2348 B. C. The great flood began, according to Polyhistor, from Berosus,
upon the 15th, or the ides, of the Assyrian month Doesia, agreeing with
this day. This event was prefigured to the patriarch in a vision, when
the deity enjoined him to commit to writing a history of all things,
which he was to bury in the city of the sun, at Sipara. The same
uninspired authority informs us, that Noah was the tenth king of the
Chaldea, and that he reigned 18 sari.
1606. JEROME MERCURIALIS died; an Italian physician of great abilities,
and author of several works.
1616. ARGAL returned to Virginia from his expedition against the French
settlements in Acadia. At St. Savior he broke in pieces the cross which
the Jesuits had erected, and set up another inscribed with the name of
the king of Great Britain; at St. Croix he destroyed all the remains of
De Monts' settlement; at Port Royal the entire settlement was reduced to
ashes in the short space of two hours.
1620. The _pilgrims_, after a boisterous passage, at break of day
discovered the land of cape Cod. Finding that they had been carried
north of their destination (see Sept. 6) they sailed southward; but
falling among shoals, and the season being late, the captain gladly took
advantage of their solicitude to put about, for he had been
clandestinely promised a reward by the Dutch if he would not carry them
to Hudson's river. Steering northward again they were clear of the
danger before night, and the next day, a storm coming on, they dropped
anchor in cape Cod harbor.
1623. WILLIAM CAMDEN, an illustrious English historian, died. He is
styled the Pausanias of England.
1641. FRANCIS DE ST. PREUIL, a distinguished French officer, and
governor of Arras, beheaded at Amiens.
1677. GILBERT SHELDON, archbishop of Canterbury, died. It appeared,
after his death, that he had bestowed, during 14 years, about $250,000
in private and public charities.
1704. Admiral LEAKE obliged the French and Spanish blockading squadron
to retire from Gibraltar.
1732. ROBERT STEPHENS died; an eminent English antiquary and
historiographer royal.
1775. ARNOLD, at the head of 1,000 men, arrived before Quebec. The
unexpected appearance of an army, emerging out of the depths of an
unexplored wilderness, threw the city into the greatest consternation;
but want of boats to cross gave the citizens time to rally, and the
critical moment was lost. The sufferings of this detachment were
incredible. They ate their horses and dogs, and, after soaking their
cartouch boxes, belts and leather breeches, absolutely ate them.
1794. The Jacobin society attacked by the Parisian mob, and several
persons severely wounded by stones thrown into the windows of the hall
of their sitting.
1794. MAASTRICHT, after a bombardment of some days, capitulated to the
French; 8,000 men surrendered prisoners of war. The place was invested
on the 10th Sept. by 50,000 republicans, and the first parallel was
opened on the 23d October.
1799. The celebrated but bloodless revolution at Paris, of the 18th
Brumaire, which, dissolving the directory, invested Bonaparte with the
supreme authority. "You are the wisdom of the nation;" he addressed the
council, "I come, surrounded by the generals of the republic, to promise
you their support. Let us lose no time in looking for precedents.
Nothing in history resembles the close of the 18th century--nothing in
the 18th century resembles this movement. Your wisdom has devised the
necessary measure; our arms shall put it in execution."
1802. THOMAS GIRTEN, an English artist, died. He introduced the practice
of drawing upon cartridge paper, by which he avoided certain appearances
incident to the drawings on white paper.
1803. BENJAMIN LEDYARD, an officer in the revolutionary war, died at
Scipio, N. Y. He was a meritorious soldier; at the time of his death
held the office of clerk of Cayuga county.
1806. ELEAZER BROOKS, an officer of the revolution, died at Concord,
Mass. He commanded a regiment at White Plains and Stillwater, and
distinguished himself by his cool courage and determined bravery.
1806. BONAPARTE levied a contribution on the Prussian dominion and its
allies of 160,000,000.
1812. BONAPARTE, on his retreat from Moscow, had his head quarters at
Smolensk. When he left Moscow his army amounted to 100,000; it now
scarcely numbered 60,000.
1813. British repulsed in an attack on Ogdensburgh.
1813. Commodore CHAUNCEY'S squadron, the whole carrying but 36 guns,
again discovered the Royal George, 26 guns, and chased her under the
batteries, which he engaged one hour and forty-five minutes. He had 1
killed and 3 wounded.
1839. GILBERT Y. FRANCIS died at New Orleans, of yellow fever. His life
was romantic and eventful. He was in early life attached to the navy;
then to the stage; had traveled over the four quarters of the globe; was
two years a prisoner in the great desert of Arabia; a slave to the
bashaw of Tunis; lieutenant of a guerilla party in Spain; master of a
Dutch luggar trading to the Malaccas; overseer of a sugar estate in
Jamaica; a cutter of logwood in the forest of Campeachy; a prisoner
among banditti in Mexico; a captive among the Camanches; ransomed by
some Oregon fur traders; employed by the governor of the Russian
settlements to command a brig in the wheat trade with Chili; married in
Virginia; and was extensively engaged in the Texan operations when death
arrested him.
1848. The king of Prussia prorogued the general assembly, at Berlin,
naming Brandenburgh as the place of next meeting.
1848. BLUM, a distinguished publisher at Leipsic, shot, at Vienna, as an
insurrectionist and deputy for Frankfort.
1851. WILLIAM CROSWELL, an episcopal clergyman of Boston, died, aged 47.
He was a man of eminent ability, piety, modesty and worth, and his
poetical productions are of a high order of merit.
1853. The ceremony of inaugurating the Washington aqueduct took place at
the great falls of the Potomac, president Pierce turning the first turf.
1854. ELIZABETH HAMILTON, widow of Alexander Hamilton, died at
Washington, aged 93. She was a daughter of general Philip Schuyler, of
Albany; married lieutenant colonel Hamilton, then an aid of general
Washington, in 1780, with whom she lived 24 years, and survived him
nearly half a century.
1856. N. CABET, founder of the Icarian community at Nauvoo, Illinois,
died at St. Louis, aged about 69.