JULY 27.
1139. The country of Portugal erected into a monarchy.
1276. James I (the Warrior), of Arragon, died. He conquered several Moorish kingdoms, and added them to his dominions, and supported himself against the encroachments of the papal power.
1586. Sir Francis Drake arrived in England from a western expedition, accompanied by Lane, the commander of Raleigh's Virginian colony, who now first brought from his settlement, tobacco into England: that which sir John Hawkins brought home in 1565 was considered a medicinal drug merely, and as Stow observes, all men wondered what it meant.
1597. Jacob Huyck, translator of the first authorized version of the catholic Bible, printed in Cracow, died there, aged 57.
1627. Thomas Goff, an English divine, died. He wrote among various other things, four tragedies.
1661. Schenectady purchased from the Indians.
1663. A bill for the better observation of the Sabbath, was stolen from the clerk's table in the English house of commons, ere it had received the assent of the king.
1675. Henry de la Tour d'Auvergne, viscomte de Turenne, the renowned French general, killed by a cannon shot at the village of Saltzbach, in Germany. He was preparing for a great battle with the Austrians under Montecuculli.
1694. The charter of the bank of England for 12 years, determinable upon one year's notice, signed by the dynarchs, William and Mary.
1704. Stanislaus Leczinski elected king of Poland.
1706. The legislative union of England and Scotland completed; one of the most important events of the reign of queen Anne.
1712. A disgraceful quarrel between the French and Dutch plenipotentiaries at Utrecht.
1755. A party of Indians prowling about Hinsdale, N. H., ambushed three men, Caleb Howe, Hilkiah Grout and Benjamin Garfield, as they were returning from the field, only one of whom escaped. The Indians went directly to Bridgman's fort, where their families resided, and who had heard the report of guns. By the sounds of feet without, they concluded their friends had returned, and hastily opened the gate, when to their inexpressible surprise they admitted the savages and were all made captives. An interesting account of this affair is familiar to many.
1759. The English under general Amherst took Ticonderoga without firing a gun, the French having abandoned it on the approach of the former.
1759. Pierre-Louis Mareau de Maupertuis died at Basle. He was successful in many trigonometrical surveys, and was instrumental in determining the latitude and longitude of several places with much more accuracy.
1773. Captain C. J. Phipps, lord Mulgrave, reached nearly the 81° north latitude.
1774. Samuel Theophilus Gmelin, a German botanist, died. He was professor of botany at St. Petersburg, and employed on a mission of discovery in the provinces bordering on the Caspian sea; was detained a prisoner by a Tartar chief, in which situation he died.
1775. Congress established a hospital for 20,000 men, and appointed Benjamin Church director and physician-general.
1778. Action off Ushant between the French and British fleets, each of 30 sail; the British claimed the victory. British loss 133: 373. French loss 165: 529.
1794. Overthrow of Robespierre and
the Mountain party, which put an end to the reign of terror.
1799. Mantua with a garrison of 10,000 men dishonorably surrendered to the Austrians.
1806. The United States exploring expedition under captain Lewis, had their guns seized while asleep, by a party of Minnetarre Indians. One of the Indians was stabbed to the heart, and Lewis shot another in the body, who fell on his knees and elbow, raised himself and fired; the ball grazed Lewis's head. The remainder of the Indians fled, leaving the explorers in possession of their baggage, provisions, and four horses.
1807. Peter Augustus Maria Broussonet, a French naturalist, died. He introduced Merino sheep and Angora goats into France.
1809. First day's battle of Talavera; Wellington made a stand against the French army of double his number of men, under Jourdan, Victor and Mortier.
1828. Radama, king of Madagascar, died. He was an extraordinary character, and his reign constitutes the most important era in the history of the island; the slave trade was suppressed, Christianity and the art of printing, as well as other arts and sciences were introduced.
1830. The second French revolution began in Paris by a resistance of the decrees of Charles X. It burst forth on the following day, and continued three days, when the people were left undisputed masters of the capital. About 3000 victims fell in this glorious struggle.
1833. William Bainbridge, an American commodore, died, aged 60. He was a distinguished commander in the navy for a long series of years.
1840. Charlotte Ouellet, a Canadian heroine, died, aged 100. She was one of a number of young women of St. Anne de la Pocatiere, who put on men's apparel and armed themselves to drive out the British regulars who were amusing themselves by firing the houses and barns of the village, during the siege of Quebec. She and the rest of her company fired upon the English, who fled, making temporary barrows in their flight, to rescue those who fell under the fire of these brave Canadian girls. A few days previous to her death she indulged in merriment at the thought that she was one who had made the best shots.
1843. Frederic Hall, of Washington, one of the most successful American geologists, died at Peru, Illinois.
1844. John Dalton, an eminent English chemist, died, aged 79. He had devoted his whole life to laborious study. A public funeral was given him in Manchester, his native town. He worshipped with the Friends. He could distinguish but two colors, yellow and blue; red and green had the same appearance to his eye.
1849. The grand duke of Tuscany reentered his capital and resumed his authority.
1854. The cholera made its appearance in the Massachusetts state prison at Charlestown, over 70 convicts being attacked; but one died.
1856. The steam boat John Jay, running on Lake George, took fire on her passage from the landing near Ticonderoga to Caldwell, and was consumed, by which several of the passengers and crew perished.