1826 – John Adams, a sailor on the schooner William Ross, stole $1,600, clothing and a whale boat worth $150 from the schooner while at Indian Key. Adams made his way to St. Augustine, where he was apprehended.
1862 – The U.S. gunboat Huntsville arrived at Key West with the captured Confederate steamer Agnes, loaded with cotton valued at $150,000.
1863 – The citizens of Key West presented a gold sword to Colonel Tilghman H. Good, Commander of the 47 Pennsylvania Regiment. Colonel Good had rescinded an order that would have required about 600 citizens of Key West to be shipped to Charleston to be placed behind the Confederate state lines. The people of Key West raised $750 for the purchase of the sword in New York.
1865 – Dr. Samuel Mudd, Edward Spangler and Samuel Arnold, who were convicted as conspirators in the assassination of President Lincoln, arrived at the Dry Tortugas to serve their prison terms. There were 552 prisoners confined in the Fort.
1898 – Private William Eckstrad, Company C, 22nd Infantry, died of typhoid in the Army Hospital at the Convent.
1900 – Horse and bicycle races were held on North Beach in Key West. The bicycle race was for a $10 prize, but for the horses, “a large amount of money exchanged hands.”
1911 – Aviator Howard Gill was in Key West to give flying exhibitions. He contemplated a Key West-to-Havana flight but decided he would first have to find financing.
1936 – A white marble plaque was placed at the Fleming Street Methodist Church in memory of Mrs. Reca Peacon of Key West, who was killed at Matecumbe Key in the 1935 hurricane.
1967 – More than 100 Red Cross volunteer workers and friends of the Key West Chapter gathered at the La Concha Hotel in honor of the chapter’s 50th anniversary and to honor Mrs. Florence Spottswood, who organized the chapter in April 1917.
1976 – Glynn Archer Sr. died in Key West. He was terminal manager of the Overseas Transportation Company for 30 years. He served on the Monroe County School Board for 12 years and Glynn R. Archer School (the building that is now Key West City Hall) was named for him.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The gold sword given to Col. Good during the Civil War in Key West, shown at Civil War days at Fort Taylor. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.