On this past weekend in the Sunshine State …

1539 The first Christmas Service in the present-day United States is believed to be a mass offered by priests of Hernando de Soto’s expedition exploring in the vicinity of Tallahassee.

1702 The unsuccessful British siege of St. Augustine was severely curtailed today by the arrival of Spanish relief vessels in the harbor.

1823 Residents of Fernandina today asked Congress for a grant of public lands near the center of the city for the purpose of establishing a common garden area for the city’s poor and for revenue purposes.

1824 Orange County, Florida’s 11th county, was established today.  Orange County was named for the many orange groves in the immediate vicinity.  County Seat:  Orlando

1827 Madison County, Florida’s fourteenth county, was established today.  Named for President James Madison, the county was originally carved from Jefferson County and included the present counties of Taylor, Lafayette, and Dixie. Many of the original settlers in the county were from Virginia.  The original County Seat was San Pedro, about 10 miles south of the present city of Madison on the Bellamy Road.  County Seat:  Madison

1827 Florida’s fifteenth county, Hamilton, was established today.  The county was named after Alexander Hamilton, the first United States Secretary of the Treasury.  Hamilton, whose firm financial guidance placed the fledgling United States on a sound economic footing during its infancy, was killed by Aaron Burr in a duel.  County Seat:  Jasper

1832 The “Act of Association” was signed by charter members of St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church in Key West.

1835 General Richard Keith Call joined General Duncan Clinch at Fort Drane.  A general consolidation of American forces was taking place here before a strong campaign against the Seminoles. 

1835 Three companies of soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Fanning arrived at Fort Drane today from Fort King.  There had been an increase in the number of confrontations between the Seminoles and the Army, and General Duncan Clinch called for volunteers to augment the regular soldiers of the Army.

1837 General Zachary Taylor and the United States army today defeated a force of Seminole Indians near the shore of Lake Okeechobee.  Taylor commanded about 1,000 U.S. troops.  The Seminoles were led by chiefs Alligator, Arpeika (Sam Jones), Prophet (Otolke-thlocko), and Wild Cat (Coacoochee). 

1838 Seminole warriors attacked the camp of Detachment E of the 6th United States Infantry near the Econfina River today. 

1894 The Whist and Literary Club, a forerunner of the Palmetto Club of Daytona Beach, was organized today. 

1900  L. B. Wombell ended his twelve year tenure as Commissioner of Agriculture today.  He was first elected to the position in 1888. 

1931 Today marked the first race held at Tropical Park in Miami.  According to newspaper reported, the track was “fast” with cool, cloudy weather. 

1951 Pioneering civil rights activists Harry T. and Harriette V. Moore were killed in their home at Mims when a bomb exploded.  Harry T. Moore became a field officer for the NAACP and the group’s president in 1941.  Harry Moore, a school administrator in Brevard County, and Harriette V. Moore, a school teacher, lost their jobs in the county when they advocated an end to educational segregation and equal pay for African-American teachers.    The most immediate, though unproven, cause for the bombing is thought to be a Ku Klux Klan response to a series of letters Harry Moore wrote to state and Federal officials calling for an investigation into the deaths of Negro prisoners in Lake County.

1956 Today marked the beginning of the modern civil rights movement in Tallahassee as African-American citizens of the capital city defied city laws and occupied the front seats of busses used for public transportation. 

1962 In Miami, captives from the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, who were just ransomed from the government of Fidel Castro, vowed that they would return and complete the job they had failed in initially.

1972 Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States and a sometime resident of Key West, died this morning in a Kansas City hospital.  He was 88 years old.  Truman, who maintained a vacation retreat in Key West during his presidency, became president upon the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1945.  He won the presidency on his own in the hotly contested race against Thomas E. Dewey in 1948.