Autograph letter signed by Isaac Smedley, Co. C, 97th Pennsylvania Infantry. Fernandina, [Florida], 14 March 1862. 8 pages, 8vo.

A lengthy and fascinating soldier's letter describing the expedition to capture Fernandina, Florida, a railroad-connected port city near the Georgia border.

Isaac Smedley (1838-1867) initially enlisted for 90 days' service into Company E of the 9th Pennsylvania Infantry. After mustering out in July 1861, he re-enlisted and was marshaled into Company C of the 97th Pennsylvania Infantry on 11 September 1861 and was quickly appointed 1st Sergeant of his company. After early duty at Fortress Monroe, the regiment moved to Port Royal, South Carolina. Smedley was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on 19 February 1862, during the expedition to Florida.

Flag Officer Samuel Francis Du Pont (1803-1865) of the US Navy had led the successful attack on the Port Royal fortifications, and from this vantage, was able to launch expeditions down the coast to control the southern waters of Georgia and the eastern coast of Florida. In early 1862, the Confederates concentrated their resources in Savannah and Charleston. Without sufficient resources, they abandoned lesser ports like Fernandina, Florida, which was guarded by Fort Clinch and the site of important railroad connections. Reportedly, an escaped slave informed Du Pont of the Confederate withdrawal from Fort Clinch, prompting the expedition to begin on 2 March 1862. 

Here, Smedley writes of the fort's capture, including an otherwise unreported account of duping the Confederates with a false French flag: "At the mouth of this channel is a fort of no little strength, built of brick, and mounts near fifty guns of the heaviest caliber, besides smaller ones. They had great advantages at this place, as our gun boats had to go so close before doing any execution, and besides the channel was so narrow that no two boats could get in at once...We did not know at this time whether there would be any resistance or not. We kind of drawed the wool over their eyes at one time by showing false colors. It appears - from what the ni----s say here - that the Rebels have been looking for a month back the arrival of a French vessel to ship some cotton to that country and by arrangements of Commodore DuPont, all vessels kept in the rear, except the one he was on, and that one ventured in under French colors. This the Rebels thought was bully for them, so they sent a Colonel and a few men in a small boat to meet the Commodore.  He then stopped his boat, allowed them to get aboard, and after telling them they were prisoners, deposited them below for safe keeping and immediately hoisted the flag of our Union."

After the easy capture of Fernandina, the 97th Pennsylvania remained in Fernandina until March 24th, when they moved to Jacksonville before returning to Hilton Head. Smedley was discharged for disability on 9 March 1863 at Seabrook Island, South Carolina. Not long after the war, he sadly died of tuberculosis (consumption) on 12 February 1867 at just 28 years old.

An excellent Florida letter with unreported details of "draw[ing] the wool over their eyes".

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