[FHStoday] TODAY IN FLORIDA HISTORY FOR DECEMBER 13

[Nick Wynne]

TODAY IN FLORIDA HISTORY
DECEMBER 13
1861            Polk County* was created today by the Florida legislature 
from lands that had previously constituted parts of Brevard and 
Hillsborough Counties.  Named for president James Knox Polk, the eleventh 
president of the United States, Polk County is the 39th Florida County. 
(*This citation is taken from Samuel Proctor, Florida A Hundred Years 
Ago.  This document, published by the Florida Civil War Centennial 
Commission, is contradicted by Allen Morris, Florida Handbook, which cites 
February 8, 1861, as the date for the county's creation.)

1861            The Florida Legislature approved a one-year moratorium on 
the payment of taxes for the year 1860-1861.

1862            The Florida 1st and 3rd Florida Regiments returned to 
Chattanooga today from the Confederate campaign in Kentucky.  Because of 
the high casualty rate the units suffered, they were re-organized as the 
1st and 3rd Consolidated Regiment.

1862            On the Virginia front, the 2nd Florida Infantry Regiment 
suffered casualties of four killed and 34 wounded.

1863            The Union bark, Roebuck, today captured a Confederate sloop 
off the coast of the Indian River.  The sloop had a crew of two men and was 
carrying a cargo of 16 bags of salt and one box of "notions."

1864            The Confederate Bureau of Conscription today issued General 
Circular No. 36, which authorized the impressment of free Negroes and 
slaves into the Confederate Army.  Florida's quota of such impressments was 
fixed at 500.

1977            State Senator Ralph R. Poston, Sr., of Miami, was 
reprimanded and fined $500 by the Florida Senate at a Special 
Session.  Poston was charged with violating laws and rules relating to 
standards of conduct, to wit, he had used his public office to seek 
business.  Poston was not allowed to take his seat in the Senate until he 
paid the fine, which he promptly did.