The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
on the field of battle.
35. Longinus, the penitent, who is said to have pierced the side of Christ, was killed at Cappadocia, probably in this year.
1079. A reformation in the Persian calendar effected by a general assembly of the Eastern astronomers. It is called the Gelalean era, but is only a renovation of that of Zoroaster, which had been neglected after the fall of the Magian empire.
1527. Pope Clement VII concluded a treaty with Lannoy, viceroy of Naples, which the duke of Bourbon disregarded, and marched for Rome.
1573. Michael de l'Hospital died. Few French statesmen were more liberal than him. He narrowly escaped the Bartholomew massacre, and his daughter, who had embraced the reformed religion was saved by the widow duchess of Guise, who concealed her.
1617. Thomas Egerton, an eminent and learned English lawyer, died. He was chancellor under James I.
1655. Theodore Mayerne, an eminent physician, died. He was born in Switzerland, studied in France, and settled in England in the service of James I, where he died.
1660. Dr. Wren, bishop of Ely, released after fifteen years' imprisonment.
1665. James, duke of York, established at Gunfleet the first regular system of naval warfare in England.
1672. The famed act of indulgence, passed by Charles II, containing a clause for liberty of conscience.
1743. John Baptist Molinier died; a distinguished preacher and theological writer of Toulouse.
1754. Denys Francis Secousse, a learned Frenchman, died. He was one of the first pupils of Rollin, and left the bar for the study of literature.
1781. Battle of Guilford court house, in North Carolina, in which 4,400 Americans, principally militia, under Gen. Greene, were defeated by 2,400 British regulars under Cornwallis. Loss of the Americans 400 killed; British loss 532 killed.
1784. Thomas Franklin, an English scholar and divine, died. He was possessed of no inconsiderable share of learning and poetical abilities, and was long a favorite in the literary world; translated Sophocles, Phalaris, Lucian and Voltaire, and is the author of a comedy and two tragedies, which were received with great applause.
1798. Chenango co., N. Y., erected; and the following year (1799) Oneida was formed.
1804. The Duke d'Enghien seized by a party of French cavalry and hurried away to Paris, where he was tried in the night by a military tribunal, and condemned on vague and unsubstantial charges of carrying on a correspondence with the enemies of the republic, and shot immediately.
1809. Gustavus Adolphus IV, king of Sweden, arrested and deprived of his functions of government. (By some authorities, March 12.)
1818. Hector McNeil, a most deservedly popular poet of Scotland, died. Scotland's Scaith or the Waes of War, met with the unprecedented sale of 10,000 copies in one month.
1820. Maine entered the confederacy of the United States.
1823. John Jervis, earl of St. Vincent, an English admiral died, aged 90. He entered the navy at the age of 10, and gradually arose to the highest rank, and was raised to the peerage. His courage, skill and activity rendered him an admirable officer.
1838. The city of Bahia, in Brazil, taken from the rebels or insurgents, by the imperial troops, with loss of blood on both sides. The rebels fired the city; about 3000 of them were taken prisoners.
1839. Battle of Tuspan; the Mexican government troops, (Centralists) under Gen. Cos, defeated at Tuspan by the Federalists under Gen. Mexia, with a loss of 300 killed and several hundred prisoners.
1840. James Riley, an American sea captain, died at sea, aged 63. He is well known as the author of Riley's Narrative, which contains an account of his captivity and sufferings in Northern Africa.
1856. The steam ferry boat, New Jersey, while crossing the Delaware from Philadelphia to Camden, took fire and a large number of persons perished.
MARCH 16.
404 BC Athens was taken by Lysander and the tyranny of the 30 commenced.
37. Claudius Drusus Nero Tiberius, emperor of Rome, died. On his accession to the throne, he gave promise of a wise and happy reign, but soon became unrestrained in his conduct, and after a reign of 23 years, died in odium with the people.
455. Flavius Placidus Valentinian, emperor of Rome, assassinated. He was a profligate and licentious ruler.
1190. The Jews of York lawlessly massacred for their wealth by the citizens.
1286. Alexander III king of Scotland, killed. He succeeded his father, Alexander II, at the age of eight years. An enterprising and virtuous ruler; he introduced many good regulations of government, and under his sway the country seems to have enjoyed a tranquility to which she had long been a stranger. As he was riding in a dark night between Bruntisland and Ringhorn, on the banks of the frith of Forth, he was thrown with his horse over a precipice and killed on the spot.
1532. John Bourchier died at Calais in France, of which he was the English governor. He translated Froissart's Chronicle into English.
1621. The Plymouth colonists received the first Indian visit to their town. This was Samoset, sagamore of a country lying five days' journey from thence, called Patuxet. He informed the English that all the inhabitants had died of an extraordinary plague about four years before, and that there was neither man, woman or child remaining. Of course there was no one to dispute their possession.
1649. An army of 1000 Iroquois armed with guns fell upon the Huron village at the eastern extremity of the lake, and nearly massacred the entire population. The Hurons defended themselves bravely, but were forced to yield before the fire arms and superior numbers of the Iroquois, who lost more than a hundred of their best warriors. The French missionaries, Brebeuf and Lallemant, who labored with the Hurons, were taken, and suffered death by torture.
1660. The long parliament dissolved by its own act.
1675. Under a pair of stairs in the tower of London two bodies were found, supposed to be those of Edward V and his brother, whom their uncle Richard III murdered nearly two hundred years before.
1680. The first assembly of New Hampshire met at Portsmouth; John Cutts first president.
1689. The Habeas corpus act suspended for the first time in England.
1691. Jacob Leisler, who had exercised the office of governor of New York nearly two years by the election of the freeholders and the consent of the British ministry, was barbarously executed by some malcontents, as a traitor.
1738. Captain Jenkins, the master of a Scottish ship, exhibited his ear in a piece of cotton, which he affirmed had been torn off by a guarda costa. This is alluded to by Burke as the fable of Capt. Jenkins.
1751. James Madison, fourth president of the United States, born.
1781. Action off cape Henry between the British fleet, admiral Arbuthnot, and French fleet under d'Estouches. Both sides claimed the victory. British loss, 30 killed and 73 wounded.
1781. French surrendered the island of St. Bartholomews to the British.
1782. Action off cape Spartel, between British frigate Success and Spanish frigate Santo Catalina, 34 guns. The latter was captured, having 25 killed. British loss 1.
1792. Gustavus III, king of Sweden, shot by Count Ankerstroem at a masquerade.
1795.