320

EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT CLINCH.

heavy guns, a large supply of fixed ammunition, forty thousand pounds of gunpowder, and a large quantity of commissary stores. Three hundred

men were made prisoners. By this victory, won on the first • April 12, anniversary of the fall of Fort Sumter," the port of Savannah was sealed against blockade-runners. The capture of Fort Jackson above, and of the city, would have been of little advantage to the Nationals then, for the forces necessary to hold them were needed in more important work farther down the coast."

While Gillmore and Viele were besieging. Fort Pulaski, Commodore Dupont and General Wright were making easy conquests on the coast of Florida. Dupont left Port Royal on the 28th of February, in b 1862. the Wabash, with twenty armed vessels, and six transports bearing land forces, and on the 1st of March arrived in St. Andrew's Sound, north of Cumberland and St. Andrew's Islands. Leaving the Wabash, Dupont raised his flag on the smaller war vessel Mohican, and, at ten o'clock on the 2d, the fleet anchored in Cumberland Sound, between Cumberland Island and the Georgia main. Its destination was Fort Clinch, on the

northern extremity of Amelia Island, a strong regular work, and prepared by great labor for making a vigorous defense. Outside of it, along the shores, were heavy batteries, well sheltered and concealed behind sand-hills on their front, while on the southern extremity of Cumberland Island was a battery of four guns. These, with the heavy armament of Fort Clinch, perfectly commanded the waters in the vicinity.

Dupont had expected vigorous resistance at Fort Clinch, and he was incredulous when told by a fugitive slave, picked up on the waters, that the troops had abandoned it, and were fleeing from Amelia Island. The rumor was confirmed, and Dupont immediately sent forward Commander Drayton, of the Pawnee, with several gun-boats, to save the public property there and prevent outrages. He then returned to the Wabash, and, going outside, went down to the main entrance to Fernandina harbor. There he was detained until the next morning. Meanwhile Drayton had sent Lieutenant White, of the Ottawa, to hoist the National flag over Fort Clinch. This

1 Report of General Hunter, April 18; of General Benham, April 12, and of General Gillmore, April 80, 1862.

So named in honor of Brigadier-General Clinch, who was active in the war of 1812. He was the father-inlaw of General Robert Anderson.

CAPTURE OF JACKSONVILLE.

was the first of the old National forts which was Government.

321

'repossessed" by the

The Confederates fled from the village of Fernandina,' near the fort, and also from the village of St. Mary's, a short distance up the St. Mary's River. These were at once occupied by National forces. Fort Clinch was garrisoned by a few of General Wright's troops, and Commander C. R. P. Rogers, with some launches, captured the Confederate steamer Darlington, lying in the adjacent waters. The insurgent force was utterly broken up.

a March 4, 1862.

We captured Port Royal," Dupont wrote to the Secretary of the Navy," a" but Fernandina and Fort Clinch have been given to us.' News reached Dupont that the Confederates were abandoning every post along the Florida coast, and he took measures to occupy them or hold them in durance. Commander Gordon was sent with three gun-boats to Brunswick, the terminus of the Brunswick and Pensacola railway. He took possession of it on the 9th of March. The next day he held the batteries on the islands of St. Simon and Jekyl, and on the 13th he proceeded with the Potomska and Pocahontas through the inland passage from St. Simon's Sound to Darien, on the Altamaha River, in Georgia. This place, like Bruns'wick, was deserted, and nearly all of the inhabitants on St. Simon's and neighboring islands had fled to the main. In the mean time Dupont sent a small flotilla, under a judicious officer, Lieutenant Thomas Holdup Stevens, consisting of the gun-boats Ottawa, Seneca, Pembina, and Huron, with the transports I. P. Smith and Ellen, to enter the St. John's River, twenty-five miles farther down the coast, and push on to Jacksonville, and even to Pilatka, if possible. Stevens approached Jacksonville on the evening of the 11th of March,' and saw large fires in that direction; and on the following day he appeared before the town, which was abandoned by the Confederate soldiers. The fires had been kindled by order of General Trapier, the insurgent commander of that district, who directed the houses, stores, mills, and other property of persons suspected of being in favor of the Union, to be burnt. Under that order, eight immense saw-mills and a vast amount of valuable lumber were burned by guerrillas. On the appearance of Stevens's flotilla, the corporate authorities of the town, with S. L. Burritt at their head, went on board his vessel (the Ottawa) and formally surrendered the place. The Fourth New Hampshire, Colonel Whipple, landed and took possession, and it was hailed with joy by the Union people who remained there.

& 1862.

Two days before Jacksonville was surrendered to Stevens, Fort Marion and the ancient city of St. Augustine, still farther down the coast,3 were surrendered to Commander C. R. P. Rogers, who had crossed

• March 11.

1 Fernandina was the eastern terminus of the Cedar Keys and Fernandina Railway, that crossed from the island to the main on trestle-work. A train was just starting on the arrival of Drayton. In the Ottawa he pursued it about two miles, firing several shots at the locomotive, but without doing much damage.

2 So large a number of Northern people inhabited Jacksonville at the beginning of the war, that it was called by the natives a "Yankee town." But many of them were secessionists, and of 400 families who were there when Dupont arrived on the coast, only 70 remained when Stevens appeared. Jacksonville was one of the most beautiful, as well as the most flourishing and important cities in Florida; but this beginning of misery for the inhabitants did not end until it was nearly all destroyed during the war.

3 St. Augustine is the capital of St. John's County, Florida, and is situated on an estuary of the Atlantic, called North River, and two miles from the ocean. It is upon a plain a few feet above the sea. It is the oldest town in the United States founded by Europeans. The Spaniards built a fort there in 1565.

VOL. II.-59

322

CAPTURE OF ST. AUGUSTINE.

the bar in the Wabash. With a flag of truce, and accompanied by Mr. Dennis, of the Coast Survey, he landed, and was soon met by the Mayor of the town, who conducted him to the City Hall, where he was received by the Common Council. He was informed that two Florida companies, who had garrisoned the fort, had left the place on the previous evening, and that the city had no means for resistance, if there was a disposition to fight. On assuring the authorities of the kind intentions of his Government toward all peaceful citizens, they formally resigned St. Augustine into his hands. Fort Marion, a decayed castle of heavy walls, built by the Spaniards early in the

FORT MARION.

last century (and which was seized by the insurgents early in 1861'), with its dependencies, passed into the hands of the Nationals. On the top of the broad walls of the fort, huts and tents were soon erected.

The capture of St. Augustine was followed by a visit of National gunboats to Musquito Inlet, fifty miles farther down the Florida coast, into which it was reported light-draft vessels were carrying English arms and other supplies for the Confederates, which had been transhipped from the British port of Nassau. The boats were the Penguin, Lieutenant Budd, who commanded the expedition, and the Henry Andrew, Acting-master Mather. On their arrival, a small boat expedition, composed of forty-three men, under Budd and Mather, was organized for a visit to Musquito Lagoon. While returning, the two commanders, who were in one boat, landed at an abandoned earthwork and dense grove of live oaks. There they were fired upon by the concealed foe. Budd and Mather, and three of the five men composing the boat's crew, were killed, and the remaining two were wounded and made prisoners. The other boats were fired upon when they came up, and their passengers suffered much; but under the cover of night they escaped.

In this expedition the Nationals lost five killed and eleven wounded. Had it been entirely successful, all Florida might have been brought under the control of the National forces for a time, for there was panic everywhere

10, 1862.

in that region after the fall of Fort Pulaski. Pensacola was soon May 9 and afterward evacuated by the Confederate General, T. N. Jones, who burnt every thing that he could at the navy yard, at the hospital, and in Forts McRee and Barrancas, and retreated toward the interior. But, as events proved, the Nationals could not have held Florida at that time. Because of their weakness in numbers, their conquests resulted, apparently, in more harm than good to the Union cause. At first, the hopes

1 See page 170, volume I.