Old Cahawba Archaeological Park

Alabama's first state capital and Civil War boomtown is now Alabama's most famous ghost town. The columns of Cahawba's Crocheron mansion mark where Confederate General Forrest met General Wilson to discuss the exchange of prisoners captured during the Battle of Selma. This historic town was also home to the Cahawba Rifles, Fifth Alabama Regiment, and the site of Castle Morgan, a prison for captured Union soldiers. Tragically, many of the prisoners lost their lives on the steamboat Sultana after being released at the end of the war. While traveling north toward their homes and families, the boiler on the Sultana exploded, killing and mortally wounding many of Castle Morgan's former inmates.