Joseph Finegan – Wikipedia

Joseph Finegan

Joseph Finegan (also: Finneganborn November 17, 1814, Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland; October 29, 1885) was an American businessman from Ireland. He was a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. From 1862 to 1864, he commanded Confederate troops operating in central and eastern Florida, ultimately leading the Confederate victory at the Battle of Olustee, the state’s only major battle. He then led the Florida Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia until shortly before the end of the war.

Before the war, Finegan was a politician, lawyer, lumber mill operator, slave owner and railroad builder. After the war he returned to business and worked as a cotton broker.

Finegan was born on November 17, 1814 in Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland.[1] He came to Florida in the 1830s, where he first established a sawmill in Jacksonville and later a law office in Fernandina. There he also entered into a business partnership with David Levy Yulee and began building the Florida Railroad to facilitate the transportation of goods and people from the new state’s Atlantic east coast to the Gulf of Mexico.[2]

Finegan’s successes may also be linked to his first marriage, to the widow Rebecca Smith Travers, on July 28, 1842.[1] Her sister, Mary Martha Smith, was the wife of Florida territorial governor Robert Raymond Reid, himself appointed by President Martin Van Buren.[3]

For example, at a court auction in 1849, he paid just twenty-five dollars ($25) for five miles of shoreline on Lake Monroe.[4]

In 1852 he belonged to the Committee of Vigilance and Safety von Jacksonville, Florida.[5]

By the outbreak of the American Civil War, Finegan had built his family a forty-room mansion in Fernandina, located between the 11th and 12th Street and Boome and Calhoun Avenue. The location is now located at this location Atlantic Elementary School. The family included three stepdaughters Maria, Margaret and Martha Travers;[6] as well as their own children Rutledge, Agnes, Josephine and Yulee Finegan.[7]

At the Florida secession convention, Finegan represented Nassau County along with James G. Cooper.[8]

In April 1862, Finegan assumed command of central and eastern Florida from Brigadier General James H. Trapier.[9] Soon afterwards there was an embarrassment in connection with the wreck of the blockade runner Kate im Mosquito Inlet (today: Ponce de Leon Inlet). The cargo of weapons, ammunition, medical supplies, blankets and shoes were looted by civilians. Attempts to recover this cargo continued for months before Finegan launched a public appeal. Most of the weapons were found, but the other goods were never recovered.[10] As early as 1862, Finegan also recognized the importance of Florida beef to the Confederate cause and gave cattle baron Jacob Summerlin permission to select thirty men from the state troops under his command to help drive the cattle north.[11]

At this time, the main Confederate military base in East Florida was popularly called “Camp Finegan” in honor of the state’s highest-ranking officer. It was located about seven miles west of Jacksonville, south of the railroad near present-day Marietta.[12]

In February 1864, General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard began sending reinforcements to Finegan after Confederate officials learned of a buildup of Federal troops in the occupied city of Jacksonville. Since Florida was an important supply route and source of beef for the other Southern states, they could not allow it to fall completely into Union hands.[14]

On February 20, 1864, Finegan stopped an advance of Union troops from Jacksonville under General Truman Seymour, who were seeking to capture the state capital, Tallahassee. Their two armies met in the Battle of Olustee each other, where Finegan’s men defeated the Union army and forced them to flee beyond the St. Johns River. Critics complained that Finegan did not take advantage of his victory to pursue his retreating enemy, instead contenting himself with recovering weapons and ammunition from the battlefield. But his victory was a rare bright spot in an otherwise bleak year for the crumbling Confederacy.[15]

Some critics of Finegan believe that he contributed little more to the Confederate victory at Olustee than sending troops to General Alfred H. Colquitt of Georgia, who is credited with thwarting the Union advance. They point out that Finegan was quickly relieved of command of these units and replaced by Major General James Patton Anderson. This change in command was necessary, however, as Finegan was assigned to lead the “Florida Brigade” in the Army of Northern Virginia, where he served effectively until almost the end of the war.[16]

The grave of Joseph Finegan in the Old City Cemetery of Jacksonville, Florida.

Colonel David Lang was the brigade’s last commander before its surrender after the Battle of Appomattox Court House.

When Finegan returned to Fernandina after the war, he found that his property had been confiscated by the Freedmen’s Bureau as an orphanage and school for black children. After some legal disputes, he finally managed to get the property back. However, he had to sell most of his land on Lake Monroe to Henry Sanford for $18,200 to pay his lawyers and other creditors. However, he retained a house property in Silver Lake. A stroke of fate was the early death of his son Rutledge, who died on April 4, 1871, necessitating a move to Savannah, Georgia. Finegan felt comfortable with the large Irish population there and worked as a cotton broker.[6]

While living in Savannah, Finegan married his second wife, the widow Lucy C. Alexandera beauty from Tennessee. They settled in a large orange grove in Orange County, Florida.[17] Finegan died on October 29, 1885 in Rutledge, Florida.[1] Die Florida Times Union wrote his death was the result of “a severe cold with chills, to which he succumbed after a short illness” (“severe cold, inducing chills, to which he succumbed after brief illness”). The newspaper described Finegan as “hearty, unaffected, jovial, clear-headed, and keen-witted.” He was on the Old City Cemetery buried in Jacksonville.[6]

1. ↑ a b c International Genealogical Index. familysearch.com.
2. ↑ Arch Frederic Blakey, Ann Smith Lainhart, Winston Bryant Stephens, Jr. (hgg.): Rose Cottage Chronicles: Civil War Letters of the Bryant-Stephens Families of North Florida, Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida 1998: S. 129.
3. ↑ Mimi Klug: Guide to the Mary Martha Reid Papers (1821-1890). Cocoa, FL: Florida Historical Society Library 2004.
4. ↑ Jim Robison, Mark Andrews: Flashbacks: The Story of Central Florida’s Past. Orlando, FL: Orange County Historical Society 1995: S. 34.
5. ↑ Public Meetings. Jacksonville News, 5. Juni 1852: S. 1.
6. ↑ a b c Charles Litrico: Joseph Finegan: Fernandina’s Confederate General. Archivlink
7. ↑ 1860 Census, Fernandina, Nassau County, Florida: S. 403.
8. ↑ Arch Frederic Blakey, Ann Smith Lainhart, Winston Bryant Stephens, Jr. (hgg.): Rose Cottage Chronicles: Civil War Letters of the Bryant-Stephens Families of North Florida. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida 1998: S. 128.
9. ↑ Arch Frederic Blakey, Ann Smith Lainhart, Winston Bryant Stephens, Jr. (hgg.): Rose Cottage Chronicles: Civil War Letters of the Bryant-Stephens Families of North Florida. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida 1998: S. 129.
10. ↑ Robert A. Taylor: Rebel Storehouse: Florida in the Confederate Economy. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press 1995: S. 34-35.
11. ↑ Joe A. Akerman Jr., J. Mark Akerman: Jacob Summerlin: King of the Crackers. Cocoa, FL: Florida Historical Society Press 2004: S. 53.
12. ↑ Arch Frederic Blakey, Ann Smith Lainhart, Winston Bryant Stephens, Jr. (hgg.): Rose Cottage Chronicles: Civil War Letters of the Bryant-Stephens Families of North Florida. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida 1998: S. 126.
13. ↑ Robert A. Taylor: Rebel Storehouse: Florida in the Confederate Economy. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press 1995: S. 40.
14. ↑ Robert A. Taylor: Rebel Storehouse: Florida in the Confederate Economy. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press 1995: S. 146–148.
15. ↑ Robert A. Taylor: Rebel Storehouse: Florida in the Confederate Economy. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press 1995: S. 150.
16. ↑ Arch Frederic Blakey, Ann Smith Lainhart, Winston Bryant Stephens, Jr. (hgg.): Rose Cottage Chronicles: Civil War Letters of the Bryant-Stephens Families of North Florida. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida 1998: S. 164.
17. ↑ 1880 Census, 2nd Division, Orange County, Florida, S. 408.

• Joe A. Akerman, Jr., J. Mark Akerman: Jacob Summerlin: King of the Crackers. Cocoa, FL: Florida Historical Society Press 2004.
• Arch Frederic Blakey, Ann Smith Lainhart, Winston Bryant Stephens, Jr. (hgg.): Rose Cottage Chronicles: Civil War Letters of the Bryant-Stephens Families of North Florida. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida 1998.
• John H. Eicher, David J. Eicher: Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press 2001. ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1
• Mimi Klug: Guide to the Mary Martha Reid Papers (1821-1890). Cocoa, FL: Florida Historical Society Library 2004.
• Charles Litrico: Joseph Finegan: Fernandina’s Confederate General. Archivlink
• Jim Robison, Mark Andrews: Flashbacks: The Story of Central Florida’s Past. Orlando, FL: Orange County Historical Society 1995.
• Stewart Sifakis: Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4
• Robert A. Taylor: Rebel Storehouse: Florida in the Confederate Economy. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press 1995.
• Ezra J. Warner: Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press 1959. ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9

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