1014. SWEYN, king of Denmark, died.
1399. JOHN OF GAUNT, duke of Lancaster, died. He was the son of Edward
III; was a prince of distinguished valor and prudence, and a patron of
the poet Chaucer.
1497. "Johannes Cabotus Venetus et Sebastianus illius filius,"
commissioned by Henry VII of England to take six ships of 200 tons
burden from any port in the kingdom for the purpose of making a western
voyage of discovery. This expedition was got ready by the beginning of
May, and consisted of two caravals freighted by the merchants of London
and Bristol, and some smaller craft.
1619. By letters patent dated this day, James I granted Ben Jonson a
pension of 100 marks during life, "in consideration of the good and
acceptable service heretofore done and hereafter to be done by the said
B. J."
1649. CHARLES II proclaimed king by the Scots.
1660. CHARLES X of Sweden died. He ascended the throne 1654, and was a
prudent though a warlike monarch.
1698. ERNEST AUGUSTUS, duke of Hanover, bishop of Osnabruck, and father
of George I of England, died.
1700. FILIPPO ACCIAGUOLI, an Italian dramatic poet and composer, died.
He effected many improvements in the machinery and internal arrangements
of theatres.
1730. ELIZABETH THOMAS, an English poetess, died. She is known by the
name of _Corinne_.
1761. RICHARD NASH, commonly called _Beau Nash_, died, aged 87. He was
the most accomplished _gentleman_ in England.
1779. The American Gen. Moultrie defeated 200 British at Port Royal
island, South Carolina, and drove them off that island. Moultrie had 1
lieutenant and 7 privates killed and 22 wounded. The British lost most
of their officers.
1779. Mutiny suppressed on board the United States frigate Alliance,
bound to France with M. de Lafayette and several French gentlemen of
distinction on board. Half the crew were concerned in it, and measures
were taken to quell it but a few hours before it was to have been
carried into effect. Great inhumanity was meditated towards the officers
and the French. This was the first organized mutiny ever known in the
American service. The mutineers were 36 in number.
1781. The Americans, closely pursued by the British after the battle of
the Cowpens, crossed the Yadkin and secured their boats on the north
side, when a sudden rise of the river arrested the pursuit of the enemy.
In this retreat the Americans endured extreme hardships with admirable
fortitude, and their remarkable escape confirmed them in the belief that
their cause was favored of heaven.
1781. St. Eustatia, one of the West-India islands, taken by the British
under Rodney. The plunder amounted to above £3,000,000, besides 6 Dutch
armed frigates and 150 vessels, many of them richly laden. The British
kept the Dutch colors hoisted, by which means several Dutch, French and
American vessels were decoyed and captured.
1782. Demerary and Essequibo surrendered by capitulation from the
French.
1783. The ratification of the preliminary articles of peace exchanged at
Paris.
1786. GASPARD RISBECK, a German author, died.
1794. GEORGE III and Queen CHARLOTTE went to Hay Market theatre, which
attracted so great a crowd, that more than 15 persons were trampled to
death.
1794. The French convention received the deputies from St. Domingo, one
of whom was a black, one a mulatto, and one a white; and at the same
time decreed that all men of color whom a tyrannical force had made
slaves, were still free and equally citizens with whites.
1795. A tableaux of the victories of the French from Sept. 8th, 1793, to
this date, presented to the convention by Carnot, gives the following
result: 27 victories, 6 of which were gained in pitched battles; 120
combats of less importance; 80,000 enemies killed, and 91,000 taken
prisoners; 117 important fortresses, 36 of which were taken after a
close blockade; 230 forts; 38,000 pieces of artillery; 17,000 muskets;
19,000 pounds of powder, and 90 stands of colors.
1797. Faenza in Italy carried by assault by the French under Victor,
afterwards duke of Belluno.
1800. Four British ships, carrying in all 106 guns, captured off Seven
islands, after a close action of 2 hours 10 minutes, the French frigate
Pallas of 42 guns and 350 men. British loss, 10 killed, 34 wounded.
1807. Montevideo taken by storm by the British.
1808. The Neapolitan garrison of Reggio surrendered to the French.
1809. The French national ship l'Iris, 24 guns, captured by the British
ship, l'Amiable.
1809. The Spanish junta in Seville issued orders to their troops to give
no quarter to the French found in Spain.
1810. British ship Valiant of 74 guns captured the French frigate
Cannoniere, 14 guns, with a cargo worth $800,000.
1810. The French destroyed the quicksilver mines at El Almoden del
Azoque, near Seville.
1810. Guadaloupe surrendered to the British.
1813. The Spanish cortez abolished the inquisition.
1814. BONAPARTE entered Troyes. Same day the Russians and Prussians
bombarded Vitry, defended by the French under Gen. Montmartre.
1831. The duke of Nemours elected king of Belgium.
1832. GEORGE CRABBE died; one of the most popular of the modern British
poets.
1832. CHARLES VICTOR DE BONSTETTEN died, aged 87; a distinguished Swiss
moralist, politician, metaphysician, geologist and traveler.
1836. MARIE LETITIA BONAPARTE, mother of Napoleon, died. She was born at
Ajaccio 1750; her maiden name Romolini; was one of the most beautiful
women of Corsica; married, in the midst of civil discord, Charles
Bonaparte, an officer who fought with Paoli; was left a widow 1785,
having borne 13 children, of whom 5 sons and 3 daughters survived their
father, and became celebrated. Madame Bonaparte was a woman of great
force and energy of character.
1844. Continued cold weather in the northern parts of the United States.
Long Island sound was frozen over a few miles above New York, and a
canal, seven miles in length, was cut through the ice at Boston to allow
the British steamer to go to sea.
1852. Battle of Santos Lugares, near Buenos Ayres, between the army of
Urquiza, 30,000 men and 50 cannon, and Rosas, 25,000 men and 90 cannon.
Rosas was defeated, and took refuge on board an English steamer. The
city was saved from pillage by ships of war of all nations then in the
harbor.
1856. Thermometer at 30° below zero in Kansas; and the cold extended
over the United States, in some parts to a degree unknown before.