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5 To maintain inviolate the Sacred Honor of Florida January–may 1862, east Florida in march, as the 1st Florida infantry regiment departed Pensacola for Corinth and the troubled situation in the west, a malaise descended upon Florida. The strike on the state’s coast that John milton had long feared came to fruition that month as a joint Federal army-navy operation moved on Fernandina. Coming soon after the attacks on Forts Henry and Donelson, the invasion lowered Floridians’ morale and caused some to question the Confederate government’s request to transfer troops from the state. The attack on Fernandina came during a renewed series of coastal offensives by the Federals that were intended to close Southern ports to blockade runners and at the same time secure bases of operations for blockaders. The Federals had already seized the mouth of Hatteras inlet and Port royal, South Carolina, in 1861. The 1862 attacks built on these earlier successes and achieved an initial victory with the capture of roanoke island on February 8, 1862. The conquering of roanoke allowed the Federal Army to occupy several North Carolina ports and netted 2,675 prisoners.1 Amelia island, with its fine harbor, offered a roanoke-like opportunity for the Federals as the Confederate force occupied an offshore position that the Union Navy might easily isolate. Brigadier General Horatio G. Wright looked to make a strike against Florida, suggesting on January 31 that they “land on Amelia island to engage and cut off, if possible, the retreat of the rebel force.” Wright planned to hold the enemy in place with an amphibious landing, even as a flotilla of warships “pushed as rapidly [as] possible up the Amelia river [Nassau Sound] past Fernandina , to intercept the retreat of the rebels, to prevent the destruction of the railroad bridge, and to save any rolling stock of the road.”2 even before the yankee fleet appeared off Amelia island, the Confederates were making arrangements for the post’s evacuation. Although General robert e. lee, commanding the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, discussed the possibility of strengthening its garrison on February 14, five days later he wrote Brigadier General James Trapier advising a different strategy. “The force that the enemy can bring against any position where he can concentrate his floating batteries ,” argued lee, “renders it prudent and proper to withdraw from the islands to the main-land and to prepare to contest his advance into the interior.” looking to roanoke island as an example, Trapier concurred and advised lee that his January–May 1862 47 force “was not well equipped nor armed” and had but “a short supply of ammunition and heavy ordnance.” on February 24 Trapier obtained permission to evacuate the island, with General lee insisting that Trapier save the cannon for use elsewhere .3 one of the reasons the force on Amelia island was not well prepared to defend against a Federal attack was the fact that in January the 3rd Florida, armed with rifled-muskets, was dispatched to the Cedar Keys to meet a supposed threat there and to New Smyrna to guard the offloading of shipments brought in through the blockade. The 4th Florida and 24th mississippi infantry regiments were assigned to defend Amelia island. yet sickness complicated these regiments’ ability to defend the island. Communicable diseases, obtained from the close living in the camps and standing shoulder-to-shoulder during drill, had spread through the ranks. other ailments caused by poor sanitation facilities and the elements plagued the men as well.4 mumps and measles, with its accompanying pneumonia, made their appearance on Amelia island in early 1862, causing numerous deaths and filling the hospitals with the sick. Assistant Surgeon mathers wrote home during the evacuation, “Death is making a broad road through the 4th regiment i think they have lost thirty or forty men Since they landed here.” At nearby Callahan, the 1st Florida Cavalry suffered similarly; in early February “in one company of 70 men, 23 were laid up as shown by the sick report.” After the 3rd Florida’s Jefferson County companies departed from Fernandina in January to guard mosquito inlet near New Smyrna, lemuel moody conveyed, “i am sick know with measles . . . i am staying at the hotell[.] Naily all ower company is down know with measles. they was only thirty-five sick this morning.” in lake City, Washington ives scribbled in his diary, “Nearly every day there is a death at one of the Hospitals...

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