As the war turned in favor of the Union, each industry faced exponentially growing shortages of raw materials and skilled labor, as well as worsening financial opportunities. Smaller firms provided additional munitions and sundries. The Columbus Iron Works manufactured cannons and machinery for the nearby Confederate Navy shipyard, Greenwood and Gray made firearms, and Louis and Elias Haimon produced swords and bayonets. The Eagle Manufacturing Company made various textiles, especially woolens for Confederate uniforms.

During the war, Columbus ranked second to Richmond in the manufacture of supplies for the Confederate army. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, the industries of Columbus expanded their production this became one of the most important centers of industry in the Confederacy. Civil War and Reconstruction Īn 1863 broadside published in Columbus warning of an impending attack By 1860, the city was one of the more important industrial centers of the South, earning it the nickname the Lowell of the South, referring to an important textile mill town in Massachusetts. In addition, textile mills were developed along the river, bringing industry to an area reliant upon agriculture. The city's commercial importance increased in the 1850s with the arrival of the railroad. The river served as Columbus's connection to the world, particularly enabling it to ship its commodity cotton crops from the plantations to the international cotton market via New Orleans and ultimately Liverpool, England. Those who stayed and made war were forcibly removed in 1836. Most Creeks moved west with the 1826 Treaty of Washington. Across the river to the west, where Phenix City, Alabama, is now located, lived several tribes of the Creek and other Georgia and Alabama indigenous peoples. DeGraffenried, who placed the town on a bluff overlooking the river. The plan for the city was drawn up by Dr. The city was named for Christopher Columbus. Those who lived closest to white-occupied areas conducted considerable trading and adopted some European-American ways.įounded in 1828 by an act of the Georgia Legislature, Columbus was situated at the beginning of the navigable portion of the Chattahoochee River and on the last stretch of the Federal Road before entering Alabama. This was for centuries the traditional territory of the Creek Indians, who became known as one of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast after European contact. It has the longest urban whitewater rafting course in the world constructed on the Chattahoochee River.

Columbus is home to museums and tourism sites, including the National Infantry Museum, dedicated to the U.S. Fort Moore, the United States Army's Maneuver Center of Excellence and a major employer, is located south of the city in southern Muscogee and Chattahoochee counties. Ĭolumbus lies 100 miles (160 km) southwest of Atlanta.

The metro area joins the nearby Alabama cities of Auburn and Opelika to form the Columbus–Auburn–Opelika Combined Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 486,645 in 2019. At the 2020 census, Columbus had a population of 206,922, with 328,883 in the Columbus metropolitan area. Columbus is the second-largest city in Georgia (after Atlanta), and fields the state's fourth-largest metropolitan area. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it officially merged in 1970. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama.

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