357 B. C. An eclipse of the moon which preceded the departure of Dion
from Zacynthus (Zante) upon his celebrated expedition against the tyrant
Dionysius the Younger. He entered Syracuse with his little band of 800
veterans in September, and in three days became master of the empire.
The deaths of Democritus and Hippocrates, each 104 years old, and of
Timotheus, the Milesian poet and musician, took place in that year.
378. The great and disastrous battle of Adrianople, second only to that
of Cannæ, in which the Roman legions under Valens, were for the first
time defeated by the Cythian Goths. The wounded emperor was removed to a
cottage, which was fired, and he perished in the flames.
1342. Sir WALTER MANNY raised the siege of Hennebon in Brittany, so
nervously and heroically defended by Jane, countess of Montford, against
the power of France.
1611. JOHN BLAGRAVE died; an early English mathematician of considerable
eminence and a laborious author on his favorite science.
1634. NOY, attorney-general to Charles I of England, died at London. He
is supposed to have devised the plan of levying ship money, which went
into operation the day after his death.
1641. DAVID BAKER, an English Benedictine monk and ecclesiastical
historian, died. He collected the records of the ancient congregation of
the black or Benedictine monks in England, 6 vols. folio, and his
religious treatises filled 9 folio vols. in manuscript.
1694. ANTHONY ARNAULD, a French theological and philosophical writer,
died. He was one of the most learned men of his age, and did much for
the improvement of morality in the catholic church. His works were
printed in more than 100 volumes of various sizes.
1710. French and Spaniards defeated at Saragossa, with the loss of 5,000
killed, 7,000 prisoners, and all their artillery, and the allies entered
the city.
1718. Action off cape Passaro, between the British fleet, 20 sail,
admiral Byng, and the Spanish fleet, 27 sail of the line. The Spaniards
were defeated with the loss of 21 of their ships, either taken or
destroyed.
1719. DOMINICO DE ANGELIS, an Italian scholar, died. He made the tour of
France and Spain, and was everywhere received with honor by the learned.
1720. SAMUEL OCKLEY, an English divine, died; a very learned man, and
well skilled in oriental literature.
1744. JOHN BRIDGES, duke of Chandos, died. Few particulars are known of
this peer, except of his munificence. The earlier part of his manhood
was spent in reflection and observation; his middle age in business,
honorable and useful; and his advanced years in deeds of benevolence. He
erected the princely seat of Canons, near London, where he lived in a
splendor to which no other subject had ever aspired. His liberality was
equaled only by his generous forgiveness of injuries. Pope made him the
subject of his satire, which Hogarth punished by representing the poet
on a scaffold whitewashing Burlington house, and bespattering the duke
of Chandos's carriage as it passed. Yet Pope's verse respecting the
short-lived magnificence of Canons was prophetic:
Another age shall see the golden ear
Embrown the slope, and nod on the parterre:
Deep harvests bury all his pride has planned,
And laughing Ceres reassume the land.
Three years after his death the stately mansion was sold by auction,
piecemeal, such was the rage to buy something at Canons. Its site was
soon an arable.
1746. Battle of Rotto Fredo, between the allies and the Austrians; the
former defeated with the loss of 8,000; Austrian loss about half that
number.
1748. ALEXANDER BLACKWELL, a Scottish physician, beheaded in Sweden, on
suspicion of treason. His wife, to support him in prison, published a
_Herbal_ in two vols. folio, containing 500 plates, drawn, engraved and
colored by herself.
1757. Fort William Henry with a garrison of about 2600 men under Col.
Monroe, capitulated to Montcalm, who had invested the fort with an army
of 11,500. The garrison was to be allowed the honors of war, and
protected from the Indians; but with the characteristic perfidy of the
French in all these colonial wars, the Indians were allowed to pillage
and massacre the defenceless soldiers, so that their baggage was lost
and 1500 slain or made prisoners.
1759. Birthday of JEAN BAPTIST ANNIBAL AUBERT DUBAYET, in Louisiana. He
served in the American army during the war of independence, and went to
France on the breaking out of the revolution there. He was appointed
minister of war, and the next year ambassador to Constantinople, where
he died.
1775. Captain LINZEE, of the British sloop of war Falcon, attempted to
take an American schooner in Gloucester harbor, cape Ann, in two barges,
a whale boat, schooner and cutter, all of which were captured by the
Americans; in consequence of which he bombarded the town. American loss
1 killed, 2 wounded.
1778. General GREENE'S army crossed over from Tiverton to the north end
of Rhode Island.
1778. Lord HOWE'S fleet arrived off Newport, in quest of count
d'Estaing, who put to sea the next morning.
1782. DE LA PEROUSE, with a considerable French military and naval
force, took fort Prince of Wales, at Hudson's bay, and soon after forts
York and Severn; the settlements and forts were destroyed.
1787. The ship Columbia, captain GRAY, and sloop Washington sailed from
Boston for the north west coast of America and China. They returned in
1790, being the first American vessels that circumnavigated the globe.
1793. ALEXIS BRULARD DE GENLIS, marquis de Sillery, a French general,
guillotined at Paris. He was a deputy to the states-general, and an
avowed enemy to the king, on whose trial he voted for detaining the
royal family until the peace, and for their perpetual banishment after
that event.
1796. Elba surrendered to the British under commodore Nelson.
1804. ROBERT POTTER, an English prelate, died; known by his elegant
translations of Æschylus, Euripides and Sophocles, the three great
dramatists of ancient Greece.
1805. Lieutenant ZEBULON M. PIKE commenced his voyage to the sources of
the Missouri river, with a party of 22; they were taken by the
Spaniards, and returned the next year.
1808. ROMANA, with 10,000 Spanish troops, deserted the French army under
Bernadotte, and were conveyed to Spain in British transports.
1809. The president of the United States, THOMAS JEFFERSON, received
official information of the non-ratification of the British treaty, and
suspended all intercourse with that country.
1811. Battle of Baza; the Spaniards under Blake defeated by the French
under Soult; of 20,000 Spaniards not more than 7,000 rallied again.
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.