Confederate Memorial Hall Museum facts for kids
Civil War museum in 2011
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| Established | 1891 |
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| Location | 929 Camp St New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Type | War museum |
The Confederate Memorial Hall Museum is a special place in New Orleans, Louisiana. It holds many historical items from the American Civil War. This war happened in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The museum focuses on the Confederate States of America, which was a group of southern states during the war.
People sometimes call it "Memorial Hall." It has the second-largest collection of Confederate Civil War items in the world. Only the American Civil War Museum in Richmond, Virginia has more. The museum is known as Louisiana's Civil War Museum and Louisiana's Oldest Museum. It was designed by Sully & Toledano and finished in 1888. The building has a style called Richardsonian Romanesque.
Contents
Exploring the Museum's Collections
The Confederate Memorial Hall has more than 5,000 historical items. Many of these are rare objects from the Civil War. You can see personal belongings and uniforms of important Confederate generals. These include Braxton Bragg and P.G.T. Beauregard.
The museum also displays over 140 flags from different Confederate army groups. Varina Davis, the wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, gave many of her husband's items to the museum. These gifts included his clothes, his Bible, and his saddle. She also donated a special crown of thorns from Pope Pius IX.
A Look Back at 19th-Century History
The Confederate Memorial Hall was started in 1891. A kind person from New Orleans named Frank T. Howard helped create it. He wanted a place to keep the historical items of the Louisiana Historical Association. The museum quickly gathered a huge collection of Civil War objects. Most of these were gifts from war veterans.
A very important event happened at the hall on May 29, 1893. The body of Confederate President Jefferson Davis was brought there. Over 60,000 people came to honor him. His body then moved to its final resting place in Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia).
Solving the Museum's Building Puzzle
For many years, there was a disagreement about who owned the museum's building. This problem involved several court cases and important people in Louisiana. The issue started with Frank T. Howard's original gift of the building. He said it was "to be set apart forever for the use of" the Louisiana Historical Association.
In the 1930s, the Howard Library next door needed more space. They wanted to use the museum's building. Governor Huey Long helped find a solution. The museum allowed the library to store some books in its basement.
Later, in the 1990s, the old Howard Library building became part of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. The Confederate Memorial Hall was located right between two Ogden Museum buildings. This caused a new problem. Visitors had to go outside and walk around the Memorial Hall to get from one Ogden building to the other.
A plan was suggested to build a tunnel through the Memorial Hall basement. This would connect the two Ogden buildings. However, the University of New Orleans (UNO), which owned the Ogden buildings, stopped the talks in 1998.
In 2000, UNO claimed ownership of the Memorial Hall building. They tried to have the museum move out. Many court battles followed. Eventually, a compromise was reached in 2003. Governor Mike Foster helped both sides agree. UNO gave up its claim to the museum's land and building. In return, a connecting tunnel was built through the basement. This allowed the Ogden Museum to connect its buildings.
Recent Events at the Museum
In 2011, a special flag was returned to the museum. It was a Confederate Battle Flag from the 14th Louisiana Infantry Regiment. This flag had been stolen from the museum in the 1980s. A collector bought the flag in 2004 without knowing it was stolen. He returned it once he found out its history.
