Part 47
1791. CATHARINE MACAULEY (Graham), an English historian, died. She wrote several histories, essays and political works, which are now nearly obliviated.
1793. New declaration of the rights of man by the French convention.
1793. Cape François burnt by the negroes and mulattoes, after an indiscriminate massacre of the whites, which had been in progress since the 7th, by which several thousands perished. (See 20th.)
1795. Action between the British and French fleets off L'Orient, in which the latter were defeated, with the loss of several large ships.
1824. STEPHEN AIGNAN, a French poet and dramatic writer, died. He filled several offices under Napoleon.
1824. WILSON LOWRY, an English artist, died. He made many improvements in the art of engraving.
1836. JAMES MILL, a Scottish divine, died; celebrated for his literary and philosophical works, author of a _History of British India, &c._
1839. HESTER STANHOPE, a learned English lady, died at D'Joun, in Syria. She had resided in Syria nearly thirty years, and was celebrated for her eccentricity and singular mode of life. She was a niece of William Pitt, and abandoned civilized society to reside among Arabs, over whom she acquired great command.
1854. A terrible hurricane occurred at Manteno, Illinois, extending from six to eight miles in width, prostrated many houses, and caused much other damage.
1854. DANIEL WELLS, chief justice of the court of common pleas of Massachusetts, died at Cambridge, aged 63. He was born in Greenfield, Mass., and in 1837 was appointed district attorney for the western district, the duties of which office he discharged with marked ability, propriety and success until appointed chief justice.
1855. The Russians, 30,000 men, under general Mouravieff, invested Kars in the Crimea; the Turkish garrison was commanded by general Williams, an Englishman.
1856. Prince ESTERHAZY, an eminent Austrian ambassador, died at Berlin, in Prussia, where he was envoy.
JUNE 24.
64. The first Christian persecution under Nero.
79. TITUS FLAVIUS VESPASIANUS, emperor of Rome, died, after a popular reign of 10 years. He was the first of the Roman emperors who died a natural death.
1203. The third, or Boniface's crusade, reached Chalcedon.
1314. Battle of Bannockburn in Scotland. The English army of 100,000 men under Edward II totally defeated by the Scots, 30,000, under Bruce. The loss of the English was 154 earls, barons and knights, 700 gentlemen and upwards of 10,000 common soldiers.
1340. Battle of Sluys: the English under Edward III, with 240 ships, defeated the French fleet of 400 ships. The French lost 230 vessels and 30,000 men killed.
1450. Battle of Seven Oaks, in England, when Cade, the rebel, turning on his pursuers, put them to flight, killed sir Humphrey Stafford, and arrayed himself in the knight's panopli and spurs.
1497. JOHN CABOT and his son SEBASTIAN, in the service of England, first descried land on the continent of America, which they called Prima Vista, and is generally supposed to have been some part of Newfoundland. No one had yet reached the continent.
1534. JOHN BOCCOLD (of Leyden) a journeyman tailor, crowned king of Sion at Munster, in Germany, by the anabaptists. The German princes took the city by surprise on this day the year following, and deposed the king, and afterwards put him to death.
1577. SEBASTIAN III of Portugal embarked at Lisbon against the Moors in Africa, with 1,000 sail.
1637. NICHOLAS CLAUDE FABRI PEIRESC, a distinguished French antiquary, died. He was a learned man, and highly esteemed by his cotemporaries.
1643. JOHN HAMPDEN, an English statesman, died. He was a leader of the parliamentary forces, and mortally wounded at the battle of Chalgrove field.
1675. King PHILIP'S war began at Swanzey, in the Plymouth colony, not far from mount Hope. Having sent their wives and children to the Narragansetts for safety, a party of the Wampanoags advanced to Swanzey, where they menaced the people, and proceeded to rifle their houses, and even to kill the cattle. An Indian was shot, whereupon the party rushed forward and slew eight or nine of the inhabitants; thus opened the bloody scene, which for more than a year spread terror and devastation over the New England colonies, and shed a deluge of human blood. It was a contest for extirpation, and ere it ended the flower of the English and the chivalry of the Indians were laid low.
1711. Queen ANNE'S fleet, sent to reduce Canada, arrived at Boston, New England.
1724. Great tumult in Glasgow, occasioned by a tax on malt. Preparations of malt liquor were at that time deemed essential articles of comfort.
1736. English act of parliament against witchcraft, passed in the reign of James I, repealed.
1741. A daily mail first instituted in London.
1750. Pension of £30 per annum conferred on Hannah Snell, the female soldier, who under the name of James Gray, served king George more than 5 years.
1762. Battle of Graebenstein; the allies under prince Ferdinand, defeated the French under Soubisse, and d'Estrees, who lost 300 men.
1770. CHRISTOPHER DRAKENBERG died in Norway, aged 146.
1782. JOHN BLAIR, a Scottish chronologist, died. His principal work is a chronology and history of the world.
1796. DAVID RITTENHOUSE, an American natural philosopher, died. From a manufacturer of clocks and mathematical instruments he became, by his own exertions, one of the most scientific men of the day.
1799. Division of the territory and treasures of Tippo Saib, by the English.
1803. MATTHEW THORNTON, a signer of the declaration, died. He was a practicing physician in New Hampshire, when the war of the revolution broke out.
1804. The spire of Hanslope church, Buckinghamshire, England, fell immediately after divine service and crushed down the roof also; no lives were lost.
1810. Battle of Beaverdams; 570 Americans surprised and taken by the British.
1812. The grand imperial army of Napoleon, consisting of 470,000 men, consolidated into three masses, began the Russian campaign by the passage of the Niemen.
1817. THOMAS M'KEAN died; a signer of the declaration, and governor of Pennsylvania.
1821. Battle of Carabobo, in Colombia; the royalist army totally defeated by the republicans, with the loss of their artillery, baggage, and 6,000 prisoners.
1839. Battle of Nezib, in Syria, between the Turks, 70,000, under the seraskier, Hafiz pasha, and the Egyptians, 80,000, under Ibrahim. The Turks were defeated, with the loss of 6,000 killed and many prisoners.
1840. The 400th anniversary of the discovery of the art of printing celebrated at Boston and various places in Europe.
1848. ANTONIO GAGNA, a Mexican military officer, died at Puebla, aged 64 years, 52 of which he had spent in the service, and acquired the reputation of a gallant, benevolent and courtly gentleman.
1852. CHRISTOPHER EDWARDS GADSDEN, bishop of the episcopal diocese of South Carolina, died at Charleston, aged 68.
1852. The first national agricultural convention assembled at Washington, consisting of 151 members, representing 22 states; Marshall P. Wilder, of Massachusetts, president.
1853. A courier arrived at St. Petersburg, bringing the refusal of the sultan of Turkey to the note of the czar, whereupon orders were issued for the invasion of the Danubian principalities.
1855. Forty-seven Russian ships, of from 200 to 700 tons each, were destroyed near Nystadt, in the gulf of Bothnia, by boats from the allied squadron.
JUNE 25.
1208. PHILIP, duke of Swabia, assassinated. He was elected emperor of Germany, but was obliged to give room to Otho, who had the most powerful supporters. His memory is still respected in Germany.
1520. The assaults of the Mexicans upon the Spaniards in the centre of their capital, which had continued without intermission since the massacre of the 13th May, (q.v.) was made with increased fury on this day. The Spaniards defended themselves with 12 pieces of artillery, which made terrible havoc upon their enemy; but as the number of them was infinite, they covered the sight of their dead with fresh numbers. The Spaniards with Cortez at their head made a sally into one of the principal streets, carrying fire and sword among the dense mass, destroying men and houses before them.
1526. An imperial diet assembled at Spires, and observed the rites of the reformed church. It was at this sitting that Charles V proposed the meeting of a general council for reforming the abuses of the church.
1634. JOHN MARSTON died; an English dramatic author. He was a chaste and pure writer, avoiding the ribaldry and obscenity of the age.
1644. THOMAS WESTFIELD died; a learned English divine, whose eloquence and pathos procured him the appellation of the weeping prophet.
1663. JOHN BRAMHALL, lord primate of Ireland, died. He was highly serviceable to the royal cause during the English civil wars.
1667. JOHN HARMAN with 16 ships defeated a French fleet of 30, near Martinico.
1672. The king of France at the head of 120,000 choice troops, commanded by the ablest generals in the world, entered Utrecht in triumph, and advanced within 9 miles of Amsterdam. At this crisis the inhabitants of Amsterdam opened the sluices and laid the country under water. Fertile fields, numerous villas and flourishing villages were overwhelmed by the inundation. They even formed the design of migrating to their settlements in the East Indies, and erecting a new empire in the southern extremity of Asia. It was found that there were vessels in the harbor sufficient to transport 150 families, but a favorable turn in their affairs, prevented the necessity of having recourse to that desperate expedient.
1689. WILLIAM THOMAS, an English bishop, died; author of an _Apology for the Church of England_, and other works.
1695. Namur in Belgium taken from the French after a long and bloody siege.
1725. JONATHAN WILD, the noted thief catcher, hanged at Tyburn. The evening previous he tried to poison himself, but lived to be stoned and hooted by the populace on his way to the gallows.
1744. ROGER GALE, an English antiquary, died; esteemed one of the most learned and polite scholars of the age.
1767. GODFREY SELLIUS, a Prussian historian, died.
1781. The wives, children and dependents of those inhabitants of Charleston, who resided in the rebel colonies, ordered by the British to quit the place by the 1st of August. More than 1,000 persons were thus exiled.
1782. Action between the French and Spanish fleet, 25 sail, and the Newfoundland and Quebec fleets; 18 of the latter, laden chiefly with provisions, were captured.
1784. Judge WHITE, with his family, having ascended the Mohawk river, landed at the mouth of the Sauquoit. Hence the origin of Whitestown. The country then was an unbroken wilderness.
1788. Virginia, the tenth state, adopted the federal constitution, 89 to 79, the least majority of any state except New York.
1794. CHARLES BARBAROUX, a noted French revolutionist, guillotined. He attacked the usurpations of Robespierre and the machinations of the Jacobins, by which he fell.
1794. Charleroi surrendered to the French under Jourdan, seven days after the trenches had been opened. General Reinach and 3,000 Austrians who defended the fortress, were made prisoners of war.
1795. WILLIAM SMELLIE, a Scottish naturalist, died. He was a printer by profession, wrote for the _Encyclopedia Brittannica_, translated _Buffon_, and conducted the _Edinburgh Review_ and _Magazine_.
1807. An armistice between the emperors of France and Russia, when they held a personal conference upon a raft moored in the river Niemen, near Tilsit. The sovereigns embraced each other, and retiring under a canopy, had a long conversation, to which no one was a witness.
1813. British under admiral Cockburn, with 2,000 troops, took Hampton, Va., and pillaged it for two days.
1815. BONAPARTE'S farewell address to his soldiery.
1816. HUGH HENRY BRACKENRIDGE, a Pennsylvania judge, died; known as the author of _Modern Chivalry_, a poem, and by other works.
1823. ALEXANDER GRIFFITHS, at once a parricide and suicide, was buried in the cross roads near London; the last so interred, as the act giving suicides Christian burial then took effect.
1841. ALEXANDER MACOMB, commander in chief of the army of the United States, died at Washington. He entered the service of the United States in 1799 as cornet of dragoons; was raised to the rank of brigadier general in 1814, and commanded at the successful battle of Plattsburgh.
1842. M. SISMONDI, the historian, died near Geneva, aged 69.
1844. JARVIS CUTLER, the first white man that cut down a tree for a settlement in Ohio, died at Evansville, Indiana.
1852. DUDLEY MARVIN, an eminent lawyer of western New York, died, aged 65, at Ripley, Chautauque county. He was a native of Lyme, Ct., studied at Canandaigua, and was several times returned to congress.
JUNE 26.
285 B. C. DIONYSIUS of Alexandria began his astronomical era. He was the first to find the exact limits of the solar year, which he made to consist of 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes.
44 B. C. The memorable conference between Brutus and Cassius, and Cicero at Antium.
363. JULIAN, emperor of Rome, died, aged 32. He was elected by his soldiery, on the death of Constantius, and soon declared himself a pagan. He was learned and in his private character respectable.
1276. INNOCENT V (Peter de Tarantaise), pope of Rome, died.
1541. FRANCISCO PIZARRO, the Spanish adventurer, assassinated in his own palace, at noonday, by the friends of Almagro, at the age of 63.
1569. VICTORIUS STRIGELIUS died; a learned professor at Leipsic, and one of Luther's first disciples.
1574. GABRIEL DE MONTGOMERY, a zealous protestant nobleman, beheaded at Paris by order of Catharine, who sacrificed him to her unjust revenge. (See June 29, 1559.)
1657. OLIVER CROMWELL solemnly inaugurated lord protector.
1685. RUMBOLD, the maltster who contrived the Rye house plot taken and executed at Edinburgh.
1688. RALPH CUDWORTH, a celebrated English divine, died. He was a man of extensive erudition, well skilled in the languages, an able philosopher, an acute mathematician and a profound metaphysician.
1691. JOHN FLAVEL died; an English divine, author of _Navigation and Husbandry Spiritualized_, &c.
1696. Portsmouth plain, N. H., attacked by the Indians; five houses were assaulted at once, early in the morning, and 14 persons killed on the spot. One was scalped and left for dead, but afterwards recovered.
1708. The act vacating extravagant grants of land in New York confirmed.
1719. ALEXIS PETROVITZ, only son of Peter the great of Russia, died in prison. His intemperance alienated him from his father, and he died in prison under sentence of death.
1748. Indian battle of Marlborough, Vt. Captain Hobbs with 40 men from No. 4, (Charlestown) on his march through the woods was attacked by a large body of Indians. Without the least knowledge of their force, Hobbs instantly gave them a well directed fire, which checked their impetuosity. A sharp action ensued of four hours, without either side yielding an inch of their original ground. Sacket, who led the Indians, finally ordered a retreat, carrying off the dead and wounded. Three of the English were killed, and as many wounded. This defence was considered at the time a masterpiece of bravery; the Indians being estimated four to one of the English.
1749. A conspiracy discovered at Malta against the knights; 125 slaves suffered death.
1752. GIULIO ALBERONI, a Spanish statesman, died, aged 89. He was the son of a gardener, and became a great and ambitious man.
1782. Slavery entirely abolished in Austrian Poland.
1784. CÆSAR RODNEY, president of Delaware, died, aged about 54. He voted for the declaration of independence, and was enabled to afford efficient aid to Washington in the prosecution of the war. His death is usually placed in 1783.
1793. GILBERT WHITE, an English naturalist and antiquary, died.
1794. Battle of Fleurus, in Belgium; the allies defeated by the French under Jourdan, after a contest of 15 hours. On this occasion, Coutel, an æronaut, with 2 officers, reconnoitered the contending armies in an air balloon.
1795. PETER DEMOURS died; a French surgeon and oculist, known for his dexterity, and author of some professional works.
1799. The first newspaper at Brooklyn, New York, issued.
1799. Naples surrendered to lord Nelson; on which occasion Ferdinand created him duke of Bronte. _Bronte_ was the forge of Cyclops, on which he forged the thunder of Jove. He also presented him with an estate worth $18,000 per annum, and a sword valued at 60,000 ducats.
1807. British order in council, blockading the Ems and rivers on the Baltic.
1807. Conference on the river Niemen between Bonaparte, Alexander of Russia and Frederick William of Prussia.
1810. JOSEPH MONTGOLFIER, the celebrated inventor of balloons, died.
1814. Attack of the American flotilla and marines under commodore Barney, upon two British frigates moored at St. Leonard's creek, which were compelled to retire.
1830. GEORGE IV, of England, died.
1831. Cholera made its appearance at St. Petersburg. The number of cases in the first 18 days, 4,916; deaths, 2,219.
1834. GILBERT BLANE, a distinguished Scottish physician, died, aged 85. His career was marked by a zeal for the mitigation of the evils of war and a sea life, and a diligent cultivation and exertion of solid talents.
1835. ENOCH CROSBY, the _Harvey Birch_ of Cooper's _Spy_, died. His services were of great benefit to the commander in chief during a part of the revolutionary war.
1848. JOHN J. DE GRAFF died at Schenectady; formerly a representative in congress.
1848. EDWARD B. PHILLIPS died at Brattleborough, leaving an immense fortune, which he did not know how to enjoy. He bequeathed Harvard university $100,000.
1849. Panama rail road stock ($1,000,000) subscribed, without effort, in New York city.
1849. The great crevasse in the levee of the Mississippi river was stopped.
1852. RALPH WORMLY, a British admiral, died at Utica, New York. He was retired from actual service, and had resided for some time in Boston.
1853. The czar of Russia issued a manifesto respecting the Turkish question to his own subjects, pretending to act as the champion of Christianity.
1855. JOHN J. GUION, a Mississippi jurist, died, aged 54. He held various important offices of state with ability.
JUNE 27.
432 B. C. The estival solstice of Meton, the Athenian, corresponds with this day, in the 87th Olympiad. From the time of Solon the Attic months were lunar, composed alternately of 30 and 29 days.
1137. The city of Bath in England destroyed by fire.
1299. Pope BONIFACE VIII issued an authoritative rescript, directed to Edward I, claiming the feudal sovereignty over Scotland. Edward received it in his camp, and in reply formally deduced his claim to the superiority, from _Brute the Trojan_. His holiness rejoined that the Scots cared not for Brute the Trojan, as they were derived from _Scota_, the daughter of Pharaoh, who landed in Ireland, and whose descendants became kings of Albany by conquest.
1506. FERDINAND of Arragon resigned the government of Castile, and Philip and Joanna were enthroned.
1534. The University of Oxford unanimously determined that the jurisdiction of the pope of Rome did not exceed the ministry of any other English bishop.
1627. VILLIERS, duke of Buckingham, sailed from England on his expedition against the French coast, from which he returned in disgrace, with the loss of the flower of his army.
1627. JOHN HAYWARD, an English historian, died. He wrote also biographies of some of the kings, and several religious works.
1630. FREDERICK MOREL, a learned French printer, died. Some of his predecessors had been directors of the king's printing house, and his descendants were also distinguished for their learning, and as elegant printers.
1651. "Milton's book" burnt at Toulouse by an _arrêt_ of the parliament. The famous _Defence of the People of England_, was twelve days later burnt by the common executioner, at Paris, under a judicial sentence.
1689. Dover, N. H., attacked by the Indians. The houses were garrisoned, but some squaws got permission to sleep by the fire in two of them, who gave the Indians admission in the night. Several houses were burnt, 23 persons killed, and 29 captivated.
1694. The French under Du Casse, attacked the island of Jamaica, and laid it waste.
1699. SEBASTIAN JOSEPH DE PONTCHASTEAU, a French author, died; remarkable for the singularity of his acts of devotion and charity.
1709. Battle of Pultowa in Russia, between the Russians under Peter the Great and the Swedes under Charles XII, in which the latter were totally defeated, after a desperate conflict of two hours.
1720. The _Mississippi bubble_ burst in France; amount about $450,000,000.
1724. A party of 13 Indians, called French Mohawks, attacked the house of John Hanson, a quaker, in Dover, N. H., killed and scalped two small children, and carried off his wife, three children and the nurse. The quakers could not be persuaded to use any means for their defence though equally exposed with their neighbors to an enemy who made no distinction between them.
1725. CHRISTIAN HENRY HEINECKEN, an extraordinary German boy, died. He spoke his maternal tongue fluently at ten months; at one year old he knew the principal events of the Pentateuch; in two months more he was master of the entire histories of the Old and New Testament; at two years and a half he answered the principal questions in geography, and in ancient and modern history. He spoke Latin and French, German and Low Dutch, with great facility, before the commencement of his fourth year, 1725, in which he died. His constitution was so delicate that he was not weaned till a few months before his death.
1742. NATHAN BAILEY, the English lexicographer, died. Besides his well known dictionary, he was the editor of school editions and translations of several of the ancient classic poets and historians.
1774. NICHOLAS TINDAL, an English historian, died; known as the translator of Rapin's history.
1777. WILLIAM DODD, an English divine, hanged for forgery.
1780. I. H. WASER, a Swiss ecclesiastic, executed at Zurich, for some strictures in a newspaper on the administration of justice in that city.
1785. SAMUEL MATHER, a learned New England divine, died, aged 79. He wrote the life of his father, Cotton Mather.
1788. Virginia adopted the constitution of the United States, recommending amendments; tenth state which ratified that document.
1789. Union of all the orders in the national assembly of France.
1794. SIMON NICHOLAS HENRY LINGUET, a French writer, guillotined. The freedom of his writings drove him from one country to another to escape prosecution, till he finally came under the revolutionary axe at Paris. The number of his works is thirty-five.
1794. The populace of Warsaw put eight of their principal noblemen to death as traitors to their country.
1800. WILLIAM CUMBERLAND CRUIKSHANK, an eminent Scottish anatomist, died in London, where he distinguished himself as a surgeon and medical writer.
1801. Cairo surrendered by the French to the Anglo-Turkish army; conditioned to be sent to France. The army consisted of 13,754 men, of whom 600 were Greeks and Copts, and 100 Mamelukes.
1806. The British took possession of Montevideo only to be made prisoners of war.
1817. Fort Bizoton, Port-au-Prince, blown up by its commandant, in revenge of some supposed injuries received from his superiors. He was the only one killed.