Part 76

1634. About sixty men, women and children, with their horses, cattle and swine, commenced a journey from the vicinity of Boston, through the wilderness to Connecticut river. After a tedious journey of fourteen days through swamps and over mountains and rivers, they arrived at the place of their destination, and commenced the settlements of Hartford, Windsor and Weathersfield.

1644. GABRIEL DU PINEAU, an eminent French _avocat_, died; celebrated for his genius and eloquence; his counsel was often sought by the court, and he acquired the title of father of the people.

1651. JOHN OWEN, an eminent English divine, died. His works amount to 7 vols. folio, 20 quarto, and 30 octavo.

1651. King CHARLES II, who since his defeat at Worcester had wandered about from one royalist family to another, sleeping in their barns at night and concealing himself in the woods by day, escaped to France. A large oak on which he frequently stood in the woods near White-ladies, obtained the name of the royal oak.

1671. JOHN AMOS COMENIUS, an eminent German protestant divine and grammarian, died.

1711. The Edgar, admiral Hovenburgh's ship, blown up with 400 seamen on board, the officers being on shore.

1728. BERNARD DE LA MONNOYE, an elegant French poet, died. He also wrote in Greek, Latin and Italian.

1743. JOHN OZELL, an indefatigable English writer, died; he is immortalized by Pope in the _Dunciad_.

1760. Battle of Campen; the French defeated the prince of Brunswick, who had a horse killed under him, and lost 1,600 men, chiefly British troops.

1764. GIBBON says that on this day, as he sat musing among the ruins of the Roman capitol, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter, he first conceived the idea of writing the _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_.

1778. PULASKI'S infantry surprised in the night by the British, and 50 killed, including baron de Bose. The timely arrival of Pulaski with the cavalry alone saved them from utter destruction.

1783. PILATRE DE ROZIER, the first aerial adventurer, made his first ascension from a garden in Paris. The balloon was of an oval shape.

1793. Battle of Tirlemont; the French defeated by the Austrians under Clairfait, with the loss of 2,000 killed, and 24 cannon, &c.

1793. Battle of Maubege; the French under Jourdan defeated the prince of Coburg, being his first defeat in a pitched battle, and compelled him to repass the Sambre.

1797. Celebration at Mantua of the birthday of the poet Virgil, when handsome dowries, raised by voluntary contributions among the "friends of learning and rural felicity," were distributed among fifty poor girls, who were the same day married to fifty industrious but poor young men.

1806. PAUL JOSEPH BARTHEZ, a learned French physician, died. He founded the celebrated medical school at Montpellier, and acquired so great reputation that he became a member of almost every learned society, and some of his works were translated into most of the European languages.

1808. JAMES ANDERSON, an eminent Scottish writer, died. His first literary productions were on agriculture, which produced a greatly increased attention to the subject. His learning and research were conspicuous in the various subjects on which he wrote, and he was an original and accurate thinker.

1812. Action between United States frigate President, commodore Rodgers, and British packet Swallow; the latter was captured, with nearly $200,000 on board.

1814. Skirmish between detachments of the armies of the American generals Brown and Izard, each of whom had advanced to reconnoitre the British works. Four men were killed before the mistake was discovered.

1838. LETITIA ELIZABETH MCLEAN (better known as _L. E. L._), died at Cape-Coast castle, Africa, of which settlement her husband was governor. Her writings consist of poems and novels.

OCTOBER 16.

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.

OCTOBER 17.

940. ATHELSTAN, king of England, died. He was bountiful, wise and affable; ascended the throne at the age of 30; became distinguished by the titles of _conqueror_ and _faithful_, and left behind him a name of great renown, respected at home and abroad.

1346. Battle of Nevil's Cross; the Scots under king David Bruce signally defeated by the English under Philippa and lord Percy. Bruce was taken prisoner and 15,000 of his men slain.

1492. COLUMBUS named the more civilized island Fernandino, now Largo. The men wore cotton mantles, and the women a band of that manufacture round the waist.

1509. PHILIP DE COMINES, an excellent French historian, died, leaving behind him _Memoirs of his Own Times_.

1552. ANDREW OSIANDER died; a Bavarian, one of Luther's first disciples; a professor at Konigsburg, and a voluminous writer.

1616. JOHN PITS, an English biographer, died. He collected the lives of the kings, bishops, apostolical men and writers of England in four large volumes.

1662. The seaport Dunkirk, in France, sold to the English for five million livres. The annual charge of the place (£120,000) far exceeded its intrinsic importance.

1678. EDMUNDBURY GODFREY, before whom Oates gave evidence of the popish plot against the king of England, was found in a field with his sword through his body; verdict of the jury was, that he had been strangled.

1683. An assembly of the representatives of the freeholders of the province of New York, first met in assembly under governor Dongan.

1740. The Czarina ANNE, empress of Russia, died.

1748. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, between England, France and Spain. The British took, during the war, 1,249 Spanish and 2,185 French prizes; total 3,434. The Spaniards captured 1,360, and the French 1,878 British vessels; total 3,238.

1758. ROLAND MICHAEL BARRIA DE GALISSONIERE, a French admiral, died. After serving with distinction in the navy, he was made governor of Canada.

1758. JOHN WARD, an English dissenting minister, died; remembered for the assistance he rendered to many of the learned works of his day.

1775. Two men and eleven horses killed by the lightning which proceeded from a volcanic steam cloud of the Katlagia burning mountain, in the island of Iceland.

1777. BURGOYNE, after losing 3,461 men at Stillwater and other places, surrendered the remainder of his army (5,752), to the Americans under Gen. Gates, conditioned not to serve again in North America during the present contest. Thus was extinguished an army of 9,213 men, including volunteers. The army of Gates amounted to 10,557 effective men.

1781. Several new batteries were opened by the Americans in the second parallel, against Yorktown. In the judgment of Cornwallis and his engineers, the place was no longer tenable; and in a letter to Washington he requested a cessation of hostilities to prepare for a capitulation.

1781. EDWARD HAWKE, a brave and intrepid English admiral, died.

1793. Battle of Cholet, the Vendeans defeated by the French. The actions of _Hagenau_ and _Brumpt_ took place on the same day, in both of which the allies defeated the French.

1797. Treaty of Campio Formio between Bonaparte and the emperor of Austria.

1803. Agra in Hindostan taken by the British.

1805. Ulm surrendered by the Austrian general Mack to Bonaparte, and was delivered up on the 20th. The archduke with a corps of 17,000 Austrians effected his escape the night before by a masterly piece of generalship, leaving 40,000 behind who became prisoners to the French.

1806. Battle of Halle; prince Eugene of Wirtemburg defeated by the French under Bernadotte; 34 cannon and 5,000 prisoners were taken.

1806. JACQUES DESSALINES, the black emperor of Hayti, assassinated.

1829. The Delaware and Chesapeake canal opened.

1834. Both houses of the British parliament destroyed by fire. They were not very remarkable for elegance or convenience; but with them was destroyed the celebrated tapestry that hung upon the walls of the house of lords, representing the defeat of the famous Spanish armada, a relic of great value in the eyes of the antiquary.

1837. JOHN HUMMEL, an eminent musical composer, founder of the modern school of pianoforte music, died at Weimar, in Germany.

1848. Vienna in a state of siege; the imperial troops drawn close around the city, and deputations passed from the diet at Vienna to the emperor at Olmutz. Kossuth withdrew the Hungarian army within their own frontier.

1853. A party of 45 men under colonel Walker, sailed from San Francisco for the purpose of establishing a republic in lower California.

1854. The allies opened their first fire from the fleet and batteries upon Sebastopol. The loss of the Russians was 500 killed; of the allies 90, and 300 wounded.

OCTOBER 18.

447 B. C. Battle of Coronea; the Bœotians gained a great and most important victory over the Athenians. Clinias, the father of Alcibiades, and Tolmides, fell.

33. AGRIPPINA, the virtuous wife of Germanicus Cæsar, died in exile of starvation. She was banished after the death of her husband.

1216. JOHN (_Lackland_), king of England, died, aged 47. No prince in English history has been transmitted to posterity in darker colors; ingratitude, cruelty, and perfidy, were habitual in his character.

1547. JAMES SADOLET, a polite and learned Italian writer and cardinal, died.

1564. Captain JOHN HAWKINS sailed from Plymouth, England, with four sail for the African coast; which was the first slave trade adventure, and the opening of that infernal commerce. The negroes were taken to Hispaniola, and sold to the Spaniards.

1605. JOHN RIOLAN died; a Paris physician and writer on anatomy and medicine.

1631. Corn made a legal tender in Massachusetts, unless money or beaver were expressly stipulated.

1633. A royal declaration ordered to be read in churches, reviving in England, wakes, lawful sports and recreations, after divine service on sabbaths.

1744. The duchess dowager of Marlborough died in her 85th year, leaving many legacies. She was the famous Sarah Jennings in queen Anne's days.

1757. RENE ANTHONY FERCHAULT DE REAUMUR, a French philosopher, died. He gave a new construction to the thermometer which bears his name, and wrote much on the various branches of natural philosophy.

1770. JOHN MANNERS died; an English nobleman, who distinguished himself at the head of the British forces in the German war, under Ferdinand of Brunswick.

1775. The Americans took Chamblee, in Canada, and for the first time captured the British colors; they also took 4 tons of powder.

1775. Falmouth, a town in the northeast part of Massachusetts, burnt. The inhabitants had obstructed some British movements, whereupon an armed vessel was sent to reduce the town to ashes. Of the dwelling houses, 139 were burnt, and 278 stores.

1783. FRANCIS XAVIER D'OLIVEYRA, a Portuguese statesman, died in England.

1783. The American army disbanded by proclamation.

1799. Treaty for the evacuation of Holland by the British and Russians.

1799. Three British frigates captured the Spanish galleon Santa Brigida, 36 guns and 320 men, with 1,500,000 Spanish dollars on board, and a cargo of merchandise, ivory, &c., of equal value.

1801. The Batavian republic again divided into the old provinces; the legislature was diminished to 35 deputies; the executive power extended to a council of twelve men.

1806. The French under Davoust took possession of Leipsic, in Saxony. They found there 15,000 quintals of flour, and British goods to an immense amount; sixty millions were offered as a ransom for the latter.

1809. Battle of Salamanca; the Spaniards defeated the French under Ney, and forced them to fall back with the loss of 1,500 men.

1811. The ladies of Cadiz formed a society to supply the wants of the Spanish soldiers.

1812. Action between the United States sloop of war Wasp, 18 guns, captain Jones, and British sloop of war Frolic, 22 guns; the latter captured in 45 minutes, with the loss of 30 killed, 50 wounded; Wasp had 5 killed, 5 wounded. Same day British ship Poictiers, 74 guns, came up with and captured both of them, the Wasp being too much damaged in her rigging to escape.

1812. Battle of Poltosk; the Russians under Witgenstein and Steingel attacked the French and Germans under St. Cyr, and compelled them to retire within their entrenchments.

1812. Battle of Garalavitz; the Russians under Benningsen defeated the French, 50,000, under Murat, killed 2,500, took 1,000 prisoners, 38 cannon, 40 ammunition wagons, and a large amount of spoil, besides the great standard of honor belonging to the regiment of cuirassiers.

1812. The French abandoned the city of Moscow; Napoleon, on learning the defeat of Murat, determined to march to his support with the whole French army.

1813. Second day's battle of Leipsic; the two great armies had paused one day to prepare for this grand contest. The forces of Napoleon were not less than 180,000; those of the allies had been swelled to near 300,000. The carnage was fearful, and the French were compelled to yield before an overwhelming superiority of numbers. The loss of Bonaparte on this day, including defections and prisoners, was not less than 80,000 men, 200 cannon, and an immense amount of baggage.

1813. THEODORE KOERNER, the German poet, was killed in the battle of Leipsic. He is particularly celebrated for the spirited poems which he composed in the campaign against Napoleon, in which he fell.

1814. Union of Norway and Sweden.

1815. BONAPARTE, the exiled emperor of France, with his suit, landed at St. Helena.

1817. STEPHEN HENRY MEHUL, an eminent French musical composer, died.

1827. The last lottery authorized by the British government, drawn in London. In that lottery there were six prizes of $133,200 dollars each.

1833. Captain JOHN ROSS, who left England in 1829 in search of a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, returned on this day, after an absence of four years, and when all hopes of his return had been given up.

1840. The ceremony of the exhumation of the body of Napoleon Bonaparte was performed at St. Helena, with great parade, in order to be conveyed to Paris. The body, which had been embalmed by French physicians previous to interment, in 1821, was found in a state of complete preservation. (See Dec. 15.)

1841. A great flood of the Thames, caused by a succession of northerly gales; the water rose much higher than during the inundations of 1821 and 1828, and much property was destroyed.

1843. EBENEZER ELMER, an officer of the revolution, and the last survivor of the Jersey line, died at Bridgeton, aged 91.

1844. Destructive gale at Buffalo, carrying away part of the pier which protected the harbor, sinking vessels, and submerging a part of the city, by which more than fifty lives were lost.

1849. LEONIDAS WETMORE, an officer in the U. S. infantry, died on board a steam boat in the Mississippi. He was actively engaged in the Florida war, and participated in most of the hard fought battles of the Mexican campaign.

1850. DANIEL CLARK SANDERS, formerly president of the university of Vermont, died, aged 82. He published a history of the Indians, and kept a meteorological register to the day of his death.

1852. Commodore MCCAULEY, commander of the United States naval forces in the Pacific, by proclamation, withdrew his protection from American vessels proceeding to the Lobos islands for guano.

1854. FRANCIS BURT, governor of the territory of Nebraska, died at Bellevue, aged 45. He was a native of South Carolina, and resigned the office of third auditor of the treasury at Washington for the governorship, which he held hardly two weeks after his arrival.

OCTOBER 19.

202 B. C. Battle of Zama, in which Hannibal was defeated by Scipio.

125 B. C. The era of Tyre began, with the month Hyperberetæus. The months are the same as those used in the Grecian era; the year similar to the Julian.

1453. The fall of Bordeaux, after a siege of seven weeks, when Guienne, an English province, was incorporated with the French monarchy.

1492. COLUMBUS discovered the island of Isabella.

1608. GEOFFREY FENTON, an eminent English writer, died. He served queen Elizabeth in Ireland, where he was promoted.

1619. JAMES ARMINIUS, founder of the Arminians, died. He was professor of divinity at Leyden; his writings are all on controversial and theological subjects.

1630. First general court of the Massachusetts colony held at Boston. Many of the first planters attended and were made free of the colony. The number of freemen this year was 110.

1640. ALBERTUS MIRÆUS, a learned German writer, died.

1645. Newcastle in England, a fortress of considerable strength, taken by the Scots under Leven. The place had been besieged ten weeks when the Scottish general directed a furious cannonade against the walls; at nightfall the besiegers advanced to the onset, and after two hours' hard fighting at the breaches, forced their entry.

1655. The kirk of Scotland refused to observe the _fast day_ ordered by the protector, on the ground that the church should receive no directions from civil magistrates when to keep fasts.

1660. Colonels AXTEL and HACKER executed for the murder of Charles I of England. Axtel commanded the guard that attended the king to the scaffold.

1675. Attack on Hadley, Mass., by the Indians to the number of seven or eight hundred. Nearly all the towns on that river had been either totally destroyed or greatly injured during this season by the savages. They attacked this place in all quarters, but were so warmly received at all points, that after burning a few barns and outhouses, they hastened away as fast as they had come on. The town happened to be garrisoned, and the companies stationed at the neighboring towns hastened to their relief. This was the last attempt upon these settlements this season, the Indians retiring to their general rendezvous at Narragansett. Great numbers of them had been killed, and a greater number had perished by other means.

1682. THOMAS BROWN, an eminent English physician and writer, died.

1690. ISAAC BENSERADE, a French poet, died.

1745. JONATHAN SWIFT, the eccentric dean of St. Patrick's, died, aged 78, in a state of idiocy, leaving £10,000 to found a hospital for lunatics and idiots.

1749. WILLIAM GED, an ingenious Scottish artist, died; memorable for a new invention in the art of printing, called stereotyping.

1762. Dark day at Detroit; "one of the darkest days that ever was known."

1763. A patrol of horse commanded by sir John Fielding, established on the roads leading to London, to clear them of robbers and highwaymen.

1769. A terrible eruption of Vesuvius.

1780. Engagement at Palatine Bridge, N. Y.; colonel Brown killed.