The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
afterwards Charles XIII. (By some authorities, March 15.)
1811. The French under Massena attacked at Redinha, Portugal, by the duke of Wellington, and compelled to fall back.
1813. Warren county, N. Y., erected.
1814. The allied British and Portuguese, under Marshal Beresford, took possession of Bordeaux in France, in the name of Louis XVIII.
1819. Robert Watt, author of the Bibliotheca Britannica, died. His family were severe sufferers by the failure of Constable & Co., of Edinburgh.
1837. M. de Pradt, archbishop of Malines, died at Paris, aged 78. He bore a conspicuous part in the political history of France, was often employed in important missions, and was the author of many political publications.
1843. Littleton Hunt, aged 107, died at Guinett, Ga. When a soldier of the revolutionary army he was severely wounded at the battle of Eutaw springs.
1844. Edward R. Shubrick, a brave and accomplished American naval officer, died on board his ship, the Columbia, off the coast of Brazil, aged 50.
1846. Jonathan Elliot, a well known newspaper editor and political writer, died at Washington, D. C.
1854. Hugh Macpherson died, aged 86; for 61 years professor of Greek at the university of Aberdeen.
1857. Rail road accident on the Great Western railway in Canada, by which a great number of persons were killed at a bridge over the Des Jardins canal.
1857. John Johnson, an old revolutionary soldier, died in Alleghany township, Westmoreland county, Penn., aged 103. He served in the continental army during the whole of the revolutionary war; fought at the battles of the White plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Stony point, Guilford court house, and Yorktown where Lord Cornwallis capitulated and surrendered to Gen. Washington, in all the battles and skirmishes of Gen. Anthony Wayne; and at the storming of Stony point by Wayne, he formed one of the forlorn hope.
MARCH 13.
565. Belisarius, a distinguished Roman general, died. He is memorable for his signal and momentous victories, and for his misfortunes. He was degraded to beg alms at the gates of Constantinople by the ungrateful emperor Justinian, to whom he had rendered the most important services.
1470. Battle near Stamford, England, in which Edward IV gained an important victory over his adversaries.
1493. Columbus arrived at Palos, from his first voyage of discovery.
1519. Cortez, on his expedition for the conquest of Mexico, landed at the mouth of the river Tabasco, and prepared to attack the town of the same name, in which about 12,000 warriors had assembled. Calling upon St. Jago, he fell upon the Indians, who were repulsed.
1521. Magellan discovered the Phillipine islands, on one of which he was killed by the natives.
1573. Michael de l'Hospital, chancellor of France, died. He was distinguished for the ability, integrity and mildness of his administration, which was cast in the midst of turbulence and faction.
1604. Arnaud d'Ossat, a celebrated French cardinal and statesman, died. His Despatches is highly recommended to the ambassador who hopes to succeed in his object.
1614. Bartholomew Legat burnt at Smithfield for the heresy of Arianism, under the reign of James I.
1676. Attack on Groton, Mass., by a body of 400 Indians, who had concealed themselves as usual in every part of the town during the night, in order to shoot down the inhabitants as they issued from their doors. The town was gathered into five garrisons, as those houses were called which were palisaded and otherwise protected from assault. Every man went constantly armed; and thus on a moment's warning, two of the enemy having been accidentally discovered, pursuit was made until they were drawn into an ambush and compelled to retreat. Another ambush in the meantime fell upon the opposite part of the town, and the flames arose from every unprotected building. Having pillaged every thing that fell in their way, and cast every indignity upon the bodies of their victims, they gave the garrison two or three volleys and disappeared. About 40 dwellings were burnt, with their outhouses; the town soon after broke up, and the inhabitants scattered to other settlements of greater safety.
1695. John de la Fontaine, the French poet, died. His compositions are characterized by a faithfulness to nature, and are totally unaffected.
1695. Peter Mignard, an eminent French painter, died. He was director and chancellor of the royal academy of painting.
1717. John Bell, the traveler, arrived at Ispahan, the residence of the Persian court, being in the retinue of the Russian ambassador, in the quality of physician. They were nearly two years on their journey from St. Petersburgh.
1726. Michael Bernard Valentin, a German botanist and professor of medicine at Giessen, died. He was an author on both sciences.
1775. George III gave his assent to the act restraining the commerce of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina.
1778. Charles le Beau, an eminent French scholar, died. He was professor of belles lettres at Paris, and author of a history of the lower empire, in 22 vols.
1779. Kerim Khan, king of Persia, died a natural death, an extraordinary circumstance in the modern history of that country. He was of the family of an obscure tribe of robbers, the Zunds of Kirdistan.
1781. Herschel discovered the planet which bears his name, then the most distant of all the known planets, its revolution round the sun occupying a period of not less than 83 of our years. He had devoted 18 months in surveying the heavens star by star, with a seven feet reflector when he made the discovery of this primary planet.
1798. The body of a hair dresser at Newport, England, was buried in the highway; reason assigned, his gluttonous eating, whereof he died.
1799. A fire broke out at Constantinople which destroyed 1300 houses, including the hotels of the British minister, and Austrian internuncio, and several other magnificent edifices.
1801. Battle near Lake Maadie in Egypt, between the British and French forces, in which the former were the greatest sufferers, losing 143 killed and 946 wounded.
1808. Christian VII of Denmark, died. He may be said to have been virtually dead for many years.
1813. Edward Long died. During a residence in the West Indies he collected materials for his History of Jamaica, in 3 vols. quarto. It contains a large mass of valuable information, and many spirited delineations of colonial scenery and manners. He returned to England and spent the remainder of his long life in literary pursuits.
1815. The allied powers engaged to aid Louis XVIII and declared Bonaparte to be without the pale of social and civil relations.
1815. General Jackson having received the ratification of the treaty of peace, revoked his order relative to martial law, ordered a final cessation of hostilities, and granted a general pardon for all military offences. The British took with them 199 negroes.
1824. Sophia Lee, an English dramatic writer and poetess, died, aged 74. The profits of her comedy of the Chapter of Accidents, were of great benefit to herself and sisters.
1835. A remarkable eruption of Vesuvius took place.
1845. John Frederick Daniel, who contributed so much to lighting the cities of Europe with gas, died of apoplexy while attending a meeting of the royal society, in London.
1848.