Part 58

1813. Defence of fort Stephenson by 160 men with 1 six pounder, under Col. Croghan, then aged 21. The British, consisting of 500 regulars under Proctor, and about 800 Indians under Tecumseh, with 5 six pounders and 1 howitzer, were defeated with considerable loss.

1814. The remarkable steeple of Kelwinning, in Scotland, fell. It was built in 1140.

1815. Convention between the representatives of Great Britain, Prussia, Austria and Russia, who declared Bonaparte to be the prisoner of the allies, and entrusted his custody especially to Great Britain.

1830. CHARLES X, of France, subscribed his abdication in favor of his grandson the young duke of Bordeaux.

1842. JOHN CLIFFORD, a lieutenant in the revolutionary army, died at Bethlehem, Hunterdon co., N. J., aged 94.

1843. FRANCIS W. P. GREENWOOD, pastor of King's chapel, Boston, died at Dorchester, Mass., aged 50. He was also an accomplished scholar and naturalist.

1843. JAMES RICHARDS, professor of theology in the Auburn theological seminary, died, aged 75; an eminently useful man.

1849. MEHEMET ALI, pacha of Egypt, died at Alexandria, aged 80. He was a powerful sovereign, and gave the sultan much trouble. He did more than any of his predecessors towards introducing improvements into his territories.

1849. GARIBALDI, the Roman chief, escaped on board some fishing vessels at Cesenatico, on the Adriatic, accompanied by 300 followers. The remainder of his band surrendered to the Austrians.

1849. STEPHEN LONGFELLOW, a New England lawyer of note, died at Portland, Me., aged 73. He was a member of the Hartford convention from Massachusetts, and distinguished for great acuteness and penetration. He compiled 16 volumes of the _Massachusetts Reports_, and 12 of the _Maine_, extending over a period of thirty years.

1852. THOMAS THOMSON, a Scottish author, died, aged 60. He was professor of chemistry in the university of Glasgow, and established a highly scientific reputation. In 1812 he began the _Annals of Philosophy_, in London, which he conducted ten years.

1852. A violent earthquake occurred at St. Jago de Cuba, causing a great destruction of property.

AUGUST 3.

479 B. C. The fatal battle of Platea, between Mardonius the Persian and Pausanius the Spartan general. The other sanguinary victory over the Persians, on the promontory of Mycale was achieved the same day, third of Boedromion.

431 B. C. An eclipse of the sun noticed by Thucydides, eight days after the first invasion of Attica under Archidamus, king of Sparta, at the head of 60,000 Peloponesian confederates, and whilst Pericles was in the act of embarking against Epidaurus, the sacred city.

678. A morning comet, shaped like a fiery pillar, seen in England. It was visible during three months, and caused the conversion of the South Saxons from paganism.

1274. EDWARD I landed in England from Palestine. He sailed from his winter mansion, Trepano, Sicily, on the 20th April, 1271.

1414. JAMES I of Scotland conveyed from the tower to Windsor; there this bird of song was _wired in_ for three years.

1460. JAMES II (_with the fiery face_), king of Scotland, killed by the bursting of a gun, aged 29, after a reign of 24 years.

1492. COLUMBUS embarked in the carack Santa Maria, with two other vessels and 120 persons, from the Isle of Saltes, against Palos, in Andalusia, to find a western continent.

1546. STEPHEN DOLET, a learned Frenchman, a painter and a bookseller, burnt at Lyons for atheism.

1554. The first letter in Europe known to have been sealed with sealing wax bears this date, and was written at London, addressed to the rheingrave Philip Francis von Daun, from his agent in England, Gerhard Hermann. The wax employed in sealing this letter is of a dark red color, very shining, and the impress bears the initials of the writer.

1554. Battle of Marciano; the troops of Cosmo de Medici, under Medicini, defeated the French under Peter Strozzi, a Florentine nobleman, who was wounded.

1592. The English earl of Cumberland captured a Spanish carack, Madre de Dios (Mother of God), valued at $150,000.

1612. JOHN BOND, a learned English commentator on the Latin classics, died.

1645. Battle of Nordlingen; the allies under Merci, defeated by the French under Turenne, Conde and Grammont. Merci was killed and Grammont taken prisoner.

1672. JOHN FRANCIS SENAUDT, a Dutch theological writer, died.

1692. Battle of Steenkerken; the English under William III defeated with great slaughter by the French.

1712. JOSHUA BARNES died; an eminent English critic and professor of Greek. He wrote the _Life of Edward III_, and several Latin and English poems.

1715. A cobbler of Highgate, London, was whipped from Holloway to that place for reflecting on the government.

1720. N. HEINSIUS, an eminent Dutch statesman, died. He was 30 years grand pensionary of Holland, and exerted the energy of his mind and the resources of his country to abridge the power of the French monarch.

1721. GRINLIN GIBBON died, an eminent English sculptor and carver in ivory and wood. The place or country of his birth is not known. He was discovered by sir John Evelyn, who walking by accident near a poor solitary thatched cottage, had the curiosity to look in at the window, when he saw him carving a large cartoon or crucifix of Tintoret, a copy of which Evelyn himself had brought from Venice. His performances in marble and ivory were so very fine, that they often required to be defended by a glass case. Many of his flower pieces are light almost as fancy, and shake to the rattling of passing carriages. There is no instance before him, says Walpole, of a man who gave to wood the loose and airy lightness of flowers, and chained together the various productions of the elements with the free disorder natural to each species.

1732. The first stone laid of the bank of England.

1761. JOHN MATTHEW GESNER, a German scholar and critic, died. He published several valuable editions of the classics.

1763. THOMAS GODFREY, an American poet, died, aged 27. He was a watchmaker, and said to have been the real inventor of Hadley's quadrant.

1768. THOMAS SECKER, archbishop of Canterbury, died; whose lectures and sermons are masterly compositions.

1777. Fort Schuyler, at the head of the Mohawk river, invested by the British, about 1,800, under St. Leger. The garrison consisted of 600 continentals under general Gansevoort, who maintained their position till the British abandoned the siege and returned to Canada, leaving their tents standing; their artillery, and ammunition and provisions fell into the hands of the Americans.

1780. STEPHEN BONNOT DE CONDILLAC, a distinguished French philosopher, died. His works are characterized by great clearness and sagacity, and were published in 1798 in 35 volumes.

1783. A new eruption of the Skaptar Jokul, in Iceland, poured forth fresh floods of lava, which taking different directions from the others, filled the bed of a river, and formed a large lake. By this single eruption, 9,000 persons lost their lives, being nearly one-fifth of the whole population of the island. This volcano, which commenced on the 11th June, continued for two years, and the lava was not cooled in some places, when visited eleven years after.

1787. JOHN BAYNES, an English politician, died, aged 29. He was distinguished for his early attainments and devotion to the cause of liberty.

1788. LOUIS FRANCOIS ARMAND DU PLESSIS DE RICHELIEU, marechal of France, died, aged 93. He had the courage, the fortune and the talents of a great general, the sagacity, prudence and penetration of a great statesman; but with these and many amiable qualities he chose to be nothing but a common courtier.

1792. RICHARD ARKWRIGHT died; inventor of the spinning jenny, one of the most useful machines in the world. He was originally a barber, but his invention enabled him at his death to leave a property worth £500,000.

1797. JEFFREY AMHERST, a celebrated English admiral, died. He assisted in the conquest of Canada.

1802. HENRY, prince of Prussia, died. He distinguished himself at the head of several Prussian armies, and in time of peace was engaged in literary pursuits. On the death of his elder brother, he was excluded from the throne by his nephew, and resided in France.

1804. The United States squadron under Com. Preble, attacked the shipping and batteries of Tripoli. During the action the Constitution was much injured; 13 were wounded and 1 killed; 3 of the enemy's boats were captured and 3 sunk.

1805. CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY, an ingenious English poet, died.

1806. MIRANDA, having received a reinforcement from the British, landed in the gulf of Paria, for the purpose of effecting a revolution.

1806. MICHAEL ADANSON, an eminent French naturalist, died, leaving an immense mass of manuscripts which he had collected with the view of publishing an encyclopedia. He passed several years in Africa making collections in natural history.

1812. Privateer schooner Atlas, of Philadelphia, captured in one hour British ships Pursuit, 16 guns, and Planter, 12 guns. The latter was recaptured.

1814. Fort Erie invested by the British, upwards of 5,000.

1814. 1,200 British crossed the Niagara, to attack Buffalo, but were repulsed by 250 riflemen under Morgan, and compelled to recross.

1814. Great disturbances in Spain, many members of the cortes arrested by order of the king.

1819. Barrow's straits rediscovered by Capt. Parry. He penetrated to Melville island. The lowest state of the thermometer was 55° below zero, Fahrenheit.

1823. LAZARE NICHOLAS MARGUERITE CARNOT, a distinguished French general, died. He possessed an uncommon talent for the mathematical and military sciences, and pursued a uniform and correct course in his politics, which enabled him to ride out the storm of the revolution, and the subsequent changes.

1848. Women's rights convention assembled at Rochester; demanded the rights of suffrage, property, preaching, teaching, &c., &c.

1849. AARON K. WOOLEY, a Kentucky judge, died at Lexington, aged 49. He was a native of New Jersey, graduated at West Point, and studied law in Mississippi. He was some time state senator of Fayette county, Ky., and at the time of his death had been ten years professor of law in Transylvania university.

1849. General OUDINOT surrendered the civil administration of the Papal states into the hands of the pope's three commissioners, who entered on the work of _reaction_.

1850. JACOB JONES, an American commodore, died at Philadelphia, aged 82. He stood nearly at the head of the list of post captains, two names only taking precedence. Capt. Jones, we believe, was a native of Delaware. He is one of the number who, in the war of 1812, contributed to establish the naval renown of our country. He fought in the Wasp one of the bloodiest naval battles in our history, and captured in 45 minutes the British brig-of-war Frolic of superior force, and under circumstances highly unfavorable to success. For this action the states of Delaware, Massachusetts and New York, each voted him a sword in commemoration of his gallantry, which was in no wise impaired by the subsequent capture of both the Wasp and the Frolic, when in a crippled condition, by a British 74. He was afterwards appointed to the Macedonian. Temperate himself, he deserves honorable mention as a promoter of temperance among his crew; many seamen were reclaimed by him.

1851. The steamer Pampero, with about 500 troops, composing the expedition against Cuba under general Lopez, left New Orleans at daybreak.

1854. Colonel LORING, a receiver of public moneys at Benicia, Cal., was murdered at the St. Nicholas hotel, New York, by Dr. Graham, of New Orleans.

1856. EDWARD CURTIS, a prominent New York lawyer and politician, died. He was a native of Vermont, was graduated at Union college, and began his political career in 1834 in the New York common council. He was collector of the port under president Harrison.

1857. EUGENE SUE, a celebrated French novelist, died, aged 49. _The Mysteries of Paris_ and _The Wandering Jew_, are known in all Europe and America.

AUGUST 4.

57 B. C. The decree recalling CICERO from banishment, which passed the full senate, consisting of 417 members, was ratified in the field of Mars, by a vote of all the centuries; it was nearly the last genuine public act of Roman liberty.

882. LOUIS III, of France, died. He shared the throne with his brother Carloman, and ably defended himself against his enemies.

1060. HENRY I, of France, died in consequence of taking an improper medicine; highly respected as a good warrior and a benevolent man.

1265. Battle of Evesham; the earl of Leicester defeated and killed by the forces under prince Edward, and the king released from confinement. No quarter was given, and the aged king only received his life by an unwonted energy of mind; exclaiming to his antagonist, "Hold, fellow, I am Harry of Winchester."

1347. The conquest of Calais by the third Edward, after a siege of 11 months, when the six citizens, with halters round their necks, surrendered the keys of their independence. The condemned lives of these men, whose patriotism has scarcely ever been equaled, were spared through the tears and intercessions of Philippa. The inhabitants were removed and the city repeopled with English, in whose possession it remained more than two centuries. The pay of the army was as follows: the marines and archers on foot received 3d.; the black prince £1; and the bishop of Durham, with the earls, 6s. 8d. per day.

1496. BARTHOLOMEW COLUMBUS, the admiral's brother, laid the foundation of St. Domingo.

1578. Battle of the three kings, in the west of Africa, which was invaded by Sebastian of Portugal, in which the Moors were victorious, but the three kings engaged in it lost their lives.

1583. Sir HUMPHREY GILBERT landed at St. Johns, Newfoundland, and took possession of it in the name of the queen of England.

1598. WILLIAM CECIL, lord Burley, died. He was an eminent English statesman, memorable for his virtue and integrity, as well as his great abilities.

1609. HUDSON discovered cape Cod, and under the supposition that it was an island, called it New Holland, in compliment to the country of his employers. The Dutch afterwards called it Staaten hoek. The Indians here were observed to have green tobacco, and pipes with clay bowls and copper stems.

1612. HUGH BROUGHTON, an eminent Hebrew scholar, died. So classical was his Hebrew that a Jew predicted the turning of the whole Jewish race if the New Testament would be printed in such pure Hebrew.

1633. GEORGE ABBOT, archbishop of Canterbury, died, aged 71. He rose from humble circumstances to great dignity.

1651. Stirling castle and town taken by Monk for Cromwell.

1666. A disastrous hurricane in the West Indies. Lord Francis Willoughby perished with his fleet of 15 sail. The poor fellows who escaped the wreck, were seized with exultation by the French.

1696. General FRONTENAC invaded the Onondaga country.

1713. WILLIAM CAVE, an eminent English scholar and divine, died. He published a great number of useful works.

1723. WILLIAM FLEETWOOD, an English bishop, died. "His character was great in every respect."

1747. MICHAEL MAITTAIRE, a learned French critic and bibliographer, died. He edited many of the classical authors, with useful indexes, and wrote several important works.

1759. Crown point on lake Champlain, taken from the French by Gen. Amherst.

1774. CHRISTOPHER COUDRETTE, a French ecclesiastic, died. His chief work was a history of the Jesuits; he was an opposer of that order, and of the pope's bull, unigenitus.

1781. ISAAC HAYNE, a patriot of the revolution, hanged at Charleston by order of the British lord Rawdon, an act, under the circumstances, extremely unjust and merciless, and which his lordship attempted to justify in a pamphlet.

1783. Captain JOHN DARBY, of the Astrea, arrived at Salem with the news of the ratification of the treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain. He is said to have carried out the accounts of the first conflict at Lexington.

1789. Privileged classes abolished in France.

1792. JOHN BURGOYNE, a British general, died. He surrendered his whole army to general Gates at Saratoga, and returned to England. He was a member of parliament, and a successful dramatic author. (June 4, P. Cyc.)

1799. JOHN BACON, an English sculptor, died. He was apprenticed to a porcelain manufacturer, in which condition he devoted his leisure to statuary, and finally rose to great eminence in his profession.

1804. ADAM DUNCAN, a gallant English admiral, died; celebrated for the victory he gained over the Dutch fleet at Camperdown, for which he was rewarded with a peerage.

1806. MIRANDA arrived at Coro an hour before day; the place was abandoned, and through mistake his troops fired on each other.

1808. French assaulted Saragossa in Spain, and penetrated into a part of the town.

1808. The commencement of Wellington's famous retreat into Portugal.

1814. United States troops under Col. Croghan attacked the British and Indians at fort Mackinaw, but were repulsed with the loss of 50 killed.

1815. BONAPARTE delivered a written protest for the prince regent of England, against being sent to St. Helena.

1821. WILLIAM FLOYD, one of the signers of the declaration of independence, died at Western, New York.

1835. The Spanish ministry having suppressed the Jesuits and confiscated their property, a royal decree to this effect was signed. By this decree 900 convents were suppressed in Spain, and their property applied towards the payment of the debts of the state.

1836. The famous bell of Moscow, the largest in the world, raised from the ground, where it had laid a great many years. Its weight is about 440,000 pounds, is 21 feet in height and 23 in diameter.

1842. JOHN BANIN, a popular Irish novelist, died near Kilkenny, Ireland.

1846. FISHER AMES HARDING, one of the editors of the _Detroit Daily Advertiser_, died at Detroit.

1848. DANIEL WADSWORTH, a gentleman of highly cultivated taste and benevolence, died at Hartford, Ct., aged 77.

1848. Capital punishment except in cases of martial law, abolished in the Prussian assembly, also in the German parliament at Frankfort.

1851. At Leon, Nicaragua, Gen. Munoz, late minister of war, with a small body of troops, took prisoners president Pineda and most of his cabinet, sent them to a port in Tigre islands, and elected Justo Albuanez president.

1852. ALFRED D'ORSAY, the mirror of fashion, letters and art, died in Paris, aged 54.

1854. A severe battle was fought between the Chippewa and Sioux Indians.

1854. BAILEY WASHINGTON, a surgeon in the navy, died at Washington, aged 67. He was a relative of general Washington, and entered the navy in 1810 as surgeon. He was with the Enterprise when she captured the Boxer, and was fleet surgeon under Rogers, Elliot and Patterson, in the Mediterranean.

1854. JOSE BARUNDIA, minister from Honduras, died at New York, aged 70. He was elected to the presidency of the confederation of Central America, when he adopted many of the laws of the United States, and devoted his salary to the promotion of public schools. He was the prime mover of the liberal party, and the first to raise the standard of rebellion against the Spanish government.

1857. JOSHUA FORMAN, founder of the city of Syracuse in New York, died in Rutherfordton, N. C., aged 71. He was one of the early promoters of the Erie canal, and first judge of the county of Onondaga, from which he removed about twenty years before his death.

AUGUST 5.

57 B. C. CICERO landed from Durazzo at Brundusium, and was met there by his excellent daughter Tullia, on the 20th anniversary of her birthday.

1100. Inauguration of Henry I, of England, who instantly granted a charter to the nation, restoring the laws of Edward _the Confessor_ to the same state in which they had been settled by _the Conqueror_; and drove from his court the _effœminati_ with their enormous and disgusting train.

1391. CHARLES VI, of France, surnamed the _Well-beloved_, seized by a mental distemper, which, as it deprived him of the sovereign authority, afterwards led, in bad hands to the ruin of his kingdom.

1407. ROBERT KNOLLES, so famed in the French wars of Edward III, died at Scenethorp, Norfolk, but was buried at White Friars church, London, which he had built.

1501. REGINALD BRAY, an English architect, died. He was also a distinguished warrior and statesman, and in the latter capacity acquired the title of "the father of his country."

1604. By royal proclamation this 5th day of August was appointed a holiday in celebration of king James's delivery from the conspiracy of the Gowries.

1633. GEORGE ABBOT, archbishop of Canterbury, died. He assisted in the translation of the _Bible_, being one of the eight divines to whom it was committed.

1704. Sanguinary battle at Hochstädt, in which the French, &c., were defeated by the confederates under Marlborough.

1717. Battle of Peterwaradein; the Turks defeated by the Austrians under prince Eugene, with great loss. (1716?)

1754. JAMES GIBBS, an ingenious English architect, died; leaving a handsome property to public charities.

1759. Leipsic taken by the Austrians.

1778. The British burnt and destroyed their fleet off Rhode island on the appearance of the French fleet under count d'Estaing.

1781. Action off the Dogger bank, between the British fleet, 6 ships, 4 frigates and a cutter, under admiral Parker, and the Dutch, 8 ships, 10 frigates and 5 sloops, under admiral Zoutman. Both fleets were greatly damaged; the Dutch retired to the Texel; the British did not follow them.

1792. LAFAYETTE accused of treason before the national assembly. He had previously been burnt in effigy in the Palais royal by the Jacobins.

1792. FREDERIC NORTH, earl of Guildford, better known as _Lord North_, died, aged 60. As adviser to George III in the American war, he became and continued to his death unpopular.

1796. Battle of Castiglione, between the French under Bonaparte and the imperialists under Wurmzer. The latter were defeated, with the loss of 500 killed, 2,000 captured, and 8 cannon.

1799. RICHARD HOWE, a celebrated English admiral, died. He entered the navy at the age of 14; rose through the usual gradations to the highest rank, distinguished himself on many occasions, and died at the age of 75.

1812. Battle of Brownstown; the British regulars and Indians attacked the United States troops, 150 men, under Van Horne.

1813. American privateer Decatur, 13 guns, captured British schooner Dominica, 16 guns, by boarding.

1814. Division of the Scheldt fleet, in virtue of the treaty of Paris, between France and the allies.

1815. Massacre of the protestants at Nismes, in France; these enormities continued nine days.

1816. First state election held in Indiana.

1833. GEORGE GIBBS died near New York. He was a practical mineralogist, and the collector of the extensive cabinet of minerals in Yale college.

1835. THOMAS MCCRIE, a Scottish divine and ecclesiastical antiquary, died. He was distinguished for his patient research, candor and ability as a historian, and produced several works which have a high reputation.

1835. G. S. NEWTON, an eminent painter, died in England. He was a native of Halifax, N. S., became distinguished in his profession, and produced a number of works which are highly esteemed.

1839. The city of Cabul, Afghanistan, taken by the British, and the war in that country brought to an end.

1840. The city and island of Chusan, belonging to China, captured after a short resistance, by the British under brigadier general Burrell. The Chinese lost 25 killed; the British none.