SEPTEMBER 20.
377 B. C. On this day was fought the famous naval battle of Naxus, in which the Lacedemonians were totally defeated.
331 B. C. Alexander crossed the Tigris and entered Assyria. The army encountered great difficulties in the passage, both from the depth and force of the current, and the slippery nature of its bed. The cavalry formed a double line, within which the infantry marched with their shields over their heads, and their arms interlinked. In this manner they crossed without loss of lives. Their entrance into Assyria was signalized by an almost total eclipse of the moon, by which the date of the event is determined.
92 B. C. Lucius Lucinius Crassus died; a Roman orator, greatly commended by Cicero.
692. Abdullah ibn Zobeyr, khalif of Mecca, having been besieged nine months in his capital until he was deserted by his friends and family, put himself at the head of five faithful followers, and rushed upon the besiegers, by whom he was slain, at the age of 72.
1142. Maud, queen of England, besieged in Oxford by the forces of Stephen, but escaped on foot.
1384. Louis I, duke of Anjou, died at Paris, of a broken heart, in consequence of the ill success of his measures.
1415. Owen Glendower, a celebrated Welch warrior, died; he opposed the sovereignty of Henry IV of England more than fourteen years, by force of arms, declaring him to be an usurper and the murderer of Richard II.
1527. Janus Gruterius, an eminent Dutch philologer, died. He was an able critic, a man of extensive erudition, and a very voluminous and respectable writer.
1581. Hubert Languet, an eminent French statesman, died. He was a man of great political knowledge, and deservedly esteemed by the wisest and most eminent men of his age.
1586. Anthony Babington with others cruelly executed in St. Giles's fields for a conspiracy against queen Elizabeth.
1639. John Meursius, a learned Dutch scholar, died. His works were printed at Florence in 12 vols. folio.
1643. Battle of Newbury, between the royalists under prince Rupert, and the parliamentary forces under the earl of Essex. Night put an end to the action, and left the victory undecided. Lucius Carey, lord Falkland, and the earls of Sunderland and Carnaervon, were killed.
1653. The New England colonies declared war against Ninigret, sachem of the Niantick Indians, and voted that 250 foot soldiers should be immediately raised in the four colonies: Massachusetts to send 166, Plymouth 30, Connecticut 33, New-Haven 21.
1662. John Gauden, an English prelate, died. He published the Icon Basilike of Charles I, and had the good fortune to escape the search of the parliament for the publisher of that popular book.
1668. Vincent Wing died; a famous English astronomer and astrologer, who published The Celestial Harmony of the Visible World, and other works.
1736. John Bernardi died in Newgate prison, England, aged 79. He had been confined there 40 years on a false charge of plotting the assassination of William III.
1740. Charles VI died; sixteenth and last emperor of Germany of the house of Austria, in the male line; he was succeeded by his daughter Maria Theresa.
1746. The Young Pretender, Charles Edward, having been completely defeated at Culloden, embarked for France at Lochmannoch, in a privateer of St. Malo, and arrived safe. His followers were less fortunate.
1759. Julian le Roy, a distinguished French mechanic, died. His watches acquired great celebrity.
1761. Auto-da-fé at Lisbon; there were 54 criminals, 3 of them in effigy.
1770. Captain Phipps returned to London from his voyage to the polar seas, being stopped by ice, latitude 81° 30´ north.
1783. Captain Turner, the traveler, was received at Jikadze, the capital of the lama of Thibet.
1791. Louis XVI, for the first time after his return from Varennes, repaired to the hall of the national assembly, in order to give his adhesion, viva voce, to the new constitution.
1792. Battle of Valmy, between the French and allies. It is stated that although more than 40,000 cannon shot were fired in this engagement, not more than 400 men were killed.
1805. Pierre François Andre Mechain died at Castillon, in Spain. His theory of eclipses and other astronomical phenomena has much merit.
1814. The British under general Drummond, in consequence of the losses sustained on the 17th, raised the siege of fort Erie.
1814. Augustus William Ifland, a German actor and dramatic writer, died at Berlin, and was interred with great pomp.
1815. William Hutton died; the historian of Birmingham, and author of various other works.
1831. John Henry Hobart, bishop of the protestant episcopal diocese of New York, died; a man of vigorous intellect and great decision of character.
1840. Francia, dictator of Paraguay, died at Paraguay, at a very advanced age.
1842. William Maginn died in England. He was a contributor to the London Literary Gazette, and in 1818-20 to Blackwood's Magazine under the signature of O'Doherty.
1849. Jonathan H. Hubbard, a distinguished American statesman, of Vermont, died, aged 81.
1852. Philander Chase, bishop of Illinois, died at Peoria, aged 76. He was a native of New Hampshire; was bishop of Ohio 12 years, of Illinois 17 years; laid the foundation of Kenyon college, and was president of Jubilee college.
1854. The allies attacked the Russians under Menschikoff, who 40,000 in number, were strongly entrenched upon the heights of Alma, and after a contest of four hours drove them from the ground with great loss. The allies had about 500 killed and 2,500 wounded; the Russian loss said to have been more than 7,000.