Shawn and Henry,

I found a little more detail last night while going through some copies of the "Early County News." This was the Civil War era newspaper for the Saffold area.

On March 2, 1864, the newspaper printed an ad from Johnston offering to sell "iron, Osnasburgs, Nails and other items" for Confederate money. It included the line, "I want all the Confederate money I can get."

Then, on March 23, 1864, according to a printed list of county income and expenses, he purchased a manufacturing license for the shipyard at a cost of $33.33. This was the most expensive license sold by Early County in 1864-1865.

Finally, on April 20, 1864, Johnston ran another ad in the paper, offering to trade manufactured items for shipments of provisions.

These, while not conclusive, indicate to me that some large scale operation was either underway or beginning at the yard in the spring of 1864. He renewed his manufacturing license, was trying to get his hands on large amounts of Confederate money (at a time when it was almost worthless and no one wanted it) and needed large shipments of provisions delivered to Saffold.

Dale