AUGUST 29.
30 B. C. Conquest of Alexandria by Augustus; exactly three lustra or fifteen years preceding the great victory of Drusus over the Rhœtians and Vindelici, which concluded the Barbaric war.
30. St. John (the Baptist) beheaded. The decollation of the Baptist determines the birthday of Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, called Antipas, who for his ambition was banished by Caligula to Spain or Lyons, with Herodias, in the year 38.
410. Alaric evacuated Rome and ravaged the provinces of Italy.
284. Era of Diocletian (or the martyrs), commenced, still used by the Copts and Abyssinians. It receives its name from the persecution of the Christians in the reign of Diocletian, and was much used by the Christian writers until the introduction of the Christian era, in the sixth century.
1350. Great naval battle in the English channel, off Winchelsea, between the English under Edward III and the mariners of Biscay. Fourteen Castilian ships were carried triumphantly into port.
1353. Action between the Genoese fleet under Antonio Grimaldi, and the combined Venitian and Catalonian fleets, under Pisani, in which the former suffered so great a defeat that only 17 vessels escaped.
1445. Paul, of Burgos, a learned Jew, died. He was converted to Christianity, and was baptized at the same time with his three sons, who all distinguished themselves.
1527. Battle of Mohatz, between the Turks under Solyman, and the Hungarians under Louis II, in which the latter were defeated with the loss of 20,000 killed. The Turks carried nearly 200,000 persons into captivity.
1583. Stephen Parmenius Budeius, a learned Hungarian, shipwrecked on the coast of Newfoundland. He accompanied sir Humphrey Gilbert's squadron of discovery, for the purpose of recording their discoveries and exploits in Latin. He was on board the Delight, which carried down more than 100 persons with her.
1657. John Lilburne, a famous English enthusiast, died. He was the ringleader of a party called the levelers.
1660. The act of indemnity signed by Charles II, out of which most of those called regicides were excepted.
1692. Col. Benjamin Fletcher arrived at the port of New York, with a commission as governor of the province, which he published the next day.
1708. Haverhill, on the Merrimack, surprised by the French and Indians, who burnt part of the town, killed about 40, and carried away 100 prisoners.
1749. Mathias Bel, died at Presburg; a Hungarian ecclesiastic, ennobled for his literacy.
1750. Letitia Pilkington, a lady of great wit and literary celebrity, died at Dublin.
1764. John Bernard, a distinguished London merchant, died. He represented the city in parliament forty years, and was so highly esteemed by the public that his statue was placed in the Royal Exchange during his life time.
1769. Edmund Hoyle died; author of a celebrated treatise on whist and other games.
1776. Americans retreated from Long
Island. Gen. Mifflin commanded the rear guard, with whom Washington remained until the retreat was effected. The army amounted to 9,000.
1778. The rear of the American army under Gen. Sullivan attacked by the British, who were repulsed. British loss 260; American loss 206.
1779. The Indians defeated by Sullivan at Elmira.
1780. James Germain Soufflot, an eminent French architect, died.
1782. British ship Royal George, 108 guns, sunk while careening. Admiral Kempenfelt and about 1,000 persons were lost, of whom 300 were women and children. (This is put down by other authorities on the 19th, and differently stated.)
1799. Pius VI (John Angela Braschi), pope, died. He rendered his name famous by draining the Pontine marshes. Bonaparte entered his state twice, making him a prisoner the second time, and carried him over the Alps to Valentia, where he died of excessive fatigue, aged 82.
1804. Com. Preble's fifth attack on Tripoli. The Constitution fired upwards of 300 rounds, besides grape and canister: sunk a large Tunisian galliot, and silenced two of the batteries and the castle. American loss 3 killed, 1 wounded.
1816. Scheta, the celebrated astronomer of Liliennthal, died.
1833. Great fire at Constantinople, in which a circuit of three miles, said to comprise 12,000 houses and 50,000 inhabitants, was devastated, and many lives lost.
1843. A treaty of peace between Great Britain and China concluded. The Chinese to pay twenty-one millions of dollars, open 5 of their principal ports and cede the island of Hong-Kong to the British.
1849. The fortress of Achulga, the residence of Schamyl, a celebrated Circassian chief, was carried by assault by the Russians, after a siege of four months.
1851. Lopez, who had invaded Cuba with American volunteers, after sixteen days of reverses, and having lost nearly all his followers, was captured in the mountains by the aid of bloodhounds.
1851. A convention of twenty-five delegates assembled in Lewis county, Oregon, and appointed a committee to prepare a memorial to congress, to procure a division of the territory, and the organization of a separate territorial government.
1853. The Austrian minister, M. Hulsemann, addressed a note to the American government, complaining of the conduct of Capt. Ingraham in the Koszta affair.
1854. Petropaulowski, a Russian town, attacked and bombarded by the allied English and French fleet. The town was defended by 1,200 men and 120 guns.
1854. A new asteroid, named Euphrosyne, was discovered at the Washington observatory, by James Ferguson, assistant astronomer.