1781. British generals Arnold and Philips took Wilmington, Va.
1781. Spaniards took Pensacola and all Florida.
1791. Francis Hopkinson, one of the signers, died. He was judge of the admiralty court of Pennsylvania; his writings abound with wit, humor and satire.
1794. Charles Henry d'Estaing, a French admiral, guillotined. He was commander of the French squadron in the American war; and at the revolution in France became member of the assembly of notables.
1799. Sally from the garrison of St. Jean d'Acre, when they succeeded in spiking 4 cannon within the French lines.
1803. Robert Chambers died at Paris; a learned English judge and orientalist.
1805. Frederick Schiller, an eminent German dramatist, died. He is also the author of a history of the revolt of the Netherlands from Spain.
1813. The siege of fort Meigs raised. It had continued 13 days, and it was computed that 1760 cannon balls and shells had been fired at the fort, by which 17 were killed and 66 wounded.
1832. Israel Thorndike, a Boston merchant, died. He possessed a talent for business which enabled him to accumulate the largest fortune ever acquired in New England, amounting to nearly two millions. In 1818 he purchased the valuable library of professor Ebeling, of Hamburg, 4,000 vols., and presented it to Harvard university. This library is considered the most valuable and extensive in American history and antiquities, ever collected.
1832. Camillo Philip Louis Borghese, an Italian prince of immense wealth, died. He was an officer under Bonaparte, whose sister he married. After the abdication of the emperor, he broke up all connection with the Bonaparte family, and separated from his wife.