AUGUST 3.
479 B. C. The fatal battle of Platea, between Mardonius the Persian and Pausanius the Spartan general. The other sanguinary victory over the Persians, on the promontory of Mycale was achieved the same day, third of Boedromion.
431 B. C. An eclipse of the sun noticed by Thucydides, eight days after the first invasion of Attica under Archidamus, king of Sparta, at the head of 60,000 Peloponesian confederates, and whilst Pericles was in the act of embarking against Epidaurus, the sacred city.
678. A morning comet, shaped like a fiery pillar, seen in England. It was visible during three months, and caused the conversion of the South Saxons from paganism.
1274. Edward I landed in England from Palestine. He sailed from his winter mansion, Trepano, Sicily, on the 20th April, 1271.
1414. James I of Scotland conveyed from the tower to Windsor; there this bird of song was wired in for three years.
1460. James II (with the fiery face), king of Scotland, killed by the bursting of a gun, aged 29, after a reign of 24 years.
1492. Columbus embarked in the carack Santa Maria, with two other vessels and 120 persons, from the Isle of Saltes, against Palos, in Andalusia, to find a western continent.
1546. Stephen Dolet, a learned Frenchman, a painter and a bookseller, burnt at Lyons for atheism.
1554. The first letter in Europe known to have been sealed with sealing wax bears this date, and was written at London, addressed to the rheingrave Philip Francis von Daun, from his agent in England, Gerhard Hermann. The wax employed in sealing this letter is of a dark red color, very shining, and the impress bears the initials of the writer.
1554. Battle of Marciano; the troops of Cosmo de Medici, under Medicini, defeated the French under Peter Strozzi, a Florentine nobleman, who was wounded.
1592. The English earl of Cumberland captured a Spanish carack, Madre de Dios (Mother of God), valued at $150,000.
1612. John Bond, a learned English commentator on the Latin classics, died.
1645. Battle of Nordlingen; the allies under Merci, defeated by the French under Turenne, Conde and Grammont. Merci was killed and Grammont taken prisoner.
1672. John Francis Senaudt, a Dutch theological writer, died.
1692. Battle of Steenkerken; the English under William III defeated with great slaughter by the French.
1712. Joshua Barnes died; an eminent English critic and professor of Greek. He wrote the Life of Edward III, and several Latin and English poems.
1715. A cobbler of Highgate, London, was whipped from Holloway to that place for reflecting on the government.
1720. N. Heinsius, an eminent Dutch statesman, died. He was 30 years grand pensionary of Holland, and exerted the energy of his mind and the resources of his country to abridge the power of the French monarch.
1721. Grinlin Gibbon died, an eminent English sculptor and carver in ivory and wood. The place or country of his birth is not known. He was discovered by sir John Evelyn, who walking by accident near a poor solitary thatched cottage, had the curiosity to look in at the window, when he saw him carving a large cartoon or crucifix of Tintoret, a copy of which Evelyn himself had brought from Venice. His performances in marble and ivory were so very fine, that they often required to be defended by a glass case. Many of his flower pieces are light almost as fancy, and shake to the rattling of passing carriages. There is no instance before him, says Walpole, of a man who gave to wood the loose and airy lightness of flowers, and chained together the various productions of the elements with the free disorder natural to each species.
1732. The first stone laid of the bank of England.
1761. John Matthew Gesner, a German scholar and critic, died. He published several valuable editions of the classics.
1763. Thomas Godfrey, an American poet, died, aged 27. He was a watchmaker, and said to have been the real inventor of Hadley's quadrant.
1768. Thomas Secker, archbishop of Canterbury, died; whose lectures and sermons are masterly compositions.
1777. Fort Schuyler, at the head of the Mohawk river, invested by the British, about 1,800, under St. Leger. The garrison consisted of 600 continentals under general Gansevoort, who maintained their position till the British abandoned the siege and returned to Canada, leaving their tents standing; their artillery, and ammunition and provisions fell into the hands of the Americans.
1780. Stephen Bonnot de Condillac, a distinguished French philosopher, died. His works are characterized by great clearness and sagacity, and were published in 1798 in 35 volumes.
1783. A new eruption of the Skaptar Jokul, in Iceland, poured forth fresh floods of lava, which taking different directions from the others, filled the bed of a river, and formed a large lake. By this single eruption, 9,000 persons lost their lives, being nearly one-fifth of the whole population of the island. This volcano, which commenced on the 11th June, continued for two years, and the lava was not cooled in some places, when visited eleven years after.
1787. John Baynes, an English politician, died, aged 29. He was distinguished for his early attainments and devotion to the cause of liberty.
1788. Louis Francois Armand du Plessis de Richelieu, marechal of France, died, aged 93. He had the courage, the fortune and the talents of a great general, the sagacity, prudence and penetration of a great statesman; but with these and many amiable qualities he chose to be nothing but a common courtier.
1792. Richard Arkwright died; inventor of the spinning jenny, one of the most useful machines in the world. He was originally a barber, but his invention enabled him at his death to leave a property worth £500,000.
1797. Jeffrey Amherst, a celebrated English admiral, died. He assisted in the conquest of Canada.
1802. Henry, prince of Prussia, died. He distinguished himself at the head of several Prussian armies, and in time of peace was engaged in literary pursuits. On the death of his elder brother, he was excluded from the throne by his nephew, and resided in France.
1804. The United States squadron under Com. Preble, attacked the shipping and batteries of Tripoli. During the action the Constitution was much injured; 13 were wounded and 1 killed; 3 of the enemy's boats were captured and 3 sunk.
1805. Christopher Anstey, an ingenious English poet, died.
1806. Miranda, having received a reinforcement from the British, landed in the gulf of Paria, for the purpose of effecting a revolution.
1806. Michael Adanson, an eminent French naturalist, died, leaving an immense mass of manuscripts which he had collected with the view of publishing an encyclopedia. He passed several years in
Africa making collections in natural history.
1812. Privateer schooner Atlas, of Philadelphia, captured in one hour British ships Pursuit, 16 guns, and Planter, 12 guns. The latter was recaptured.
1814. Fort Erie invested by the British, upwards of 5,000.
1814. 1,200 British crossed the Niagara, to attack Buffalo, but were repulsed by 250 riflemen under Morgan, and compelled to recross.
1814. Great disturbances in Spain, many members of the cortes arrested by order of the king.
1819. Barrow's straits rediscovered by Capt. Parry. He penetrated to Melville island. The lowest state of the thermometer was 55° below zero, Fahrenheit.
1823. Lazare Nicholas Marguerite Carnot, a distinguished French general, died. He possessed an uncommon talent for the mathematical and military sciences, and pursued a uniform and correct course in his politics, which enabled him to ride out the storm of the revolution, and the subsequent changes.
1848. Women's rights convention assembled at Rochester; demanded the rights of suffrage, property, preaching, teaching, &c., &c.
1849. Aaron K. Wooley, a Kentucky judge, died at Lexington, aged 49. He was a native of New Jersey, graduated at West Point, and studied law in Mississippi. He was some time state senator of Fayette county, Ky., and at the time of his death had been ten years professor of law in Transylvania university.
1849. General Oudinot surrendered the civil administration of the Papal states into the hands of the pope's three commissioners, who entered on the work of reaction.
1850. Jacob Jones, an American commodore, died at Philadelphia, aged 82. He stood nearly at the head of the list of post captains, two names only taking precedence. Capt. Jones, we believe, was a native of Delaware. He is one of the number who, in the war of 1812, contributed to establish the naval renown of our country. He fought in the Wasp one of the bloodiest naval battles in our history, and captured in 45 minutes the British brig-of-war Frolic of superior force, and under circumstances highly unfavorable to success. For this action the states of Delaware, Massachusetts and New York, each voted him a sword in commemoration of his gallantry, which was in no wise impaired by the subsequent capture of both the Wasp and the Frolic, when in a crippled condition, by a British 74. He was afterwards appointed to the Macedonian. Temperate himself, he deserves honorable mention as a promoter of temperance among his crew; many seamen were reclaimed by him.
1851. The steamer Pampero, with about 500 troops, composing the expedition against Cuba under general Lopez, left New Orleans at daybreak.
1854. Colonel Loring, a receiver of public moneys at Benicia, Cal., was murdered at the St. Nicholas hotel, New York, by Dr. Graham, of New Orleans.
1856. Edward Curtis, a prominent New York lawyer and politician, died. He was a native of Vermont, was graduated at Union college, and began his political career in 1834 in the New York common council. He was collector of the port under president Harrison.
1857. Eugene Sue, a celebrated French novelist, died, aged 49. The Mysteries of Paris and The Wandering Jew, are known in all Europe and America.