Museum of the Confederacy The Museum of the Confederacy is located in Richmond , Virginia . The museum includes the former White House of the Confederacy and maintains a comprehensive collection of artifacts , manuscripts , Confederate imprint s ( books and pamphlets ) , and photographs from the Confederate States of America and the American Civil War ( 1861 – 1865 ) . White House of the Confederacy . The White House of the Confederacy is a gray stuccoed neoclassical mansion built in 1818 by John Brockenbrough , who was president of the Bank of Virginia . Designed by Robert Mills , Brockenbrough ’ s private residence was built in early nineteenth century on East Clay Street in Richmond ' s affluent Shockoe Hill neighborhood ( later known as the Court End District ) , and was two blocks north of the Virginia State Capitol . Among his neighbors were U . S . Chief Justice John Marshall , Aaron Burr , defense attorney John Wickham , and future U . S . Senator Benjamin Watkins Leigh . Sold by the Brockenbrough family in 1844 , the house passed through a succession of wealthy families throughout the antebellum period , including U . S . Congressman and future Confederate Secretary of War James Seddon . Just prior to the American Civil War , Lewis Dabney Crenshaw purchased the house and added a third floor . He sold the home to the City of Richmond , which in turn rented it to the Confederate government as its Executive Mansion . The Davis family was quite young during their stay at the White House of the Confederacy . When they moved in the Family consisted of the President and First Lady , six year - old Margaret , four year - old Jefferson Davis , Jr . , and two year - old Joseph . The two youngest Davis children , William and Varina Anne ( “ Winnie ” ) , were born in the White House , in 1861 and 1864 , respectively . Among their neighborhood playmates was George Smith Patton , Jr . , whose father commanded the 22nd Virginia Infantry , and whose son commanded the U . S . Third Army in World War Two . Joseph Davis died in the spring of 1864 , after a 15 - foot fall from the railing on the White House ’ s east portico . Mrs . Davis ’ mother and sister were occasional visitors to the Confederate executive mansion . The house was abandoned during the evacuation of Richmond on April 2 , 1865 . Within twelve hours , soldiers from Major General Godfrey Weitzel ’ s XVIII Corps seized the former Confederate White House , intact . President Abraham Lincoln , who was in nearby City Point ( now Hopewell , Virginia ) , traveled up the James River to tour the captured city , and visited Davis ' former residence for about three hours - although the President only toured the first floor , feeling it would be improper to visit the more private second floor of another man ' s home . Admiral David Dixon Porter accompanied Lincoln during the visit to the former Confederate executive mansion . They held a number of meetings with local officials in the White House . Among them was Confederate Brigadier General Joseph Reid Anderson , who owned the Tredegar Iron Works . When the City announced its plans to demolish the building to make way for a more modern school building in 1890 , the Confederate Memorial Literary Society was formed with the sole purpose of saving the White House from destruction . History of the Museum . Opened as the Confederate Museum on February 22 , 1896 , it was housed for many years in the former White House of the Confederacy . The Museum of the Confederacy was founded by influential Richmond society ladies , starting with Isabel Maury who was later joined by Ann Crenshaw Grant , and Isobel Stewart Bryan . Isabel Maury was the founder of the Museum of the Confederacy but she also was the first Regent of the Confederate Memorial Literary Society . Today , the Isabel Maury Planned Giving Society continues the spirit of Mrs . Isabel Maury , daughter of Robert Henry Maury , whose work with the Relics Committee was instrumental in securing much of the Museum ' s current collection . Mrs . Isabel Maury was a cousin to Matthew Fontaine Maury , the naval officer and scientist credited as the father of modern oceanography . Matthew Fontaine Maury lived in Robert Henry Maury ' s house in the early part of the American Civil War and would walk the two blocks to the White House of the Confederacy on a daily basis . It was in this house that Matthew Fontaine Maury first worked with burning underwater fuses for torpedoes in a tub of water . Today there is both the old and a new plaque on the building that testifies to this . Mrs . Grant was the sister of Lewis Crenshaw , who owned the house just prior to the war , and was married to James Grant , a wealthy tobacconist who also lived within the neighborhood . Mrs . Bryan was the wife of Joseph Bryan , a wealthy businessman and publisher , whose family is still associated with the " Richmond Times - Dispatch " . By the centennial anniversary of the Civil War , the Museum ' s governing board determined that it wanted to see the Museum evolve from a shrine to a more modern museum . In 1963 , the CMLS hired its first museum professional as the executive director , and in 1970 , changed the name of the institution to " The Museum of the Confederacy . " The Museum houses the largest and / or most comprehensive collection of artifacts , personal effects , and other memoriabilia related to the Confederacy . Among the thousands of other important pieces found there are items owned by Jefferson Davis , Robert Edward Lee , Joseph E . Johnston , John Bell Hood , Thomas Jonathan Jackson , Simon Bolivar Buckner , J . E . B . Stuart , Joseph Wheeler , Wade Hampton , Lewis Armistead , and Raphael Semmes . The provisional Confederate Constitution and the Great Seal of the Confederacy are also housed there . Of particular note is the Museum ' s collection of over 500 original , wartime , battle flags that were carried by the Confederate Army . Some of the flags were donated by veterans in the early years of the Museum . Others , regimental flags that were captured during the war that were originally housed in the archives of the U . S . War Department , were formally transferred to the Museum either by Act of the U . S . Congress or by Act of the Virginia General Assembly , depending on the level of unit identification of the flag . The White House was closed in 1976 , to be fully restored to its wartime appearance . The milestone restoration project was completed in 1988 , gaining high marks from the preservation community for its accuracy and richness of detail . Reopened for public tours in June of that year , the White House featured extensive reproduction wall coverings and draperies , as well as significant numbers of original White House furnishings from the Civil War period . Since the Museum opened in 1896 , it has been visited by roughly five million visitors from all over the world . Among the many famous world leaders who have visited the Museum are U . S . President Theodore Roosevelt , British Prime Ministers David Lloyd George and Margaret Thatcher , and even the leader of the 2006 military coup in Thailand , General Sonthi Boonyaratglin . It is also a popular attraction for many celebrities who visit Richmond , including actors Robert Duvall and Sam Neill , musicians from Bob Dylan to The Black Crowes , and sports figures such as two - time Daytona 500 champion driver Sterling Marlin and NASCAR two - time Sprint Cup champion crew chief and current " NASCAR on Fox " commentator Jeff Hammond ( who conducted the Marlin interview in 2002 in the museum ; Marlin is a Civil War buff ) , among others . Notable past and present exhibitions include : " The Confederate Years : Battles , Leaders , and Soldiers , 1861 – 1865 " ; " Women in Mourning " ; " Before Freedom Came : African - American Life in the Antebellum South " ; " Embattled Emblem : The Army of Northern Virginia Battle Flag , 1861 – Present " ; " A Woman ’ s War : Southern Women , Civil War , and the Confederate Legacy " ; " R . E . Lee : The Exhibition " ; " The Confederate Navy " ; and " Virginia and the Confederacy : A Quadricentennial Perspective " . Location near Virginia State Capitol . The Museum and White House of the Confederacy are located two blocks north of the Virginia State Capitol , and within walking distance of several other museums and historic sites , including the Executive Mansion of Virginia , Monumental Church , St . Paul ' s Church , John Marshall House ( a Preservation Virginia property ) , and the John Wickham House ( Valentine Richmond History Center ) . It is , however , completely surrounded by and its view is cut off from those sites by the VCU Medical Center ( formerly the Medical College of Virginia hospitals ) of Virginia Commonwealth University . The neighboring and expanding hi - rise medical facilities stirred debate in 2005 about the possible relocation of the Museum and the historic White House building . In 2006 , Museum officials announced that the White House of the Confederacy , a National Historic Landmark ( 1963 ) and Virginia Historic Landmark ( 1966 ) , will not be moved . Critics of the Museum of the Confederacy ' s leadership in recent decades note that it previously owned the very land on which the new hospital construction is taking place , and allege that the Museum sold it to VCU to help finance the very museum building now purportedly threatened by the hospital ' s expansion on the site . In fact , the Museum owned part of property in question between 1894 and 1933 . The Commonwealth of Virginia informed the Museum , in 1933 , of its intent to build a steam plant on part of the property to supply heat throughout the small , adjacent , medical school campus and to Capitol Square . The 1930s - era Museum had little recourse but to give up the land to the state - its only mitigation being that it could acquire steam from the new plant . At that time , no hospital expansion plans were available to the public that foreshadowed any danger to the fabric of the Court End / Shockoe Hill neighborhood . Indeed , the first significant hospital expansion ( A . D . Williams Clinic and West Hospital ) was not built until 1941 , and the majority of the modern hospital buildings were not built until the late 1970s . No evidence supports the allegation that the Museum sold any of its property to pay for its current building . Plans for a future museum system . The Museum announced plans , in September 2007 , to build a system of new museum sites around the state of Virginia . Citing diminishing returns on visitation to the original site , the concept for the " Museum of the Confederacy System " is to exhibit its vast collections in strategically located , high - traffic , tourist destinations that are also significant Civil War sites . Current plans are to build museums in Spotsylvania County , Virginia , near the Chancellorsville Battlefield and in Hampton , Virginia , “ inside the moat ” at Fort Monroe . The White House of the Confederacy will remain in the care of the Museum , and will be interpreted at its current , original site . The Museum plans to maintain a corporate headquarters and its research and preservation facility in Richmond , perhaps at the current site of the Museum . While Museum officials recognize that the plan for implementing this new initiative is aggressive , they plan to complete the bulk of it during the sesquicentennial ( 150th ) anniversary of the Civil War , between 2011 and 2015 . The first satellite museum was officially opened March 31 , 2012 , in Appomattox , Virginia . The museum was met with positive reception from both locals and tourists , and has been a great asset to the town of Appomattox . The museum currently houses Robert E . Lee ' s sword and his uniform that he wore to the surrender in Appomattox Court House National Historical Park , as well as his death mask and various other artifacts belonging to both famous and common soldiers . They are open year round from 10am to 5pm , and are only closed on Thanksgiving , Christmas , and New Years Day . Connections to scholars . Several prominent Civil War historians have had connections to the Museum . Douglas Southall Freeman , the biographer of George Washington and Robert E . Lee , started his career at the Museum . William C . " Jack " Davis , Emory M . Thomas , and Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust have all done research there . James I . Robertson , Jr . , of Virginia Tech , Edwin C . Bearss , Historian Emeritus of the National Park Service , and William J . Cooper of LSU , have each served as members of the Museum ’ s governing board .