Part 63

1851. New Orleans riot, growing out of the Cuban expedition. The office of _La Patria_, the Spanish paper, was destroyed, as well as the cigar shops kept by Spaniards; and the Spanish consul was obliged to ask protection, and was placed in the city prison for safety.

1856. The famous Charter oak at Hartford, Conn., was blown down in a storm.

1857. A hurricane passed over the town of Woodland, Wisconsin, and destroyed every house in the place.

AUGUST 22.

1138. Battle of North Allerton, in England, and defeat of the Irish under king David.

1280. NICHOLAS III, pope, died. His reign is noted for a missionary expedition to Tartary.

1357. ISABELLA, queen of England, died in prison, where she had been confined 28 years.

1485. Battle of Bosworth field, in which the forces of Richard III were defeated and himself killed. The forces of Richard exceeded 16,000, while those of Richmond did not amount to 5,000. The battle lasted little more than two hours, and was determined by the defection of Stanley. He is the only English king since the conquest who fell in battle, and the second who fought in his crown.

1540. Burial of WILLIAM BUDÆUS, a learned French critic and commentator; styled by Erasmus _Portentum Galliæ_ (the prodigy of France).

1567. Capt. GOURGES sailed from Bourdeaux to dislodge the Spaniards in Florida. (See May 3, 1568.)

1567. MURRAY proclaimed regent of Scotland.

1572. THOMAS PERCY, earl of Northumberland, beheaded at York.

1613. DOMINIQUE BAUDIUS died; advocate of the parliament of Paris, and author of some Latin poems.

1615. ARTHUR AGARD, a learned English antiquary, died.

1642. CHARLES I of England erected the royal standard at Nottingham. It was supposed equivalent to a declaration of hostilities.

1650. EUSEBIUS ANDREWS, an English barrister, and colonel in the army of Charles I, beheaded by Cromwell.

1651. CHRISTOPHER LOVE was beheaded at Tower hill. His offence was a desire to restore monarchy, that presbyterianism might succeed.

1711. An expedition from New England against Quebec, frustrated by the loss of a number of transports among the rocks, at midnight, about 9 miles up Canada river. About 1000 men perished.

1711. LEWIS FRANCIS DE BOUFFLERS, a distinguished French military character, died. He was opposed to prince Eugene, and celebrated for his defence of Lisle.

1739. JAMES VANIERE died; a French Jesuit and famous Latin poet.

1752. WILLIAM WHISTON, an eminent English divine, died. He was also a mathematician, and succeeded sir Isaac Newton as professor of mathematics at Cambridge.

1766. PHILIP CARTERET sailed from England in the sloop-of-war Swallow, on his voyage round the world, in company with captain Wallis in the Dolphin. They parted company April 10, 1767; the latter returned in 1768, the former March 20, 1769.

1773. GEORGE LYTTLETON, an elegant English poet, historian and miscellaneous writer, died.

1776. The British troops, 24,000, under lord and sir William Howe, landed on Long island, between Gravesend and Utrecht.

1777. The siege of fort Stanwix raised by St. Leger, who retreated in great confusion, losing his tents, most of his artillery and stores.

1777. An unsuccessful attempt was made by general Sullivan and colonel Ogden on Staten island. The latter took 130 privates and some officers, burnt a magazine of hay and 7 vessels, and destroyed some stores, &c. The general deviated from his original plan, whence his enterprise was not so completely successful.

1778. Count D'ESTAING sailed from Newport for Boston, which compelled general Sullivan to raise the siege of Newport and fall back; 2 or 3,000 volunteers having left him in consequence.

1779. General WILLIAMSON and colonel PICKENS entered the Indian country, and burned about 50,000 bushels of corn in eight of their towns.

1779. CHARLES CLERKE, the English circumnavigator, died of consumption off Kamschatka, and was buried at Paratounca. He had but a short time previous succeeded captain Cook in the command of the expedition.

1792. Longroy, in France, captured by CLAIRFAIT, with 3,500 troops and 71 cannon.

1795. French convention adopted a new constitution, by which a council of 500 was established, and a council of ancients consisting of 250.

1798. The French under general Humbert landed in Ireland and took possession of Killala. (18th.)

1808. Armistice signed by the French general JUNOT and sir ARTHUR WELLESLEY, by which the French agreed to evacuate Portugal.

1814. The inhabitants of Nantucket declared themselves neutral, under the protection of England. Same day 27 sail of square rigged British vessels arrived at Benedict; commodore Barney, in conformity to his orders blew up his flotilla and retreated to Nottingham. The British landed and marched to Marlborough.

1818. WARREN HASTINGS, an English statesman and scholar, died. He was employed in the service of the East India company, and by oppression and injustice raised the revenue of the company from three to five millions pounds.

1826. A barge belonging to Beechey's expedition reached longitude 156° 21´ west. Here they were embedded in ice some days, and were about to abandon the bark, and return on foot 120 miles, to the ship, when it was fortunately extricated, and made sail to rejoin the ship.

1828. FRANZ JOSEPH GALL, founder of the science of phrenology, died at Paris, aged 71. His works are voluminous; his style is characterized as vivid and powerful; his description as accurate and striking: and he may be looked upon as one of the most remarkable men of his age.

1848. The rail road train made the transit from Springfield to Hartford, 26 miles, in 33 minutes.

1849. The fortress of Moultan was destroyed by a freshet, "remaining an island of mud in an expanse of waters."

1849. A convention called the Peace congress, opened its sittings at Paris.

1849. Venice capitulated to marshal Radetsky.

1850. NATHANIEL BERRY died at Gardiner, Me., aged 94; a member of Washington's life guard.

1851. The American yacht America, at the regatta at Cowes, England, won the "cup of all nations."

1852. ÆNEAS MUNSON, the oldest graduate of Yale college, died at New Haven, aged 89. He was an assistant surgeon in the war of the revolution, afterwards became a merchant, and for a long period was president successively of several banks.

1853. PIETRO BACHI, a Sicilian exile, died at Boston, aged 66. Being implicated in Murat's attempt to reascend the throne in 1815, he was banished, and arrived in America in 1825. He was highly accomplished in ancient and modern languages, and became an instructor of Italian in Harvard college.

AUGUST 23.

634. ABDALLAH ATIK BEN ABI KOHAFAH, better known as Abu Bekr, died. He was the first caliph or successor of Mohammed in the government of the faithful. He enlarged the empire, and caused the precepts of the prophet to be collected in a volume, called _Al Koran_, which is the sacred and classical book of the Mohammedans.

1305. WILLIAM WALLACE, "the peerless knight of Ellerslie," at the age of about 35, executed on Tower hill, and his head set up on London bridge, to the public gaze.

1350. PHILIP DE VALOIS, king of France, died. His crown was disputed by Edward VIII of England, which gave rise to a disastrous war.

1400. Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, burnt by the armies of Henry IV of England.

1481. THOMAS LITTLETON died; a celebrated English judge in the time of Edward IV, and author of a treatise on tenures or titles, by which all estates were anciently held in England.

1500. Don FRANCISCO DE BOBADILLA arrived at St. Domingo, a royal commissioner to inquire into the conduct of Columbus.

1532. WILLIAM WARHAM, bishop of Canterbury, died; some time chancellor of England, from which office he was removed to make room for Wolsey.

1622. _The Certain News of the Present Week_ is the title of a small quarto of 18 pages published this day in London, supposed to be the first weekly newspaper in England.

1628. GEORGE VILLIERS, duke of Buckingham, a noted English statesman, assassinated, at the age of 36.

1630. The first court of assistants held at Charlestown, Mass. They determined that ministers should be settled, houses built and salaries raised for them at the public expense. They settled the price of mechanical labor; carpenters, joiners, bricklayers, sawyers and thatchers, should take no more than 2_s._ a day, under a penalty of 10_s._ to giver and taker. At this court Edward Palmer was sentenced for extortion, in charging 2_l._ 13_s._ 4_d._ for the wood work of Boston stocks, to sit in them one hour and pay a fine of five pounds.

1642. JOHN GEORGE WIRSUNGUS, an Italian anatomist, assassinated. He was professor of anatomy at Padua, where he discovered and explained the pancreatic duct.

1679. WILLIAM OWTRAM died; an eminent English preacher and scholar in the reign of Charles II.

1686. Buda, the capital of Hungary, after being in possession of the Turks for 145 years, was taken by the imperialists.

1693. The first printing executed in New York, was a proclamation of governor Fletcher bearing this date.

1719. HENRY CLEMENTS, an eminent bookseller in London, died. His death was memorable on account of the occasion it furnished for the publication of his funeral sermon, entitled _the Christian's Support under the Loss of Friends_.

1720. JAMES VERGIER, a French poet, assassinated at Paris. He possessed great talents; but dissipation and licentiousness were unfortunately his distinguishing characteristics.

1723. INCREASE MATHER died; a New England clergyman during the witchcraft delusion, which he labored to mitigate. It is said that he usually spent 16 hours a day in study; the number of his publications was 85, the number of his years 84. (His tomb stone says Aug. 27.)

1727. HOSIER, the English admiral, died off Porto Bello. He had been sent out the year previous with 7 ships of war to intercept the Spanish galleons. On his arrival the galleons unloaded their treasure, and to prevent them from sailing the fleet lay off that pestilential coast until both the ships and their crews were desolated. Glover, author of a little poem called _Admiral Hosier's Ghost_, represents the number of dead at 3,000.

1756. Foundation stone of Columbia college laid at New York.

1782. HENRY LEWIS DU HAMEL died at Paris; eminent for his knowledge of mechanics, agriculture and commerce.

1782. Cape River fort surprised and carried by assault by the British captain Campbell with 150 negroes. He lost but 2 killed; Spanish loss 65 killed, 9 taken, mostly wounded.

1789. SILAS DEANE, minister of the United States to France in 1776, died in England in extreme poverty.

1793. Massacre of the French in St. Domingo.

1793. The British took Pondicherry from the French.

1795. French convention decreed that all assemblies known by the name of clubs or popular societies in France, should be suppressed immediately, their places of meeting shut up, and the keys delivered to the secretary of the town house.

1795. WILLIAM BRADFORD died at Philadelphia, aged 39; some time attorney general of the United States, and known as an author and poet.

1804. Tripoli bombarded the third time by the American commodore Preble, from 2 P. M., until daylight the next morning, without much effect.

1806. CHARLES AUGUSTIN DE COULOMB, a French engineer, died. He is noted for his brilliant experiments and discoveries in electricity and magnetism.

1813. Battle of Gross-Beeren, near Berlin in Prussia; the French under Oudinot, about 80,000, defeated with considerable loss.

1813. ALEXANDER WILSON, the naturalist, died at Philadelphia; author of the _American Ornithology_, 7 vols. 4to, a work of great accuracy and comprehensiveness.

1818. First steamer from Buffalo to Detroit.

1820. OLIVER HAZARD PERRY, a distinguished American naval officer, died at Trinidad of yellow fever, on the anniversary of his birth day, which was the 23d August, 1785. His victory on lake Erie over a British force superior in men and guns to his own, has given his name a permanent place in the history of his country.

1826. KOLLER, an Austrian general, died. He accompanied Napoleon, where he had to protect him against the rabble infuriated by priests and ultras, which was done by an exchange of garments. He left a valuable collection of antiques.

1835. ISAAC POCOCKE died; one of the most successful dramatic writers of his day.

1835. Massacre at Para in Brazil by the Indians. The attack commenced on the 14th. The United States consul barely escaped with his life. It is supposed that the slaughter must have been immense, and a more complete sack of any city probably never took place.

1850. CHARLES DYER, a midshipman in the United States navy, was drowned at Pensacola, in nobly attempting to save the crew of a vessel in distress. ALEXANDER HALE, assistant engineer in the service and a graduate of Yale college, lost his life also in the same cause.

1855. HENRY LAWSON, an English astronomer, died at Bath, aged 81.

AUGUST 24.

79. First eruption on record of Vesuvius, which overwhelmed the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii, and destroyed the _martyr of nature_. The younger Pliny, the nephew of that greater man, has described the terrific catastrophe in two letters to Tacitus.

93. CNEIUS JULIUS AGRICOLA, a celebrated Roman general, died. He was governor in Great Britain, and by doubling the northern point of Scotland, first discovered it to be an island. (Sept. 1st?)

410. ALARIC, at the head of the Goths, entered Rome at midnight, and gave up the town to be pillaged for six days, but with orders to his soldiers to be sparing of blood, to respect the honor of the women, and not to burn the buildings dedicated to religion. A part of the city was burnt, and many ancient works of art destroyed. The treasures of the city collected from all parts of the world fell a prey to the barbarians, and the once proud mistress of the world experienced a severe retribution for the sufferings which her heroes had caused to so many cities, countries and nations.

1227. GENGIS-KHAN, a renowned Mogul prince, died. He suddenly rose from the lowest fortunes, and in the space of 28 years subdued the greater part of Asia.

1344. Battle of Cressy, which gained Edward, the black prince, immortal honor. Here was slain the blind king of the Bohemians, the ornaments on whose sword were adopted as the coat of arms of the princes of Wales, _Ich Dien_, with three ostrich feathers.

1481. ALPHONSO V, of Portugal, died of plague. He was a great patron of learning, and conquered several places belonging to the Moors.

1525. FRANCIS I, king of France, entered Madrid a prisoner to the emperor Charles V.

1572. Massacre of St. Bartholomews, which commenced in the city of Paris, and was continued throughout the kingdom during thirty days. The number of protestants who were butchered in this bloody affair, is estimated at 30,000, and by others at 70,000.

1572. GASPARD DE COLIGNY, admiral of France, fell at the massacre of St. Bartholomews. He was distinguished for valor in battle, for strict discipline, and for his conquests over the Spaniards; and was feared by the court as the powerful leader of the Calvinist party.

1581. An assemblage of divines deputed by the states of Carniola, Styria and Carinthia, met at Laybach, to examine and revise the translation of the _Vandalie Bible_.

1605. The Turks having overrun the Persian provinces along the Caspian sea, their army of 100,000 was met by 66,000 Persians under schah Abbas, and completely overthrown.

1634. ABBASAH, pasha of Erzerum, executed. He was the untiring enemy of the Janisaries, who succeeded in awakening the suspicions of the sultan Murad IV.

1653. An act passed by the parliament of the commonwealth of England permitting marriages to be solemnized by justices of the peace.

1662. The English act of uniformity in religion took effect; about 2,000 ministers were ejected from their benefices, without any provision for themselves or their families. Soon after they were banished five miles distant from every corporation in England. Several ultimately died in prison, for exercising their ministry in private, contrary to law; but a considerable number of them found an asylum in New England.

1682. The duke of York conveyed to William Penn all his right to the three lower counties on the Delaware river, now state of Delaware.

1683. JOHN OWEN, an English non-conformist divine, died, aged 63. He preached the first sermon before parliament after the execution of Charles I, was promoted to high places under Cromwell, which he lost at the restoration, by the influence of the presbyterian party. His works, which are of a high Calvinistic character, amount to 7 vols. folio, 20 quarto and 30 octavo. (See Oct. 15, 1651.)

1702. Sixth action between the British fleet, admiral Benbow, and the French under Du Casse. The brave English admiral had his leg carried off by a chain shot, and received two other wounds.

1756. Eighty Acadians arrived in New York from Georgia.

1777. General WASHINGTON marched his troops through Philadelphia for the Chesapeake.

1781. The allied French and American army under Washington and Rochambeau crossed the Hudson river and marched for Philadelphia.

1782. JEAN DE LA PEROUSE, a distinguished French seaman and navigator, took fort York, on Hudson's bay, from the English. Here he found a manuscript of Hearne's journey to the Coppermine river, which Hearne received back as his private property on condition of publication.

1793. Marseilles subjected to the French convention, against which it had revolted.

1797. THOMAS CHITTENDEN, first governor of Vermont, died, aged 67.

1799. BONAPARTE left Egypt.

1803. GREGORY FONTANA, a Swiss mathematician, died; distinguished as a professor and an author, during a period of thirty years, in Italy.

1811. Swiss cantons recalled their troops from the British service, and voted 6,000 additional men for the French service.

1814. Battle of Bladensburg, and capture of Washington city by the British under general Ross and admiral Cockburn. The capitol, president's house and public offices were burnt in a spirit unworthy of any nation. A dreadful retribution, however, overtook them, by the explosion of a magazine, by which one half their number was either killed or wounded. American loss, 40 killed, 60 wounded.

1829. REUBEN KELSEY died at Fairfield, Vt., of voluntary starvation, after a fast of 52 days, during which he took no other nourishment than water.

1833. ADRIAN HARDY HAWORTH died of cholera in England: a distinguished botanist, entomologist and ornithologist; author of the _Lepidoptera Britannica_, and various other works.

1842. BENJAMIN WRIGHT, a distinguished American civil engineer, died. The great Erie canal afforded him an opportunity for the exercise of his mathematical knowledge.

1844. Great outrages committed in Rensselaer county, New York, by the tenantry on Rensselaerwick.

1845. SAMUEL HASKELL, the oldest episcopal minister of the state of New York, died at New Rochelle.

1848. The American ship Ocean Monarch burnt in the Irish channel, and more than 170 lives lost.

1849. JOHN PIERCE, of the Congregational church, Brookline, Mass., died. He was distinguished as a preacher and one of the earliest advocates of total abstinence from intoxicating drinks in the state.

1849. The chamber of representatives of Hayti, acting upon a petition which had been circulated one day, brought in a bill conferring the title and dignity of emperor upon Faustin Soulouque, the president of that government.

1851. JAMES MCDOWELL, a Virginia statesman, died. He was sometime governor of the state, and representative to congress.

1851. A fire in Concord, New Hampshire, destroyed the best part of the business portion of the town.

1851. During devotional exercises at the jail in San Francisco, two prisoners, Samuel Whittaker and Samuel McKenzie, were taken from the jailer by force, and hung by the vigilance committee.

1852. JOSEPH VANCE, an Ohio statesman, died. He served the state in various stations, being governor in 1836.

1857. THOMAS CLAYTON, a Delaware judge, died at Newcastle, aged 76. He was sixteen years in congress and occupied the bench with ability for a long time.

AUGUST 25.

383. GRATIANUS, emperor of Rome, assassinated at the age of 24. He was a powerful Christian ruler, but of an unfortunate turn of mind to conduct a government.

1170. STRONGBOW, under king Dermot, carried Dublin by storm.

1270. LOUIS IX, of France, died. He made two crusades for the recovery of the Holy Land, and died of a contagion off Tunis, in Africa.

1313. HENRY VII, emperor of Germany, died. He entered Rome sword in hand, at a time when the country was distracted by the war of the Guelphs and Ghibelines, and was crowned by the pope.

1381. An eruption of Etna, which consumed all the olive yards around Catania.

1482. MARGARET, of Anjou, queen of Henry VI, of England, died. She became conspicuous by her heroism in battle for the rescue of her husband, and being taken prisoner was ransomed with 50,000 crowns.

1576. The earl of ESSEX died in Ireland, suspected to be poisoned by the earl of Leicester, who married his widow.

1585. Sir RICHARD GRENVILLE, planted the first English colony in America, on the island of Roanoke, consisting of 107 persons. This settlement was begun 17 years after the French had abandoned Florida, on the same coast, but far to the north of the settlements for which France and Spain had contended. The expedition was fitted out by Sir Walter Raleigh, and consisted of 7 ships.

1654. Battle of Arras, in France; the Spaniards under Conti defeated by Turenne.

1675. Battle of Sugarloaf hill, a few miles above Hatfield, on the Connecticut river. The Hadley Indians had betrayed their conspiracy with Philip's party, by fleeing from their dwellings, were pursued by captains Lathrop and Beers, and overtaken at this place, where a skirmish took place, in which 9 or 10 of the English fell, and about 26 Indians.

1725. A Hungarian picture of this date has the following inscription: "John Roven, in the 172d year of his age, and Sarah, his wife, in the 164th year of her age. They have been married 147 years, and both born and died at Stradovia. Their children, two sons and two daughters, yet live; the youngest son is 116 years of age."

1758. Battle of Zorndorf between the Prussians, 30,000, under Frederick the Great, and 50,000 Russians, under Fermor. The Russians were defeated, with the loss of 19,000 killed, and 3,000 taken, and 103 cannon. Prussian loss, 10,000 killed. This was the bloodiest and one of the most remarkable battles of the seven years' war.

1770. THOMAS CHATTERTON, an English poet of astonishing genius, died at the age of 18, by taking poison, to escape hunger and misery.

1776. DAVID HUME, the Scottish historian, died. His _History of England_ is a work of great merit, and has long been the most popular work of the kind.

1782. A large foraging party of British attacked at Combahee, in South Carolina, by the Americans under general Gist and colonel Laurens, who captured a schooner. Laurens was mortally wounded, and died aged 27.

1788. Archbishop SENS, premier of France under Louis XVI, seeing the finances of the state utterly desperate, and fearing for the king and more for himself, retired from the administration, and left the monarch, while bankruptcy and famine threatened the kingdom, to manage as he might, amid the storms which the measures of the minister himself had provoked to the uttermost. He fled to Italy with the greatest expedition, after having sent his resignation to his unfortunate sovereign.

1789. MARY WASHINGTON, mother of the illustrious general, died at Fredericksburgh, Va., aged 82.

1796. LAFAYETTE and other prisoners released from the castle of Olmutz, at the requisition of the French government.

1797. JOHN BAPTIST LOUVET DE COUVRAY, a French advocate, died; distinguished as an actor in the revolution, and an author.

1799. JOHN ARNOLD, eminent for his improvements in the mechanism of timekeepers, died. He was the inventor of the expansion balance and detached escapement, and was the first artist who applied the gold cylindrical spring to the balance of a timepiece.