1864 – Two dozen soldiers and officers searched the Dry Tortugas for two sailors who had jumped ship and deserted there the day before.
1865 – New troops arrived at Fort Jefferson, and prisoner Dr. Samuel Mudd hoped they would be kinder to the inmates. “It can’t be worse…We are closely guarded and not suffered to leave the door for the most trivial thing…We are all at this moment in chains,” he wrote.
1890 – Commander J.H. Winn, Commander Naval Base Key West, moved into the newly built commandant’s quarters (now known as the Little White House).
1923 – Captain Benjamin Felton said his crew was finding great success at the sponging grounds near Bahia Honda. In just a few days they had taken 55 bunches of fine wool sponge.
1933 – The Santaella Cigar Factory in Key West closed for an unspecified “period of several weeks.” Upwards of 200 families were expected to be put on public relief rolls as a result.
2011 – Powerboat throttleman Joey Gratton was killed when his Page Motorsports catamaran rolled during a race in the Super Boat International Key West World Championships. Gratton’s death was the third fatality of the event.
Information compiled by the late Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Soldiers in the courtyard of Fort Jefferson. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center