1307. Battle of Loudown hill; Bruce defeated Aylmer de Valence, earl of
Pembroke.
1422. HENRY V reduced Meaux, after a siege of 7 months.
1503. COLUMBUS discovered the Tortugas islands.
1547. CHARLES V summoned Wittenberg, defended by Sibylla, wife of the
elector of Saxony; refusing to surrender, he ordered a court-martial who
condemned her husband, then a prisoner, to death.
1574. Queen ELIZABETH issued her royal license under seal, for the
performance of stage plays; the first establishment of a regular company
of players in England.
1611. Sir THOMAS DALE arrived at the Jamestown colony, with 3 ships, 300
people, 12 cows, 20 goats, and all things needful. Lord Baltimore had
previously left for England on account of his health, and Dale took
command. Sir Thomas Gates arrived in August following, with 6 ships, 280
men, 20 women, 100 cattle, 200 hogs, and military stores, and assumed
the government. These added to the 200 left by lord Baltimore, swelled
the number to 800.
1631. Magdeburg taken by the Austrians under general Tilly, by assault,
and given up to pillage, massacre and fire, only two churches and some
ruins remaining.
1632. LOUIS DE MARILLAC, marechal of France, beheaded. He conspired
against Richelieu, to whom he was indebted for much of his good fortune,
and to whose resentment he fell a victim.
1641. JOHN BANNIER died; a Swedish general under Gustavus Adolphus.
1646. MANUEL D'ALMEIDA, a Portuguese Jesuit, died; a missionary to India
40 years, and author of a work on Ethiopia.
1649. Governor ENDICOTT, and other influential men in Massachusetts,
formed an association against wearing long hair!
1671. The English admiral Sprague destroyed 12 Algerine pirate ships at
Bugea, a seaport of Algiers.
1696. JOHN DE LA BRUYERE, a noted French author, died. His _Characters_,
in imitation of Theophrastus, is a work of established excellence, and
descriptive of the manners of that age.
1733. BARTON BOOTH died; a celebrated tragedian in the reign of queen
Anne, author of some songs and minor pieces.
1773. An act of parliament passed, authorizing the East India company to
export their own tea, duty 3d. per pound; in consequence of this act
they determined to send it to New York, Philadelphia and Boston. In
October of the same year the Americans refused to receive it.
1774. LOUIS XV of France died, in the 60th year of his reign. He
outlived the respect of his subjects.
1775. Colonels ALLEN and ARNOLD surprised Ticonderoga, which
surrendered, without the loss of a man. Crown-point was taken by them
the same day.
1775. CAROLINA MATILDA, the divorced queen of Denmark, died at Zell,
aged 24: youngest sister of George III.
1779. Portsmouth and Norfolk, Va., taken by the British, and many
vessels, stores and houses destroyed.
1781. Lord RAWDON evacuated Camden, after destroying the public and
private houses, and much of his own baggage.
1784. ANTHONY COURT DE GEBELIN, a French writer, died; celebrated as the
author of _The Primitive World compared with the Modern_, a work which
the French academy were so well satisfied with that they twice decreed
him the annual prize of 1,200 livres for the best work.
1790. The _Gabelle Tax_ in France was abolished. This was a duty on salt
capricious and unequal in its operation, which notwithstanding had
continued since the beginning of the 14th century.
1793. CLAIRFAIT attacked and carried the wood of Hasnon; the slaughter
of the French was great.
1794. Battle of Tournay and defeat of the French by the British and
Austrians under the duke of York.
1794. ELIZABETH of France, sister of Louis XVI, guillotined.
1796. Battle of Lodi, in which Bonaparte gained an important victory
over the Austrians, under the veteran general Beaulieu. The long narrow
bridge which led to the city, was defended by 30 pieces of cannon. The
French generals put themselves at the head of 3000 grenadiers, and in
the face of a murderous fire crossed the bridge over the dead bodies of
their comrades, who were mowed down by hundreds, and took possession of
the Austrian batteries. The loss was about 3,000 men on each side. This
was one of the most striking military achievements of Bonaparte. It was
on this occasion that he received the title of _the little corporal_.
1796. The Babeuf conspiracy was discovered by the council of 500 in
Paris. Babeuf and Darthe, the principal leaders were secured and
executed, which completely crushed the Jacobin power.
1809. The Swedish diet renounced all allegiance to Gustavus IV, and
deprived him and his heirs of the crown.
1811. French evacuated Almeida, after destroying everything, and the
next day they abandoned Portugal entirely.
1824. JOHN GUTHRIE, the celebrated Edinburgh bookseller of the firm of
Guthrie & Jait, died. Like Benjamin Franklin he wheeled home his own
purchases.
1831. JOHN TRUMBULL, an American poet, died. He was for many years judge
of a court in Connecticut, and is known as the author of the popular
poem, _McFingal_.
1831. Battle of Terlepe; 20,000 Albanians under the pasha of Scodra
defeated by the Turks under the grand vizier.
1837. All the banks in the city of New York without exception, and by
common consent, stop specie payments. The banks throughout the Union
adopted the same course.
1848. A very destructive fire occurred in Detroit, Michigan. The houses
were of wood principally on leased land.
1849. The city of Leghorn taken by the Tuscan troops.
1849. Astor house opera riot in the city of New York.
1853. ASHBEL STRONG NORTON, an American preacher, died, aged 87. He was
born in Farmington, Ct., graduated at Yale college in 1790; filled the
pastoral office at Clinton, N. Y., with distinguished usefulness and
success forty years, during which he was largely concerned in laying the
foundations of social and religious institutions in central New York.
1853. The pope prohibited the circulation of _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, an
American novel, in his dominions.
1855. A mob of armed men destroyed the Birch creek reservoir, in Clay
county, Indiana, connected with the Wabash and Erie canal.