1683. An assembly of the representatives of the freeholders of the province of New York, first met in assembly under governor Dongan.
1740. The Czarina Anne, empress of Russia, died.
1748. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, between England, France and Spain. The British took, during the war, 1,249 Spanish and 2,185 French prizes; total 3,434. The Spaniards captured 1,360, and the French 1,878 British vessels; total 3,238.
1758. Roland Michael Barria de Galissoniere, a French admiral, died. After serving with distinction in the navy, he was made governor of Canada.
1758. John Ward, an English dissenting minister, died; remembered for the assistance he rendered to many of the learned works of his day.
1775. Two men and eleven horses killed by the lightning which proceeded from a volcanic steam cloud of the Katlagia burning mountain, in the island of Iceland.
1777. Burgoyne, after losing 3,461 men at Stillwater and other places, surrendered the remainder of his army (5,752), to the Americans under Gen. Gates, conditioned not to serve again in North America during the present contest. Thus was extinguished an army of 9,213 men, including volunteers. The army of Gates amounted to 10,557 effective men.
1781. Several new batteries were opened by the Americans in the second parallel, against Yorktown. In the judgment of Cornwallis and his engineers, the place was no longer tenable; and in a letter to Washington he requested a cessation of hostilities to prepare for a capitulation.
1781. Edward Hawke, a brave and intrepid English admiral, died.
1793. Battle of Cholet, the Vendeans defeated by the French. The actions of Hagenau and Brumpt took place on the same day, in both of which the allies defeated the French.