On 12 Mar 2023 John Simmons Jr. wrote on Marmaduke-32: Henry H. Marmaduke was also an officer, Master, CSN on the C.S.S Chattahoochee, a steam powered gunboat that had been completed in Dec of 1862 and launched on Jan 1863 from the Naval Ship yard at Saffold, Georgia in Early County. The ship was moved to the Chattahoochee, Flint, and Apalachicola River system for the protection of important Confederate industry further north and to attempt to release the blockade of Apalachicola Bay. In May of 1863 the ship steamed down to Naval Wharf at Chattahoochee, Florida and then to Blountstown, Florida on the Apalachicola River. It was anchored there due to the narrow channel. On the 27th of May the boilers were being started for an attempt to steam down past obstructions to Apalachicola to attempt to retake the Fashion, a ship laden with cotton, taken by force by Union troops on the river. Due to a malfunctioning gauge inadequate water was in the boilers before firing up. An explosion occurred with tragic consequences. 16 men were killed and many more injured and the ship was damaged and was sunk to the deck. Henry is on a list of officers on the ship from History of Confederate Navy by John Thomas Schauf. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t3611mj2s&view=1up&seq=684&q1=Marmaduke A portion of the C.S.S. Chattahoochee is on display in the National Civil War Naval Museum at Columbus, Georgia.
