1588. HENRY DE LORRAINE, duke of Guise, assassinated by order of the
king. He was a turbulent and seditious subject of Henry III, of France.
1620. The Plymouth settlers having fixed upon a place for a town, on a
high ground facing the bay, where the land was cleared and the water
excellent, as many as could conveniently went on shore, and felled and
carried timber to the spot designated for the erection of a building for
common use.
1622. REDEMPTUS BARENZANO, a Piedmontese monk, died. He was professor of
philosophy at Anneci, and a correspondent of the great Bacon.
1631. MICHAEL DRAYTON, an English poet, died. His works which were
numerous, and of great merit, were collected in 1748 in one volume
folio.
1632. JOHN COTTON, the first minister of Boston, died. He was a good
scholar and a pious, able and benevolent man.
1688. JAMES II, king of England, escaped from England to Calais, in
France, and was declared to have abdicated his throne.
1715. The _Freeholder_, first No., appeared, in a great degree
political. In this work the labors of Addison as an essayist were
brought to a close.
1721. WILLIAM MUSGRAVE died; an eminent English physician and antiquary,
and secretary of the Royal society.
1747. The colonial house and records at Boston destroyed by fire.
1757. British privateer _Terrible_, captain William _Death_, of 26 guns
and 200 men, captured a large French ship, after an obstinate battle, in
which he lost his brother and 16 men killed. A few days after he fell in
with the privateer _Vengeance_, 36 guns and 360 men, who recaptured the
prize, and having manned her, both ships bore down on the Terrible,
whose main was shot away by the first broadside. After a desperate
engagement, in which the French captain and his second were killed, with
two-thirds of his company, the Terrible was boarded, when no more than
26 persons were found alive, 16 of whom had lost a leg or an arm, and
the other 10 were badly wounded. The ship itself was so shattered that
it could scarcely be kept above water. There was a strange combination
of names in this affair; the _Terrible_ was equipped at _Execution_
dock; was commanded by _Death_, who had _Devil_ for his lieutenant and
_Ghost_ for surgeon.
1777. WASHINGTON had 2,898 men unfit for duty, "owing to their being
barefooted and otherwise naked." His whole force fit for duty amounted
to 8,200.
1783. SAMUEL COOPER, one of the most celebrated divines and politicians
of New England, died.
1783. General WASHINGTON delivered up his commission to congress at
Annapolis.
1789. CHARLES MICHAEL DE L'EPEE, a celebrated French teacher of the deaf
and dumb, died. He devoted his time and money to the education of
indigent mutes. Sacrificing his own comfort to promote theirs. Some of
his pupils obtained academical prizes by poetical and literary works.
1804. Battle of Biezun; the French under Grouchy defeated 8,000
Prussians, and took 500 prisoners and 5 cannon.
1814. Battle at Villaret's plantation, near New Orleans, between 2000
Americans under general Jackson and about 4000 British under general
Keene. American loss 213; British loss 305.
1816. Bible societies prohibited in Hungary.
1825. SAMUEL PARKES, an English chemist, died. He was no less
distinguished for his benevolence than for his ardor, diligence and
perseverance in the pursuit of science.
1832. Civil war in Mexico terminated by a convention at Zalaveta, of
delegates from the armies of Bustamente and Santa Anna.
1846. JAMES STEVENSON, one of the oldest of the Seneca chiefs, and a
friend of Red Jacket, died on the Cattaraugus reservation, aged 81. He
was the son of an English officer, who vainly tried to persuade his
beautiful Indian wife to accompany him to England.
1854. Simoda, Japan, destroyed by an earthquake. A wave from the bay
overflowed the town, and on its return left but 16 buildings out of a
thousand standing.