The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
education while abroad.
1840. Henry William Matthew Albers, a celebrated astronomer, and practicing physician at Bremen, died, aged 81. He acquired a lasting reputation by the discovery of the planet Pallas, in 1802, and of Vesta, in 1807.
1841. First daily paper in Brooklyn published.
1843. Asa Packard, aged 84, died at Lancaster, Mass. He was a soldier of the revolution, and for nearly 70 years carried a musket bullet in his body.
1845. Judah Alden, a distinguished officer of the American revolutionary army, died at Duxbury, Mass.
1849. James Morier, the celebrated author of Hajji Baba, and other works, died.
1852. The town of St. Bartholomew, one of the Antilles, nearly destroyed by fire; 120 houses and stores having been burned in the space of four hours.
1852. Marmont, duke of Ragusa, died at Venice, aged 78. He was the last of Napoleon's marshals.
1855. Nicholas I, emperor of Russia, died, aged 59. He came to the throne in 1826, and his reign was devoted to strengthening the power and extending the domain of Russia.
1856. An earthquake in the island of Great Sangor, one of the Moluccas, by which 2,806 lives were lost.
MARCH 3.
1589. John Sturmius, a learned German grammarian and rhetorician, died. He was called the Cicero of Germany.
1633. George Herbert, an English divine and poet, died. Lord Bacon had so high an opinion of his judgment that he would not suffer his works to be published until they had been submitted to Herbert's examination.
1634. First colony arrived at Potomac for the settlement of Maryland, under Lord Baltimore. It consisted of 200 Catholics from England. The soil was purchased of the natives, and the foundation of the province was laid on the broad basis of security to property and of freedom in religion.
1703. Robert Hooke, an English mathematician and philosopher, died. He is noted for many useful inventions and improvements in mechanics; and his writings are numerous and valuable.
1722. Campegio Vitringa died; a learned author of Friesland, in the Netherlands.
1728. Camillo d'Hostun, count de Tallart, died. He was a brave general of the French, taken prisoner by the duke of Marlborough.
1760. Unsuccessful attack on the fort at Ninety-Six, by 200 Cherokee Indians.
1776. The Americana under Col. Bull burnt the British ship Inverness and six other vessels, near Savannah, laden for England.
1779. Battle of Briar Creek, when the Americans were surprised by the British under Provost, and lost 150 killed and 162 prisoners.
1780. Joseph Highmore, an eminent English painter, died. He was also a writer of considerable merit.
1791. The church plate in France was sent to the mint for coinage.
1792. Robert Adam, a Scotch architect, died. In connection with his brother, he built some of the first mansions in London; but the work for which they are chiefly celebrated, is the elegant range called the Adelphi, a Greek word denoting the relationship of brothers.
1796. Civic festival at the Hague on occasion of the installation of the Batavian national assembly.
1799. The advance guards of the French army arrived before Jaffa (the ancient Joppa) in Syria, and invested the city.
1802. County of St. Lawrence, in New York, erected.
1808. Johann Christ Fabricius died, one of the most celebrated entomologists of the eighteenth century. He was born 1742 at Sleswic in Denmark; studied medicine; but was afterwards induced to make an especial study of entomology, a science at that time in its infancy. He adopted a new arrangement of the insect tribe by choosing for his divisions the modifications observable in the parts of the mouth.
1808. The French West India island Marigalante taken by the British. It was colonized by the French, 1647; twice taken by the Dutch, and twice before by the British, and restored to the French, 1763.
1810. The great Elm tree at Kensington, Philadelphia, under which William Penn held his first treaty with the Indians in 1682, was blown down.
1815. War declared between the United States and Algiers.
1817. Lescure died at Beaulieu in France, aged 118. He enjoyed, at the time of his death, the vigorous use of his intellect.
1843. Com. Porter, a gallant American naval officer, died at Constantinople, where he was minister from the United States to the Sublime Porte.
1845. Florida admitted into the Union as an independent state.
1846. Henry Purkitt, one of those who assisted in the destruction of the tea in Boston harbor, died, aged 91.
1855. Robert Mills died, a civil engineer and architect, under whom the Washington Post office, Treasury building and Patent office were erected.
MARCH 4.
1193. Saladin the Great died at Damascus.
1530. Charles V granted to the knights of St. John, who had recently been expelled from the island of Rhodes by the Turks, the ownership of all the castles, fortresses, and isles of Tripoli, Malta and Gozo. Malta at the time was a shelterless rock, and the inhabitants, 12,000 in number, in a wretched condition.
1583. Bernard Gilpin, an eminent English prelate, died. He came near falling a victim to the fury of Bonner, and was only saved from the stake by the death of the queen. His life was spent in well doing.
1629. Massachusetts patent confirmed by Charles I, by the name of "the governor and company of Massachusetts bay in New England," Matthew Cradock first governor.
1674. The governing charter of Dundalk, in the county of South Ireland, bears this date. This town was the Dundalgan of the Irish Ossianic poems, and is of great antiquity.
1681. The charter of Pennsylvania signed and sealed by Charles II, constituting William Penn and his heirs true and absolute proprietaries of the province, saving to the crown their allegiance and the sovereignty.
1744. John Anstis died; an English antiquary, and a very eminent writer on heraldic subjects.
1765. William Stukeley, an English antiquary, died. He wrote ably as a divine, physician, historian and antiquary; was profound in British antiquities; a good botanist; erudite in ancient coins; drew well, and understood mechanics. The footsteps of the Romans were traced by him, and the temples of the ancient Britons explored. His antiquarian researches acquired him the name of Arch Druid.
1776. The Americans took possession of Dorchester heights, which were so far completed by day light as to excite the astonishment of the British, and render their position in Boston extremely hazardous.
1776. New Providence taken from the British by the American Commodore Ezekiel Hopkins. The governor, together with considerable military stores, fell into the hands of the victors.
1778. American frigate Alfred, 20 guns, taken by the British ships Ariadne and Ceres.
1782. The house of commons resolved that it would "consider as enemies to his majesty and the country, all those who