 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.