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This is the site of the Confederate Navy
Yard on the lower Chattahoochee River at Saffold, Georgia. This was the
location where the C.S.S. Chattahoochee was constructed and launched in
1862. The ship was a three-masted steam vessel armed with four smoothbore
32-pounders in broadside, a 9-inch Dahlgren on the front pivot and a
32-pounder rifle on the rear pivot. Her first commander was Lieutenant
Catesby ap R. Jones, who had commanded the C.S.S. Virginia during the
second day of her battle with the Union ironclad Monitor |
This is a closer view of the marker at
the Navy Yard site |
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This is a modern sign at the entrance to the navy yard area. Much of the site is now a modern subdivision. At the time of the Civil War, this was very much a remote area and the successful construction of the Chattahoochee here was a remarkable achievement |
This is a view of the actual site where
the Chattahoochee was most likely constructed and launched. Notice the
deep cut in the natural bank of the river. As late as the 1950s, a long
line of pilings could be seen extending out into the Chattahoochee River
at this point. The ship's construction was the most successful part of her
career. Trapped in the Apalachicola/Chattahoochee River system by
obstructions placed across the river by the Confederate Army, she never
had a chance to sail out into Apalachicola Bay and engage the Federal
blockaders. She sank following an accidental boiler explosion in 1863, but
was raised and refitted. In 1865, as Wilson's troops took Columbus,
Georgia, she was set afire by her own crew and sank in the Chattahoochee
River just south of that city. A portion of her wreck has since been
raised and may now be viewed at the National Civil War Naval Museum in
Columbus |
