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was the first of the old National forts which was “repossessed” by the
Government.
The Confederates fled from the village of
Fernandina,
1 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. “We captured
Port Royal,”
Dupont wrote to the
Secretary of the Navy,
“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
Brunswick, 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.
2 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.
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