Fort Clinch

On Saturday, April 15, 2023, Lyndi and I went to Fort Clinch. I was talking with Lyndi when she asked me if I have ever been to Fort Clinch or Amelia Island, I have not until Saturday. We were at the Fort for an hour, arrived at 1:50pm, and left at 2:50pm. Since Lyndi grew up on and around Amelia Island and had to been to Fort Clinch numerous times she knew a lot about the place. We started in the museum where there were things that were found at the abandoned fort. Then we walked around the Fort starting with the lower rank soldiers' quarters, then she took me to one of their dungeons. We then walked up to an outlook, they would use it to see oncoming enemies and look down into the fort. We walked around and saw 4 of the kitchens the fort has, the place they would go to the bathroom, and storage rooms that would hold their ammunition and weapons, we went up to where the cannons were and then we saw where the higher-ranked soldiers would stay. While we were there we learned there were 4 kitchens that would serve about 125 soldiers per kitchen. Females who worked on the Fort at the time would be paid $2 per 13 soldiers' clothing or $1 per 26 soldiers' clothing. The Fort would house about 500 soldiers. Fort Clinch was not used in direct combat but it served as a military post. It was used in the Civil War and the Spanish-American War, as barracks and ammunition depots. The fort was abandoned for many years until 1936 when it became one of Florida’s first state parks. However, during World War II it served its final mission as a center for surveillance and communications, at the end of the war it was given back to the state. I want to go back to the Second Seminole War to a man named, Duncan L. Clinch. If the name sounds familiar it is because he was a general during the Second Seminole War. “Three days later he led the Indian force that prevented a small army under Brevet Brigadier General Duncan L. Clinch from penetrating the Seminole refuge, about 100 square miles, known as the Cove of the Withlacoochee (in present-day Citrus County.”(1). What is he known for you may be asking, he was known for saving a Major General and his troop from being entrapped. “Brevet Major General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, in New Orleans, hearing of the fighting, assembled 1,000 men and landed them in Florida without orders. After some marching and countermarching, he was entrapped and besieged 26 February to 5 March 1836, until relieved by troops sent by General Clinch.”(2). He showed heroism to someone high than him, that saved the Major General’s life as well as his troop. I briefly mentioned the Civil War, the fort was used during the Civil War as barracks and ammunition depot by the Confederates. “Local militia forces promptly moved to seize important federal installations around the state. Eager troops took control of the arsenal at Chattahoochee, Fernandina’s Fort Clinch, and even the formidable old Spanish fortress, then called Fort Marion, in St. Augustine. Other bases in the state seemed ripe for the taking in the face of little to no Union resistance.”(3). During World War II it was again used for barracks and ammunition depot, after the war it was given back to the state. Ever since it was given back to the state it has been an attraction. It is now considered a tourist attraction and a tourist destination. You can camp and lodge in the surrounding area of Fort Clinch. Although Fort Clinch didn’t see combat it served as a home for soldiers who were fighting. I can not wait to go back one day and give my family a tour of the place. 

References:

(1): Weisman, B. R. (2018). The History of Florida (M. Gannon, Ed.) (ch. 12, p. 206). The University Press of Florida.

(2): Weisman, B. R. (2018). The History of Florida (M. Gannon, Ed.) (ch. 12, pp. 206-207). The University Press of Florida.

(3): Taylor, R. A. (2018). The History of Florida (M. Gannon, Ed.) (ch. 14, p. 245). The University Press of Florida.

Photos:

The photo's in a collage were all taken by me. The overview photo was found at: https://www.floridastateparks.org/fortclinch