At the latter place, he became the business partner of David Levy Yulee and began construction of the Florida Railroad to speed transportation of goods and people from the new state's east coast to the Gulf of Mexico.

[1] Her sister Mary Martha Smith was the wife of Florida's territorial governor Robert Raymond Reid, an appointee of President Martin Van Buren.

[5] By the outbreak of the American Civil War, Finegan had built his family a forty-room mansion in Fernandina, bounded by 11th and 12th Streets and Broome and Calhoun Avenues, the site of the modern Atlantic Elementary School.

[10] Also in 1862, recognizing the importance of Florida beef to the Confederate cause, Finegan gave cattle baron Jacob Summerlin permission to select thirty men from the state troops under his command to assist in rounding up herds to drive north.

[11] At this time, the principal Confederate military post in east Florida was dubbed "Camp Finegan" to honor the state's highest-ranking officer.

[14] On February 20, 1864, Finegan stopped a Federal advance from Jacksonville under General Truman Seymour that was intent upon capturing the state capitol at Tallahassee.

Critics have faulted Finegan for failing to exploit his victory by pursuing his retreating enemy, contenting himself by salvaging their arms and ammunition from the battlefield.

[15] Some Finegan detractors believe he did little more to contribute to the Confederate victory at Olustee than to shuttle troops forward to General Alfred H. Colquitt of Georgia, whom they credit for thwarting the Federal advance.

But this change in command was necessary as Finegan was ordered to lead the Florida Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia, where he served effectively until near the end of the war.

Brigadier General Finegan returned to Fernandina after the war to discover his mansion had been seized by the Freedmen's Bureau for use as an orphanage and school for black children.