1691. Henry Sloughter, governor of the province of New York, died, after a short, weak and turbulent administration, and was buried in Stuyvesant's vault, next to the old Dutch governor.
1692. Giles Menage, a learned French author, died. He acquired the title of the Varro of his time, and became so popular that Mazarin even was jealous of him. He left numerous valuable works.
1712. Achille de Harley died; first president of the parliament of Paris, and an upright magistrate.
1741. Battle of Williamstadt, in Sweden, between the Russians and Swedes.
1752. Alexander Politi, an Italian professor of great learning, died at Pisa. He published an edition of Eustathius's Commentary on Homer, with a Latin translation, and notes, 5 vols. folio; a labor of great value.
1757. Zittau, in Saxony, bombarded, taken and destroyed by the Austrians; the inhabitants, as well as the Prussian troops who defended it were put to the sword.
1758. Battle of Sangershausen; the Hessians defeated by the French under Soubise; who, although victorious, lost 2,000 men.
1765. In Lapland, 120 reindeer were struck dead by lightning.
1773. George Edwards, styled the father of ornithologists, died, aged 81. He was apprenticed to a trade, but as soon as his indentures expired he began to travel, and extended his researches into various countries of Europe. The first volume of his work appeared in 1743, and the whole was completed in 1764, in 7 vols. 4to, containing engravings and descriptions of upwards of 600 subjects in natural history never before delineated.
1779. The Minisink settlements in Orange co., N. Y., attacked by the Indians under Brant, by whom it was also plundered and burnt, and the inhabitants either killed or carried away.