Part 60

1812. Battle of Magauga; the British and Indians under major Muir and Tecumseh, defeated by the United States troops under general Miller, and driven into Brownstown, whence they escaped to Malden in boats. American loss 10 killed, 8 wounded.

1814. Bombardment of Stonington, by the British, commenced. It continued three days. British loss 21 killed, 50 wounded; American loss 6 wounded.

1815. Commodore DECATUR settled the differences between the United States and the dey of Tripoli. The dey made restitution of property and prisoners.

1815. The British ship Northumberland, 74 guns, admiral Cockburn, sailed from Torbay with the exiled Napoleon for St. Helena.

1818. Captain Ross discovered the Esquimaux tribe of Indians, situated at the north east corner of Baffin's bay, extending on the sea shore 120 miles, and not exceeding 20 miles in breadth, and bounded on the south by an immense barrier of mountains, covered with ice. They seemed utterly ignorant of other nations to the south, whence they are supposed to be the original race. They are destitute of boats, and furnish an unique instance of a fishing tribe unacquainted with the art of floating on the water.

1824. JOSEPH NIGHTINGALE, an English dissenting minister, died. He possessed great literary talent, and published many excellent works.

1839. Pera, a suburb of Constantinople, nearly destroyed by fire; 3700 houses burnt.

1841. The steam boat Erie, on her passage from Buffalo to Chicago, took fire and was totally destroyed. Of 200 persons on board, principally Swiss and German emigrants, only 28 were saved. The boat was valued at $75,000; merchandise $20,000; specie $180,000.

1842. Treaty establishing the boundary line between the United States and Canada across the state of Maine; the British acquiring thereby a good portion of the latter state that of right belonged to the United States.

1844. Imprisonment for debt abolished in England; the act taking effect on this day.

1853. SAMUEL JONES, a New York jurist, died, aged 80.

1855. SANTA ANNA left the city of Mexico with 2600 men, under pretence of putting down the revolution at Vera Cruz; but signed an abdication at Perote, and sailed to Havana. On his departure a mob destroyed a large number of houses.

AUGUST 10.

353. MAGNENTIUS, emperor of Rome, killed. He was a German, and rose from a private soldier to the throne.

1506. The island of Madagascar discovered by the Portuguese.

1519. FERDINAND MAGELLAN sailed from Seville with 5 ships and 234 men, on his voyage of discovery, which was continued round the world.

1543. The Turks under Barbarossa and the French under count d'Enguein assaulted Nice, but were repulsed by Montford, a Savoyard gentleman, and obliged finally to raise the siege.

1557. Battle of St. Quintin; the French under Montmorency defeated by the allies under Phillibert of Savoy and the earl of Pembroke. The duke d'Enguein, 600 gentlemen and 4,000 French were killed; several dukes and many other officers of distinction, 300 gentlemen and 4,000 men were taken prisoners, and all their standards, cannon and ammunition fell into the hands of the victors.

1607. JAMES MENOCHIUS died; an Italian author of great repute in his day.

1630. Staten Island was purchased of the Indians by Michael Pauw, a Dutch subject. It was the favorite spot of the primitive settlers. The Indians sold it twice afterwards.

1633. ANTHONY MUNDAY, an English dramatic author, died.

1637. EDWARD KING, a young English poet, drowned. His death gave rise to the beautiful poem of Lycidias, by Milton, his friend.

1653. MARTIN HARPERTZOON VAN TROMP, a Dutch admiral, killed in an engagement with the English fleet off the Texel. He entered the navy at the age of 8, and rose from the lowest station to the chief command. This brave man refused all titles except that of father of the sailors. (July 31, O. S.)

1665. The French West India company, purchased of the order of Malta, the islands of St. Christopher, St. Cruz and St. Bartholomew, for 500,000 livres turnois.

1669. HENRIETTA MARIA, queen dowager to Charles I, died at St. Colombe, near Paris, in France.

1672. JOHN DE WITT, the famous pensionary of Holland, killed by a mob. "He was the zealous patron of the glory and liberty of his native country; the greatest genius of his time; the ablest politician in war as well as peace; the Atlas of the commonwealth."

1674. HUGH PAULIN CRESSY, an English divine, died. He became a catholic, was much respected, and published some valuable works, particularly an able ecclesiastical history.

1675. Corner stone for the foundation of the royal observatory was laid at Greenwich, England. The edifice was erected by Charles II, under the superintendence of sir Christopher Wren, and Flamsteed appointed astronomer-royal.

1675. PETER BALES, an early and eminent English writing master, finished a performance which contained the Lord's prayer, the creed, the decalogue, two short prayers in Latin, his own name, motto, the date, and the year of the reign of Elizabeth, within the circle of a penny, and so accurately wrought as to be plainly legible. It was enchased in a ring of gold, and presented to the queen.

1686. JOHN BAPTIST COTELERIUS, a learned Frenchman, died. He published the works of all the fathers in the apostolic age, with learned notes.

1702. Lord CUTTS carried, sword in hand, fort St. Michael, at Venlo, before any breach had been made. This was considered one of the greatest exploits during the wars of queen Anne.

1709. LEWIS ANTHONY PROSPER HERISSANT died; an eminent French poet and physician.

1723. WILLIAM DUBOIS, cardinal and prime minister of France, died. He rose from an apothecary's shop to rank, power, and immense wealth.

1749. THOMAS TOPHAM, an Englishman of remarkable strength, died. One of his feats was that of throwing his horse over the turnpike gate. He possessed the strength of six ordinary men.

1757. BENJAMIN HOADLEY, an English physician, died; distinguished by several able professional works, and a popular comedy, the _Suspicious Husband_.

1759. FERDINAND VI (_the Wise_), of Spain, died.

1760. Oswegatchie taken by the British.

1779. A destructive eruption of mount Vesuvius commenced and lasted several days. The country for several miles round was covered with lava.

1783. East India company's ship Antelope, wrecked on the coast of Oorolong, and the crew protected and aided by the king of the Pelew islands.

1790. Captain JOHN GORE, who circumnavigated the earth three times, on the third conducting home the ships after the death of Cooke and Clark, died, a captain in Greenwich hospital.

1791. WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM, captain of the British provost in Boston and New York during the revolutionary war, executed in England for forgery. He confessed to have starved more than 2,000 American prisoners in New York, by stopping their rations, which he sold; and to have hanged upwards of 270 in a private manner.

1792. The alarm bells rung in every part of the city of Paris, and the drums beat to arms, when an immense multitude attacked the palace of the Tuilleries. The Swiss guard at first repelled the populace; but the assailants redoubling their efforts, the palace was carried by storm, the apartments, the passages and courts soon streamed with blood. The king, the queen, and the royal family, fled for refuge to the national assembly. Of the besiegers 3,740 were killed, and 852 of those in the palace. The Swiss guards, who heroically defended the king, were inhumanly butchered by the _Marsellois_.

1792. LOUIS BOUGAINVILLE, the French navigator, massacred at Paris. His discoveries were of importance to the French, but neither his services nor his virtues could shield him against the fury of the mob.

1793. Destruction of the tombs of the kings of France, at St. Denis, by order of the national convention. The body of marshal Turenne, deposited there 1675, was found apparently as fresh as ever.

1794. Calvi, in Corsica, surrendered to the British, lord Hood, with the whole of his army, after a siege of 51 days.

1796. Battle of Bassano, in Italy; Bonaparte defeated the Austrians under Wurmzer, took 5,000 prisoners, 25 cannon, &c.

1802. The sea at Teignmouth and coast of Devonshire, England, rose and fell several times two feet in _ten minutes_.

1812. The Russians under WITGENSTEIN attacked the French under Oudinot near Klaistitzy. The action continued into the following day, when the French were defeated with the loss of 5,000 killed, 3,000 prisoners, 2 cannon, and all their ammunition wagons.

1813. Partial action in the night, on lake Ontario, between the United States commodore Chauncy, and British commodore Yeo. The latter succeeded in capturing schooners Julia, 3 guns, and Growler, 5 guns.

1814. WILLIAM COWDROY, proprietor, editor and printer of the _Manchester Gazette_, died. Some of his best editorials were set in type without writing.

1821. Missouri became one of the members of the United States confederacy.

1821. The remains of the ill-fated Maj. Andre disinterred and taken to England.

1838. A papal decree issued at Rome by the congregation of the supreme inquisition, forbidding the introduction of infant schools into the pontifical states.

1843. ROBERT ADRIAN, a skillful mathematician, and for some time professor in Columbia college, N. Y., died in his 68th year.

1851. M. DAGUERRE, the inventor of the daguerreotype, died near Paris, aged 63. His peculiar process was published by him in the autumn of 1839, and the French government awarded him a pension of 6,000 francs for his discovery.

1854. FREDERICK AUGUSTUS, king of Saxony, died at Munich, aged 57. His carriage was overturned as he rode into the city, and he was killed by a kick from one of the horses.

1854. A fire destroyed 180 houses at Varna, in Turkey, and destroyed vast quantities of stores belonging to the allies.

1854. A violent tornado swept along the track of the Cleveland and Pittsburg rail road, between Bedford and Macedonia, covering the track with large uprooted trees, and causing great obstruction to the trains upon the road.

1855. Delegates met at the city of Mexico, and chose general Carrera president for six months, and ordained the freedom of the press.

1856. Last island, a summer resort in the gulph of Mexico, was destroyed by a terrible storm of three days' duration. The island was entirely submerged, the houses swallowed up, and 173 persons lost.

1856. JAMES MURDOCK, an eminent American linguist and theologian, died, aged 80. He studied under president Dwight in 1802, and after preaching sometime became a teacher, and finally an author and translator.

AUGUST 11.

50. The first of the month Thoth, in the movable Egyptian year, corresponded, as Pliny intimates, with this Julian day (798 of the era of Narbonasser); and with the 30th July, A. D. 97 (845 era Narb.), in the Greek month Metagitnion, as we collect from Plutarch.

1332. Battle of Gladsmuir, near St. Johnstown, in which David of Scotland was defeated by Baliol.

1454. NICHOLAS DE CUSA, an Italian cardinal, died. He rose from extreme indigence and obscurity by his own merit, to great dignity and fame. His talents and learning were extraordinary; for besides his profound knowledge of law and divinity, he was distinguished as a natural philosopher and geometrician.

1576. MARTIN FROBISHER entered the strait bearing his name.

1607. A party of English under George Popham landed at the mouth of the Sagadahock or Kennebec river. It consisted of 100 men, with ordinance and all provisions necessary until they might receive farther supplies. Only 45 remained, who built a store house on Parker's island, and fortified it.

1642. JOHANNES MEGAPOLENSIS, the first minister at Albany, arrived from Holland to take charge of his church.

1654. VIRGILIO MALVEZZI, an Italian author, died. He quitted the law to enter the Spanish service, at arms, and wrote in both languages.

1673. Sanguinary engagement off the Texel between the combined English and French fleets under Rupert and d'Estrees, and the Dutch under De Ruyter and Cornelius Tromp. Both sides claimed the victory. Admiral Sprague was drowned, his boat being sunk by a cannon shot.

1693. The Indians of New Hampshire sued for peace, after a long and bloody warfare with the English colonists, incited by the French.

1718. Action off the coast of Sicily, between the British fleet, admiral Byng, and the Spanish fleet, under Castanats; the latter lost 21 ships, captured and sunk.

1744. SARAH, duchess of Marlborough, bequeathed to William Pitt £10,000, "upon account of his merit in the noble defence he had made for the support of the laws of England, and to prevent the ruin of his country."

1766. ANN SOWERBY was burnt at York, England, for poisoning her husband; one of the last relics of this mode of capital punishment.

1768. PETER COLLINSON died; an eminent English botanist and natural historian.

1772. A _charged cloud_ at Java destroyed 2,000 persons.

1778. AUGUSTUS MONTAGUE TOPLADY died; an eminent English Calvinistic divine and theological writer.

1781. The British took into New York the American frigate Trumbull. Congress had then but two frigates left.

1782. British evacuated Savannah.

1787. First bishop appointed for Nova Scotia. First bishops in England, 694; Denmark, 939; form of consecrating bishops in England ordained, 1549; the office abolished by parliament, 1646; restored, 1660; first episcopal bishop in America, 1784; first catholic, 1789.

1794. Battle of Wilna; the Poles defeated by the Russians, and the town taken by assault.

1809. Battle near Almonacid; the Spaniards defeated by the French under Joseph Bonaparte, and compelled to retreat, after nine hours' hard fighting.

1810. Severe earthquake at St. Michaels, one of the Azores, which continued two days; 22 houses swallowed up.

1813. HENRY JAMES PYE, an English poet, died. Having ruined his fortune, he was gratified with the office of poet laureate, and left many poems, original and translated.

1818. NIKOLAI I. NOVIKOV, sometimes called the Franklin of Russia, died, aged 74. Certain it is that by his activity and taste he contributed not a little to the improvement of Russian literature.

1822. SAMUEL AUCHMUTY, commander-in-chief of the British forces in Ireland, died. He was a native of New York, who took the side of the British in the revolutionary contest, and held various honorable and lucrative stations under the British government.

1831. Barbadoes destroyed by a hurricane. It commenced at 3 P. M., and continued two hours; 5,000 persons perished; the houses were mostly destroyed, and the face of the country changed to a desert; neither trees nor vegetables were left standing.

1834. The Ursuline convent at Charlestown, Mass., destroyed by a protestant mob. The house was occupied by females, who were driven to seek shelter where they could find it, in the midst of night, while their valuables to a large amount were plundered.

1849. General GÖRGEY, to whom the Hungarian diet had confided its powers, surrendered his army to the Russian general, Rudiger, at Vilagos, and the conquest of Hungary was consumated.

1849. A proclamation was issued by the president of the United States, warning all citizens against connecting themselves with an armed expedition believed to be fitting out with the intention to invade the island of Cuba, or some of the provinces of Mexico.

1853. JOHN DOWNES, an American commodore, died at Charlestown, Mass., aged 69. He entered the navy in 1802, was in active service during the war of 1812, and commanded the Potomac, which bombarded the piratical town of Quallah Battoo, in reprisal for injuries done American sailors by the Malay pirates.

1853. Great heat from this day to the 14th throughout the United States, and Canada; the thermometer everywhere ranging at about 100° Fahrenheit; 200 deaths in New York on the last of these days, and the total deaths of the four days from that cause exceeded 400.

1855. SAMUEL J. PETERS died at New Orleans, aged 54. He held various offices, and the city owed much of its prosperity to his energy and enterprise.

AUGUST 12.

403 B. C. Act of amnesty, which restored the Athenian democracy, between Thrasybulus and the decemvirate, in the archonship of Euclides, 12th of Boedromion--the year when Thucydides returned from exile.

243 B. C. Liberation of Corinth, by Aratus, in his 2d prætorship.

1099. Battle of Ascalon; the Saracens under the sultan of Egypt defeated by Godfrey de Bouillon, and totally overthrown.

1204. BONIFACE, marquis of Montferrat, disposed of the isle of Candia, with the ruins of a hundred cities, to the Venitians, for 10,000 marks.

1241. GREGORY IX, pope, died. He incited the European powers to undertake a crusade, which was joined by Frederick of Germany, who had been twice excommunicated.

1332. Battle of Duplin moor; Edward Baliol defeated the Scots with terrible slaughter. Donald, earl of Mar, the new regent, fell with the host.

1417. HENRY V, by a letter to his chancellor, dated Tonques, in Normandy, gave directions for the sealing annuities of £6 13s. 4d. each, to seventeen masters of the "grete shippes, carracks, barges and balyngers," belonging to the royal navy.

1560. THOMAS PHAER, an English physician, died. He published various medical works, chiefly compiled from the French, and translated a part of the _Æneid_.

1577. THOMAS SMITH died; a learned English statesman, historian, and critic, and secretary of state under Edward VI, and Elizabeth.

1606. HENRY CHALLONS sailed in a ship of 50 tons to make farther discoveries on the coast of North Virginia, and if it should appear expedient to leave as many men as he could spare in the country. He was fitted out by lord chief-justice Popham, sir Ferdinando Gorges and others of the Plymouth company.

1652. Cardinal MAZARINE exiled the second time from France.

1652. An act of the protectorate for the _settlement of Ireland_.

1662. CHARLES SEYMOUR, "the proud duke of Somerset," died. He was in office under several successive sovereigns.

1676. King PHILIP (or _Metacom_), killed at Mount Hope, in Rhode Island, whither he had been driven by the English, as a last refuge. One of his confederates proposing peace, so irritated Philip that he killed him. A brother of the murdered Indian repaired to the English camp, and offered to lead them to Philip's retreat. Captain Church set out with a small body of men, accompanied by a few friendly Indians, and attacked the chief in his den. He formed his men in extended order, placing an Englishman and an indian together, with orders to fire on any who should attempt to escape. At the dawn of day the sentinels alarmed the camp, when Philip seized his arms and attempted to escape; as he approached two of Church's guards, the Englishman leveled his gun, which missed fire; the Indian sent two balls through his body, one of which piercing his heart, laid him dead upon the spot. When the battle was over, the English repaired to the place where he lay. He had fallen on his face in a muddy spot of the ground, from which he was drawn; the head was taken off and the body left to be devoured by wild beasts. Thus fell a powerful chief, and a ferocious savage. It was then hailed with joy as the extinction of a virulent and implacable enemy; but is now often viewed as the fall of a great statesman and a mighty prince, who died in defence of his just rights. This was a war of extermination; it was a general rising of the Indians, under a powerful and sagacious warrior, against the English, not a vestige of whom would have been left had they been victorious. As it was, several of the tribes were annihilated; a miserable remnant of the others incorporated themselves with distant and strange nations. In this short but tremendous war, about 600 of the white inhabitants, composing its principal strength, were either killed in battle or murdered; 12 towns entirely destroyed, and 600 dwellings burnt. The English triumphed, indeed, but the ravages of the enemy left them in a deplorable condition.

1689. INNOCENT XI (_Benedict Odescalchi_), pope, died. He effected several important and useful measures and reformations during his reign.

1712. The first stamp on English newspapers used this day.

1715. NAHUM TATE, an English dramatic writer and poet, died. He succeeded Shadwell as poet laureate, and assisted in a version of the _Psalms_.

1724. Battle of Norridgewock, in New Hampshire, and death of Ralle. He was a Jesuit, and a principal agent in instigating the Indians against the English colonies; had resided at this place twenty-six years, and become thoroughly acquainted with the country. An expedition was fitted out to destroy his den. The place was attacked by 240 men, and carried. Ralle was found in his cabin firing upon the English; orders had been given to take him alive, if possible; but refusing to ask quarter he was shot down. Eighty were killed, among which were some of the most noted warriors of the tribe, and the remnant scattered. Ralle was a man of extensive learning, and of great service to the French; he wrote a dictionary of the Norridgewock language, which was taken, and is deposited in Harvard library. He was sent out as a missionary, had acquired the languages of nearly all the tribes in America, and spent thirty-seven years among them.

1728. WILLIAM SHERARD (_Sherwood_), an eminent English botanist and antiquarian, died. He spent the greater part of his life, abroad, in the pursuit of his favorite studies, and founded a professorship of botany at Oxford.

1759. Battle of Kunersdorf; the Prussians under Frederick II defeated with great loss by the Russians and Austrians. The allies by their own confession lost 24,000 men, says Gillies (Smollet says 10,000); the Prussians fought desperately and left 20,000 dead on the field, among whom were several generals. The king had two horses killed under him, and his clothes perforated by several balls. He lost his whole train of artillery.

1759. EWALD CHRISTIAN DE KLEIST, a Prussian general and poet, killed at the battle of Kunersdorf.

1765. The great mogul constituted the East India company receivers of all the revenues of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa.

1778. The French fleet under count d'Estaing dispersed in a gale off Rhode Island, and much damaged.

1778. ROBERT GOADBY died; an English printer and bookseller, and author of several useful publications.

1801. THOMAS HASTINGS, author of the _Wars of Westminster_, and other political papers, died. He was an itinerant bookseller.

1803. Agra taken by the British under the duke of Wellington. Among the trophies was an immense gun, 25 feet long, said to have carried shot into the camp of the British, though out of the range of all ordinary weapons, also a howitzer 14 feet long and 22 inches calibre, throwing a shot of 1,494 lbs.

1805. Capt. LEWIS arrived at the head of the Missouri river, and having crossed the mountain this day struck the waters of the Columbia, in the Shoshone country, which he named Lewis's river.

1806. Spaniards recaptured Buenos Ayres, and made the British troops there prisoners.

1811. MIRANDA reduced New Valentia, in South America.

1812. Lord WELLINGTON entered Madrid, Joseph Bonaparte having evacuated it the day before.

1812. Sanguinary battle on the heights, near Kobrine, between the allied French, Austrian and Saxon army, under Schwartzenberg, and the Russians under Tormozoff. The latter retired with the loss of 4,000; loss of the allies 5,000. Many officers of rank were wounded on both sides.

1813. SAMUEL OSGOOD, an officer of the revolution, and for a time postmaster-general, died, aged 65. He published several works of a religious character.

1814. LODOWICK MORGAN, major 1st U. S. rifle regiment, killed, with 10 of his men, in an attack on the British near fort Erie.