JUNE 1861-1865

June 1

JUNE 1, 1861 Confederate mail service officially began today.

JUNE 1, 1861 The Federal blockade of the City of Fernandina started today with the arrival of the Union ship, U.S.S. Perry, under the command of Lieutenant Enoch G. Parrott.

JUNE 1, 1864 Federal troops moving out of Jacksonville surprised confederate troops at Camp John Milton on McGirt’s Creek and drove them toward Baldwin. The Union troops numbered about 2,500. They destroyed the Confederate camp.

June 2

JUNE 2, 1862 Confederate troops surprised a detachment of 11 men from the U.S.S. Kingfisher on an expedition up the Aucilla River. Two Union soldiers were killed and nine captured.

JUNE 2, 1864 A detachment of soldiers from the U.S.S. Sunflower destroyed a sizable salt works on the shores of Tampa Bay. Four kettles, a quantity of salt, and several furnaces were also destroyed.

JUNE 2, 1865 Florida-born Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered his army to Federal forces today in Texas.

June 3

JUNE 3, 1863 The U.S.S. Stars and Stripes captured the blockade runner Florida near St. Marks. The Florida, a small sloop, was carrying a cargo of 6 bales of cotton and a barrel of tar.

JUNE 3, 1864 Confederate troops regain their positions at Camp John Milton on McGirt’s Creek, which had been overrun by Federal troops on June 1.

JUNE 3, 1865 A party of Confederate refugees, including General John C. Breckinridge, left the Indian River Lagoon near Jupiter Inlet today and headed for the open ocean.

June 4

JUNE 4, 1863 A boat from the U.S.S. Fort Henry captured a Confederate barge loaded with 39 bales of cotton at the mouth of the Crystal River.

June 5

JUNE 5, 1862 The Confederate steamer Havana was set ablaze today in Deadman’s Bay. The steamer was fired to prevent her capture by the Federal ship Ezilda.

June 6

JUNE 6, 1863 The U.S.S. Tahoma captured the Confederate schooner Statesman in Tampa Bay. The U.S.S. Tahoma’s crew was able to effect the capture despite harassing fire from a Confederate artillery battery.

June 7

JUNE 7, 1862 Confederate General Joseph J. Finegan, commander of Middle and East Florida, has begun the construction of a seven-gun redoubt at Alum Bluff on the Apalachicola River.

June 8

June 9

JUNE 9, 1864 The U.S.S. Proteus captured the British schooner R.S. Hood off the Florida coast today.

JUNE 9, 1865 The first African-American missionary, Reverend William G. Steward, arrived in Jacksonville today from Charleston to begin organizing churches for the newly liberated freedmen in the state.

June 10

JUNE 10, 1862 United States Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles instructed units of the Federal navy to investigate rumors that Confederates had constructed a road from the northern Indian River Lagoon to Volusia that would allow them to escape the Union naval patrols.

JUNE 10, 1863 The U.S.S. Fort Henry captured 250 bushels of corn belonging to Confederate Senator David levy Yulee today on a barge off the mouth of the Withlacoochee River.

JUNE 10, 1864 The United States’ steamer, Union, today captured the Confederate sloop Caroline off Jupiter Inlet.

June 11

JUNE 11, 1862 The Union navy captured two Confederate vessels in the Gulf of Mexico today. The U.S.S. Sesquehanna captured the Princeton, a blockade runner, while the U.S.S. Bainbridge captured the schooner Biagorry and its cargo of cotton.

June 12

June 13

JUNE 13, 1861 Confederate President Jefferson Davis has designated today as a Confederate “Day of Thanksgiving,” and has called for fasting and prayer for the protection of the Confederate States of America.

JUNE 13, 1863 The U.S.S. Sunflower today captured the Confederate blockade runner, Pushmataha, near the Tortugas.

June 14

JUNE 14, 1863 The Federal ship, U.S.S. Somerset, shelled Confederate salt works on Alligator Bay, near St. George’s Sound. Following the shelling, 65 Union sailors and marines were put ashore. They destroyed 65 kettles, 200 bushels of salt, and thirty houses.

June 15

JUNE 15, 1862 The U.S.S. Somerset and the U.S.S. Tahoma shelled the Confederate fort near the lighthouse at the St. Marks River. When Confederate artillery units withdrew, Federal troops landed and burned the fort, the interior of the lighthouse, and the buildings used as barracks for the Confederate troops.

JUNE 15, 1863 G. Troup Maxwell announced today that he would be a candidate for the Confederate Congress from the Second Florida Congressional district. General elections were scheduled for October.

June 16

JUNE 16, 1862 The U.S.S. Somerset captured the British blockade runner, Curlew, off the coast near Cedar Key.

JUNE 16, 1863 The Circassian, a Union supply steamer, captured the Confederate sloop, John Wesley, off the coast of St. Marks today. The John Wesley,  was carrying a cargo of 12 bales of cotton.

JUNE 16, 1864 Federal troops from the schooner J.S. Chambers, dispatched up the Waccasassa River, returned to their ship today with 12 bags of cotton.

June 17

June 18

JUNE 18, 1862 The 7th Florida Infantry Regiment and the 1st Florida Cavalry joined Confederate troops in Tennessee. The Confederate troops were under the command of St. Augustine native, Edmund Kirby Smith.

JUNE 18, 1863 The Federal schooner, John S. Chamber, today captured the British blockade runner Rebekah thirty miles west of Charlotte Harbor. The Rebekah was carrying a cargo of whiskey.

JUNE 18, 1863 The U.S.S. Tahoma today captured the British blockade runner Harriet near Anclote Keys. The U.S.S. Tahoma also chased another British ship, the Mary Jane, ashore near Clearwater. The Mary Jane was destroyed by the U.S.S. Tahoma.

June 19

June 20

JUNE 20, 1861 The First Florida Cavalry began assembling at Camp Mary David, six miles south of Tallahassee. The unit will be activated for Confederate service in two weeks.

JUNE 20, 1862 The U.S.S. Beauregard captured the blockade runner Lucy off Deadman’s Point Key today.

JUNE 20, 1862 Colonel J. J. Finley and the 6th Florida Infantry regiment arrived in Chattanooga today.

JUNE 20, 1864 An armed expedition from the U.S.S. Iuka returned from a raid up the Waccasassa River today. The raiders brought with them twenty-seven bales of captured cotton.

June 21

June 22

June 23

JUNE 23, 1862 The U.S.S. Pursuit captured the Confederate sloop Kate today. The Kate had sailed from Nassau with an assorted cargo.

JUNE 23, 1863 The U.S.S. Beauregard has been assigned blockade duty north of Cape Canaveral and Mosquito Inlet.

June 24

JUNE 24, 1863 The U.S.S. Tahoma today captured a Confederate flatboat in a bayou near the Manatee River. The flatboat was carrying a cargo of sugar and molasses.

June 25

JUNE 25, 1863 The U.S.S. Sagamore captured the British schooner Frolic off the Crystal River. The Frolic carried a cargo of cotton and turpentine.

JUNE 25, 1864 The U.S.S. Proteus today captured a British steamer, the Jupiter, off the east coast of Florida. All cargo had been thrown overboard prior to capture.

JUNE 25, 1868 Florida was conditionally re-admitted to the United States today. federal occupation of the state, however, would not end until 1877.

June 26

JUNE 26, 1864 The U.S.S. Norfolk Packet captured the blockade running sloop, Sarah Mary, off Mosquito Inlet today. The Sarah Mary was carrying a cargo of cotton.

June 27

JUNE 27, 1862 The 2nd Florida Infantry Regiment, fighting at Ellison’s Mill, Virginia, lost 8 soldier killed today and 52 wounded. Among the soldiers killed was Captain G. W. Parkhill.

June 28

JUNE 28, 1863 Boats from the U.S.S. Fort Henry captured the schooner Anna Maria in the Steinhatchee River. The Anna Maria was carrying a cargo of cotton.

JUNE 28, 1864 Troops boarded three Federal ships today at Punta Rassa to sail north to Bayport. This was preliminary to an attack on Brooksville.

June 29

JUNE 29, 1864 Master W. L. Martine, commanding the U.S.S. Roebuck, dispatched a shore crew of twelve sailors to investigate rumors of increased blockade running near Jupiter Inlet.

June 30

JUNE 30, 1862 The 2nd Florida Infantry Regiment sustained heavy losses today in the Battle of Frazier’s farm in Virginia.

JUNE 30, 1864 Troops from the U.S.S. Roebuck today captured the Confederate sloop Last Resort in Jupiter Inlet. The sloop was carrying a cargo of six bales of cotton.

June 31