Confederate Museum

$ 8. entrance fee. The museum is small. We took 1 ½ hours to view the exhibits. They have a 16 minute movie in the back that runs continually. The building is impressive and has been there for over 100 years as a memorial to Civil War Veterans from the south. Fascinating to see real uniforms, they look so small, would hardly fit a modern day teenager. Lots of reading, no digital or interactive displays but there are stories told here that you likely never heard about, like the fighting on the Red River between Shreveport and Alexandria. This museum requires that you take time and really look at what is on display. Civil War history buffs will enjoy it the most.

This is an old school museum no mass technology assaults to our senses. Lovingly curated by the people who work there. You do have to have an interest in the subject before you go. I like history i like museums, so i highly recommend the museum.

Amazing collection. Come here if you are a civil war buff. You’ll love it. If you don’t care about history or don’t have a basic understanding of the civil war, don’t come, you probably won’t enjoy it. The feel of the place is walking into a giant private collection, and in fact most of the artifacts were donated by soldiers family’s in the 1890s.

It’s refreshing to see a history museum that is this interesting and engaging without the use of audio/​video tours, digital interactions, etc.
It may not be for everyone… but for anyone with an interest in this time period, there are a lot of great objects to see and it is a really good, small museum.
Very friendly staff as well made for a nice experience

I was not nuts about this museum — could have been because I came after seeing the WWII Museum adjacent (fabulous). Small, hard to see items crammed into display cases; typos and incomplete descriptions. It did, however, evoke the madness and anguish of the Civil War.

We had a great time! Good learning experience. We love the music boxes. We came from California. Thanks for the hospitality!

What a wonderful way to spend the day and learn about our history and beat the heat! The building itself is beautiful and all the relics are very well preserved. They have a gift shop with some really nice stuff. The little music boxes are really special and are assembled on site. They make great souvenirs. This place should be on everyone’s to do list when visiting New Orleans. The staff on site are also very friendly and helpful.

Don’t be expecting a huge modern facility, to compare with the national World War II Museum. This place feels like it should. Smaller, with antique cases and many, many personally owned and identified items from the Civil War. It may be small, but there are world-​class items in this museum. One of the kind things that you simply won’t see anywhere else. This is a nice place to visit.

Odd. I visited the museum late May and asked the staff if I can take pictures. He said it’s fine as long as there is no flash photography. So they must have changed their policy.
The museum size is small but it is packed with confederate artifacts, all worth seeing. I have some knowledge of the civil war history as I totally enjoyed it. But my family member who knows nothing about it also was engrossed with the displays. Just give yourself 1.5 hours there like we did and skip the boring film in the back room.

This was a nice museum smaller unlike the World War II Museum down the street but still worth stopping in. They have a large civil war collection from jackets, swords and weaponry. If you a history buff this place is worth your time. The staff was great very friendly and willing to answer any questions.

I find the reviews of this museum absolutely fascinating; people either love it or hate it. Now that I’ve visited it, I’m going to give it 5 stars but for an entirely different reason than the other highly rated reviews.
If you’re looking for a museum that interprets the Civil War and all of its social, political, cultural and economic complexities, then this museum will fall flat. As others have noted, it has rows of glass cases full of material culture of various descriptions. The placards vary in degrees of usefulness. My wife (who is not a historian) humored me and feigned interest, but she told me after we left that it was deadly boring to her.
Of course, if you’re interested in the Civil War and already have a good understanding of what happened, then you’ll probably find this place fascinating. I’m a firearms historian (I should be working on my thesis … instead I’m procrastinating on Unilocal) and really enjoyed the displays; especially the one with two LeMat’s revolvers sitting side-​by-​side. If you know what I’m talking about, then your saliva glands will probably kick in instinctively. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about … well, it’s two more old dusty guns in another long glass case. Yawn.
But, here’s why this museum is worth visiting, and here’s what they don’t tell you at the museum:
In the late 19^th century, there was a tremendous movement afoot (spurred by the likes of the Daughters of the Confederacy and other such organizations) to recast the Civil War in a gentler, more «moral» light. This is best seen in the tradition of monument building … you can see evidence of this a few hundred feet from the museum at the Robert E. Lee Memorial. In short: there was a realization that many of the original Civil War soldiers were starting to die off. Without those people who experienced the Civil War firsthand, there was concern that their efforts would be lost and their memories smeared. Therefore, monuments to Civil War heroes were erected all over the south to mould our collective memory of what the Civil War was. It was a brilliant exercise in marketing and it worked, by and large.
Historian Catherine Bishir has an excellent article about monument building that is well worth reading if these things interest you.
So, consider the museum not in the context of the Civil War (1861 to 1865), but rather in the context of the late 1800’s when the museum came into existence. This was a time when people wanted to venerate Civil War veterans and political leaders as moral heroes fighting the good fight. That the museum is in an old church building is no accident; this was very much intended to be a shrine. The artifacts on display are the relics of the people the museum holds in sainthood. And the story the museum tells is not so much the story of the Civil War, but rather the canonization of the memory that the Daughters of the Confederacy wanted for their fathers. Small wonder that Jefferson Davis’ jacket, slippers, walking stick, musket (a real beauty from the Whitneyville armories) and saddle preside over the altar.
And in this sense, the museum stands as a rather unique example of this sort of monument building. I wish the museum did a better job of interpreting itself thus, but I can also understand it not wanting to feel like a part of a 19^th century marketing campaign.
Even my wife (who is neither a historian nor particularly interested in the Civil War) found the museum absolutely fascinating once she understood this context. And, based on this recommendation, I hope you do too.

Despite visiting civil war sites before, this is my first museum, unless you want to count a trip to the Norfolk Maritime Museum that included artifacts from the USS Monitor.
I was here 10 yrs ago, and it has slightly expanded w/​that side hall that now features a video on segments of the CW. They have artifacts that I’ve never seen before (other than pics) from uniforms, to weapons.
The descriptions of exhibits are pretty much spot on, but there are some selective «edits.» There is NO mention about Nathan Bedford Forrest’s role in the creation of the Klan. I understand that’s a stain on the history of the South, but it IS HISTORY!
Still, the museum is very good. They only allow a single photo from the door, down into the hall. That’s a real shame. I can understand avoiding flash, but they’re clearly protecting their DVD sales. 5 stars otherwise.
One final point, the gift store portion is actually pretty reasonable. I rarely buy the typical cheap crap made in China, but as a re-​enactor myself, I know prices and picked up a couple items that I couldn’t beat on the internet (not paying shipping in this case). ;-)

Call it what you will: The Civil War, The War Between The States, The War of Northern Aggression. No matter what the label, it was a bloody, death filled mile marker of our country’s history, and the story of this internal conflict should be preserved. This, however, is not the case at the Confederate Museum.
Opened in 1891, this institution prides itself on being the oldest hall of exhibition in the state of Louisiana. As you walk through the doors into the main hall, one cannot help but feel a tinge of awe at the architecture, and craftsmanship.
As you pay your eight dollar admission, you are informed of the museum rules: Do not touch anything, and no photography of any sort (the reason given to me on the latter is that everything has been photographed, documented, and included in book & DVD format, which are for sale in the gift shop).
As you stroll through the hall, viewing the exhibits, one cannot help but notice the glaring lack of information. Sure, there’s placards that will inform you that, for example, that a flag belonged to a volunteer infantry out of Louisiana, or that the silverware was owned by the wife of a general, but so what? What’s not stated is their place in history, or importance. You’ll find that there is very little information here. A person would have to be a college graduate who majored in American History/​Civil War to really appreciate the housed collection.
The gift shop contains the usual trinkets one finds in these types of stores, such as spoons, magnets, stickers, books and DvDs. You get the idea. What is surprisingly tasteless, and will no doubt cast this repository in a different light, is the DvD display of the Disney film, ‘Song of The South,’ which is available for purchase here. Since this film has nothing to do with the actual Civil War and depicts an antiquated, and racist view of the South, its inclusion here was offensive.
I exited the building, not feeling cheated, but definitely expecting the ghost of PT Barnum to be outside, saying «Told Ya».
I advise anyone considering visiting, to instead visit and any of the many antique shops within New Orleans. It’s cheaper, and you’ll get a better sense of history.

The museum and exhibits themselves are small. Annoying that you’re not allowed to take pictures. I’ll never understand this, what is being harmed by allowing photography, maybe the flash can distort the pigments in paintings, but physical artifacts… in any case, it didn’t stop me. I only visited because its near three other museums, and I’m a huge geek and have to see everything of interest while traveling. But I do not recommend this as a must see. I also couldn’t help but feel awkward in a museum dedicated to the side that, rightfully so, lost the worst war in our Nations history. Call me a northerner, but I’m just not down with slavery and remimiencing romantically about a culture that allowed it to exist. Pretty to cool to see the field Dr’s amputation kit… ouch and gross.

I really like history, so I enjoyed looking around this museum. It’s a lot smaller than the WWII Museum down the street (which is basically an entire day trip in itself haha), but has a lot of great artifacts from the Civil War.
The only thing I wish was developed a bit more is the story behind the Civil War. It could provide deeper historical context, and then paralel the events of the war with each of the artifacts rather than just saying what they were/​who they belonged to!
If you love history or the Civil War definitely come here! :)

I think this is a really interesting museum stop in New Orleans. There is a lot of information packed in a relatively small space. As a «northerner,» (actually from California, but that’s all sort of the same here), it was cool to see the Civil War from a Southern perspective. In addition, New Orleans has a very unique Civil War history because it was actually occupied by Union troops for most of the war – which also explains the existence of many pre-​Civil War era buildings in the city. So, not only is there a great story of how Union officers ran the city, but a Confederate perspective on their performance.
I also like the size of this museum. I sort of have a pretty short attention span when it comes to these things and after about 45 minutes in a big museum my eyes just glaze over and it becomes all sorts of words with no meaning. This museum does have a lot of information, but it’s not overwhelming. Great size for an hour or two tour.
Also, the building is a great example of Richardsonian architecture.
I highly recommend this place to visitors and locals.

A small but solid museum. It has a lot of Jefferson Davis stuff so if you also went to Beauvoir it is interesting to see this section. They have a huge section on the battle of Shiloh (about ¹⁄₃ of the museum). As noted by another Unilocaler, it’s not Gettysburg, but it’s a ¹⁄₃ of the cost of Gettysburg and is a small local museum. If you are a teacher, mention it at the front desk, they gave me this cool packet that they hand out to kids. If you are interested in the Civil War, or the Lost Cause myth, you will find this interesting. However, it is so small, I would not go back and would only recommend the museum to people who enjoy history.

Maybe I’m jaded because I visited Gettysburg a few months back, but this museum was far from amazing. They have several artifacts including flags carried in battle, clothing, firearms, and other artifacts. One of the most interesting artifacts I saw here was the amputation kit used during the war, gets me nauseated thinking how they could use the devices without anesthesia.
The museum fails to adequately demonstrate the logistics of the war for the Louisiana troops or the significance of New Orleans and its occupation by the union during the war. Well put by the person visiting with me, «This is the type of museum you get when you lose the war.»

I am a HUGE civil war buff and was pleasantly surprised that there was a civil war museum in the heart of NOLA. Quite unassuming little place because it is a bit overshadowed by the hugeness that is the WWII museum which is right across the street.
Walked in a my gosh! They had so much in such a little area. It is two floors but so much history!
They had original oil paintings of Nathan Bedford Forrest and General Lee! They have cannons and lots of artifacts like army gear, uniforms even ladies fashion of the time.
The curator was a huge buff and quite delightful to speak with. He laughed and agreed when I pointed to my new hubby and remarked how he looks like General Lee.
The cost was $ 10 per person but well worth it.
I even bought some replica jewelry on my way out.
A+!!

I’m bummed that you’re not allowed to take pictures in this national treasure of a museum. I’m proud that we have this museum as a needful corrective to Yankee rewriting of history.
Go to learn more about the War of Northern Aggression/​War for Southern Independence. Go to learn about the bravery of Southern men who wanted to protect home and hearth. Go to learn about slaves who voluntarily fought to defend the South against Northern Invaders.
The museum takes the useful and smart position of not trying to make it about «who was right» but about the reality about the complexity of the situation by showing facts and exhibits that go beyond the silly historical caricature of Southerner as racist banshee.
Most people don’t know just how racist the North was. Illinois, for example, banned the emigration of free blacks. If you tried to enter Illinois as a free black you were subject to arrest and imprisonment!
Go here, but only if you have an open mind and you want to learn some things that will challenge the version of history you learned in high school, which is probably roughly similar to the Yankee tale of North = good, South = bad that I received.