was missing and fell apart during the recovery process. this is a great vantage point to take a look at how this thing is built and what areas are used for different purposes. an ironclad is a wooden ship. you still have to build the structure of the ship out of wood. but on the outside of it, above the waterline there is iron plating that provides the clading to the vessel. this is, essentially if you want to think about it like this, it is like putting a man inside of the suit of armor. most of them are used in coastal waters and rivers. what they were designed to do is, essentially, protect in the confederates case local port cities and river towns, which of course leads us to why the jackson was built in columbus and columbus is so far from the coast. columbus is actually the second most important industrial site in the entire confederacy and the navy of the confederacy began building this here in order to protect this very important site. there was always the fear that the union navy would launch an attack on the chattahoochee river in order to take this city. the reason the columbus is such an important target is because of the industrial capacity here. they are producing uniforms, boots, munitions here, and this is where the columbus depot was. the uniform -- uniforms produced here went largely to the western army. this is an internal way for the confederates to produce their own material rather than having to import so much from outside. our construction on the jackson began in august of 1862. she was launched into the river of december of 1864, when wilson's raid came through alabama and hit columbus. the battle of columbus took place on april the 16th, 1865. general james wilson is a union cavalry officer who commanded some 10,000 cavalry troops and their job was to attack through the states of alabama and georgia. their goal is to destroy important targets like columbus because of industrial out put. to disrupt supply lines. to disrupt communications. anything that they can do to further along the collapse of the confederacy. typically an ironclad like the jackson would be used at a port city and if there is an approaching army the vessel can move up and down the waterway or around the waterway and fire its big guns and this is typically what confederate ironclads did to. however, in the case of the jackson, she is right at completion in april of 65. there is no crew for her yet. officially the confederate navy has her on the list of official -- official may be registers for the next ship to be officially commissioned. however, the war is winding down, the confederacy is collapsing and there is no crew for the jackson available yet. during the battle of columbus she sat at the navy yard. the navy guys never could, board and get her steam up. there were just not enough men available to do this. so, it sat there during the battle and nothing, it is a nice showpiece, so to speak. of course, the next morning on the 17th wilson's men came into the navy yard and started burning everything. they know that they cannot leave a viable weapon like this behind them, so they stuff flammables all over the ship and they set it on fire and they cast it loose into the river. for two weeks this vessel is slowly floating downstream the chattahoochee and burning -- there is a debris field between here and the final -- final site. it finally got caught in the bend of the river and there she sank. the water finally put out the fires and we have got what is left of her now. her length is 225 feet long and she is 57 feet at the beam, or 57 feet wide at her widest spot. we estimate that she weighed 2000 tons. the majority of the ship is, of course, made out of wood, wood construction. and the whole is made out of good old southern longleaf pine. we are actually a ground level and at the back of the case, the stern of the casemate, giving us a great vantage to see what the whole would look like. first of all, notice the bottom is flat. the draft of the vessel is not deep. that is because this vessel is the civic redesigned for river travel. it is designed not to go out on the open ocean, but specifically for the problems of the river. you will notice up here, this would plank right here was sort of like an edge, that is because it is an. this is where the iron plates would come down and just wrap around the knuckle. so, you have got the waterline here with iron plates coming here and the ends are resting on this would plank right here. also, if you will notice, the wood planks the boards here they look like they have got cracked in between them? very wide apart? but this was the problem on the vessel was recovered, when they brought it out of the water they set it on the short to dry out, it cracked and constricted. when she was launched into the river one of the local newspaper reporters noted in the paper that she floated like a duck on a pond, barely leaning. it was an amazing job that these constructors did on the vessel. from this vantage point you are looking towards the stern of the vessel looking at the back. moving forward you can see where the chef's of the propeller are embedded in the hull of the ship , where they come through. the shafts would have been coming forward towards the pistons of the steamship, the steam engine. so, you get those pistons moving back and forth. so, you have got two big ones right here along this section behind the superstructure. and then right here is where the steam engines would sit. you have got the boilers right here and if you were able to look up we have a re-creation of the smokestack. we have got the smoke back going straight up and up above the upper deck the smokestack extends about 40 feet. from this vantage point we are able to look down and we are essentially at four deck level so you are looking aft towards the main casemate of the ironclad. the oval shapes that you see are actually the gun ports of the jackson. jackson is armed with six -- six brooke rifles. a rifle gun that is not smooth it fires large bullets instead of cannibals. a solid round ways about 1800 -- 820 pounds. the particular record rifle we are firing today is one of the guns built specifically for the jackson, cast at the som unable works in alabama and completed in january of 18 65. >> ready? >> clear. >> fire. boom, you have got the explosion. it is simple but so effective. well, after the war people basically knew where she went down. it was not a western of having to discover where she was. the physical process of recovery took place in the early 1960's, during the centennial of the war . they began working on that process in 1961 and they started to build a coffer down around the site where they tried to flush the water out and they had to start digging the gunboat out of the mud. when they pulled the vessel out of the river bank, what they had to do was tell the material back up the river and they use the tugboat to do that. so they have got some flotation devices underneath it, they are pulling the two pieces of the wreck up the chattahoochee river with the tugboat. and then they have to lift it with cranes on to the river bank. that was at the location of the old museum. in the late 1990's they began construction on this nice silly. it was completed in 2001. in order to move this vessel from that place to this location, they used one of those big trucks that they put houses on. so, they had to move it very carefully down one of the streets of columbus. when they actually built the building, they built three sides here. they backed the hall of the jackson in here and set the braces in and slowly pulled the truck out from underneath and once they got everything in place they built the back wall of the building. it was an amazing feat of engineering to pull this off. there are only four ironclads from the civil war that we can study right now. the jackson is right here and this is why this facility is here. first and foremost it is here to tell the story of this particular ironclad, showing people that there were more than just one or two, there were many, and we have one of the best examples of that right here. >> all weekend long, american history tv is featuring -- columbus georgia's second-largest city, 100 miles southwest of atlanta. our media concave partners worked with the city tour staff when we recently traveled there to explore the city's rich history. learn more about columbus all weekend here on american history tv. >> today we typically think of hybrids as a car, a combination of electricity and gasoline. if you ask someone about hybrids in the mid-19th century, you're talking about ships. the chattahoochee is a hybrid, a combination of sale and steam power, it has large masts that carry large sales on it. it also has a steam engine on it. the chattahoochee is of course named after the river right here . the css chattahoochee was a regular run-of-the-mill gunboat. she was operating up and down the river here. well, as far as we know the chattahoochee is the only gunboat, plain fighting gunboat to have survived to this day and we only have the aft section the stern, maybe one third of the section inside the museum. it is only a portion of the ship. we try to interpret what the ship represents in terms of the entirety of the naval effort of the confederacy. of course, it is something that was built right here on the chattahoochee river. again, steam engines propellers, things like this are all coming from columbus. this is what columbus was able to producer in the war. actually, the chattahoochee was not the best built ship. she started out with a south of georgia plantation or -- owner named david johnson who decided he was going to build a ship and send it to the confederate navy for the war. he began construction on it hiring laborers, which was the biggest problem finding enough skilled labor to actually work on a ship of this size. eventually the confederate navy took over operation of the construction of it, completing it and putting it into operation in january of 63. in june of 63 she is just north of the town of chattahoochee florida. her boiler exploded. during the explosion several sailors were killed and injured. the injured are brought back to columbus. you end up having 19 sailors killed because of that. that is really the only action that you saw the boiler explosion. the confederate navy went down to the site, raised her, brought her back to columbus, re-fitted her, brought her back into operation, leading us to the model of columbus, when they just snuck her downstream and blew her up to prevent capture. there were three captains of the chattahoochee. the first was catesby jones. that name may be familiar to some people. he was actually the captain of the ironclad virginia that fought at the battle of hampton roads. in 1862 he is transferred to columbus and is the first official captain of the css chattahoochee. he stays in command here for about one 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. it is very multinational. anytime you have the opportunity to preserve a ship, it is first of all a very expensive undertaking. most people do not make the connection in the modern era. we can get in a car and drive almost anywhere, but in an earlier age most people, when they traveled far distances they had to travel by water. this simply represents the basic transportation needs of an earlier time. we certainly hope that people understand the lengths that people were actually going through to conduct a war against an industrial lease superior opponent. this is the story of columbus the story of the south, the story of the war and how it was eventually won by the north. we also want to get a sense of local history. this is a real aspect of local history, a ship that was built right here on the chattahoochee river, built by local people coming together for whatever reason, completing a project for a greater goal. >> all weekend american history tv is featuring the city of columbus georgia founded in 1828 it is situated on the chattahoochee river which connected the city and its surrounding plantations with the international cotton market, hosted by our cable partners the c-span city to her staff recently visited many sites to showcase the city's history. learn more about columbus all weekend here on american history tv. >> we are at the columbus museum in columbus, georgia, and this is the troublemakers and trailblazers exhibition. >> the goal was to spotlight people from the area who were considered troublesome or not quite normal, going against the grain when they were alive, but now we may see them in a different light, admiring them or in some cases they may still be controversial. there's often two sides to these stories. we are looking at artifacts related to the life of carson mccullers. she was born here in 1917 and spent all of her early life for your. she spent her childhood exploring the city of columbus. so, everything from the riverfront to the businesses on broadway to the fancier homes in the suburbs to the housing of mill workers and african-american neighborhoods including where some of the domestic workers that she knew would have lived. she had a wonderful eye for the stories and the feelings of the people who were outsiders or outcast. throughout her life she talked about having feelings of alienation or loneliness in different ways, even though she always had many friends. she did a wonderful job of capturing those feelings in her writing. the other wonderful part of her novels and short stories was that most of them took place in a very thinly veiled version of columbus. if you are 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 that she knew in her life or heard stories about from other people. so it is a wonderful way for us at the end of the day to really get a sense of how she felt about her hometown, the good and the bad, and also just to capture a wonderful early 20th century sense of what columbus really was like as a community. she left columbus when she was 18 years old. though she returned frequently to visit her mother and her family her primary residence was really in new york city and in nyack, new york. she once told a friend that she had to visit the south periodically to renew her sense of her -- a little bit tongue-in-cheek there -- but really she felt more comfortable, in some ways, in new york. she loved to entertain. what we have here on loan from the carson mccullers center of columbus university are several artifacts from her home in nyack, new york, like the record player or the ice bucket that would have been essential for her, for all the parties that she liked to throw. she also, unfortunately, suffered from physical maladies throughout her life. she had a misdiagnosed case over -- case of rheumatic fever as a young teenager, which affected her throughout her life and ultimately led to her having several strokes before her early death at the age of 50 in 1967. the cane that we have here maps it on the wall. this was the cane that she used to help her get around, which was very important for her. towards the end of her life she was bedridden, unfortunately for much of her time. there is a wonderful photograph of her drinking out of this drinking cup here, which was given to her by her very dear friend, mary mercer. it has her name engraved on it. that was something that she kept close at her bedside throughout her life. carson was married to reason color, -- was married to a soldier and they had a tumultuous relationship. it alternately ended in tragedy when he committed suicide. there was a lot of misunderstanding and emotional and perhaps physical infidelity of both sides at different site -- different times throughout their relationship, but there was also a real love there that connected them to their love of literature and writing. these are two books that he gave her as christmas presents. in particular this one you see here? it's as christmas, 1936, 4 carson, these books and my deepest affection. so, even though their relationship was not true way any means, we still have these reminders of what drew them together and kept them together and why this relationship was so significant in carson's life. one of my fairy favorite pieces related to her, it is a collage portrait that was done by artist scott eagle. it is in imagining of one of the dinner parties that she had became famous. so, here in front we have carson . she is working on her autobiography, which is ultimately unfinished, but you see her there with her pen in her hand. in the background we have a very wild dinner party. over here we have oscar isaacson, a pen name of the subject of out of africa, a film by meryl streep. we have also richard wright who was very significant in african american literature at the time. and of course we have the marvelous actress, marilyn monroe, depicted in stunning fashion. and then this fellow over here with his leg on the table is playwright tennessee williams. he and carson were part of a literary circle and cultural circle in the new york that involved many famous intellectuals at the time living in what was called the february house. he would have been a frequent guest at her dinner parties. i think that the joy and enthusiasm for life that you see in this portrait is really indicative of how carson tried to live her life and, even as she wrote these amazing stories even as she wove the stories up -- of outcast and alienation, she still brought out the joy and the human connection that was so essential to her. it is reflected in all of her work. we are standing next to a dress that was worn by one of my favorite people in this exhibit helen augustine howard. born in columbus to a very wealthy family and although she was proud of that, she was also not raid to do her own thing, as we would say today. she was considered scandalous by many people of her class and by her family because of her off our choices. she was a vegetarian, she was an atheist, she never married, and she wore pants, which was unthinkable at that time. her primary activity, however was concentrated on women's suffrage. in 1890 when two was 25 years old she founded the georgia woman's suffrage association. she worked throughout the state for five years going to many conventions, meetings, and really leading the charge for women's suffrage in the state of georgia. the national convention for suffrage was held in atlanta georgia, with delegates from 28 states attending, as well as susan b anthony. after the convention in atlanta that augusta and susan b anthony traveled to columbus, where susan b anthony davis speech suffrage. her brothers were not as thrilled about the activity and notoriety her sister was getting into. controlling the family finances, they cut her off and her public activity ceased. she spent the next several years living in her family's ancestral home in columbus. she became an eccentric recluse in many ways until a bizarre shooting incident on the property caused her brothers to whisk her away to new york city in 1921, which was one year after american women gained the right to vote to stop she live the rest of her life in new york city in relative anonymity until she passed away in 1933. she's buried in the columbus linwood cemetery and her friends raised money for a beautiful elaborate tombstone. it lists several of her accomplishments and at the bottom, it says martyred, which accurately sums up how her friends felt about how her family and brothers stifled her activism. julian and julia harris came to columbus in 1920 with a very specific goal in mind -- to fight the rise of the ku klux klan. in the 1920's, the clan was becoming resurgent across america, but in contrast to its early form immediately after the civil war, this clan had a much broader focus. not only did it want to terrorize african americans, but it targeted catholics, jews and immigrants. this version of the clan was much more interested in getting involved in local and state politics to try to enact policies that fit with their prejudiced views. when they arrived in columbus in 1920, the police commissioner and mayor made a statement to the effect that the clan was a boon to any city in which it was located which indicates the level of support the kkk was receiving through official channels in columbus. julian harris and his publishing partner specifically set out to combat the clan in the south. both julian and his wife were natives of atlanta. he was the son of joel chandler harris come the author of the uncle remus folk stories. julia coller had grown up as a socialite before marrying julian harris. so these were people who loved their state but wanted to see it continue to progress in many ways and out run some of these out dated attitudes. very quickly, they made their position known. an example of one of the editorials they wrote is included here. this is speaking about the ongoing accidents of african-americans to the north looking for better opportunities. they write that other factors mean nothing if a human being, white or black feels he is unjustly treated. if he feels his life and property are not safe from knight riders and cowardly mass organizations, if he feels he has no voice in making the laws under which he must live. throughout this campaign, they lost 20% of their subscribers that by 1924, a letter to the editor from a local resident proudly boasted there was no kkk control of the city or county government. they didn't stop with their crusade against the clan. they became involved in other national and local issues. they both traveled to tennessee to cover the so-called scopes monkey trial which they related to a proposal in georgia the year before banning the teaching of evolution in state public schools. julia harris was particularly interested in family issues within the city of columbus. she championed a juvenile court and a family welfare bureau and was active in promoting the public library as a resource for literacy and different ideas and perspectives. in 1926, the "inquirer son" was recognized with a pulitzer for his brave and energetic fights against the ku klux klan against the barring of a law barring the teacher of evolution and against incompetent in public officials -- against incompetent officials and against the negro. well wishes poured in from across the country, though there were some who felt they were only too eager to look down on their own home state and portray themselves to be better. so they were outstanding journalists, but their talents to not extend to the business and financial aspects of running a newspaper. in the late 1920's, they lost ownership of the paper to another individual who owned other newspapers. in late 1929, the new owner fire julia harris, indicating her editorials and in-depth reporting were no longer needed and were superfluous to the papers operation. both decided to leave columbus and returned to atlanta to strike out on new adventures. many of the city's residents he moans the loss, sending them many notes expressing their sadness. the social civic 25 club even awarded the harrises with a loving cup, thanking them specifically for their efforts to improve lives for african-american residents. during their decade in columbus, they made an impact not just locally, but on the national scene as the "inquirer son" became known as a newspaper to watch. columbus was relatively quiet compared to other southern cities. in the 40's and 50's, it experienced several civil rights milestone, largely thanks to the work of one man -- dr. thomas brewer. dr. brewer arrived in 1920 two establish a medical practice. within 10 years of his arrival he helped establish the social civic 25 club. in 1929, the organization transitioned into the local chapter of the national association for the advancement of colored people, the naacp. the local naacp helped spearhead a legal challenge to georgia cost whites only democratic primary. at that time, it was legal for political parties to limit who could vote in the primaries. since the south was solidly democratic at the time, the winner of the democratic primary essentially became the winner of the entire election. in 1944, a local barber and minister approached the courthouse in downtown columbus and tried to vote. when he was turned away, he filed suit and brewer helped raise money for the legal challenge which it all the way to the u.s. supreme court. the supreme court struck down the whites only primary, opening the door to increased voter participation for african-americans across the south a full 20 years before the voting rights act of 19 624. brewer helped lead voter registration drives and turned his attention to other projects, including persuading the city to hire its first black police officers and campaigning for equal educational facilities for african-american students. however in 1956, brewer's activism came to an abrupt end. during a dispute with a white owner of a clothing store located beneath his radical office, brewer was shot and killed. the store owner argued self-defense however, this pistol, which brewer had carried for several years after receiving threats to his life was found unfired in brewer's pocket after his death. the civil rights movement in columbus experienced a turning point because of your's and the subsequent exit of its leaders in the community at that time. more changes did come to columbus throughout the 60's and 70's, but they took a much quieter form that other nearby southern cities, largely because of the aftermath of the death of dr. thomas brewer. what i hope people take away from this exhibit is people can make it to friends wherever they are. these are people who in many cases grew up in columbus or came to this community is young people and because of their vision, they were able to make differences in their community and their region and in some cases, in the nation as a whole. >> all weekend long, american history tv is featuring columbus, georgia, home to the national civil war naval museum featuring original american civil war ships, uniforms, equipment and weapons used by the union and confederate navies. together with our cable partners, c-span visited many sites exploring columbus's rich history. learn more about columbus all weekend here on american history tv. >> no other group of americans has given more than the united states infantry man. >> 11:00. >> more eyes, more arms, more legs and more lives on a battlefield have been lost than any other group of americans. and it's all because they were willing to go out and give their lives in defense of the country. fort benning was established on macon road in columbus, georgia on approximately 85 acres of land in october of 1918. caroline benning, the daughter of henry lewis benning, for whom the fort was raised, raised the flag over the -- for whom the fort was named raise the flag. they knew 85 acres of land was not going to be enough for training modern infantry soldiers. they talk to a businessman who owned a lot of land around here and he agreed to sell it to the army and we eventually moved out here in 1919. in world war i, the infantry played a key role on the battlefield for all those participating in the war. it was determined that had we had better training, we would have had -- we would have lost fewer soldiers. when fort benning started, the war had not ended yet. but just about a month later, on the 11th month, the 11th hour and 11th day of 1918, the war came to a close and there was talk of closing fort benning. many officers who had served in the american expeditionary forces to france went before congress to testify that had our soldiers had better training they would not have suffered the casualties they did in just 210 days of actual combat will stop they suffered 53,500 killed outright on the battlefield. 300,000 wounded or gassed. for just 210 days of combat, it was an appalling figure. these young officers held if they could get a place where they trained the infantry soldier how to do his job properly using all the facets of the army, artillery, we would have an artillery unit and it infantry demonstration unit, we would have tanks and so on, even a balloon corps so all the modern tactics and techniques of 1918 could be given to those soldiers who were going to be trained. so, it was determined by congress we would keep fort running on a smaller scale and luckily for us, it survived because through the 20's and 30's, it is what cap learning alive within the reserves and national guard and regular army. when the japanese attacked pearl harbor on december 7, 1941 fort benning was ready to expand its training and allow the army to expand from 200 house and soldiers to over 8.5 million soldiers before the war would be concluded. in that, they would train 65,000 officer candidates to help lead the army. they were sent here for all types of training, ranger school, airborne school, one station unit training for the soldier -- these are younger soldiers who come in and they will begin to become infantry and go through what we still call basic training and ait which is advanced individual training. they will go through those courses and learn to utilize their weapons systems, learn to read maps, learn first aid anything a soldier would need to survive in the modern battlefield, they will teach it here. then you can go to airborne school and we train all the airborne soldiers for the entire air force. if you are a navy seal, you will come here for airborne training. if you are in the para-rescue you will come to for running to be trained in the use of the parachute, how to land and that type of thing. when parachute school first started here at work running, it was volunteers for the infantry regiment. two officers became what was known as the test and tune in the early 1940's. they would make the first combat jumps as infantry soldiers. they decided they would expand to a battalion and eventually they did and eventually it was expanded into divisions. an airborne division was posted be deployed behind enemy lines if they were at normandy and other places in order to capture important bridges, towns, wrote junctures and so on until they were relieved by those attacking forces coming up. ocs is officer candidate school. it was established by general george kaplan marshall who was chief of staff of the army. the army would expand to 8.5 million men during this time and they needed young soldiers that were qualified to lead them into combat. that was what the school was designed to do. the first graduating class went on and in every major operation for world war ii the army participated in, officer candidates from fort running georgia, were involved in the action here. if you passed the test, both mental and physical, anyone can qualify to go to officer candidate school. that was one of the provisions officer marshall wanted to have. if we are true to democracy anyone who has the ability physically and mentally should be able to become an officer in the united states army. 1973, we started trading -- started training female soldiers to go through officer candidate school all stop in the early days, it was just to train infantry officers. today, we train soldiers for all the occupations within the armed forces of the u.s. army. ranger school was started here in ft. benning in the 19 to these. the first airborne ranger companies were trained here at fort running to answer the fighting in the korean war and later, it was determined in 1951 that it would become the ranger school and they would just train individual soldiers that would go back to their units and pass on the lessons they have learned in the ranger training to their units. small unit training, making sure a soldier knows how to read a map, knows how to defend himself with small arms and weapons knowing how to defend himself if he has no weapons, hand-to-hand fighting and so on all stop we're stressing every possible aspect a soldier might experience on the battlefield. it's a grueling course, very hard. you are deprived of sleep deprived of food in order to see how you will measure up if your supplies are cut off during the course of battle. >> you are receiving fire, you cannot run 500 meters in the wide open. >> it's very important that a soldier be prepared mentally and physically to go into combat and ranger school is one of the best training devices the army has to make sure the told -- to make sure the soldier is tough enough to experience combat and survive and bring his men home alive. today, for benning is called the maneuver center of excellence. we not only train united states infantry soldiers, we train armor soldiers and scouts and so on. the armor and infantry work together in tandem on the battlefield. so it was very important they come to fort benning and learn to work together even more closely than they do on the battlefield of yesteryear. some of the problems we have at fort benning with training is always the human element. when you put that into training, there's always the possibility someone is going to get hurt, and that's one of the things they tried diligently to do is make sure the soldier is safe during the course of his training here. we want him trained well, but we don't want anyone hurt in a training. >> all weekend, american history tv is featuring columbus georgia, the city of columbus was named after italian explorer christopher columbus will stop hosted by our media come cable partners, c-span visited many sites showcasing the city's history. learn more about columbus all weekend here on american history tv. >> we are here at the columbus museum in columbus, georgia and we are currently standing in our chattahoochee legacy gallery. this is our permanent gallery that focuses on the history of columbus and its many highlights, from the prehistoric time 10,000 years ago up to the 1970's and moving toward into the columbus we know today. we are currently standing in the portion of the legacy gallery that deals with the civil war. columbus was a significant city during the war for many reasons, not east of which was it was the second largest manufacturing center for the confederacy second only to the confederate capital of richmond. however, many residents also left to fight in the war and this jacket we are standing by was worn by one of those residents. this is an iconic red jacket worn by the columbus guard. this was one of the cities private militia companies. these sorts of organizations were very common throughout our in the 19th century. it was mainly a way for elite white southern men to socialize but also to come together in a sort of fraternal organization. easily activities were limited to military drills and social gatherings. during the civil war many of these countries and members were called into action and went to fight as representatives of their hometown. the columbus guard was starting during the second war and continue to be active until world war i. until after the civil war, they chose to wear a bright red jacket. as you can see, the red jacket actually has read and ivory. the ivory portion on the front is a bid which is attached to the many buttons you see moving around on the site. these buttons are one-of-a-kind. there is no record of them being used by any other militia or military organization during the 19th century. if you look closely at them, they depict an eagle with a cg stamped the middle. obviously they were a unique creation for the columbus guards to use. this is the only known surviving example of a red jacket from the columbus guard. it was worn by a member of columbus who grew up just a couple of miles from the museum where we are standing today. he left to serve in 1861 and we know the jacket belongs to him and we acquired it before he left because he wrote his name. here, we have a picture of the inscription inside the jacket. that date of 1861. this is what they and other members of the columbus guard would have marched out of columbus wearing before they changed into confederate uniforms. before the war officially began the columbus guards were invited to be the bodyguard of jefferson davis when he was inaugurated as the confederacy has first and only general. they marched to montgomery, alabama wearing these red jackets where they were photographed and talked about in many newspapers across the south. we are sharing the portion of the legacy gallery which details columbus's long mill history. it's first mill was founded the very same year. the object we are looking at is a terry towel used as the guild crest limb. this would have been used to route the 1880's and actually still has fabric on it. so you can see the various stages from the basic cloth to the finished terry towel product. in addition, the mill had a company store where residents of columbus could come in and directly purchased towels and other scraps of fabric. the location of columbus along the fault line makes it an ideal location for many mills and many types of mill products. when union forces came through at the end of the war, they destroyed many of the cities manufacturing centers to shut down confederate production at the end of the war. however, at the end of the work, columbus rebuilt quickly with more mills than ever before. the majority of mills here in columbus were cotton mills, so they were producing clothing towels genes, there were also grist mills and hosiery mills. many different kinds of products including home furnishings could be bought right here in columbus. their buildings can still be seen all over the columbus landscape today. they are offices event centers and places to look at where so many residents of columbus worked or had family members or friends who worked to stop here we have several otter fax related to the life of tom wiggins, otherwise known as blind tom. he was born on a plantation near columbus and soon after his birth, it was discovered he was blind and mute. though the terminology referred to him as dumb, today we would probably recognize him as autistic. specifically an autistic savant will stop but tom cannot communicate in traditional ways. he had a remarkable talent for mimicry. he was able to reproduce any sound or voice he heard, nature or man-made. he also displayed a remarkable talent at an early age for music. being able to reproduce songs he heard just once on the piano despite having very little formal training will stop his owners quickly realized the remarkable child they had on their hand and had him begin giving concerts in columbus. eventually, they started touring him around the south and around the country. wiggins also wrote music. this t's here is one of his earlier pieces of sheet music. you can see right here, the blind negro boy pianist only 10 years old. we have image of him here -- he was most often photographed and john -- and drawn with his eyes closed stop he continued to tour not just through the nation but internationally, even throughout the civil war when he was officially no longer a slave. however, through a series of convoluted legal dealings, members of his initial owning family continued to act as his manager and legal guardian. at one point, his mother signed over legal guardianship with the promise of receiving some of his earnings. however, when she realizes was not the case, she left new york city where tom and his owner manager were leaving -- were living. this is another piece of music called the battle of manassas. this speaks to his ability to re-create sounds he heard. the battle of manassas was one of the first battles of the civil war and people who heard this piece performed and had been on the battlefield said it was almost shocking how accurately tom was able to use the sounds of the can of to mimic sounds that would be heard on a typical battlefield. this document is very typical of the concert programs that you would have received if you attended a blind tom concert. you see here songs, sketch of the life of blind tom. you have an image of the adult tom. you see him depicted with his eyes closed. inside, there is an account of tom's life, and on the back, a typical concert program. tom wiggins received acclaim across the world. by some accounts, he was the highest grossing musical artist of the entire 19th century. unfortunately, because of his race, because of his disability, he never saw a send of that money. at one point, a newspaper article reported that tom had only the clothes on his back and one silver flute, which have been presented to him as a gift by one of his flute teachers in new york city. towards the end of his life, he had to stop performing after suffering a series of strokes. there are many different stories about his death and what exactly happened, but the most commonly accepted version is that he passed away in hoboken new jersey. there are two gravesites associated with tom, one in hoboken, and one near his original birthplace in harris county. we really hope visitors to the columbus museum come away with a greater appreciation for the rich history, heritage and culture columbus has had throughout its life. we want our local residents to really take pride in where they are living and appreciate what has made an impact on the world stage. we hope visitors from out of town begin to recognize not just columbus's rich history when they are here, but when they go home. they may see something that reminds them of a person, place, business, or a product that came from columbus, and how it enriches their own daily life.

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