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A History of Columbia County Florida (1996) Edward F. Keuchel 98/340

A History of Columbia County, Florida

commanded by Captain William S. Cone who had served earlier in
the Second Florida Cavalry. William A. Sheffield was First
Lieutenant, and W. T. Weeks was Second Lieutenant. William
Mickler was the company’s First Sergeant.23
Apart from troop enlistments Columbia County did not see
much war activity in 1861, although the coastal areas of East
Florida were vulnerable to attack. Extremely poor defenses were
maintained at Fernandina, Fort Clinch and Fort Marion. In early
1862 the situation weakened as Florida troops were used to bolster
defenses in northern Alabama and Mississippi. Cedar Key was
attacked by a Federal naval force on January 16, 1862. The
railroad depot, wharf, telegraph office, a turpentine warehouse,
four schooners, three sloops, a ferry barge, and seven freight cars
were destroyed. After the surrender of Forts Henry and Donelson
in Tennessee in February of 1862, General Braxton Bragg advised
that all of Florida except Pensacola should be abandoned as
indefensible. General Robert E. Lee thought that only such troops
as would be necessary to keep Union gunboats from sailing up the
Apalachicola River should be maintained in the state. Governor
Milton protested such policies, and, on March 13, 1862, orders
were modified which allowed for some protection for the interior of
East Florida, but little for the coastal regions.24
Fernandina was an especially attractive prize for the Federals.
Its deep water harbor was useful for the blockade squadron. On
March 2, and 3, 1862, Fernandina and Fort Clinch were occupied
by Federal forces. Fernandina remained under Federal control for
the duration of the war and became a haven for escaped slaves
from East Florida and Georgia. On March 8,1862, a Federal naval
squadron sailed from Fernandina for Jacksonville and St. Augus­
tine. The occupation of Jacksonville was to be only temporary. No
defenses had been prepared by the Confederates, and as Federal

'-'Confederate Muster Rolls, Vol. Ill, n.p.n.
24Johns, Florida During the Civil War, pp. 56-61, 71.
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