Savvy strategists keep their friends close but their enemies closer, while peaceful teddy bears hug everyone indiscriminately. Probe the difference between battleships and friendships with today’s Groupon: for $8, you get two general-admission tickets to the American Military Museum in Aquarium Wharf (up to an $18 value). Emblazoned with authentic relics from 14 American conflicts, the American Military Museum is a battle royale of war history presented in reverse chronological order to underscore the nation’s military evolution. Seventy display cases exhibit 260 service uniforms, 33 flags, and hundreds of artifacts from each branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. Military sleuths can scope magnified views of Revolutionary and Civil War–era swords, guns, rifles, uniforms, and epaulets along with full exhibits dedicated to both world wars. Camouflage garbs and tailored Navy coats from various decades crowd the glass cases alongside rare finds, including Phantom Division patches used during General Patton’s decoy D-Day invasion, and 200 years of military headgear that covered hairstyles ranging from Revolutionary War–era buzz cuts to modern-day powdered wigs.

Reviews

Seven TripAdvisors give American Military Museum an average of 4 owl eyes:

• This museum is a perfect example of one of those wonderfully enjoyable small museums you stumble across unexpectedly. – WorldStomper
• We visited this museum while in Charleston (only for a day) and I was glad we stopped by. No one in my immediate family is current or previous military, but the exhibits kept our attention and were very nicely displayed. – f220