The Alabama-Designed Confederate Helicopter. Really. Or At least ALMOST.

Three quarter view of the experimental model built by William C. Powers. (No longer in the National Air and Space Museum's Collection).

In 1862....

"William C. Powers was an architectural engineer living in Mobile, Alabama, and personally saw the effects of the Northern blockade.  Powers knew that the southern states did not have enough ships to break the blockade with naval power, and going through the blockade was full of risks.  William Powers saw another way to crush the blockade – attack it from the air.  Using his engineering skills, Powers began drafting plans for a machine that could lift off and propel itself through the air to attack Union ships."

See the full story HERE at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum website.

The U.S. Army Avaition Museum is in Alabama....

 ...at Fort Rucker. Though there is no reference that I can find on their website to that early helicopter model, there was this Civil War mention:

"Army Aviation traces its origins back to the American Civil War. Both Union and Confederate forces used hydrogen-filled balloons to direct artillery fire, marking the beginning of U.S. military aeronautics and of aerial support of Army ground forces."

    Then again since that early chopper design was imagined by someone rebelling against the United States... perhaps it has no place there?
     And what happened to the model that The Smithsonian writes is "no longer in the National Air and Space Museum's Collection"? 
I'm inquiring, and will update when I have the information.