[FHStoday] TODAY IN FLORIDA HISTORY FOR DECEMBER 19

[Nick Wynne]

TODAY IN FLORIDA HISTORY
DECEMBER 19
1832            Today was the opening day of the rist annual race meeting 
at the Tallahassee Jockey Club.  A $300 purse was the top prize in the 
three-mile heat.

1837            Colonel Zachary Taylor leads a force of 1,000 men against 
the warring Seminoles in southern Florida.

1862            Major A. A. Canova was appointed Confederate Chief of 
Subsistence today in Florida.

1863            Several "exiled" Union men left St. Augustine today for 
Port Royal aboard the federal steamer Maple Leaf.

1864            A federal expedition from Barrancas consisting of the 97th 
U.S. Colored infantry reached Pollard today.  A supply depot, filled with 
military clothing and equipment, was destroyed.  Several bridges and miles 
of railroad track over the Little Escambia River were destroyed.

1971            The nine-year strike against the Florida East Coast 
Railroad, which started on January 23, 1963, was settled in Federal court 
today.  The strike was over pay and work rules.  Workers received a 37% pay 
raise, and the Unions representing them received $1.5 million in damages.

1972            America's Apollo moon program came to an end today when 
Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.  Eugene A. Cernan, Harrison 
H. Schmitt and Ronald E. Evans were the crew for this historic 
journey.  Schmitt and Cernan actually walked on the moon, while Evans 
remained in the command module.