1650. The princess Elizabeth, daughter of the unfortunate Charles, died at Carisbrook castle in the isle of Wight, aged 15.
1656. Joseph Hall, "the first professed English satirist," died. He was bishop of Norwich, and acquired the title of the Christian Seneca. He is universally allowed to have been a man of great wit and learning.
1664. The colony of New York surrendered to the English.
1705. According to De Foe, it was on this day that the apparition of Mrs. Veal appeared to Mrs. Bargrave, at Canterbury, to say that Drelincourt on Death was the very best book on that subject.
1755. Battle of lake George, between the English under colonel Johnson and the French and Indians under baron Dieskau. The French force was nearly 2,000; that of the provincials greatly superior. A detachment of 1,000 men and 200 Indians which were sent out from the fort were ambuscaded and narrowly escaped destruction. A grand attack was then made on the fort by the French regulars, the Canadians and Indians being employed on the English flanks. After a battle of four hours, the enemy was compelled to retreat in disorder, and were pursued by a party from the camp, which fell on their rear and precipitated their flight. Dieskau was taken prisoner, and the remnant of his army completely routed by a detachment of 200 New Hampshire militia, from fort Edward, who had been sent to the assistance of the main army. The loss of the provincials was 327 killed and wounded—that of the enemy about 600. King Hendrik killed here.
1756. The Indian village of Kettaning, in Pennsylvania, destroyed by the colonists under colonel Armstrong. The Indians had fortified their village and provided a supply of powder for 10 years, and great quantities of arms and merchandise. The place was surprised, the chief, colonel Jacobs, killed, and as the Indians refused to accept quarter, they were exterminated. This affair was of so great importance that the authorities caused a silver medal to be struck on the occasion.
1757. The duke of Cumberland in behalf of England signed the convention of Closter Seven, by which the electorate of Hanover was left in the hands of the French and the whole army consisting of 40,000 Hessians, Brunswickers, &c., disarmed.
1760. Canada surrendered to the British at Montreal under lord Amherst. This was hailed with universal joy by the colonies, as the end of the cruel wars and bloody massacres which had hung over their towns and plantations nearly a century, in which the French and Indians had been uniformly the aggressors, and had vied with each other in murder, barbarity and
rapine. Under the brief repose which followed the colonies rapidly increased in number and wealth, till the gigantic struggle for independence again plunged the country in scenes of desolation and ruin, in which the British armies in a degree emulated the French and Indian foe.
1761. Bernard Forest de Belidor, a Spanish mathematician, died at Paris. He wrote on fortifications and engineering, several valuable works.