CSS Chattahoochee
Ship's engines and lower portion of the after hull, photographed following recovery in the vicinity of Columbus, Georgia, circa the early or middle 1960s |
| Career |
|
| Name: |
CSS Chattahoochee |
| Laid down: |
Saffold, Georgia |
| Fate: |
Scuttled to prevent capture |
| General characteristics |
| Length: |
150 ft (46 m) |
| Beam: |
25 ft (7.6 m) |
| Draft: |
8 ft (2.4 m) |
| Speed: |
12 knots |
| Complement: |
120 officers and crew |
| Armament: |
4 32-pounder smoothbore cannon, a 32-pounder rifled cannon and a 9-inch smoothbore cannon |
|
CSS Muscogee and Chattahoochee
|
|
|
| NRHP Reference#: |
70000212[1] |
| Added to NRHP: |
May 13, 1970 |
CSS Chattahoochee was a twin-screw steam gunboat built at Saffold, Georgia, entered service in February 1863 for the Confederate States and was named after the river it was built on.
Career
Chattahoochee was plagued by machinery failures, one of which, a boiler explosion which killed 18, occurred on May 27, 1863 as she prepared to sail from her anchorage at Blountstown, Florida, to attempt retaking the Confederate schooner CSS Fashion, captured by the Union. On June 10, 1864 she was moved to Columbus, Georgia, for repairs and installation of engines and a new boiler.
While she was undergoing repairs at Columbus, 11 of her officers and 50 crewmen tried unsuccessfully to capture Adela blockading Apalachicola, Florida. USS Somerset drove off the raiders, capturing much of their equipment.
When the Confederates abandoned the Apalachicola River in December 1864, the Chattahoochee was moved up the Chattahoochee River, and then scuttled near Columbus as Union troops approached the city. The remains of the Chattahoochee were found in the river within the boundaries of Fort Benning in 1963, and raised and placed at the National Civil War Naval Museum in Columbus.[2]
Officers and crew
- Lt. Catesby ap Roger Jones, commander (late July 1862 - February 4, 1863)
- Lt. John Julius Guthrie, commander (February 4, 1863 - March 1864)
- Lt. George Washington Gift, commander (March 1864 - July 1864)
- ? , commander (July 1864 - December 1864)
Personnel killed
Those killed in the explosion, along with those who later died of their wounds were:[3]
- Fred W. Arents, Third Assistant Engineer, of Richmond, Virginia
- Charles H. Berry, Quartermaster, of Tampa, Florida
- William B. Bilbro, Pilot, of Columbus, Georgia
- Edward Conn, Coal Heaver, of Apalachicola, Florida
- Charles Douglas, Second Class Fireman
- Henry Fagan, Second Assistant Engineer, of Key West, Florida
- Manassa Faircloth, Landsman, of Hardaway, Florida
- Eugene Henderson, Paymaster's Clerk, of Tuskegee, Alabama
- Joseph Hicks, First Class Fireman, of Georgia
- Euclid P. Hodges, Third Assistant Engineer, of Maryland
- John Joliff, Seaman
- James H. Jones, Landsman, of Florida
- Enoch C. Lanpher, Second Class Fireman, of Columbus, Georgia
- Charles K. Mallory, Midshipman, of Virginia
- William Moore, Landsman, of Florida
- John S. Spear, Landsman, of Florida
- James Thomas, Landsman, of Florida
- Lewis C. Wild, Landsman, of Florida
Several other members of the crew were wounded.
- "Poor Mallory! I shall never forget his appearance. I would not have known him had he not spoken. His face, hands, and feet were scalded in the most terrible manner; he plead piteously to have his wounds attended to. I urged the doctor, who, by the way, was almost used up himself, to pay Mallory some attention. He then told me that he would have to wait for some assistance. He then said that Mallory could not live. You would have thought differently had you seen him. I could not make up my mind that he would die. When they first commenced to remove the cloths he was talking cheerfully, but the nervous system could not stand the shock. He commenced sinking and was a corpse before they had gotten half through. Duffy, the fireman, expired on the next day."[3]
Notes and references
- ^ "NPS Focus". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov. Retrieved January 2, 2012.
- ^ Cultural Resources Management at Fort Benning - retrieved July 28, 2006
- ^ a b Foenander, Terry. "Tragic Explosion Aboard The CSS Chattahoochee". http://home.ozconnect.net/tfoen/tragic.html. Retrieved 2006-06-28.
Further reading