[4] Commanded by Lieutenant Washington Gwathmey, CSN, the new warship was employed to defend the river channels below Savannah, using her cannons to prevent a Union advance on the city from the sea.

[4] When her steam engines turned out to lack sufficient power for offensive use, Georgia was anchored in the Savannah River as a floating battery, protecting both the city and Fort Jackson.

In 1866, the ship's railroad track iron rail armor was partially salvaged and the wooden hull was shattered by the underwater charges used to remove it.

[5] Archeologists working for the USACE Savannah District, assisted by teams from the United States Navy, raised a 64 square feet (5.9 m2) section of Georgia on November 12, 2013.

[6] Further relics are being recovered during an ongoing nine-month salvage operation in 2015, as an initiative to upgrade waterway access for deep sea vessels requires its dredging to 47 feet (14 m).