Fort Clinch

Construction of Fort Clinch began in 1847. It was built mostly by civilians and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect the coast of southern Georgia. However, at the start of the Civil War, only about two-thirds of the fort was completed and cannons were not yet mounted. The walls and some of the buildings were up but the fort was not garrisoned. All the Confederates had to do was march in and take control. As the Union started to gain control of coastal and southern Georgia, General Robert E. Lee gave the order to evacuate, and Union troops arrived in March of 1862. More work on the fort commenced thanks to Company E of the New York Volunteer Engineers, but it was still not completed by the end of the war, and by 1869 was left empty.