1765. Riot in Boston occasioned by the stamp act; several private houses destroyed, and among them that of the lieutenant governor Hutchinson, one of the best in the province; his books and papers, which he had been 30 years in gathering, were destroyed, together with his plate, furniture, &c., and £1,000 in money.
1766. Thomas Winslow, an English military officer, died, aged 146.
1775. The Americans opened their entrenchments on Plowed hill, near Boston. The British threw about 300 shells at them.
1775. James Burgh, an ingenious English moral and political writer, died at Islington.
1776. Germain Francis Poullain de St. Foix, a French historical tourist, died. He retired from the army to devote himself to literature, at Paris, and was appointed historiographer.
1777. Francis Fawkes, an English poet, died. He translated several of the Greek poets, and wrote many miscellaneous poems, in a pleasing and elegant style.
1785. George Sackville, an English nobleman, died. He was an officer under Marlborough, and present at several important engagements.
1794. Sluys, in Dutch Flanders, surrendered to the French under Moreau, 22 days after the opening of the trenches. The sudden capture of this fortress, exceedingly strong by nature and art, and defended by the brave general Vanderduyn, so intimidated the remainder of the Dutch and Hanoverian garrisons, that they thought only how to escape the fate of Sluys, and evacuated several fortresses equally strong; besides nearly 30 less important forts, and all Dutch Flanders.
1795. Trincomalee, a Dutch colony in the island of Ceylon, taken by the British under admiral Rainer.
1795. British squadron under Nelson, captured in the bay of Alaeso, 11 French vessels.