months. During that time, the British attempted to land at the wharf of The Rocks plantation, only to be beaten back by the men stationed at the fort. After the war was over, the fort was left to the elements. American Civil War The American Civil War brought a renewed interest in the fort by the Confederate Army, and the size was doubled from that of its previous incarnation. Between June 1861 and May 1862, the Confederate Army cleared, refurbished and refortified Fort Boykin as one in a series of earthworks designed to prevent invasion by the Union, whose buildup at the mouth of the James River posed a severe threat to Richmond. Commander of the Virginia forces Robert E. Lee ordered Col. Andrew Talcott, State Engineer of Virginia, to redesign Fort Boykin in August 1861. Similar defensive works were built at Fort Huger, Mulberry Island, Jamestown Island and Drewry's Bluff. Construction on Fort Boykin soon began under Talcott's son Capt. T.M.R. Talcott and Lt. W.G. Turpin. Some Confederate records call the fort the Day's Point Battery. Although incomplete by May 1862, the fort had positions for 14 guns of which 10 were mounted. A report of March 12, 1862 shows a mix of 32-pounder and 42-pounder smoothbore cannon, all facing the James River. A hot-shot furnace was also at the fort. On May 8, 1862, the fort was fired upon by a Union Navy fleet consisting of the USS Galena, Aroostook, and Port Royal as part of the Peninsula campaign, an unsuccessful Union offensive from Fort Monroe to Richmond. With the Union guns outranging the fort's guns, the soldiers manning the fort spiked their guns and retreated. Union marines came ashore on 17 May, destroyed what they could, and blew up the powder magazine. For the remainder of the war, the site was used by the Confederate Signal Corps, among whose ranks were poet Sidney Lanier and his brother Clifford. Post Civil War After the Civil War, the fort was no longer used as a military installation and was again left to become an overgrown shadow of itself. The property was bought in 1908 by Herbert and Mary Greer and a house was built inside its earthworks. The Jorden family acquired the property in 1950. After the last owner died in 1976, the fort was given to the state for public use. Present Today the fort remains largely intact,