Today in Florida During the Civil War …

January 3

1861 Delegates to the Florida Secession Convention meet in Tallahassee to take up the question of secession. Edmund Ruffin of Virginia arrived to confer with Governor Madison Starke Perry and members of the convention.

1863 John Branch, the sixth Territorial Governor of Florida, died today in Enfield, North Carolina.

1863 The Battle of Murphreesboro (Stone’s River) came to an end today. General Braxton E. Bragg withdrew from the battle despite apparent victory during the first two days. Florida units in the Army of Tennessee suffered a large number of casualties.

1865 The U.S.S. Kanawha today captured the Confederate schooner Mary Ellen today in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.