AUGUST 24.
79. First eruption on record of Vesuvius, which overwhelmed the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii, and destroyed the martyr of nature. The younger Pliny, the nephew of that greater man, has described the terrific catastrophe in two letters to Tacitus.
93. Cneius Julius Agricola, a celebrated Roman general, died. He was governor in Great Britain, and by doubling the northern point of Scotland, first discovered it to be an island. (Sept. 1st?)
410. Alaric, at the head of the Goths, entered Rome at midnight, and gave up the town to be pillaged for six days, but with orders to his soldiers to be sparing of blood, to respect the honor of the women, and not to burn the buildings dedicated to religion. A part of the city was burnt, and many ancient works of art destroyed. The treasures of the city collected from all parts of the world fell a prey to the barbarians, and the once proud mistress of the world experienced a severe retribution for the sufferings which her heroes had caused to so many cities, countries and nations.
1227. Gengis-Khan, a renowned Mogul prince, died. He suddenly rose from the lowest fortunes, and in the space of 28 years subdued the greater part of Asia.
1344. Battle of Cressy, which gained Edward, the black prince, immortal honor. Here was slain the blind king of the Bohemians, the ornaments on whose sword were adopted as the coat of arms of the princes of Wales, Ich Dien, with three ostrich feathers.
1481. Alphonso V, of Portugal, died of plague. He was a great patron of learning, and conquered several places belonging to the Moors.
1525. Francis I, king of France, entered Madrid a prisoner to the emperor Charles V.
1572. Massacre of St. Bartholomews, which commenced in the city of Paris, and was continued throughout the kingdom during thirty days. The number of protestants who were butchered in this bloody affair, is estimated at 30,000, and by others at 70,000.
1572. Gaspard de Coligny, admiral of France, fell at the massacre of St. Bartholomews. He was distinguished for valor in battle, for strict discipline, and for his conquests over the Spaniards; and was feared by the court as the powerful leader of the Calvinist party.
1581. An assemblage of divines deputed by the states of Carniola, Styria and Carinthia, met at Laybach, to examine and revise the translation of the Vandalie Bible.
1605. The Turks having overrun the Persian provinces along the Caspian sea, their army of 100,000 was met by 66,000 Persians under schah Abbas, and completely overthrown.
1634. Abbasah, pasha of Erzerum, executed. He was the untiring enemy of the Janisaries, who succeeded in awakening the suspicions of the sultan Murad IV.
1653. An act passed by the parliament of the commonwealth of England permitting marriages to be solemnized by justices of the peace.
1662. The English act of uniformity in religion took effect; about 2,000 ministers were ejected from their benefices, without any provision for themselves or their families. Soon after they were banished five miles distant from every corporation in England. Several ultimately died in prison, for exercising their ministry in private, contrary to law; but a considerable number of them found an asylum in New England.
1682. The duke of York conveyed to William Penn all his right to the three lower counties on the Delaware river, now state of Delaware.
1683. John Owen, an English non-conformist divine, died, aged 63. He preached the first sermon before parliament after the execution of Charles I, was promoted to high places under Cromwell, which he lost at the restoration, by the influence of the presbyterian party. His works, which are of a high Calvinistic character, amount to 7 vols. folio, 20 quarto and 30 octavo. (See [Oct. 15, 1651].)
1702. Sixth action between the British fleet, admiral Benbow, and the French under Du Casse. The brave English admiral had his leg carried off by a chain shot, and received two other wounds.
1756. Eighty Acadians arrived in New York from Georgia.
1777. General Washington marched his troops through Philadelphia for the Chesapeake.
1781. The allied French and American army under Washington and Rochambeau crossed the Hudson river and marched for Philadelphia.
1782. Jean de la Perouse, a distinguished French seaman and navigator, took fort York, on Hudson's bay, from the English. Here he found a manuscript of Hearne's journey to the Coppermine river, which Hearne received back as his private property on condition of publication.
1793. Marseilles subjected to the French convention, against which it had revolted.
1797. Thomas Chittenden, first governor of Vermont, died, aged 67.
1803. Gregory Fontana, a Swiss mathematician, died; distinguished as a professor and an author, during a period of thirty years, in Italy.
1811. Swiss cantons recalled their troops from the British service, and voted 6,000 additional men for the French service.
1814. Battle of Bladensburg, and capture of Washington city by the British under general Ross and admiral Cockburn. The capitol, president's house and public offices were burnt in a spirit unworthy of any nation. A dreadful retribution, however, overtook them, by the explosion of a magazine, by which one half their number was either killed or wounded. American loss, 40 killed, 60 wounded.
1829. Reuben Kelsey died at Fairfield, Vt., of voluntary starvation, after a fast of 52 days, during which he took no other nourishment than water.
1833. Adrian Hardy Haworth died of cholera in England: a distinguished botanist, entomologist and ornithologist; author of the Lepidoptera Britannica, and various other works.
1842. Benjamin Wright, a distinguished American civil engineer, died. The great Erie canal afforded him an opportunity for the exercise of his mathematical knowledge.
1844. Great outrages committed in Rensselaer county, New York, by the tenantry on Rensselaerwick.
1845. Samuel Haskell, the oldest episcopal minister of the state of New York, died at New Rochelle.
1848. The American ship Ocean Monarch burnt in the Irish channel, and more than 170 lives lost.
1849. John Pierce, of the Congregational church, Brookline, Mass., died. He was distinguished as a preacher and one of the earliest advocates of total abstinence from intoxicating drinks in the state.
1849. The chamber of representatives of Hayti, acting upon a petition which had been circulated one day, brought in a bill conferring the title and dignity of emperor upon Faustin Soulouque, the president of that government.
1851. James McDowell, a Virginia statesman, died. He was sometime governor of the state, and representative to congress.
1851. A fire in Concord, New Hampshire, destroyed the best part of the business portion of the town.
1851. During devotional exercises at the jail in San Francisco, two prisoners, Samuel Whittaker and Samuel McKenzie, were taken from the jailer by force, and hung by the vigilance committee.
1852. Joseph Vance, an Ohio statesman, died. He served the state in various stations, being governor in 1836.
1857. Thomas Clayton, a Delaware judge, died at Newcastle, aged 76. He was sixteen years in congress and occupied the bench with ability for a long time.