At Saffold, accessible by steamboats from all points on the river, David S. Johnston operated the Southern Confederate States Navy Yard. Here the gunboat Chattahoochee was built under a contract signed October 19, 1861. Lieutenant Catesby ap R. Jones, C.S.N., formerly executive and ordnance officer aboard the Virginia (Merrimack) and her commander during part of her battle with the Monitor, was ordered in July 1862 to Saffold to supervise completion of the Chattahoochee and assume command of the gunboat. He remained with the Chattahoochee until January 1863. On May 27, 1863, under Lieutenant Commanding J.J. Guthrie, the Chattahoochee set out to recapture the schooner Fashion, which Federals had captured below Blountstown, Florida, on the Apalachicola River. A boiler on the Chattahoochee exploded, killing sixteen of her crew. Sunk to her decks after the explosion, she was raised and taken to Columbus for repairs, then destroyed there by Confederates at the close of the war. Lieutenant J.J. Guthrie also commanded the naval forces at Saffold during part of the War Between the States.