1746. Battle of Falkirk, in which the forces of the Pretender were victorious over the royal army.
1750. The singular ceremony of the Greek church of consecrating the water in memory of Christ's baptism, performed at St. Petersburg.
1766. Frederick V, king of Denmark and Norway, died.
1781. Battle of the Cowpens, in South Carolina, and defeat of 1100 British under Tarleton, by an inferior force of Americans under Morgan. British loss 100 killed and wounded, and 500 prisoners; 800 muskets, 2 field pieces, 35 baggage wagons, and 100 dragoon horses fell into the hands of the conquerors. The loss of the Americans was 12 killed and 60 wounded.
1783. Action between the British frigate Magicienne and the French frigate Sybille. The latter lost her masts, and was captured a few days after by the Hussar.
1789. John Ledyard, the traveler, died. He was born at Groton, Conn., 1751; entered Dartmouth college at the age of 19, but for some reproof resolved to escape: accordingly he felled a tree on the bank of the Connecticut, of which he constructed a canoe, and descended the river 140 miles to Hartford: studied theology a while, and then enlisted as a common sailor for a voyage to Gibraltar; accompanied Capt. Cook in one of his voyages, of which he published an account. Not meeting with assistance to prosecute any of the daring enterprises he proposed, he finally determined to make the tour of the globe from London east, on foot; and had proceeded as far as Yakutsk in Siberia, when he was arrested by order of the queen as a French spy and hurried back to the frontiers of Poland. He returned to London, he says, "disappointed, ragged, pennyless, but with a whole heart." He had scarcely taken lodgings when Sir Joseph Banks proposed an African expedition. He accepted the offer and proceeded as far as Cairo, where he was attacked by a disease which carried him off.
1789. Charles IV proclaimed king of Spain.
1791. Lord Dungarvon, an Irish peer, was tried at the Old Bailey, London, for stealing three and a half guineas from a poor woman in town, but was acquitted.
1792. George Horne, bishop of Norwich, died. His Sermons and Commentary on the Psalms, are well known.
1795. The stadtholder, William V, obtained permission from the States General to withdraw from Holland.