The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. Joel Munsell
1650. The English army commanded by Oliver Cromwell, laid siege to the town of Kilkenny in Ireland. The defence was obstinate, but the garrison surrendered in a few days.
1776. Robert James, an English physician, died; known as the inventor of James' Fever Powders, a preparation which has acquired great celebrity and proved an inexhaustible source of opulence to his family, and benefit to the public.
1776. Congress issued letters of marque and reprisal against England.
1777. The British under Bird landed at Peekskill on the Hudson river for the purpose of seizing the military stores; but on the news of his approach the guard stationed there under Gen. McDougal, fired the principal store houses and retired.
1793. Spain declared war against England.
1797. The French under Dugua entered Trieste, the most important seaport town of Austria; at the same time another French army took possession of the mines of Ydria.
1801. Petrowitz Paul, emperor of Russia, assassinated. He was the son of Catharine II, who treated him with great rigor, during her life. In 1780 he traveled with his wife through the southern part of Europe under the title of Count of the North. In 1796 he ascended the throne, and among the first of his acts were the discontinuance of the Persian war, and the liberation of the Poles confined in Russia. But his conduct was suddenly reversed, and his indiscretions and tyranny finally produced a conspiracy among the nobles, by which it is supposed his sons were accessory to his death. In the official publication of his death, it was ascribed to apoplexy.
1806. The exploring party under Captains Clarke and Lewis, left fort Clatsop on their return up the Columbia river to the United States.
1808. Murat, at the head of 40,000 French soldiers, taking advantage of a faction among the populace, entered Madrid and took possession of it.
1809. Thomas Holcroft, an English dramatic writer, died. His father was a shoemaker in low circumstances, which occupation the son also followed till he resolved to try his fortune on the stage. Besides his dramas he produced several novels and translations from the German and French. He suffered imprisonment for republicanism, with Tooke and others.
1815. Action off the island of Tristran d'Acunha, between the United States brig Hornet, 16 guns, Capt. Biddle, and the British brig Penguin, 18 guns and a 12 pound carronade, 132 men, Capt. Dickinson. Capt. Dickinson was killed and the Penguin captured in 22 minutes; she was so much injured that it was found necessary to sink her. Penguin had 14 killed, 28 wounded; Hornet 1 killed, 11 wounded. After the surrender a British soldier wounded Capt. Biddle in the neck with a musket ball; he was immediately shot by two of the marines.
1819. August Frederick von Kotzebue, a celebrated German dramatist, assassinated at Manheim. The Stranger and Pizarro are translated and popular at our theatres. His works are numerous. He was assassinated by a fanatical student named Sandt, who at the same time stabbed himself; but recovered and was beheaded.
1840. William Maclure, a distinguished naturalist, formerly of Philadelphia, and twenty years president of the academy of natural sciences in that city, died near the city of Mexico. He wrote on the geology of the United States and the West Indies.
1849. Benjamin Simpson died at Saco, Maine, aged 94; one of the party engaged in throwing the tea overboard in Boston harbor, at the opening of the revolution.
1849. Charles Albert, king of Sardinia, in consequence of his defeat by the Austrians, abdicated his crown in favor of his eldest son, the duke of Savoy.
1849. Elizabeth Hughes, well known in England as a fortune-teller and familiar with angels, died at Fowdon in her 89th year.
1850. John W. Webster, professor of chemistry in Cambridge university, found guilty of the murder of his friend Benjamin Parkman; a case which excited community for a long time.
1854. A treaty of commerce concluded between Commodore Perry of the United States squadron, and the emperor of Japan.
MARCH 24.
1426 BC The 24th Nisan is marked as a feast in the Jews' calendar for the death of Joshua. He was buried, full of honor, on the border of his capital in Mount Ephraim.
1455. Pope Nicholas V, the friend of ancient literature and the protector of the learned exiles of Greece, died.
1495. Columbus with an army of 200 men, 20 horses and 20 dogs! commenced a campaign against the natives of Hispaniola, who in consequence of the excesses of the Spaniards had raised an army of 100,000 men to destroy the colony at Isabella. The admiral spent a year in ranging the island; and reduced it to such obedience that every inhabitant was subjected to a quarterly tribute to the king of Spain in gold dust or cotton.
1545. Diet at Worms assembled. The protestants disclaimed all connection with the council of Trent.
1564. Pius IV issued a bull denouncing the perusal of certain books, and establishing new rules by which to judge books.
1581. James Dyer, an eminent English judge, died. He was distinguished for his learning and excellence; a volume of law reports which he left in manuscript and were not published till 20 years after his death, have been often reprinted.
1588 (1580?). Bombs first used at the siege of Wachtendonk in Holland. The invention of bombs is disputed among several countries, and there are good reasons for believing that some contrivance of the kind had been made use of long before this event. Galen, bishop of Munster, is said to have been the inventor of bombs; while Strada in his account of the wars of the Low Countries, attributes the invention a few days before this siege to an inhabitant of the town of Venloo, and that the people of the city, wishing to exhibit it in presence of the duke of Cleves, discharged a bomb, which falling on one of the houses, set fire to it, and three-fourths of the town were destroyed before the flames could be extinguished.
1603. Elizabeth, queen of England, died, aged 70. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. On the death of Mary, 1558, she was proclaimed queen, at the age of twenty-five, and held the sceptre forty-five years with uncommon ability. Her reign was a period of great prosperity for England. Her treatment of the queen of Scots can never be defended, and some other foibles tarnish her fame; but the splendor of her reign and the strength of mind displayed in the conduct of the government overbalance those weaknesses which few crowned heads are devoid of.
1638. Canonicus and Miantonimoh gave Roger Williams a deed of Providence.
1645. The parliament voted that the clause for the preservation of his majesty's person should be left out of Sir Thos. Fairfax's commission. This was a bad omen for King Charles.
1674. Jonathan Goddard, an English physician and chemist, died. He was a favorite with Cromwell; but on the restoration his abilities were not in sufficient estimation to preserve him from being disgraced. He was an able writer and a liberal patron of learned men, and one of the promoters of the royal society.
1698. John Evelyn, distinguished as a poet and translator, died, aged 45. At the age of 15 he wrote the elegant Greek poem which accompanies the second edition of the Sylva, written by his father.
1718. On the island of Lithy, India, there fell a ball of fire, containing gelatinous matter.
1720. John Peringskioll, a Swedish antiquary and historian, died. He was professor of antiquities at Upsala, and secretary and councilor to the king. His works amount to 17 vols. folio.
1726. Daniel Whitby, an English prelate, died. He was, like many of his profession, totally unqualified for the common pursuits of business; but was engrossed