[1] Clinch provided continuity between collectors, who were political appointees, and became renowned for his knowledge of customs laws and regulations.

[1] Clinch served as acting collector from November 13, 1865, to May 16, 1866, between the suicide of Preston King and appointment of Henry A.

[1] He resisted the efforts of John Van Buren and other supporters to obtain the collector's position for him, arguing that he did want to lose his independence by becoming a political appointee.

[1] A pro-Union Democrat during the American Civil War, when news of Robert E. Lee's surrender reached New York, Clinch informed his staff by marching into the custom house rotunda with an American flag and singing every verse to The Star-Spangled Banner.

[1] Clinch was a poet and author and maintained a wide circle of literary and artistic friends, including James Gordon Bennett Sr., Thurlow Weed, Fitz-Greene Halleck, and Emma Stebbins.