"Today in Florida History"

for May

1562      French Huguenot leader Jean Ribault landed at the mouth of the St. John’s River today.  He and his followers were seeking to establish a colony for French religious dissenters.

1863      Florida’ 2nd Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Regiment, and 8th Infantry Regiment, assigned to the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, were part of the action at Chancellorsville that started today and which would last until May 4th.

1864      The U.S.S. Fox captured the Confederate sloop Oscar today in the Gulf of Mexico.  The Oscar was bound from St. Mark’s to Havana.

1889      Hard rock phosphate deposits were discovered today in Marion County.

1890      William D. Bloxham assumed office as the Comptroller of Florida today.

1934      The Miami jai-alai fronton, established in 1925, was reorganized today as the Fronton Exhibition Company, Incorporated.

1815      David Shelby Walker, the eight governor of Florida (1865-1868), was born today in Russellville, Kentucky.  He died on July 20, 1891.  [For more information, see entries for July 20 and December 20.]

1839      Lieutenant William Hulbert of Company F, 6th United States Infantry, was killed in a skirmish with Seminoles today near 14 Mile Creek, near Fort Frank Brooks.

1847      The Pensacola Baptist Church, now the First Baptist Church of Pensacola, was organized today.

1863      Florida’ 2nd Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Regiment, and 8th Infantry Regiment, assigned to the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, were part of the action at Chancellorsville.

1944      Singer James Purify was born today in Pensacola.

1965      The U.S. early Bird satellite, launched from Cape Canaveral, began broadcasting transmissions from Europe to North America today.

1862      The Federal steamer, R. R. Cuyler, captured the Confederate schooner Jane about forty miles southwest of Tampa in the Gulf of Mexico.  The Jane was carrying a cargo of pig lead.

1863      Florida’ 2nd Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Regiment, and 8th Infantry Regiment, assigned to the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, were part of the action at Chancellorsville.

1864      Some eleven officers and forty-seven men off the Confederate ship, C.S.S. Chattahoochee, today launched an expedition against Federal forces operating around St. George’s Sound in Apalachicola Bay.

1865      Federal troops were ordered to take possession of Key Biscayne today and to guard the passes near the key in order to prevent any attempt by Confederate President Jefferson Davis to escape to Cuba or the Bahamas.

1901      Jacksonville was swept by a devastating fire today.  More than 600 acres of buildings in the center of the city were destroyed.  The loss was estimated at $15,000,000 in 1901 dollars.

1902      The African-American actor Stepin’ Fetchit was born today in Key West.

1912      Bob Fowler today successfully completed the first west-to-east transcontinental air plane flight from Los Angeles to Jacksonville.  His time:  four months.

1863      Florida’ 2nd Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Regiment, and 8th Infantry Regiment, assigned to the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, were part of the action at Chancellorsville.

1864      The Confederate detachment from the C.S.S. Chattahoochee arrived at Chattahoochee early this morning and then proceeded to Rico Bluff. 

1872      The administration of Samuel T. Day, Acting Governor of Florida during the impeachment trial of Governor Harrison Reed, ended today.  The Florida Senate voted 10-7 to dismiss the charges brought against Governor Reed.

1931      Winter Park reincorporated as a city (originally incorporated in the 1880s).

1959      Howard Van Smith, a journalist for the Miami News, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize today for his stories on the conditions of migrant workers in Immokalee.

1973      Donald Segretti, the “dirty tricks” man for President Richard M. Nixon, was charged with publishing fraudulent campaign documents in the 1972 Florida primary today.

1989      The space shuttle, STS-30, was launched today from Cape Canaveral.

1862      The Florida 2nd Infantry Regiment, assigned to D. H. Hill’s Division of the Army of Northern Virginia, participated in the Battle of Williamsburg (VA) today.

1863      The U.S.S. Tahoma captured the schooner Crazy Jane near Egmont Key near Charlotte Harbor.  The Crazy Jane was carrying a cargo of cotton and turpentine.

1961      Alan Shepard became the first American in space today as his Freedom 7 capsule, atop a Redstone rocket (Mercury 3), carried him 115 miles into the atmosphere.  Launched at 10:34 a.m., Shepard spent 15 miles in space and landed at 10:49 a.m., 302 miles from Cape Canaveral near the Bahamas.  During the journey, he maneuvered his spacecraft by firing small rockets.

1979      John Spinkellink was put to death today at Starke as Florida reinstituted the death penalty after its use had been restricted by the United States Supreme Court.

1851      Dr. John Gorrie, a physician in Apalachicola, patented his ice-making machine today.  Gorrie, 1802-1855, looking for a way to cool patients suffering from malaria fever, was granted Patent No. 8080.  His invention led the way for commercial ice making machines and eventually for the development of air conditioning.  He is one of two Floridians honored with a statue in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C.

1886      The First National Bank of Tampa received its Federal charter today. 

1935      Unemployed Floridians and other similar Americans had much to rejoice about today as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal agency designed to give work to workers of all kinds, including teachers, writers, musicians, academics, artists and other who were “hard to employ.”

Florida Facts:

Names of Individuals for whom some state buildings are named in the Capitol Complex:

R.A. Gray, Secretary of State

William D. Bloxham, Governor

Duncan U. Fletcher, United States Senator and Governor

J. Edwin Larson, State Treasurer

Farris Bryant, Governor

Haydon Burns, Governor

Charley E. Johns, Acting Governor

LeRoy Collins, Governor

Fred C. Elliot, Engineer, Internal Improvement Fund

Spessard L. Holland, Governor and United States Senator

Millard F. Caldwell, Governor and State Supreme Court Justice

Doyle E. Carlton, Governor

Others....?

1822      A United States Custom District was established today at Key West.

1863      The Confederate schooner Sea Lion, carrying a cargo of cotton, was captured in the Gulf of Mexico today.

1864      The U.S.S. Sunflower today captured the Confederate sloop Neptune with its cargo of cotton as Federal troops occupied Tampa.``

1877      The Bank of Jacksonville was founded today by William Boyd Barnett.  This band ultimately became a statewide operation under the name Barnett Bank until it was sold to NationsBank in 1998.

1924      Mrs. H. M. Strickland was sworn into office today as the first female mayor of Live Oak.

1956      E. D. Jackson, Jr., the first African-American nominated for public office in Jacksonville in forty years, was successful today in his campaign for Justice of the Peace.

1963      America’s second Telstar satellite was successfully launched today from Cape Canaveral.

1992      The space shuttle, STS-49, was launched today from Cape Canaveral.

1781      The British garrison surrendered Fort George in Pensacola to a large combined force of French and  Spanish troops today. 

1860      The Pensacola and Georgia Railroad started laying track for a line to run between Lake City and the Suwanee River.

1866      The Ocala Star-Banner was founded today as the weekly Banner. 

1889      DeLand University amended its charter today to rename the University John B. Stetson University. 

1917      Okeechobee County, Florida’s 54th county, was created today by the Florida Legislature.  The name is taken from two Hitchiti Creek words that mean “big water.”  County Seat:  Okeechobee

1923      Collier County, Florida’s 62nd county, was created today by the Florida Legislature.  It was named in honor of developer Blanton G. Collier.  County Seat:  Naples

1936      Park Trammell, the 21st governor of Florida (1913-1917) and United States Senator (1917-1936), died today in Washington, D.C.  He was buried at Roselawn Cemetery in Lakeland.  [For more information, see entries for January 7 and April 9.]

1832      Fifteen Seminole chiefs, meeting at Payne’s Landing (near Micanopy), signed a treaty to cede their lands in Florida to the United States.

1861      When a 32-pounder was fired by Confederate troops at Fort Marion (Castillo de San Marcos) in St. Augustine, residents of St. Augustine feared the city was under attack by Federal forces.  Their fears were calmed when the fort’s commander, Lieutenant Charles F. Hopkins, explained that the firing had been undertaken to clean the bore of the cannon.

1862      Confederate forces evacuate Pensacola today, torching all the military installations and property in the city.  The steamer Fulton was set afire, along with two privately owned smaller boats.

1865      Confederate forces in Tallahassee, under the command of Brigadier General Samuel Jones, were making preparations for the official surrender of the city to Union forces tomorrow.

1950      Construction of concrete launching pads for America’s rocket program began today at Cape Canaveral.

1980      Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which crosses Tampa Bay at St. Petersburg, was struck by a phosphate freighter.  A 1,200 foot section of the bridge collapsed, and thirty-five people were killed when a Greyhound bus, several cars, and a truck fell into the bay.

1981      A 350-foot-wide and 150-foot-deep sinkhole, thought to be Central Florida’s largest, appeared in Winter Park today.  A residence, part of a municipal swimming pool and a number of trees fell into the crater.

1991      The Astronaut Memorial was dedicated as a national monument at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral.

1861      Union president Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Florida, citing the existence of an “insurrection” against the United States in that state.

1862      Federal forces occupy Pensacola, which was surrendered peaceably by the mayor of the city. 

1862      The Federal barge, James L. Davis, arrived in Apalachicola today and found the inhabitants in an “almost starving condition.”

1865      Major General Samuel Jones, CSA, formally surrenders Tallahassee, the only Confederate state capitol east of the Mississippi that was not captured by military action, and all Confederate troops and property in the state to federal Brigadier General Edward M. McCook.

1904      Napoleon Bonaparte Broward won his primary today in an ultimately successful campaign for the Florida governor’s office.

1861      “The Cowboys,” a local militia company, was organized in Duval County today. 

1864      Captain J. J. Dickison, commanding Company H, 2nd Florida Cavalry, has positioned his men to keep watch on Federal activities in the area around Fort Butler.

1893      The City of Carrabelle was incorporated today. 

1905      The Florida Legislature adopted the first automobile regulations today.  All vehicle owners were charged $2.00 to register their automobiles.

1907      The City of Wildwood was incorporated today.

1910      Jacqueline Cochran, the first woman to fly faster than the speed of sound, was born today in Pensacola.

1923      Hendry County, Florida’s 63rd county, was created today by the Florida Legislature.  The county was named in honor of Captain Francis Asbury Hendry, legendary cattle baron and Civil War hero.  County Seat:  LaBelle

1742      General James Oglethorpe and troops from Georgia attacked St. Augustine from the sea, but failed to capture the Castillo de San Marcos.  After a prolonged siege, Oglethorpe and his soldiers left the area in September.

1861      Florida newspapers report that three former residents of St. Augustine, Abraham Dupont, William Quincy, and Thomas Mirando, participated in the assault against Fort Sumter.

1863      Governor John Milton named Mariano D. Papy of Tallahassee as the state’s Impressment Commissioner.

1864      The U.S.S. Beauregard today captured the British sloop Resolute while the sloop was at anchor off Cape Canaveral.

1865      The crew of the Confederate gunboat Spray surrendered their boat to Federal authorities at Fort Ward at St. Marks.

1865      David Levy Yulee was appointed Florida Commissioner and dispatched to Washington to confer with President Andrew Johnson about conditions in Florida.  Yulee was appointed by Acting Governor Abraham Kurkindolle Allison, who had assumed the office following Governor John Milton’s suicide on April 1, 1865.

1887      Osceola County, Florida’s 40th county, was established by the Florida Legislature today.  The county was named after the Seminole chief, Osceola.  County Seat: Kissimmee

1912      The United States battleship, Florida, commissioned in 1911 was launched today under the sponsorship of Elizabeth Lagere Fleming, the daughter of former Governor Francis P. Fleming.  The Florida was 510 feet long, displaced 21,825 tons, had a speed of 22 knots, and cost $6,400,000.  This was the fifth United States Navy ship to bear the state’s name.

1912      Tampa’s Union Station, now fully refurbished and a major shopping area, was opened today.

1982      The Florida Supreme Court approved the reapportionment plan created by the Florida Legislature, which created single-member districts and which vacated all seats in the Florida Senate.

1993      The African-American boycott of tourism in Miami ended today.  The boycott had been called when the city’s officials snubbed South African political activist Nelson Mandela.

1887      Lee County, Florida’s 41st county, was established today by the Florida Legislature.  The county was named in honor of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.  County Seat:  Fort Myers

1862      The U.S.S. Vincennes arrived in Pensacola Bay today to assist with the Federal occupation of the City of Pensacola.  The Vincennes was the first Federal ship to enter Pensacola Harbor since the outbreak of the Civil War.

1863      The U.S.S. DeSoto captured the Confederate schooner Seabird off Pensacola Bay, while the U.S.S. Huntsville captured the Confederate schooner A.J. Hodge at sea off the east coast of Florida.

1926      The cornerstone for the Sarasota County Courthouse was laid today.

1955      Jacksonville was rocked by a riot tonight following a concert performance by Elvis Presley.

1959      Newspapers throughout the nation were reporting the “new” Florida land boom today as lots in Florida subdivisions were being marketing through mail outs and national advertising.

1969      The Florida Legislature today ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States that granted suffrage rights to women.  The amendment, which was approved by enough states to become a part of the “law of the land” on August 26, 1920, was finally approved by the Legislature in recognition of the achievements of the Florida League of Women Voters.  Florida was the 50th state to ratify the amendment.

1983      NASA scientists at Cape Canaveral rejoiced today as “Pioneer 10,” launched eleven years ago, becomes the first spacecraft to exit the Earth’s solar system. 

1863      The U.S.S. Fort Henry captured a small flatboat loaded with corn in Wacassassa Bay near Cedar Key.

1921      Sarasota County, Florida’s 60th county, was established today by the Florida Legislature.  The actual origin of the name “Sarasota” was unknown, but popular legend has it that the name is a combination of the names of DeSoto’s daughter Sara.  Another legend is that the name was given by Spanish explorers to describe a Native American “place for dancing.”  County Seat:  Sarasota

1926      Opa Locka’s incorporation as a town was approved by voters today by a count of 28-0.

1929      Airmail service between the United States and South America was started today in Miami.

1931      Eau Gallie, originally founded in January 1887, was reincorporated today.

1970      The Miami Bible Institute changed its name today to Miami Christian University.

1973      The United States put its “Skylab” satellite into orbit today from Cape Canaveral. 

1896      The Miami Metropolis, the forerunner of the Miami News, was founded today.

1922      WDAE Radio in Tampa was licensed today as Florida’s first commercial radio station.

1926      Albert Waller Gilchrist, the 20th governor of Florida (1909-1913), died today in New York.  [For more information, see entries for January 5 and January 15.]

1933      The Ringling School of Art, originally founded as part of Florida Southern College in 1931, was incorporated today as a separate and independent institution.  The Ringling School of Art is located in Sarasota.

1947      Florida State College for Women, which held its first classes in 1857, was reorganized and renamed Florida State University today.  It also became a co-educational institution.

1963      The Mercury 9 spacecraft was launched today from Cape Canaveral.

1824      Edmund Kirby Smith, Confederate general and Commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi West, was born today in St. Augustine. 

      Smith was a graduate of West Point (1845), fought in eight battles of the Mexican-American War, taught mathematics at West Point, was wounded in Indian fighting, and was a noted botanist.  In 1861, he resigned his position with the United States Army to enter Confederate service.

      Smith organized the Army of the Shenandoah and was severely wounded at the Battle of First Bull Run.  After campaigns in Tennessee and Kentucky, he was given command of the Trans-Mississippi West.  When Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863, Smith’s command was isolated from the mainstream of the Confederacy.  As an independent Department commander, his control over the Confederacy west of the Mississippi was virtually absolute.