OCTOBER 27.
42 B. C. Battle of Philippi, and death of Marcus Junius Brutus. This eventful day threw into the hands of two autocratical magistrates, of no tried reputation, and rivals by nature, the universal rule, with the liberties of their country. There were just twenty days between the deaths of Cassius, "the last of the Romans," and his friend Brutus, in the two great battles of Philippi.
251. Valerian elected in full senate to the restored Roman censorship, an office which had dropt with the life of Titus, from the modesty of his successors. The Roman virtue stood below correction.
1492. Columbus discovered Cuba, and made a landing on the following day.
1553. Michael Servetus, a learned and ingenious Spaniard, burnt at Geneva by the Calvinists, for the heresy of Arianism.
1617. Ralph Winwood died; an English statesman, and secretary of state under James I.
1644. Second battle of Newberry, in England; the royalists under Charles I defeated by the parliament army. Night favored the escape of the vanquished.
1650. The prince of Orange died of the small pox.
1675. Giles Personne Roberval, a French mathematician, died; author of a work on mechanics, &c.
1722. Third immigration of Palatines to the United States.
1775. The British under lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, cannonaded Hampton, but were repulsed.
1795. The French directory, which succeeded the national assembly, entered upon the duties of their appointment as the executive government.
1802. Henry Hunter, an eminent Scottish divine and author, died.
1805. Walter Blake Kirwan died; an Irish divine, eminent for his popularity as a preacher, which was so great that it was often necessary to keep off the crowds from the churches in which he preached by guards and palisades. He died exhausted by his labors.
1810. Bonaparte ordered all British goods found in France to be burned. Not the surest way to discourage manufactures.
1822. William Lowndes, a distinguished statesman of South Carolina, died. He was respected and beloved even by his political enemies, and stood in the first rank of American statesmen.
1830. Hard fighting at Antwerp, between the Dutch and Belgians; the former were driven into the citadel, where they commenced cannonading the town, and did great execution.
1840. John Thomson, a Scottish clergyman, died; distinguished as a landscape painter.
1844. William Campbell died at Cherry Valley, N. Y., aged 77. He was the only member of his family that escaped death or captivity at the massacre of Cherry Valley in 1778. He lived to fill many important stations with fidelity and ability.
1846. Randolph Ridgely, an officer in the Mexican war, was killed by a fall from his horse. He had greatly distinguished himself at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.
1851. William Wyon, a celebrated British medalist and die sinker, died at Brighton, aged 57. He belonged to a family of German descent, who wrought the great seals of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1853. Captain J. W. Gunnison, of the corps of topographical engineers, with seven other members of the party of exploration, while attempting to survey the lakes in Utah territory, were massacred by the Indians.