1529. The Turks under Solyman abandoned the famous siege of Vienna.
1555. HUGH LATIMER and NICHOLAS RIDLEY, English bishops, burnt at
Oxford.
1586. PHILIP SIDNEY, an English statesman, soldier and scholar, died of
a wound received at the battle of Zutphen.
1660. HUGH PETERS, a famous English prelate, executed for conspiring,
with Cromwell, the king's death.
1678. CÆSAR EGASSE DU BOULAI died; register and historiographer of the
university of Paris, of which he wrote a history in 6 vols. folio.
1679. ROGER BOYLE died; an eminent Irish general, statesman and writer.
1725. RALPH THORESBY died; an eminent English topographer and antiquary.
1725. First newspaper published in New York.
1726. The public granaries plundered by the turners of Cornwall for want
of provisions.
1756. Battle of Pirna; the Saxons defeated by Frederick II, of Prussia,
with the loss of 17,000 prisoners.
1760. NICHOLAS D'ASSAS, a French officer, killed at Klosterkamp. On
going out to examine the posts, he was captured, and threatened with
immediate death if he alarmed his regiment. Without a moment's
hesitation he summoned all his strength, and exclaimed "Onward Auverne!
here is the enemy!" The threat was immediately executed, but the patriot
had gained his object; the attack was unsuccessful. A pension of 1,000
livres was decreed to his family forever.
1767. BURCHARD CHRISTOPHER MUNICH, a German officer in the service of
Russia, died. He was promoted by Peter I and Anne; banished by Elizabeth
to Siberia, and recalled by Peter II, after an absence of 20 years, when
he appeared at court in the same sheepskin dress which he had worn in
his exile.
1774. ROBERT FERGUSON, an excellent Scottish poet, died at the age of 24
in a lunatic asylum.
1778. Pondicherry, after a gallant resistance by the French, surrendered
to the British.
1779. The fortress of St. Fernando de Omoa, in the bay of Honduras,
taken by the British by assault. In the fort was found 250 quintals of
quicksilver, and on board the vessels 3,000,000 piasters.
1780. The town of Royalton, Vt., was attacked by a party of 300 Indians
of various tribes from Canada, and many of the houses burnt.
1781. A sortie consisting of 360 men under Col. Abercrombie, at
Yorktown, forced two American batteries and spiked 11 cannon; but the
guards from the trenches immediately repulsed them and restored the
cannon. In the afternoon the Americans opened several batteries in their
second parallel; and in the whole line of batteries nearly 100 pieces of
heavy ordnance were now mounted. The works of the besieged were in no
condition to sustain the fire which might be expected next day.
1783. The inhabitants of Canada were surprised by a very extraordinary
phenomenon. About 2 o'clock P. M., an unusual darkness, equal it is said
to the darkest night, took place. Its approach was instantaneous. This
continued about 40 minutes, when there was a short interval of light,
but soon was succeeded by darkness, horrible as before, though not of so
long duration. The whole is said to have continued upwards of an hour,
and to have extended, more or less, throughout the province.
1793. The French convention constituted death only _an eternal sleep_!
It was afterwards restored, however, to its original condition!
1793. MARIE ANTOINETTE, queen of France, and sister of the emperor of
Austria, guillotined. She was tried and condemned at 4 o'clock in the
morning, dragged to the scaffold in an open tumbril, amid the scoffs and
insults of the populace, and beheaded at the age of 38.
1793. JOHN HUNTER, a very eminent British surgeon and anatomical writer,
died. From a humble assistant of his brother he became the first surgeon
in the world, both in theory and practice.
1796. VICTOR AMADEUS, king of Sardinia, died in his 71st year, and 23d
of his reign.
1806. Erfurt, the capital of Upper Thuringia, surrendered to the French;
14,000 prisoners, 28 cannon, and immense magazines of stores were taken.
1813. Battle of Leipsic, between the French under Bonaparte, Ney, Murat,
&c., and the allies under Blucher, Benningsen, Bernadotte, &c. It was a
conflict between the best disciplined armies, commanded by the ablest
generals in the world. Night alone put an end to the carnage, and the
armies retired to rest on the ground which they occupied in the morning.
The number of men engaged was 150,000 French and 230,000 allies.
1817. THADDEUS KOSCIUSKO, the famous Polish general, died in
Switzerland; one of the noblest characters of his age.
1836. FRANCIS J. M. REYNOUARD, an eminent French philologist, died. He
was one of the conductors of the _Journal des Savans_, distinguished as
a scholar, poet, historian, philologist and archæologist.
1837. MATTHIEU DUMAS, peer of France, a lieutenant-general in the French
army, and an old companion in arms of Lafayette, died at Paris, aged 84.
1839. DEASE and SIMPSON accomplished an expedition which established the
fact of a north-west passage, and gave to the world some new and
interesting discoveries respecting the geography of the northern coast
of America, and the arctic regions. The intervening space between the
discoveries of Parry and Ross were traversed, and a curious point of
science established; yet it can not be supposed that the passage can
ever be of the smallest utility to navigation.
1842. BENJAMIN EATON, said to have been the last survivor of
Washington's life guard, died at Cuddeback, Orange co., N. Y., aged 85.
He joined in the pursuit at Lexington, and served till 1779, with an
absence of only 20 days.
1848. The emperor of Austria issued a proclamation against Vienna, and
appointed count Windischgratz to command his armies in Austria.