The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
pay his debts.
1813. George Clymer, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, died. By the death of his parents he was left an orphan at the age of 7 years; but he was taken care of by his uncle, who left him a large fortune, with which to continue the business of a merchant in Philadelphia. His services to the country during the revolution, in raising supplies and devising ways and means to continue the struggle, were of incalculable importance.
1813. Horrible massacre of the United States prisoners taken by the British and Indians at the battle of Frenchtown the day before. The houses in which the helpless wounded lay were set on fire, and those who were too feeble to continue the march were shot or tomahawked on the road. It is morally certain that the British generals Proctor and Elliott were culpable for this wanton sacrifice of human life to satiate the revenge of the savages.
1813. Robert Jamison died in South Carolina, aged 104. His eyesight, which had failed him some years previous to his decease, returned again just before his death in all its strength.
1815. Thanksgiving day in New Orleans, and a solemn Te Deum on account of Jackson's victory.
1820. Edward, duke of Kent, died. He was the fourth son of George III. In 1802 he was appointed governor of Gibraltar, but his rigid discipline produced a mutiny, and he was recalled. The present queen of England is his daughter.
1824. Stephen Acour Kover, an Armenian writer of distinction, died, aged 84.
1833. Banastre Tarleton died, aged 78. He commanded the British cavalry in the Carolinas, in the revolution.
1841. Sarah Ann Davis sentenced at Philadelphia for murder; the first capital conviction of a female in Philadelphia.
1844. William Gaston died at Raleigh, the capital of his native state. The prudence and energy of his mother made a disposition, naturally volatile and irritable, become a pattern of patience and perseverance. His speeches when a member of congress were highly finished.
1853. Junius Smith died, aged 74; having devoted a considerable portion of his life to the establishment of transatlantic steam-navigation, and the naturalization of the teaplant in the United States.
1854. Alexander De Bodisco died at Georgetown. He was seventeen years Russian minister at Washington, and was very popular with the American people.
1855. There was an earthquake in a part of New Zealand, by which the surface of the earth was raised between three and four feet, and the shellfish attached to the rocks died.
JANUARY 24.
41. Caius Caligula, the Roman emperor, assassinated. He commenced his reign with every promise of becoming a good monarch. But at the end of eight months he was attacked with a fever, which appears to have left a frenzy upon his mind, for his disposition was totally reversed. After committing the most atrocious acts of cruelty and folly, he was assassinated by a tribune as he came out of the amphitheatre, in the 29th year of his age, and the 4th of his reign.
76. Birthday of Publius Ælius Adrian, the Roman emperor. He was a renowned general and great traveler; who, on a visit to Britain, built the famous wall or rampart, which still retains his name, extending from the mouth of the Tyne to the Solway frith, 80 miles, to prevent the incursions of the Caledonians into England.
1559. Christian II, king of Denmark, died. His history affords a series of cruelties and usurpations almost without a parallel, from 1515, when he ascended the throne, until 1523, when he was deposed. The remainder of his life was passed in imprisonment.
1709. George Rooke, an English admiral, died. He took the fortress of Gibraltar, by surprise, 1704; since which it has continued in the hands of the British, and is considered impregnable.
1712. Birthday of Frederick the Great of Prussia.
1727. Philip de Vendome, a French general, died. He distinguished himself in the army of Louis XIV.
1762. James Ralph, a voluminous writer of poetry, politics and history, died. He was an American by birth, but went over to England about 1729. He wrote a history of England, commencing with the Stuarts.
1781. The British garrison at Georgetown, South Carolina, surprised and taken by General Lee.
1793. The French minister, M. Chauvelin, ordered to quit England before the 1st of February.
1795. Lord Hood sailed from England, on an expedition against Corsica.
1797. At a dinner complimentary to Charles J. Fox, the chairman, the duke of Norfolk, gave as a toast, "Our sovereign's health, the majesty of the people;" for which offence he lost all his offices.
1812. Daniel McDonald died at Canajoharie, aged 102. He was a native of Ireland, born in the reign of Queen Anne, and had seen four monarchs on the English throne. He took an early and active part in the revolutionary war; and was possessed of a most remarkable degree of activity, both of body and mind, until the morning he expired.
1834. William Donnison, an officer of the revolution, died. He was appointed adjutant and inspector-general of the Massachusetts militia by Gov. Hancock in 1788, which office he held until 1813.
1838. Joseph Gouge, a revolutionary soldier, died, aged 109.
1838. Defeat of the Indians at Loche-Hatchee by the United States troops under Gen. Jessup; loss of the latter, 7 killed and 32 wounded.
1841. Matthias Denman, an enterprising western pioneer, and in early life one of the first owners of the land on which Cincinnati now stands, died at Springfield, N. J., aged 91.
1851. G. L. P. Spontini died in Italy; a celebrated dramatic composer, in the line of opera.
1857. Dr. Medhurst, English missionary to China, died, aged 71. He was also a noted linguist, and author of a work on China, a Chinese dictionary, and a Japanese and English vocabulary.
JANUARY 25.
275. Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, emperor of Rome, assassinated. He was the son of a peasant; his mother a priestess of the Temple of the Sun. He enlisted as a common soldier, and rose from that humble station to the highest military offices during the reigns of Valerian and Claudius, the latter of whom, on his death bed, recommended Aurelian to the choice of the troops. He delivered Italy from the barbarians, and conquered the famous Zenobia queen of Palmyra. He had planned an expedition against Persia, and was waiting in Thrace for an opportunity to cross the straits when he fell a victim to a conspiracy.
1327. Edward II of England, then a prisoner in Kenilworth castle, compelled to resign his crown in favor of his son, Edward III.
1533. Henry VIII privately married to Ann Boleyn in a garret at Whitehall.
1640. Robert Burton, an English divine, died. He is known principally by his Anatomy of Melancholy, a rare book, which it is said he wrote to divert his own thoughts from that feeling.
1692. The Indians, accompanied by some French, attacked the town of York in Maine, killed 50 and carried away 100 of the inhabitants, and destroyed the town.
1717. The episcopal clergy of Scotland, who had before been fined for not praying for King George by name were forced to abscond or fly their country.
1726. William de Lisle,