[FHStoday] TODAY IN FLORIDA HISTORY FOR DECEMBER 7

[Nick Wynne]

TODAY IN FLORIDA HISTORY
DECEMBER 7
TODAY IS PEARL HARBOR DAY.  ON DECEMBER 7, 1941, AMERICAN NAVAL AND LAND 
FORCES WERE SURPRISED BY A MASSIVE AIR RAID BY JAPANESE CARRIER BASED 
PLANES.  THIS "DAY OF INFAMY" SIGNALED THE UNITED STATES' ENTRY INTO WORLD 
WAR II.  TODAY IN FLORIDA HISTORY SALUTES THOSE MEN AND WOMEN WHO GAVE 
THEIR LIVES AT PEARL HARBOR AND IN THE YEARS OF WARFARE TO COME.

1821            Pensacola's First United Methodist Church was established 
as a Methodist mission in this Panhandle city.

1861            John K. Mitchell was appointed a Commander in the 
Confederate Navy, while Henry K. Stevens received a commision as 
Lieutenant.  Both men were Floridians.

1863            The commander of the U.S.S. Sagamore received orders to 
proceed to the mouth of the Suwanee River and to capture two river pilots 
stationed there.  The pilots were suspected of having piloted three 
Confederate steamers carrying contraband up the river at the end of their 
voyages to Havana.

1864            The Federal blockade at Fernandina was lifted by order of 
Union President Abraham Lincoln.  Ships of the South Atlantic Blockading 
Squadron were ordered by Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgreen to obey this order, 
but to carefully shadow the incoming ships to ensure they did not visit 
other ports which were still blockaded.

1918            Sidney J. Catts, Florida's only Prohibitionist governor, 
called the Legislature into session to ratify the amendment to the U.S. 
Constitution which prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages.

1941            Some 360 Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor.  Five 
American battleships were sunk, 14 smaller ships were destroyed, 200 
aircraft were obliterated.  Tragically, more than 2,000 seamen were killed, 
along with 400 civilians.  More than 1,300 were wounded.  Japanese losses 
were 29 airplanes, five midget submarines, and 100 killed.

1969            Testimony continued today in the murder trial of Miami 
native, Lieutenant William Calley, charged with killing 
Vietnamese  civilians at My Lai, in Songmy Province, South Vietnam, on 
March 16, 1968.

1972            Apollo 17 was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral and 
the Kennedy Space Center.  This was the last manned moon shot in the NASA 
moon series.  Eugene A. Cernan and Harrison H. Schmitt landed on the moon's 
surface, while Ronald E. Evans remained in the command ship.  The 
astronauts spent a total of 75 hours on the lunar surface, and, in additon 
to collecting specimens, left a permanent plaque, signed by President 
Richard M. Nixon and the astronauts, on the part of their space ship that 
remained behind.