Propellers, CSS Peedee

Propellers, CSS Peedee. cast iron , c. 1863. , During the Civil War, the Confederate Navy operated a large and well-guarded shipyard on the east bank of the Great Pee Dee River at Mars Bluff. The largest vessel constructed at the site was the 150 ft. wooden gunboat CSS Peedee, built to patrol the waters against Union forces. As the war drew to a close and the army of General William T. Sherman advanced through South Carolina, Confederate authorities ordered the destruction of the CSS Peedee so that it would not be captured and used to the advantage of the Union military., The scuttled remains of the CSS Peedee sat undisturbed at the bottom of the Great Pee Dee River until September 1925, when low waters exposed its boiler and deck, as well as the propellers exhibited here. The following year, local chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy acquired custody of the propellers from the US Department of War, and with assistance from the City of Florence, funded their recovery. On May 10, 1928 the propellers were presented to the Florence Public Library in an unveiling ceremony conducted by the grandson of former CSS Peedee crewman, William F. Clayton., The propellers were displayed on two large granite pedestals on the library's western grounds until June of 1972, when the public library was renovated. The propellers were then moved to the Florence Museum on Spruce Street, where they remained until 2014, when they were reinstalled in the courtyard of the Florence County Museum., [Caption:] , Site of the Confederate naval shipyard, approximately 12 miles east of Florence. The site was chosen by Confederate surveyor, Lt. Alphonse Barbot, for its accessibility, allowing the secure transfer of supplies and ordnance across the Pee Dee River by the Wilmington and Manchester railroad bridge.