The S.C. Civil War Museum is presented by Ted L. and Connie Gragg. The Museum is built around two Civil War Collections, theirs, and the artifacts that the C.S. S. Pedee Research & Recovery Team has sampled from the Mars Bluff Confederate Navy Yard on the Big Pee Dee River.
The S.C. Civil War Museum houses an in-depth collection of period firearms, edged weapons, and one of the gun or cannon carriages from the famed Rockbridge Artillery, the famed Artillery unit that supported Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. The four cannons were known affectionately as "The Four Apostles" and the carriage housed at the S.C. Civil War Museum is from the cannon called "Matthew".
Uniforms, period gowns and petticoats, books, newspapers, an exhibit on finances and money, slavery, causes of the Rebellion, projectiles, and personal effects highlight the interesting collection.
The C.S.S. Pedee Research and Recovery Team are licensed for underwater research and an on-going intensive survey of the riverine site on the PeeDee River by the South Carolina Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology. This is an on-going endeavor that began in 1993 and is now entering its third phase where the team has applied to the state for permission to salvage the three large ordnance pieces from the wreck of the C.S.S. Pedee, a Confederate gunboat built at that yard. The artifacts from this exhibit are on display at the S.C. Civil War Museum here in Myrtle Beach.
As you know, after the recent catastrophic fire at Myrtle Beach Indoor Shooting Range, everything in the museum had to be dismantled, conserved again, and new exhibits put together. Stuart Pabst, formerly the director of the Horry County Museum, has been instrumental in the on-going renovation of the Civil War Museum.
