1798 Explained
Events
January–June
- January - Eli Whitney contracts with the U.S. federal government for 10,000 muskets, which he produces with interchangeable parts.
- January 4 - Constantine Hangerli enters Bucharest, as Prince of Wallachia.
- January 22 - A coup d'état is staged in the Netherlands (Batavian Republic). Unitarian Democrat Pieter Vreede ends the power of the parliament (with a conservative-moderate majority).
- February 10 - The Pope is taken captive, and the Papacy is removed from power, by French General Louis-Alexandre Berthier.
- February 15 - U.S. Representative Roger Griswold (Fed-CT) beats Congressman Matthew Lyon (Dem-Rep-VT) with a cane after the House declines to censure Lyon earlier spitting in Griswold's face; the House declines to discipline either man.[1]
- March - the Irish Rebellion of 1798 begins when the Irish Militia arrest the leadership of the Society of United Irishmen,[2] a group unique amongst Irish republican and nationalist movements in that it unifies Catholics and Protestants (Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and others) around republican ideals. This month, Lord Castlereagh is appointed Acting Chief Secretary for Ireland and on March 30 martial law is proclaimed here. The first battles in the rebellion are fought on May 24 and it continues through September, but the rebels receive much less than the expected support from France, which sends only 1,100 men.
- March 5 - French troops enter Bern.[3]
- March 7 - French forces invade the Papal States and establish the Roman Republic.
- April 7 - The Mississippi Territory is organized by the United States, from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina; later it is twice expanded, to include disputed territory claimed by both the U.S. and Spain (which acquired territory in trade with Great Britain).[1]
- April 12 - The Helvetic Republic, a French client republic, is proclaimed following the collapse of the Old Swiss Confederacy after the French invasion; Aarau becomes the republic's temporary capital.
- April 26 - France annexes Geneva.
- April 30 - The United States Department of the Navy is established as a cabinet-level department. Benjamin Stoddert, a civilian businessman, is appointed as the first Navy Secretary by President Adams.[1]
- May 7 - French Revolutionary Wars: A French force attempting to dislodge a small British garrison on the Îles Saint-Marcouf is repulsed with heavy losses.[4]
- May 9 - Napoleon sets off for Toulon, sailing aboard Vice-Admiral Brueys's flagship L'Orient; his squadron is part of a larger fleet of over 300 vessels, carrying almost 37,000 troops.[5]
- May 27 - Pitt–Tierney duel takes place on Putney Heath. British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger fights a duel against opposition politician George Tierney
- June 13 - Mission San Luis Rey de Francia is founded in California.
- June 18 - The first of the four Alien and Sedition Acts, the Naturalization Act of 1798, is signed into law by U.S. President Adams, requiring immigrants to wait 14 years rather than five years to become naturalized citizens of the United States. On June 25, another law is signed authorizing the imprisonment and deportation of any non-citizens deemed to be dangerous.[1]
July - December
- July 1 - Egyptian Campaign: Napoleon disembarks his French army in Marabout Bay.
- July 7
- July 11 - The United States Marine Corps is re-established under its present name.[1]
- July 12 - Battle of Shubra Khit: French troops defeat the Mamelukes, during Napoleon's march from Alexandria to take Cairo.
- July 14 - The fourth of the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Sedition Act of 1798 is signed into law, making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the United States government.[1]
- July 16 - The Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen Act is signed into law, creating the Marine Hospital Service, the forerunner to the current United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
- July 21 - Battle of the Pyramids: Napoleon defeats Ottoman forces near the Pyramids.
- July 24 - Napoleon occupies Cairo.
- July 31 - A second round of elections are held in the Netherlands (Batavian Republic); no general elections this time.
- August 1 - Battle of the Nile (near Abu Qir): Lord Nelson defeats the French navy under Admiral Brueys. 11 of the 13 French battleships are captured or destroyed, including the flagship Orient whose magazine explodes; Nelson himself is wounded in the head.
- August 22 - French troops land at Kilcummin in County Mayo to assist the Irish Rebellion.
- September - Charles Brockden Brown publishes the first significant American novel, the Gothic fiction Wieland: or, The Transformation; an American Tale.
- September 5 - Conscription is made mandatory in France by the Jourdan Law.
- September 10
- September 18 - Lyrical Ballads is published anonymously by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, inaugurating the English Romantic movement in literature.
- September 23 - Battle of Killala: in the last land battle of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, British troops defeat the remaining rebel Irish and French forces at Killala.[6]
- October 2 - The Cherokee nation signs a treaty with the United States allowing free passage through Cherokee lands in Tennessee through the Cumberland Gap through the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia into Kentucky.[1]
- October 7 - U.S. Representative Matthew Lyon of Vermont becomes the first member of Congress to be put on trial for violating the new Sedition Act of 1798.[1]
- October 12
- October 22 - Capitulation of the French garrison at Hyderabad to East India Company troops under James Kirkpatrick, British Resident.
- October 23 - The Ottoman–Albanian forces of Ali Pasha of Janina defeat the French and capture the town of Preveza in the Battle of Nicopolis.[7]
- November 4 - The Russo-Ottoman siege of Corfu begins.
- November 8 - British whaler John Fearn becomes the first European to land on Nauru.
- November 28 - Trade between the United States and modern-day Uruguay begins when John Leamy's frigate John arrives in Montevideo.[8]
- December 5 - Peasants War in the Southern Netherlands: The revolt is crushed in Hasselt; during the uprising it is estimated that 5,000 to 10,000 people have been killed.
- December 6 - General Joubert of the Piedmontese Republic occupies the Sardinian capital of Turin.
Date unknown
Births
January
February
March
April
May
- May 1
- May 2
- May 3
- May 4 – Charles Kanaʻina, Hawaiian noble, father of King Lunalilo (d. 1877)
- May 5 – Jonathan Edwards Ryland, British writer (d. 1866)
- May 6
- May 7 – Emil Wilhelm Krummacher, German clergyman (d. 1886)
- May 8
- May 10
- May 11 – Trinidad Guevara, Uruguayan actor (d. 1873)
- May 12
- May 13
- May 14 – Julius Christopher Hammer, Norwegian politician (d. 1877)
- May 15
- May 16 – Ellis Lewis, American judge (d. 1871)
- May 17 – George Don, Scottish botanist (d. 1856)
- May 18
- May 19 – Dudley Ryder, 2nd Earl of Harrowby, British politician (d. 1882)
- May 20
- May 21
- May 22
- May 24 – Walker King, priest (d. 1859)
- May 25 – Antoine-Olivier Berthelet, businessman, philanthropist, politician in Lower Canada (d. 1872)
- May 27
- May 28
- May 29
- May 31 – Robert Nugent Dunbar, British poet (d. 1866)
June
- June 1 – John Hollins, British artist (d. 1855)
- June 2
- June 3 – William Soden Hastings, American politician (d. 1842)
- June 4
- June 5 – Alexei Lvov, Russian composer (d. 1870)
- June 6 – James White McClung, American lawyer and politician (d. 1848)
- June 7
- June 8
- Johann Friedrich Riedel, German missionary (d. 1860)
- June 9
- June 10
- June 12
- June 13
- June 14 – František Palacký, Czech philosopher, historian, publicist and writer (d. 1876)
- June 16
- June 18
- June 19
- June 20
- June 21
- June 22 – Ditlev Blunck, Danish artist (d. 1853)
- June 23 – Thomas Church, colonial Administrator (d. 1860)
- June 24
- June 25
- June 26
- June 29
- June 30
July
August
September
- September 1
- September 2
- September 3
- September 4
- September 5
- September 6 – Nathalie Elma d'Esménard, French artist and botanical illustrator (d. 1872)
- September 7 – Karl Schnaase, German art historian (d. 1875)
- September 8
- September 9
- September 10 – Adam Johan Frederik Poulsen Trampe, Norwegian jurist (d. 1876)
- September 11
- September 12 – Janez Vesel, Slovenian writer and lawyer (d. 1884)
- September 13 – Robert Hodgson, Canadian lawyer, politician, judge (d. 1880)
- September 14
- September 16
- September 18
- September 19 – Caesar Hawkins, British surgeon (d. 1884)
- September 20
- September 22
- September 23
- September 24 – Takashima Shūhan, samurai and military engineer (d. 1866)
- September 25
- September 26
- September 27
- September 28
- September 29
- September 30 – John Wilkinson, lawyer and Postmaster (d. 1862)
October
- October 1 – James Wentworth Buller, British politician (d. 1865)
- October 2
- October 3
- October 4
- October 5
- October 6
- October 7
- October 8
- October 9
- October 10 – Bateman Paul, Church of England clergyman and writer (d. 1877)
- October 11
- October 12
- Pedro I of Brazil, Emperor of Brazil, and King of Portugal (d. 1834)
- Jesse Olney, American geographer (d. 1872)
- October 13
- October 14
- October 15 – Patrick Raymond Griffith, Irish Dominican priest (d. 1862)
- October 16
- October 17 – Peter Harvey, biographer (d. 1877)
- October 18 – Karl Ludwig von Bruck, Austrian politician (d. 1860)
- October 19
- October 20 – William A. Moseley, American politician (d. 1873)
- October 21
- October 22
- October 25
- October 26 – Beda Weber, Austrian writer (d. 1858)
- October 27
- October 28
- October 29 – William Lascelles, British politician (d. 1851)
- October 30 – Maurice Schlesinger, German music publisher (d. 1871)
- October 31
November
- November 1
- November 2 – Jules Coignet, French painter (d. 1860)
- November 3
- November 4
- November 5
- November 6
- November 7
- November 8
- November 9
- November 10
- November 11
- November 13 – Anne Nasmyth, Scottish artist (d. 1874)
- November 14
- November 15
- November 16
- November 18 – Eugène Renduel, French publisher (d. 1874)
- November 19 – José María Alviso, American mayor (d. 1853)
- November 20 – Johann Georg August Wirth, German journalist and author (d. 1848)
- November 21
- November 22 – Angeliki Palli, Italian poet, translator, editor (d. 1875)
- November 23
- November 26
- November 27
- November 28 – Cora Millet-Robinet, French writer (d. 1890)
- November 29
- November 30 – Friedrich Heinrich Ranke, German theologian (d. 1876)
December
Deaths
- January 3 - Carlo Aurelio Widmann, Venetian nobleman and admiral (b. 1750)
- January 22 - Lewis Morris, American landowner and developer, signer of the United States Declaration of Independence (b. 1726)
- February 12 - Stanisław August Poniatowski, deposed last King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (b. 1732)[11]
- February 25 - Louis Jules Mancini Mazarini, French diplomat, writer (b. 1716)
- March 22 - Justin Morgan, American horse breeder and composer (b. 1747)
- March 25 - General Michel Joachim Marie Raymond, French leader of the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad (poisoned) (b. 1755)
- April - Gideon Morris, trans-Appalachian pioneer (b. 1756)
- April 11 - Karl Wilhelm Ramler, German poet (b. 1725)
- April 12 - Madeleine de Puisieux, French writer, active feminist (b. 1720)
- April 14 - Henry Mowat, Scottish-born British Royal Navy officer (b. 1734)
- April 29 - Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, German entomologist (b. 1723)
- May 10 - George Vancouver, British Royal Navy officer, explorer (Vancouver, Canada is named after him) (b. 1757)[12]
- May 19 - William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, English dueler (b. 1722)
- June - Betsy Gray, Irish rebel heroine
- June 4 - Giacomo Casanova, Italian adventurer, writer (b. 1725)
- June 21 - John Kelly of Killanne, Irish republican
- June 25 - Thomas Sandby, English cartographer, architect (b. 1721)
- June 29 - Catharina Mulder, Dutch organist (b. 1723)
- July 17 - Henry Joy McCracken, Irish republican
- July 21 - François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt, Austrian field marshal (b. 1733)
- August 1 - François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, French admiral (killed in battle) (b. 1753)
- August 11 - Joshua Clayton, American politician (b. 1744)
- August 18 - John Lewis Gervais, American revolutionary and politician (b. 1741)
- August 21 - James Wilson, American politician (b. 1742)
- August 24 - Thomas Alcock, English clergyman (b. 1709)
- August 25 - Mikiel'Ang Grima, Maltese surgeon (b. 1731)
- September 21 - George Read, American lawyer, signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1733)
- November 5 - John Zephaniah Holwell, British surgeon (b. 1711)
- November 15 - Angelo Maria Amorevoli, Italian operatic tenor (b. 1716)
- November 19 - Wolfe Tone, Irish republican (b. 1737)[13]
- November 21 - Gabriel Lenkiewicz, Belarusian Temporary Vicar General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1722)
- December 4 - Luigi Galvani, Italian physicist (b. 1737)
- December 16 - Thomas Pennant, Welsh naturalist (b. 1726)
Notes and References
- Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History from 458 A. D. to 1909, ed. by Benson John Lossing and, Woodrow Wilson (Harper & Brothers, 1910) p171
- Book: 1798. The People's Chronology. Everett, Jason M.. Thomson Gale. 2006.
- Web site: Historical Events for Year 1798 | OnThisDay.com . Historyorb.com. October 23, 1798 . July 11, 2016.
- Book: Woodman, Richard . Richard Woodman . 2001 . The Sea Warriors . Constable Publishers . 103–04 . 1-84119-183-3.
- Holmes, Richard (2015). The Napoleonic Wars, Egypt and Syria campaign, p. 28.
- Book: Stock, Joseph. Joseph Stock (bishop). A Narrative of what passed at Killalla, in the County of Mayo, and the parts adjacent, during the French invasion in the summer of 1798. Dublin; London. 1800.
- Book: Curlin, James S. . «Remember the Moment when Previsa fell»: The 1798 Battle of Nicopolis and Preveza . 265–296 . Preveza B. Proceedings of the Second International Symposium for the History and Culture of Preveza (16–20 September 2009) . I . Preveza . 2010 . University of Ioannina, Municipality of Preveza, Actia Nicopolis Foundation . 978-960-99475-1-0.
- Chandler. Charles L.. June 1953. Catholic Merchants of Early Philadelphia. Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia. 64. 2. 94–103. 44210305.
- Comte, Auguste. 6. 814–822.
- Book: Clement, Russell . Four French symbolists: a sourcebook on Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, and Maurice Denis . Greenwood Press . Westport, Conn . 1996 . 9780313297526 .
- Book: Butterwick, Richard . Poland's Last King and English Culture: Stanisław August Poniatowski, 1732–1798 . 29 April 2012. 14 May 1998. Clarendon Press. 978-0-19-820701-6. 2.
- Book: Cave . Edward ("Sylvanus Urban") . Edward Cave . https://books.google.com/books?id=fNERAAAAYAAJ. The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle . Obituary of Remarkable Persons with Biographical Anecdotes . 68 . London . John Nichols . 1798 . 447.
- Web site: Ó Cathaoir. Brendan. 17 March 2008. The death of Wolfe Tone. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20201006212057/https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/the-death-of-wolfe-tone-1.904217. 6 October 2020. 18 July 2020. Irish Times.