Person report

★25 Dec 1758
Based on predictions by Edmond Halley in 1705, Johann Georg Palitzsch observed a comet that was later named Halley's Comet.

★21 Sep 1776
American Revolutionary War: The Great Fire of New York broke out during British occupation of New York City, destroying up to 1,000 buildings.

★19 Sep 1777
American Revolutionary War: British troops engaged American forces at the first Battle of Saratoga in New York.

★18 Jan 1778
English explorer James Cook became the first known European to reach the Sandwich Islands, now known as the Hawaiian Islands.

★11 Jul 1789
French Revolution: Jacques Necker was dismissed as Director-General of Finances of France, sparking public demonstrations in Paris that led to the Storming of the Bastille three days later.

★11 May 1792
Merchant sea captain Robert Gray became the first recorded European to navigate the Columbia River in what is now the Pacific Northwest United States.

★17 Sep 1793
War of the Pyrenees: Forces from the French Army of the Eastern Pyrenees defeated two divisions of the Army of Catalonia, marking the high point of the Spanish invasion of Roussillon.

★25 Sep 1800
French Revolutionary Wars: After U.S. ships became involved, France withdrew from its invasion of Curaçao.

★28 Jan 1813
The novel Pride and Prejudice by English author Jane Austen was published, using material from an unpublished manuscript that she originally wrote between 1796 and 1797.

★24 Dec 1818
"Silent Night", a Christmas carol by Josef Mohr and Franz Gruber, was first performed in a church in Austria.

Historical data by Wikipedia Contributors CC BY-SA 3.0.