Part 87

1812. Battle of Autosse, between 950 Georgia militia and about 400 friendly Indians and a body of Creek Indians. The Creeks were defeated with the loss of 200 killed, among whom was the Autosse and Talisse kings.

1813. GIAMBATTISTA BODONI, a celebrated Italian printer, died. He was placed at the head of an establishment at Parma, in 1766, which he made the first of the kind in Europe, and gained the reputation of having surpassed all the splendid and beautiful productions of his predecessors in the art.

1814. The first newspaper printed by steam power. This was the _Times_, of London. The machine was the invention of a Saxon by the name of König, and printed at the rate of 1100 papers per hour.

1830. Revolt of Poland commenced at Warsaw, in consequence of the severe and insulting conduct of the grand duke Constantine. The insurrection extended quickly through the country, and into Lithuania and other parts of ancient Poland.

1842. EDMUND HAWLEY died at Hawley, Mass., aged 96. He erected the first frame house in that town (then called No. 7), was a soldier of the revolution, and a justice of the peace for more than 50 years.

1847. The presbyterian mission station of Wallah Wallah valley, in Oregon, assaulted by Indians and several of the missionaries slain.

NOVEMBER 30.

406 B. C. EURIPIDES, the Greek tragic poet, died at Barmiscus, in Macedonia. He wrote 92 tragedies which were greatly esteemed, but of which only 19 are extant.

69. ANDREW, one of the apostles, suffered martyrdom at Patræ in Achaia, upon the cross. He is the patron saint of Scotland.

1016. EDMUND II (_Ironside_), king of England, assassinated.

1093. MALCOLM III, king of Scots, who was the son of the gracious Duncan immortalized by Shakspeare in Macbeth, was slain in his 70th year.

1292. JOHN BALIOL crowned king of Scotland at Scone, after swearing fealty to the king of England.

1603. WILLIAM GILBERT, a learned English physician, died. He discovered some of the properties of the loadstone.

1654. JOHN SELDEN died; an English antiquary, historian and law writer, of most extensive learning.

1672. The English East India company lost the island of St. Helena; the Dutch taking it.

1700. Battle of Narva; the Russians under Peter the great defeated by the Swedes under Charles XII. The forces of the two armies were unequal; that of the Russians differently stated from 80 to 100,000, while that of the Swedes varies from 8 to 20,000. Charles had a horse killed under him, and was struck in the neck by a ball.

1718. CHARLES XII, king of Sweden, killed by a musket shot while attacking one of the forts in Frederickshall, Norway.

1733. In consequence of a vast exportation of grain from England, freights nearly doubled and the price of wheat rose in some places to four shillings per bushel.

1750. The nunneries of Begging Friars suppressed in Ireland by the pope for vile and disorderly practices.

1750. MAURICE of Saxe, marshal of France, died.

1751. NICHOLAS BOINDIN, a French dramatist, died. He left the pursuit of arms for that of literature, and became celebrated for his comedies.

1761. JOHN DOLLOND died; an eminent English optician, and inventor of the achromatic telescope.

1781. THEODORE TRONCHIN, an eminent physician of Geneva, died. He was the pupil of Boerhaave, and the author of several medical works.

1782. Preliminary articles of peace signed at Paris between England and America.

1793. Treaty between the United States and the Creek Indians.

1793. JEAN PIERRE BRISSOT guillotined; a very eminent Welch writer on philosophy, politics and legislation.

1793. WILLIAM LEWIS died in the act of drinking a cup of French ale, called a _tumbler maur_. He made it a rule to read a certain number of chapters in the Bible in the morning, and to drink eight gallons of ale in the evening. He weighed 40 stone, and his bulk was enormous. A machine in the form of a crane was constructed to hoist him on the carriage, and to let him into his grave. He had drank beer enough in his day to float a 74 gun ship.

1801. JOSEPH FRANCIS MAURICE DE LASCY, a Russian officer in the service of Austria, died. He gradually rose to a high rank by his talents displayed at several important battles.

1803. French port of St. Domingo evacuated by capitulation; the French under Rochambeau went as prisoners of war on board the British squadron, and the black prince Dessalines took possession. Almost all the whites that remained were massacred.

1811. British ship Rover captured French corvette Le Compte Reginaud, 14 guns, with a valuable cargo of sugar, coffee and spices. She had before belonged to the British navy.

1812. HARRIET NEWELL, an American missionary, died at the Isle of France. She was a woman of great excellence of character, who was the means of greatly exciting and extending the missionary spirit.

1813. The hereditary stadtholder of Holland arrived at the Hague from England to assume the sovereignty of the country.

1815. Fall of meteoric stones at the village of Chassigny, near Langres.

1828. JOHN BELL, a distinguished citizen of New Hampshire, died. He was a leading member of the senate during the revolutionary war, and possessed great judgment, decision and integrity.

1830. The two LANDERS in descending the Niger, reached the sea, completing the discovery of that river; having ascertained that the Benin, the Nun and the New Calabar rivers, are all mouths of the great river Niger, with a direct communication with the Tschad lake.

1833. GWYLLYM LLOYD WARDLE, an English statesman, died at Florence. He obtained great notoriety for his successful motion in the British parliament in 1809 for inquiring into the conduct of the duke of York as commander-in-chief.

1833. WILLIAM MACLEOD BANNATYNE died, aged 90; a celebrated Scottish justice, one of the contributors to the _Mirror_ and _Lounger_, and the last survivor of that phalanx of genius which shed a brilliant lustre on the periodical literature of Scotland near the close of the 18th century.

1838. Battle of Tampico; the Mexicans under general Piedra defeated by the federalists under general Urrea, with the loss of 500.

1848. Major JOHN ROBERTS died. He served in the revolutionary war, and negotiated the exchange of prisoners obtained by the convention of Saratoga, 1777.

1850. SERENO EDWARDS DWIGHT, a noted New England preacher, died, aged 65. He published a life of Edwards, whose works he edited.

1853. ANSON G. PHELPS, a prominent, wealthy and benevolent merchant, died in New York, aged 74.

1853. Battle at Sinope; the Turkish squadron, consisting of 3 frigates, 2 steamers and some transports, was destroyed by the Russians; 5000 Turks were killed, and Osman Pasha was taken prisoner.

1856. HENDERSON YOAKEM, the historian of Texas, died at Houston, aged 46. He possessed a high order of legal attainments.

DECEMBER.

DECEMBER 1.

627. Battle of Nineveh; the Romans under Heraclius defeated the Persians after a contest from daylight to the eleventh hour; 28 standards were wrenched from the hands of the conquered, and the cities and palaces of Assyria were opened for the first time to the Romans.

801. ALCUIN, preceptor of Charlemagne, presented his illustrious pupil with a magnificent folio Bible, bound in velvet, the leaves of vellum, and the writing in double columns, and containing 449 leaves. Prefixed is a richly ornamented frontispiece, in gold and colors. It is enriched with four large paintings exhibiting the state of the art at this early period; there are moreover thirty-four large initial letters, painted in gold and colors, and containing seals, historical allusions, and emblematical devices, besides some smaller painted capitals. (See April 27th, 1836.)

1135. HENRY I, king of England, died of a surfeit of lampreys. He is characterized as wise and valiant, and ranks among the most accomplished of the English kings.

1252. BLANCHE, (_of Castile_,) queen of France, died. She married Lewis VIII of France, after whose death she was regent of the kingdom during the minority of her son, and governed with spirit and ability.

1521. LEO X (_John de Medicis_), pope, died. He was the patron of learning and learned men; but is to be remembered as the cause of the reformation, in attempting to raise money by an unlimited sale of indulgencies.

1581. EDMUND CAMPRIAN executed. He was a learned English writer, who became a Roman catholic, and was hanged with three others for aiding the cause of the pope, and drawn and quartered.

1640. MICHAEL VASCONCELLOS, a Portuguese statesman devoted to the interests of Spain, was murdered during a political convulsion, and his body treated with ignominy.

1640. Portugal, of which Philip II of Spain had made himself master in 1580, became an independent kingdom by a revolution, which placed John, duke of Braganza, on the throne.

1666. JAMES WARE died, a celebrated antiquary and historian, of Ireland.

1722. ANNA LOUISA KARSCHIN, a German poetess, born. She was deprived of almost every literary advantage by the peculiar circumstances under which she was placed, until she attracted the attention of some influential persons, who published some of her poems. She acquired the title of the _German Sappho_, and died in October, 1791.

1723. SUSANNAH CENTLIVRE, author of several English dramas, died. She was born in Ireland, and becoming an orphan at an early age, set out for London on foot. Her adventures were romantic. Several of her dramas still keep possession of the stage.

1750. A wager was decided at Malden, England, that five men could be buttoned within the waistcoat of a person who had died a short time previous, without breaking a stitch or straining a button. Upon trial, the five persons were buttoned into the waistcoat, and two more with them. The person who wore it died at the age of twenty-nine, and weighed at the time of his death 646 pounds, and notwithstanding his corpulency, he was remarkably agile. There is a print representing the ludicrous appearance of the seven persons buttoned up in the vest.

1775. General MONTGOMERY, having sent several small detachments into the country to strengthen his interest with the Canadians, proceeded with the residue to Point aux Trembles, where he joined Arnold and marched directly upon Quebec.

1783. M. CHARLES, having made some improvements on balloons, ascended at Paris in one filled with inflammable air, the first which had been so filled. He ascended to the height of 9,000 feet. His predecessors had only reached a few hundred feet.

1787. The people at Worcester, England, rioted under the apprehension, that machines were to be introduced for spinning cotton.

1789. General WASHINGTON addressed a diplomatic letter from New York to his _great and magnanimous friend_ Sidi Mohammed, emperor of Morocco, inclosing a copy of the new American constitution.

1793. The commune of Paris ordered all the churches to be closed. But the act exciting general abhorrence was soon repealed.

1795. Battle of Mainz; the Austrians under Clairfait attacked and carried the French entrenchments, took 106 cannon, 200 ammunition wagons and 2000 prisoners.

1795. Kreutznach carried by storm twice by the French under Pichegru, who was at length obliged to retire by the Austrians.

1795. At Lauterbach two whole battalions of French were cut to pieces by the Austrians.

1797. OLIVER WOLCOTT, governor of Connecticut, died, aged 71. He was one of the signers of the declaration of independence, for which he was a bold advocate, and was in the army of general Gates at the surrender of Burgoyne. He was remarkable for intrepidity, integrity, strong and bold conceptions, and great decision of character.

1803. THOMAS ASTLE, an eminent English antiquary, died.

1808. Battle of the Samo-Sierra, a narrow pass which the Spaniards had fortified with 12,000 men and 16 pieces of cannon, which completely swept the road leading to Madrid. The French began the attack at daybreak. Three battalions scattered themselves over the opposite sides of the defiles and a warm skirmishing fire commenced. At this moment Bonaparte came up. He rode into the mouth of the pass, surveyed the scene for a moment, and perceiving that his infantry were making no progress, at once conceived the daring idea of causing his Polish lancers to charge right up the causeway in face of the battery. The smoke of the skirmishers on the hill sides mingled with the thick fogs and vapors of the morning, and under this veil the brave Krazinski led his troopers fearlessly up the ascent. The Spanish infantry fired as they passed them, threw down their arms, abandoned their guns and fled.

1814. Action between American privateer schooner Kemp, of Baltimore, and 9 British merchantmen, several of which were captured.

1814. GILLIS MCKERHNIE died at Gourock, Scotland, aged 104, supposed to be the last of the warriors that fought with prince Charles in 1754.

1825. ALEXANDER PAULOWITZ, emperor of Russia, died at Taganrog. His efforts to improve his country and people were unceasing and most extensive. It was during his reign that Russia was invaded by the most formidable army ever assembled in Europe, but which in a few months returned in the most wretched defeat ever known.

1840. Battle of Kotriah, in Scinde, between 4,000 Beloochees, posted among the hills, and commanded by Nusser Khan, and 900 Sepoys with 2 field pieces, under lieutenant colonel Marshall. Of the former 500 were slain, and 6 chiefs and 132 followers captured.

1848. Hungary declared itself an independent republic.

1849. EBENEZER ELLIOTT, called the _corn law rhymer_, died in England.

1852. The French senate went in a body to St. Cloud to announce officially to Louis Napoleon the result of the election, and to hail him as emperor.

DECEMBER 2.

1469. PIETRO DE MEDICI, governor of Florence, died, aged 53. He was of weak constitution, but well meaning and prudent, and was assisted by his son Lorenzo in affairs of state. Under his reign an attempt was made to wrest the reins of government from the family.

1549. MARGARET DE VALOIS, a French princess, died; noted for her learning and the encouragement she gave to commerce, agriculture and the arts among her subjects.

1552. FRANCIS XAVIER died; a French missionary, denominated the apostle of the Indies. He was one of the most zealous disciples of Ignatius Loyola; performed his mission in Hindostan, the Moluccas, and Japan, and was on the point of landing in China, when he died.

1554. FERDINAND CORTES, the conqueror of Mexico, died, aged 63, leaving a character eminent for bravery and ability, but infamous for perfidy and cruelty.

1581. JOHN DEE, an English mathematician and sorcerer, died. He was a man of uncommon abilities, learning and application, but deluded himself with experiments in the occult sciences, which he continued till he reached the age of 80.

1594. GERARD MERCATOR, a Dutch mathematician, died. He was self-educated, but attained great eminence, and published numerous valuable maps and charts which he engraved and published himself, and which have been of great use to his successors.

1615. LEWIS DE BERTHON DE CRILLON, a French general and knight, died. He distinguished himself by his valor at the siege of Calais, at the age of 15, and during a long series of wars and perilous times displayed so much courage as to acquire the title of the brave Crillon.

1723. PHILIP, duke of Orleans, regent of France during the minority of Louis XV, died at Versailles in the 50th year of his age. He was a man of talent and political tact, but these qualities were much obscured by his love of pleasure.

1779. ALEXANDER ALBANI died; a Roman cardinal and a man of great merit.

1784. FRANCIS ARNAUD died; abbot of Grand Champs, in France, and distinguished by his literary labors.

1789. HERSCHELL announced the discovery of a 7th satellite to Saturn.

1791. HENRY FLOOD, the famed Irish orator and reformer, died. As a member of the house of commons his whole energies were devoted to the promotion of the political interests and internal resources of Ireland.

1792. Frankfort treacherously given up to the Austrians, when 1,300 Frenchmen, were massacred by the Hessians, and several whose lives were spared had their hands cut off.

1792. The French under Dumourier took possession of Louvain.

1794. The United States concluded a treaty with the Oneida, Tuscarora and Stockbridge Indians, residing in the Oneida country. The former engaged to pay the Indians $5,000 for their losses in the late war; to build them a complete grist and saw mill, and hire faithful men to attend said mills for three years, and instruct some of their young men in those arts; to provide teams for carrying on the work of the mills, and to apply $1,000 to rebuild the church burnt in the war.

1796. The adventurous MUNGO PARK departed from Pisania, 200 miles from the Gambia's mouth, to explore the interior of Africa.

1804. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE inaugurated emperor of France at the cathedral of Notre-Dame, at Paris, and was enthroned with Josephine.

1805. JOSEPH BERNARD DE CHABERT, a French navigator, astronomer and geographer, died. He lost his eye sight by intense application, but his powerful memory enabled him to make many additions to the stores of scientific facts.

1805. Battle of Austerlitz; the French under Bonaparte defeated the Austro-Russian armies, under Alexander I and Francis I, who had united to check the ambition of Napoleon. The defeat was attended with the loss of 35,000 killed or drowned, 20,000 prisoners, and their whole pack of artillery.

1806. BONAPARTE decreed at Posen, a monument to the French soldiers who fell at the great battles of Ulm, Austerlitz and Jena.

1812. British again cannonaded Black Rock; the fire was returned with so much spirit that their batteries were entirely silenced.

1816. French general VANDAMME, resident at Ghent, arrested and sent to Brussels.

1816. Meeting of the citizens of London at Spafields; about 20,000 assembled to receive the report of Mr. Hunt, who had been appointed to present a petition to the prince regent, praying that two or three hundred thousand pounds should be appropriated out of the civil list fund for the relief of the poor. Only five thousand was granted, whereupon great disturbances took place.

1848. FERDINAND I, emperor of Austria, abdicated the throne, and Francis Joseph, his nephew was proclaimed emperor.

1849. ADELAIDE, the queen dowager of England, died.

1851. LOUIS NAPOLEON decreed in the name of the French people, that the national assembly and council of state were dissolved, that universal suffrage was re-established, that the first military division was in a state of siege, and that the French people were convoked in the electoral colleges from December 14 to Dec. 21.

1852. LOUIS NAPOLEON publicly proclaimed emperor at the Hotel de Ville in Paris, under the name of Napoleon III. The emperor entered Paris from St. Cloud, and took up his residence in the Tuilleries. 80,000 troops were under arms, and the day was celebrated as a grand holiday in Paris, and in the evening there was a grand illumination.

1853. The steamer Winfield Scott, having on board 500 passengers and $1,100,000 in gold, was lost in a fog at night, about 500 miles from San Francisco; the passengers and treasure were saved.

DECEMBER 3.

69 B. C. The senate published a general thanksgiving in the name of Cicero for preserving the city from the Catalinian conspiracy. It was the first that had ever been decreed to any man in the gown; all other thanksgivings having been appointed for some particular _service_ only.

1553. PEDRO DE VALDIVIA, having conquered the greater portion of Chili, and founded the city of Conception, was attacked by the Araucanians, defeated and made prisoner.

1557. The bond or covenant signed at Edinburgh, by the duke of Argyle and others, renouncing the _congregation of Satan, with all the superstitious, abominations and idolatry thereof_.

1586. In Verde, in Hanover, there fell large quantities of matter, partly red, partly blackened, accompanied by lightning and thunder, a fiery meteor, which burst with a loud noise. This matter burnt the boards on which it fell.

1610. The new bell of the cathedral church of Lincoln, called _Great Tom_, placed in the steeple of St. Mary. It is the largest bell in England, being seven feet in diameter at the mouth.

1632. DE VRIES, on his second voyage, arrived at the Delaware river. He found that the little colony, left here two years before (see Dec. 12), had been destroyed by the Indians, and the ground strewed with the skulls and bones of his murdered countrymen.

1647. BUONAVENTURA CAVALIERI, an Italian astronomer, died. He was the pupil of Galileo, and enjoyed a remarkable reputation in his day, but has descended to posterity solely through his method of _indivisibles_, one of the predecessors of the doctrine of fluxions.

1658. JOHN MICRELIUS, professor of divinity at Stettin, died; a distinguished theological disputant.

1688. The abdication or flight of JAMES II, and revolution in England.

1699. Captain DAMPIER arrived at the island of Papua or New Guinea, in Australasia, and named its eastern extremity New Britain.

1705. PEDRO, king of Portugal, died in the 58th year of his age. Juan IV succeeded.

1758. Daring attempt to assassinate Joseph, king of Portugal. It was for this offence that the Jesuits were expelled the kingdom and their property confiscated--a judgment perhaps unequal to the crime.

1775. The continental flag was displayed for the first time, on board the flag ship of Esek Hopkins, who was commander-in-chief of the first American fleet.

1787. Delaware adopted the federal constitution, being the first state to do so. (7th?)

1798. Coni, the strongest fortification in Italy, was taken by the Austrians.

1800. Battle of Hohenlinden; the Austrians under the archduke John, defeated by the French under Moreau in a severe snow storm, with great slaughter, and night alone saved them from complete destruction. The Austrians lost nearly the whole of their baggage, a great number of cannon and ammunition wagons, 3 generals, and from 10 to 15,000 prisoners.

1809. Intelligence was received at London, that the Ionian isles, the principal of which are Zante, Ithaca and Cerigo, had submitted to the British. They form an independent state under the British government, and contain about 200,000 persons, who carry on a considerable commerce.

1810. The French, under general Decaen, surrendered the isle of Man to the British general, Abercrombie, with 209 pieces of ordnance.

1812. The 29th bulletin of the retreating French army was dated at Molodechno, describing their severe privations.

1814. The mayor of Lyons, in France, published an order forbidding all artists to engrave or paint the likeness of Napoleon Bonaparte.

1815. JOHN CARROLL, first catholic bishop in the United States, died, aged 80. He was born in the state of Maryland, and educated in France, where he became a Jesuit. On his return to America he rose from a parish priest to the dignity of archbishop.

1818. Illinois admitted into the union.

1821. Royal dance of torches, at Berlin, on the occasion of the marriage of the prince royal with the princess of Bavaria.

1823. JOHN BAPTIST BELZONI, one of the most eminent travelers in Egypt, died. He was an Italian, who came to England, where he obtained a subsistence by exhibiting feats of strength and activity at the amphitheatre. He was afterwards engaged in exploring and bringing to light the antiquities of Egypt.

1826. JOHN FLAXMAN, the celebrated English sculptor, died. His death is differently placed on the 7th and 9th.