Take a look at the important historical events that took place in the month of June that changed the world.

 

June 1

1670 – In Dover, England, Charles II of Great Britain and Louis XIV of France sign the Secret Treaty of Dover, which will force England into the Third Anglo-Dutch War.

1679 – The Scottish Covenanters defeated John Graham of Claverhouse at the Battle of Drumclog.

1779 – Benedict Arnold, a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, is court-martialed for malfeasance.

1792 – Kentucky is admitted as the 15th state of the United States.

1794 – The battle of the Glorious First of June is fought, the first naval engagement between Britain and France during the French Revolutionary Wars.

1796 – Tennessee is admitted as the 16th state of the United States.

1812 – War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom.

1813 – James Lawrence, the mortally-wounded commander of the USS Chesapeake, gives his final order: "Don't give up the ship!"

1815 – Napoleon promulgates a revised Constitution after it passes a plebiscite.

1831 – James Clark Ross becomes the first European at the Magnetic North Pole.

June 2

1676 - Franco-Dutch War: France ensured the supremacy of its naval fleet for the remainder of the war with its victory in the Battle of Palermo.

1692 - Bridget Bishop is the first person to go to trial in the Salem witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts. Found guilty, she is hanged on June 10.

1763 - Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.

1774 - Intolerable Acts: The Quartering Act is enacted, allowing a governor in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters are not provided.

1793 - French Revolution: François Hanriot, leader of the Parisian National Guard, arrests 22 Girondists selected by Jean-Paul Marat, setting the stage for the Reign of Terror.

1805 - Napoleonic Wars: A First French Empire|Franco-Enlightenment in Spain|Spanish fleet Battle of Diamond Rock|recaptures Diamond Rock, an uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-de-France, from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British.

1835 - P. T. Barnum and his circus start their first tour of the United States.

June 3

1839 - In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsü destroys 1.2 million kg of opium confiscated from British merchants, providing Britain with a ''casus belli'' to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War.

June 4

1760 - Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada taken from the Acadians.

1783 - The Montgolfier brothers publicly demonstrate their ''montgolfière'' (hot air balloon).

June 5

1798 - The Battle of New Ross: The attempt to spread Irish Rebellion of 1798 into Munster is defeated.

1817 - The first Great Lakes steamer, the "Frontenac", is launched.

1829 - The "HMS Pickle" captures the armed slave ship "Voladora" off the coast of Cuba.

1832 - The June Rebellion breaks out in Paris in an attempt to overthrow the monarchy of Louis-Philippe.

1837 - Houston, Texas is incorporated by the Republic of Texas.

June 6

1674 - Shivaji, founder of the Maratha empire, is crowned.

1683 - The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, opens as the world's first university museum.

1752 - A devastating fire destroys one-third of Moscow, including 18,000 homes.

1762 - British forces begin a siege of Havana and temporarily capture the city in the Battle of Havana.

1808 - Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte is crowned King of Spain.

1809 - Sweden promulgates a new Instrument of Government (Constitution), which restores political power to the Riksdag of the Estates after 20 years of Enlightened absolutism. At the same time, Charles XIII of Sweden is elected to succeed Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden King of Sweden.

1813 - War of 1812: Battle of Stoney Creek - A British force of 700 under general John Vincent defeats an American force two times its size under William Winder and John Chandler.

1822 - Alexis St. Martin accidentally shot in the stomach, which leads way to William Beaumont's studies on digestion.

1832 - The June Rebellion of Paris is put down by the National Guard.

1833 - U.S. President Andrew Jackson becomes the first President to ride on a railroad.

June 7

1692 - Port Royal, Jamaica, is hit by a catastrophic earthquake; in just three minutes, 1,600 people are killed and 3,000 are seriously injured.

1776 - Richard Henry Lee presents the "Lee Resolution" to the Continental Congress. The motion is seconded by John Adams and leads to the United States Declaration of Independence.

1800 - David Thompson reaches the mouth of the Saskatchewan River in Manitoba.

1810 - The newspaper "Gazeta de Buenos Ayres" is first published in Argentina.

1832 - Asian cholera reaches Quebec, brought by Irish immigrants, and kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada. This is known as the Second cholera pandemic.

June 8

1690 - Siddi general Yadi Sakat, razes the Mazagon Fort in Mumbai.

1776 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Trois-Rivières - American attackers are driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

1783 - The volcano Laki, in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption that killed over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.

1789 - James Madison introduces twelve proposed List of amendments to the United States Constitution in the House of Representatives; by 1791, ten of them are ratified by the state legislatures and become the United States Bill of Rights; another is eventually ratified in 1992 to become the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1794 - Maximilien Robespierre inaugurates the French Revolution's new state religion, the Cult of the Supreme Being, with large organized festivals all across France.

June 9

1732 - James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of the future U.S. state of Georgia.

1762 - British forces begin the Siege of Havana and capture the city during the Seven Years' War.

1772 - The British schooner "Gaspée" is burned off the coast of Rhode Island. This is known as the Gaspée Affair.

1798 - Irish Rebellion of 1798: Battle of Arklow and Battle of Saintfield.

1815 - End of the Congress of Vienna: the new European political situation is set.

June 10

1692 - Salem witch trials: Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem, Massachusetts, for "certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcraft & Sorceries".

1719 - Jacobite Rising: Battle of Glen Shiel.

1786 - A landslide dam on the Dadu River in China created by an earthquake ten days earlier collapses, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China.

1793 - The Jardin des Plantes museum opens in Paris. A year later, it becomes the first public zoo.

1793 - French Revolution: Following the arrests of Girondin leaders, the Jacobins gain control of the Committee of Public Safety installing the "Reign of Terror".

1805 - First Barbary War: Yusuf Karamanli signs a treaty ending the hostilities between Tripolitania and the United States.

1829 - The first Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place.

1838 - Myall Creek Massacre in Australia: 28 Aboriginal Australians are murdered.

June 11

1770 - Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.

1775 - The American Revolutionary War's first naval engagement, the Battle of Machias, results in the capture of a small British naval vessel.

1776 - The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a United States Declaration of Independence.

1788 - Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.

1805 - A fire consumes large portions of Detroit in the Michigan Territory.

1825 - The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.

1837 - The Broad Street Riot occurs in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between Yankees and Irish.

June 12

1665 - England installs a municipal government in New York City (the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam).

1758 - French and Indian War: Siege of Louisbourg - James Wolfe's attack at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia commences.

1775 - American Revolution: British general Thomas Gage declares martial law in Massachusetts. The Great British offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms. There would be only two exceptions to the amnesty: Samuel Adams and John Hancock, if captured, were to be hanged.

1776 - The Virginia Declaration of Rights is adopted.

1798 - Irish Rebellion of 1798: Battle of Ballynahinch.

June 13

1740 - Georgia provincial governor James Oglethorpe begins an unsuccessful attempt to take Spanish Florida during the Siege of St. Augustine.

1774 - Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain's North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves.

1777 - American Revolutionary War: Marquis de Lafayette lands near Charleston, South Carolina, in order to help the Continental Congress to train its army.

1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: scouting ahead of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four companions sight the Great Falls of the Missouri River.

June 14

1775 - American Revolutionary War: the Continental Army is established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United States Army.

1777 - The Stars and Stripes is adopted by Congress as the Flag of the United States.

1789 - Mutiny on the Bounty: "HMS Bounty" mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reach Timor after a nearly 7,400 mile journey in an open boat.

1789   - Whiskey distilled from maize is first produced by American clergyman the Rev Elijah Craig. It is named Bourbon whiskey because Rev Craig lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

1800 - The French Army of Napoleon defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquers Italy.

1807 - Emperor Napoleon's French Grande Armée defeats the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland in Poland (modern Russian  Kaliningrad Oblast) ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.

1821 - Badi VII, king of Sennar (sultanate), surrenders his throne and realm to Isma'il Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of that Sudanese kingdom.

1822 - Charles Babbage proposes a different engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society entitled "Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical and mathematical tables".

1830 - Beginning of French colonization of Algeria: 34,000 French soldiers begin their invasion of Algiers, landing 27 kilometers west at Sidi Fredj.

1839 - Henley Royal Regatta: the village of Henley-on-Thames, on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, stages its first regatta.

 

June 15

1752 – Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity (traditional date, the exact date is unknown).

1775 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington is appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.

1776 – Delaware Separation Day: Delaware votes to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania.

1785 – Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, co-pilot of the first-ever manned flight (1783), and his companion, Pierre Romain, become the first-ever casualties of an air crash when their hot air balloon explodes during their attempt to cross the English Channel.

1804 – New Hampshire approves the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document.

1808 – Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Spain.

1815 – The Duchess of Richmond's ball is held in Brussels, "the most famous ball in history".

1836 – Arkansas is admitted as the 25th U.S. state. 

June 16

1745 – British troops take Cape Breton Island, which is now part of Nova Scotia, Canada.

1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: New England colonial troops under the command of William Pepperrell capture the French fortress of Louisbourg in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia (Old Style).

1746 – War of Austrian Succession: Austria and Sardinia defeat a Franco-Spanish army at the Battle of Piacenza.

1755 – French and Indian War: the French surrendered Fort Beauséjour to the British, leading to the expulsion of the Acadians.

1774 – Foundation of Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

1779 – Spain declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Great Siege of Gibraltar begins.

1795 – First Battle of Groix otherwise known as "Cornwallis' Retreat".

1815 – Battle of Ligny and Battle of Quatre Bras, two days before the Battle of Waterloo.

1816 – Lord Byron reads Fantasmagoriana to his four house guests at the Villa Diodati, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Claire Clairmont, and John Polidori, and inspires his challenge that each guest writes a ghost story, which culminated in Mary Shelley's writing the novel Frankenstein, John Polidori writing the short story The Vampyre, and Byron writing the poem Darkness.

1836 – The formation of the London Working Men's Association gives rise to the Chartist Movement. 

June 17

1673 – French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reach the Mississippi River and become the first Europeans to make a detailed account of its course.

1773 – Cúcuta, Colombia, is discovered by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar.

1775 – American Revolutionary War: Colonists inflict heavy casualties on British forces while losing the Battle of Bunker Hill. The battle actually took place on Breed's Hill.  

1789 – In France, the Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly.

1795 – The burghers of Swellendam expel the Dutch East India Company magistrate and declare a republic.

1839 – In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace are established as a result. 

June 18

1684 – The charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is revoked via a scire facias writ issued by an English court.

1757 – Battle of Kolín between Prussian forces under Frederick the Great and an Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal Count Leopold Joseph von Daun in the Seven Years' War.

1767 – Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sights Tahiti and is considered the first European to reach the island.

1778 – American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1799 – Action of 18 June 1799: A frigate squadron under Rear-admiral Perrée is captured by the British fleet under Lord Keith

1812 – War of 1812: The U.S. Congress declares war on Great Britain, Canada, and Ireland.

1815 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo results in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher forcing him to abdicate the throne of France for the second and last time.

1830 – French invasion of Algeria. 

June 19

1718 – At least 73,000 people died in the 1718 Tongwei–Gansu earthquake due to landslides in the Qing dynasty.

1770 – New Church Day: Emanuel Swedenborg wrote: "The Lord sent forth His twelve disciples, who followed Him in the world into the whole spiritual world to preach the Gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns. This took place on the 19th day of June, in the year 1770."

1800 – War of the Second Coalition Battle of Höchstädt results in a French victory over Austria.

1816 – Battle of Seven Oaks between North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

1821 – Decisive defeat of the Filiki Eteria by the Ottomans at Drăgășani (in Wallachia).

1821 – Coronation of George IV of the United Kingdom.

June 20

1685 – Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declares himself King of England at Bridgwater.

1756 – A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.

1782 – The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.

1787 – Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the United States.

1789 – Deputies of the French Third Estate take the Tennis Court Oath.

1819 – The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey is made under sail.

1837 – Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.

1840 – Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph. 

June 21

1734 – In Montreal in New France, a slave known by the French name of Marie-Joseph Angélique is put to death, having been convicted of setting the fire that destroyed much of the city.

1749 – Halifax, Nova Scotia, is founded.

1768 – James Otis, Jr. offends the King and Parliament in a speech to the Massachusetts General Court.

1788 – New Hampshire ratifies the Constitution of the United States and is admitted as the 9th state in the United States.

1791 – King Louis XVI of France and his immediate family begin the Flight to Varennes during the French Revolution.

1798 – Irish Rebellion of 1798: The British Army defeats Irish rebels at the Battle of Vinegar Hill.

1813 – Peninsular War: Battle of Victoria.

1824 – Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea.

1826 – Maniots defeat Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha in the Battle of Vergas. 

June 22

1774 – The British pass the Quebec Act, setting out rules of governance for the colony of Quebec in British North America.

1775 - Congress issues Continental currency

1783 – A poisonous cloud caused by the eruption of the Laki volcano in Iceland reaches Le Havre in France.

1807 – In the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair, the British warship HMS Leopard attacks and boards the American frigate USS Chesapeake.

1813 – War of 1812: After learning of American plans for a surprise attack on Beaver Dams in Ontario, Laura Secord sets out on a 30-kilometer journey on foot to warn Lieutenant James FitzGibbon.

1825 – The British Parliament abolishes feudalism and the seigneurial system in British North America.

1839 – Cherokee leaders Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot are assassinated for signing the Treaty of New Echota, which had resulted in the Trail of Tears. 

June 23

1683 – William Penn signs a friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.

1713 – The French residents of Acadia are given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia, Canada.

1757 – Battle of Plassey: Three thousand British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000 strong Indian army under Siraj Ud Daulah at Plassey.

1758 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Krefeld – British forces defeat French troops at Krefeld in Germany.

1760 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Landeshut – Austria defeats Prussia.

1780 – American Revolution: Battle of Springfield fought in and around Springfield, New Jersey (including Short Hills, formerly of Springfield, now of Millburn Township).

1794 – Empress Catherine II of Russia grants Jews permission to settle in Kiev.

1810 – John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company.

1812 – War of 1812: Great Britain revokes the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war. 

June 24

1717 – The Premier Grand Lodge of England, the first Masonic Grand Lodge in the world (now the United Grand Lodge of England), is founded in London.

1762 – Battle of Wilhelmsthal: The British-Hanoverian army of Ferdinand of Brunswick defeats French forces in Westphalia.

1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Great Siege of Gibraltar begins.

1793 – The first Republican constitution in France is adopted.

1812 – Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon's Grande Armée crosses the Neman River beginning the invasion of Russia.

1813 – Battle of Beaver Dams: a British and Indian combined force defeats the United States Army.

1821 – The Battle of Carabobo takes place. It is the decisive battle in the war of independence of Venezuela from Spain. 

June 25

1678 – Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy when she graduates from the University of Padua.

1741 – Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen of Hungary.

1786 – Gavriil Pribylov discovers St. George Island of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.

1788 – Virginia becomes the 10th state to ratify the United States Constitution. 

June 26

1718 – Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia, Peter the Great's son, mysteriously dies after being sentenced to death by his father for plotting against him.

1723 – After a siege and bombardment by cannon, Baku surrenders to the Russians.

1740 – A combined force of Spanish, free blacks and allied Indians defeat a British garrison at the Siege of Fort Mose near St. Augustine during the War of Jenkins' Ear.

1794 – French Revolutionary Wars: The battle of Fleurus marked the first successful military use of aircraft (reconnaissance balloon).

1830 – William IV becomes king of Britain and Hanover. 

June 27

1743 – War of the Austrian Succession: Battle of Dettingen: On the battlefield in Bavaria, George II personally leads troops into battle. The last time that a British monarch would command troops in the field.

1759 – General James Wolfe begins the siege of Quebec.

1760 – Cherokee warriors defeat British forces at the Battle of Echoee near present-day Otto, North Carolina during the Anglo-Cherokee War.

1806 – British forces take Buenos Aires during the first British invasions of the Río de la Plata. 

June 28

1709 – Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava.

1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: A New England colonial army captures Louisbourg, New France, after a forty-seven-day siege (New Style).

1776 – The Battle of Sullivan's Island ends with the first decisive American victory in the American Revolutionary War leading to the commemoration of Carolina Day.

1776 – Thomas Hickey, Continental Army private and bodyguard to General George Washington is hanged for mutiny and sedition.

1778 – The American Continentals engage the British in the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse resulting in a standstill and British withdrawal under cover of darkness.

1807 – Second British invasion of the Río de la Plata; John Whitelock lands at Ensenada in an attempt to recapture Buenos Aires and is defeated by the locals.

1838 – Coronation of Victoria of the United Kingdom. 

June 29

1776 – First privateer battle of the American Revolutionary War fought at Turtle Gut Inlet near Cape May, New Jersey

1776 – Father Francisco Palou founds Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California.

1786 – Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario.

1807 – Russo-Turkish War: Admiral Dmitry Senyavin destroys the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos. 

June 30

1688 – The Immortal Seven issue the Invitation to William (continuing the English rebellion from Rome), which would culminate in the Glorious Revolution.

1758 – Seven Years' War: The Battle of Domstadtl takes place.

1794 – Native American forces under Blue Jacket attack Fort Recovery.

1805 – The U.S. Congress organizes the Michigan Territory.