The Fall of Florida's Fort Clinch 150 Years Ago Today

Union forces occupied Fort Clinch this date 150 years ago after the Confederates had evacuated the fort with no resistance. General Lee had ordered that non-strategic coastal positions along the coast where the Union Navy could mass ships should be abandoned for interior, more defensible positions.

Fort Clinch is located by Florida's northeast corner, not too far from Jacksonville. Different militaries have occupied the site since 1736 (it is located on the border of Spanish Florida and English Georgia).

Located on Amelia Island, the fort guards the entrance to St. Mary's Island and Cumberland Sound.

Construction of the present fort began in 1847, part of the Third American System of forts, a program that also included Fort Pulaski at Savannah. Fort Clinch was a pentagonal brick fort with both inner and outer walls.

It was abandoned after the Civil War, but reactivated in the Spanish-American War in 1898. In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps restored the fort and the State of Florida bought it and 256 acres in 1935, making it one of its first state parks, opening in 1938.

Closed to the public during World War II when it was used as a communications and security post, it reopened after the war. In 1972, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Story of a Fort. --Old Secesh.

Things Heating Up Back in January 1861-- Part 2

The clerk from the Engineer Corps in Savannah alerted US Army Captain W.H.C. Whiting, Corps of Engineers, in charge of both Fort Pulaski and Fort Clinch in Florida about a movement by Georgia state troops to occupy Fort Pulaski, even though the state had not yet seceded.

Whiting, who later resigned and became a Confederate general (who helped design and defend Fort Fisher), proceeded quickly to Savannah and made this report to his superiors in Washington, DC:

"...This morning I proceeded to Fort Pulaski, which I found occupied by Colonel John Lawton. I was received with great civility, and informed by him that he held possession of all the Government property for the present, by order of the governor of the State, and intended to preserve it from loss or damage.

He requested a return of the public property, both Ordnance and Engineer, which I have given as existing January 1..."

Col. Alexander Lawton, the commander of the 1st Georgia Militia, had led a force of 150 men from the Savannah Volunteer Guard, Oglethorpe Light Infantry and Chatham Artillery aboard the steamer Ida and taken possession when Whiting arrived.

Lawton later became a Confederate brigadier general in charge of the defense of Georgia's coast. He later commanded a brigade in Jackson's Shenandoah Valley Campaign, the Seven Days Battles, Second Bull Run and was seriously wounded at Antietam. After a lengthy recovery, he became the Confederacy's second Quartermaster General.

In 1880, he became US senator from Georgia.

January 8th-- Possible first shots of the war fired at Fort Barrancas on Pensacola Bay, Florida.

January 9th-- The steamer Star of the West, under the employ of the US government was fired upon while approaching the besieged Fort Sumter garrison under Major Robert Anderson.

Hot Time in the Old Fort Tonight. --Old B-Runner