|
About
15,000 Floridians wore the butternut and gray of the Confederate forces
during the war, more than those registered to vote in the state.
In 1860, Fernandina boasted a new urban core, which served as the
railhead for the longest railroad in the state, the Florida Rail Road.
Its population of 1,390 souls included 602 blacks, both free and slave.
Its importance also included a lighthouse, busy harbor, and Fort
Clinch, a partially constructed masonry defensive structure on the
northern end of the island. Local militia, including the “Minute Men”
and “Davis Guards” became identified as the “Fernandina Volunteers” as
tensions escalated, and were inducted into state service in 1861.
In January 1861, local militia troops seized unoccupied Fort Clinch,
erected fortified artillery batteries on the beaches, and exhibited a
forceful presence at the Old Spanish fort in Old Town. Commanded by
Colonel William Scott Dilworth, the local defenses included large
quantities of armaments transferred from Fort Marion in St Augustine.
These citizen-soldiers wore distinctive uniforms of blue flannel shirts
and gray trousers with red stripes.
Henry C. Dozier was elected Captain in May 1861. Also that year, a
special order was issued in recognition of “M. Wood and Company of
Callahan for ¼ of fine beef, also to Miss E. P. Browne, for a delicious
fruitcake.” By August 1861, six companies of soldiers were stationed in
all areas of the island, with major camps at Old Town, Fort Clinch,
Fernandina and the nearby Harrison Plantation on the south end.
Ominously, Union gunboats were observed daily off the coast, bringing
the threat of open warfare at any time.
Robert E. Lee visited the coastal defenses late in 1861, traveling from
the Carolinas to St. Augustine. His assessment of Amelia Island was
pessimistic. In a letter to his daughters, he wrote:
“I have been down the coast as far as Amelia Island to examine our
defenses. They are poor indeed and I have laid off work enough to
employ our people a month. I hope our enemy will be polite enough to
wait for us. It is difficult to get our people there to realize their
positions.”
He later complained, “the volunteers dislike work and there is much
sickness among them besides.” The rifled cannon had now come into use
and masonry forts such as Fort Clinch were indefensible. That, coupled
with Florida’s remoteness from the primary theaters of war and lack of
strategic significance, led General Lee to recommend in February 1862
that all troops should be withdrawn from the coastal areas.
On March 1, 1862, the evacuation of Amelia Island was hastily begun by
Confederate forces. The artillery pieces were moved two miles inland of
the railroad bridge, now the site of the Shave Bridge. They left behind
fourteen guns after spiking and burning their carriages, and sent
another eighteen to Savannah, Georgia.
Local residents seemed slow to realize the danger of the situation.
Colonel Hopkins of the 4th Florida Infantry complained: “Finding out
that the citizens paid no attention to this (evacuation) notice, I
issued, on Saturday, March 1, a special notice, to wit, that on Sunday,
March 2, at 10:00 a.m., a special train would leave the city expressly
for the transportation of all women and children desirous of leaving.
But little heed seemed to have been given to the second admonition.”
The urgency of the situation was compounded by the proximity of federal
naval and land forces, which captured nearby Cumberland Island on March
1. By 2:30 a.m. on March 3, all Confederate forces were in line of
march to the mainland.
When the federal forces came into Amelia Island’s harbor on March 3, it
was the largest amphibious invasion in U.S. history. The skeleton crew
on duty at Fort Clinch fired two or three cannon rounds and there was
scattered musket fire from Old Town, but no organized resistance.
David Yulee and other important figures from our area were on the last
train out of Fernandina before Union forces arrived. The train track
ran along a river allowing the U.S. gunboat Ottawa to chase after it,
signaling the engineer to stop. A witness stated that while passengers
“hooted, jeered, and waved handkerchiefs derisively from the car
windows,” the gunboat “fired several shells at it, aiming at the
locomotive.” One shell killed two men on a flatcar, but the train
successfully crossed the bridge and passed on to the mainland.
Eventually, Confederates burned enough of the railroad bridge to
disable it for the remainder of the war.
The Ottawa then sighted the Confederate steamer Darlington in the
harbor and began to pursue it, firing as it approached. This action
caused the Darlington to run aground. It was discovered upon
investigation that the captured vessel contained more refugees, as well
as Confederate Army supplies and personnel. The captain was arrested
and the ship refitted for federal use.
Chaos reigned in Fernandina. Seamen and marines from the ships Mohican
and Wabash landed to take Fort Clinch, while elements of the 4thNew
Hampshire, 9thMaine, and 97thPennsylvania took the city. One soldier
recalled: “The town was in the utmost confusion. The regiments already
landed were plundering in all directions and were ably assisted by
sailors and marines from the fleet who seemed to have reduced the
system of pillage to an exact science. Drunken men were seen
everywhere, and the few inhabitants remaining, were waiting in their
homes, terrified.”
Only about 200 people had remained in town. Federal officers
commandeered private residences for quarters and offices. Commanding
General Horatio W. Wright took Senator Yulee’s home for his staff,
while Paymaster Major Pangborn found accommodations at Governor
Broome’s residence. Colonel Rich of the 9thMaine occupied General
Joseph Finegan’s fine home and a hospital was established at Colonel
Dale’s. For the remainder of the war, Amelia Island would be securely
in Union hands, while Confederate forces occupied the mainland of
Nassau County.
One of the many ironies of the war is that Yulee’s railroad was
destroyed, not by the invading Union Army, but by the Confederacy
itself. The 1864 Confiscation Act empowered the Confederacy to take any
items, which it deemed necessary for the war effort, and to later
establish a fair price for the former owner. Under this power, the
rails and spikes of the Florida Railroad were seized and used to create
lines running more directly to the theaters of war.
Although never the scene of large-scale battles, duty on Amelia Island
carried the constant threat of illness, injury and the risk of death
associated with military service in the nineteenth century. Federal
troops were stationed at Fort Clinch, the railroad bridge, and in Old
Town. Periodic raids into Duval County,
Camden County, and mainland Nassau County resulted in skirmishes, with
a small number wounded and killed. One commander wrote home to boast
that: “Quite a miniature kingdom I have at Fort Clinch with 20-30 guns,
a redoubt of 2 guns at the town, 4 miles of railway with one
locomotive—about 30 of my men organized to act as either light cavalry
of light artillery with their two guns, a ten pound Parrott and a 24
pound Howitzer, a gunboat off the wharf…and about 200 white and near
100 black people to govern, outside of the regiment and two companies
of engineers.”
While the
1st New York Engineers were assigned the task of continuing the
construction of Fort Clinch and fortifying the old military site in Old
Town, a succession of federal troops saw duty on the island.
Carpenters, brick masons, and laborers toiled at the busy fort
construction site, while guards or pickets were stationed at vulnerable
points, such as the Railroad Bridge and intersections around town.
Prisoners from the Union Army were sentenced to Fort Cinch to carry out
punishments of hard labor.
Local Provost Marshals fought a constant battle against the drunkenness
and desertion expected at such a remote outpost. Captain Towle of the
4thNew Hampshire attempted to confiscate all liquor on the island, only
to learn that a ship had arrived in port with whiskey. He ordered the
barrel rolled out on the dock, and “its head was speedily stove in, and
the contents went to astonish the fish.”
Overall conditions were better on Amelia Island than for most Civil War
soldiers. “Our grub in the new camp at Fernandina started off with salt
pork and hard tack for breakfast, salt beef and potatoes for dinner and
soft bread for supper, one loaf for each man,” a veteran recalled.
Lawrence Luther of the 11thMaine boasted of “plenty of vegetables,
string beans, peas, ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, squashes, cabbage, etc.”
Another northerner reminisced about eating wild grapes and
pomegranates. Soldiers wrote home about sightseeing excursions to
Dungeness on Cumberland Island, collecting sea shells on the beach, and
describing Florida’s exotic flora and animal life.
Some soldiers complained of the hot weather and insects. Samuel Wolcott
of the 7thConnecticut wrote home that “there are any quantity of gnats
and mosquitoes here…a pair of drawers and pants, with rubber and woolen
blankets are nothing for them to bight (sic) through.” Another wrote,
“We found the sand at this place full, jammed full, and rammed full of
fleas, which annoyed the men very much.”
The primary strategic importance of the island was to serve as a
coaling station for the federal blockade ships. Amelia Island
represented a foothold in Florida, along with Key West, Fort Pickens,
and St Augustine. Jacksonville changed hands four times in the war, as
one side would occupy, loot, and burn, then move on. The benign
occupation of Fernandina meant very little destruction occurred on the
island.
By 1863, the United States Army accepted black soldiers into segregated
units. Many enlistees were formerly slaves from Florida and other
southern states. The general orders issued to the 1st and 2nd South
Carolina Colored Troops also revealed the overall Federal strategy for
the state. “The main objects of your expedition are to carry the
proclamation of freedom to the enslaved; to call all loyal men into the
service of the United States; to occupy as much of the state of Florida
as possible with forces under your command; and to weaken, harass, and
annoy those who are in rebellion.”
By 1864 the island was temporary home to 500 “contrabands,” blacks who
fled to the protection of the federal lines during the war. Many found
employment as laborers at the Fort, or received instruction in
agriculture through the Superintendent of Contrabands, and later, the
Freedman’s Bureau. Refugees also included hundreds of whites, displaced
from Jacksonville or other areas. Relief organizations and
philanthropic support created orphanages in the town, and one
well-established “asylum” drew national attention through Dr. Esther
Hill Hawkes.
Despite the wartime climate, many soldiers and civilians enjoyed
festivities and special celebrations in Fernandina. May Day 1863 was a
particularly memorable occasion: “The first day of May was duly honored
and observed by all classes of our citizens. A grand picnic was had on
the beach near Fort Clinch, which was a gay and festive season worthy
of the occasion… a table gorgeously decked with a profusion of flowers,
was bountifully spread with luxuries that would tempt the palate of a
prince, and which are now doubly acceptable after the pervious day’s
observance of the first proclaimed by our good President. Ham and
tongue, cake and biscuit, lobster and chicken, crackers and cookies,
preserves, pickles, and jellies in endless variety, nuts and raisins,
fresh-gathered blackberries and cream to say nothing of claret and
small beer, regaled our appetites to surfeiting, while the black boat’s
crew of Captain Seas, with violins tambourine, and banjo, discoursed
enlivening music such as only blacks can make.”
Wives accompanied officer husbands, and at least one romance and
marriage took place, when Major Rodman, “who was a widower, captured
the prize” with his marriage to the “rosy cheeked maiden,” Belle
Buddington.
Soldiers enjoyed such amenities as the newspaper, “The Peninsula,” a
soda fountain, barber, Sutler, musical groups, and branches of the Odd
Fellows.
One of the great ironies of the bitter conflict was the growth and
prosperity that came to Fernandina soon after the war was directly as a
result of so many northern soldiers gaining their first taste of
Florida life during the struggle.
|
