Editing Fernandina Beach, Florida (section)

===Modern Fernandina===
In 1847 construction of [[Fort Clinch]] began in nearby present-day Fernandina. The Third System fort was named after General [[Duncan Lamont Clinch]] who fought in the [[War of 1812]] and the [[Seminole Wars]]. Senator [[David Levy Yulee]], founder of the [[Florida Railroad]], wanted the eastern terminus of his railroad line to end in [[Amelia Island]]. The Old Town Fernandina was too cut off by the marshes to be used as a terminal. Yulee wanted to end the railroad on the banks of the Amelia River one mile to the south. The leaders of Fernandina did not want a new community to grow and prosper to surpass their town. The leaders of Fernandina decided to move the town up to the railroad where the present-day Fernandina Beach stands. Yulee began construction of the railroad in 1855 and was completed in 1861.<ref name="Seaport built for a Railroad">{{cite web|title=Seaport built for a Railroad|url=http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/fernandina.html|website=exploresouthernhistory.com|access-date=6 May 2018}}</ref>

====Civil War====
[[File:Fort Clinch, Florida, U.S. - Cannons.jpg|thumb|right|190px|Inside [[Fort Clinch]]]]
On January 8, 1861, two days before Florida's secession, Confederate sympathizers (the Third Regiment of Florida Volunteers) took control of [[Fort Clinch]], already abandoned by the Federal workers who had been enlarging the structure. The Confederates erected [[Artillery battery|batteries]] on the northern end of Amelia Island but lacked the resources to fortify Fort Clinch. [[Robert E. Lee]], who was commanding coastal defenses in the Deep South, ordered cannons and troops withdrawn in early 1862.

Lee's orders to withdraw the cannons and troops were too late. Union forces, consisting of 28 gunboats commanded by Commodore [[Samuel Dupont]], occupied the island on March 3, 1862, and raised the American flag. In January 1863, the first all-black regiment of former slaves recruited to fight for the Union was read Lincoln's [[Emancipation Proclamation]] at Fernandina.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} Three weeks later they set sail up the St. Marys River to engage the Confederate forces. The Union used the fort as a base for its operations in the area for the remainder of the war.<ref name="Seaport built for a Railroad"/>

====Later 19th century====
In 1891, [[Harmon Murray]], who had been the leader of a criminal gang operating out of [[Gainesville, Florida|Gainesville]], arrived in Fernandina, where his sister lived. Murray was soon committing burglaries and robberies in Fernandina and elsewhere on Amelia Island. Law officers chased a black suspect several times, who shot at them on one occasion. Murray taunted the police with a letter in early May, to the effect that he would not be taken alive, and would take the Nassau County sheriff and Fernandina police chief with him. Acting on a tip, on May 16 police surrounded the house Murray was staying in. Murray heard the officers getting into position, and shot and killed deputy sheriff Joseph W. Robinson. In the ensuing gun battle Murray wounded Fernandina Police Chief James Higgenbotham. Although grazed on the wrist and scalp, Murray was able to escape. Despite the intensive manhunt for him, Murray was able to slip off of Amelia Island to the mainland. The City of Fernandina offered a reward for the capture of Murray, "dead or alive".<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Killing of Harmon Murray|last=Braley|first=R. Olin|publisher=The Alachua Press|year=2004|location=Gainesville, Florida|pages=69–71}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|title=Harmon Murray: Black Desperado in Late Nineteenth-Century Florida|last=Chandler|first=Billy Jaynes|journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly|volume=73|issue=2|date=October 1994|language=en|page=190|jstor = 30148759}}</ref>
<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://nassauso.com/memorialsfallen-deputies/|title=Memorials/Fallen Deputies - Deputy Joseph W. Robinson|website=Nassau County Sheriff's Office|access-date=November 7, 2018|archive-date=January 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102095010/http://nassauso.com/memorialsfallen-deputies/|url-status=dead}}</ref>