In the Sunshine State on this day in: 


1763 On this date, British Florida was divided into East Florida and West Florida by Royal Proclamation.  The dividing line was the Chattahoochee-Apalachicola River.


1861 Madison Starke Perry (see October 5 entry) turned the reins of state government over to Governor John Milton, the fifth governor of Florida (October 7, 1861-April 1, 1865)  Milton, who was born on April 20, 1807, in Jefferson County, Georgia, was a lawyer who practiced in Georgia, Alabama, and New Orleans before coming to Florida as the captain of a volunteer company in the Seminole War.  In 1846, he moved to Jackson County.  In politics, Milton was an powerful Democrat and an ardent states’ righter.  In 1850, Milton was elected to the Florida House of Representatives.
An early secessionist, Milton was instrumental in leading Florida out of the Union (3rd southern state to do so) and he encouraged Governor Perry to seize Federal military establishments in the state

During the Civil War, Milton cooperated with Confederate authorities, unlike some other southern governors.  He worked with Commissary Agent Pleasant W. White to forward Florida cattle and salt to Confederate armies.

When the Confederacy collapsed, Milton retired to his home near Marianna, and, on April 1, 1865, he put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger.  In his last statement to the Florida Legislature, he stated that  “...death would be preferable to reunion.”

1889 The Dade County School Board ordered the payment of $12 for the annual rental of a house in Coconut Grove, which would be used for a school.


1930 Edmond J. Gong, the first Chinese-American to be elected to the Florida Legislature, was born in Miami.