June 1
1773 – Wolraad Woltemade rescues 14 sailors at the Cape of Good Hope from the sinking ship De Jonge Thomas by riding his horse into the sea seven times. Both he and his horse, Vonk, are drowned on his eighth attempt.
1779 – The court-martial for malfeasance of Benedict Arnold, a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, begins.
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 Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom.
1813 – Capture of USS Chesapeake.
1815 – Napoleon promulgates a revised Constitution after it passes a plebiscite.
June 2
1692 – Bridget Bishop is the first person to be tried for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts; she was found guilty the same day and 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 of 1774 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.
1780 – The anti-Catholic Gordon Riots in London leave an estimated 300 to 700 people dead.
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 Franco-Spanish fleet recaptures from the British the island of Diamond Rock, which guards the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-de-France, Martinique.
June 3
1781 – Jack Jouett begins his midnight ride to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature of an impending British raid.
June 4
1745 – Battle of Hohenfriedberg: Frederick the Great's Prussian army decisively defeated an Austrian army under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine during the War of the Austrian Succession.
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).
1784 – Élisabeth Thible becomes the first woman to fly in an untethered hot air balloon. Her flight covers four kilometres (2.5 mi) in 45 minutes, and reaches an estimated 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) in altitude.
1792 – Captain George Vancouver claims Puget Sound for the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1796 – The siege of Mantua begins when Napoleon Bonaparte lays siege to the fortress of Mantua, the last Austrian stronghold in Northern Italy. It will become the main focus of Napoleon's army for eight months during the Italian campaign of 1796-1797.
1802 – King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia abdicates his throne in favor of his brother, Victor Emmanuel.
1812 – Following Louisiana's admittance as a U.S. state, the Louisiana Territory is renamed the Missouri Territory.
1825 – General Lafayette, a French officer in the American Revolutionary War, speaks at what would become Lafayette Square in Buffalo, New York, during his visit to the United States.
June 5
1794 – Haitian Revolution: Battle of Port-Républicain: British troops capture the capital of Saint-Domingue.
1798 – Battle of New Ross: The attempt to spread the United Irish Rebellion into Munster is defeated.
1817 – The first Great Lakes steamer, the Frontenac, is launched.
1829 – 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 is incorporated by the Republic of Texas.
June 6
1762 – Seven Years' War: British forces begin the Siege of Havana and temporarily capture the city.
1813 – War of 1812: In the Battle of Stoney Creek, considered a critical turning point in the war, a British force of 700 under John Vincent defeats an American force twice its size under William Winder and John Chandler.
1822 – Alexis St Martin is accidentally shot in the stomach, leading to William Beaumont's studies on digestion.
1832 – The June Rebellion in Paris is put down by the National Guard.
1844 – The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is founded in London.
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 will lead to the United States Declaration of Independence.
1788 – French Revolution: Day of the Tiles: Civilians in Grenoble toss roof tiles and various objects down upon royal troops.
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 – The Great Reform Act of England and Wales receives royal assent.
1832 – Asian cholera reaches Quebec, brought by Irish immigrants, and kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada.
June 8
1772 – Alexander Fordyce flees to France to avoid debt repayment, triggering the credit crisis of 1772 in the British Empire and the Dutch Republic.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Continental Army attackers are driven back at the Battle of Trois-Rivières.
1783 – Laki, a volcano in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption that kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.
1789 – James Madison introduces twelve proposed amendments to the United States Constitution in Congress.
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.
1772 – The British schooner Gaspee is burned in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.
1798 – Irish Rebellion of 1798: Battles of Arklow and 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 and Sorceries".
1719 – Jacobite risings: Battle of Glen Shiel.
1782 – King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern-day Thailand) is crowned.
1786 – A landslide dam on the Dadu River 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 became 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 revolutionary dictatorship.
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 on the Thames in London.
1838 – Myall Creek massacre: Twenty-eight Aboriginal Australians are murdered.
June 11
1702 – Anglo-Dutch forces skirmish with French forces before the walls of Nijmegen and prevent its fall.
1724 – Johann Sebastian Bach leads his cantata O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (O eternity, you word of thunder), BWV 20, on the first Sunday after Trinity, beginning his second cycle, the chorale cantata cycle.
1748 – Denmark adopts the characteristic Nordic Cross flag, later taken up by all other Scandinavian countries.
1770 – British explorer Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
1775 – The Coronation of Louis XVI in Reims, the last coronation before the French Revolution.
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 R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a 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
1758 – French and Indian War: Siege of Louisbourg: James Wolfe's attack at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, commences.
1772 – French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne and 25 of his men are killed by Maori in New Zealand.
1775 – American War of Independence: British general Thomas Gage declares martial law in Massachusetts. The 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.
1813 – Capture of USRC Surveyor.
1817 – The earliest form of bicycle, the dandy horse, is driven by Karl von Drais.
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: Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, lands near Charleston, South Carolina, to help the Continental Congress 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
1690 – King William III of England (William of Orange) lands in Ireland to confront the former King James II.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: the Continental Army is established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United States Armed Forces.
1777 – The Second Continental Congress passes the Flag Act of 1777, adopting the Stars and Stripes 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 km (4,600 mi) journey in an open boat.
1800 – The French Army of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte 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.
June 15
1804 – New Hampshire approves the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document.
1834 – The looting of Safed commences.
1846 – The Oregon Treaty extends the border between the United States and British North America, established by the Treaty of 1818, westward to the Pacific Ocean.
June 16
1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: New England colonial troops under the command of William Pepperrell capture the Fortress of Louisbourg in Louisbourg, New France (Old Style date).
1746 – War of the Austrian Succession: Austria and Sardinia defeat a Franco-Spanish army at the Battle of Piacenza.
1755 – French and Indian War: The French surrender Fort Beauséjour to the British, leading to the expulsion of the Acadians.
1760 – French and Indian War: Robert Rogers and his Rangers surprise French-held Fort Sainte Thérèse on the Richelieu River near Lake Champlain. The fort is raided and burned.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: Spain declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Great Siege of Gibraltar begins.
1795 – French Revolutionary Wars: In what became known as Cornwallis's Retreat, a British Royal Navy squadron led by Vice Admiral William Cornwallis strongly resisted a much larger French Navy force and withdrew largely intact, setting up the French Navy defeat at the Battle of Groix six days later.
1811 – Survivors of an attack the previous day by Tla-o-qui-aht on board the Pacific Fur Company's ship Tonquin, intentionally detonate a powder magazine on the ship, destroying it and killing about 100 attackers.
1815 – Battle of Ligny and Battle of Quatre Bras, two days before the Battle of Waterloo.
1819 – A major earthquake strikes the Kutch district of western India, killing over 1,543 people and raising a 6-metre-high (20 ft), 6-kilometre-wide (3.7 mi) ridge, extending for at least 80 kilometres (50 mi), that was known as the Allah Bund ("Dam of God").
1824 – A meeting at Old Slaughter's coffee house in London leads to the formation of what is now the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA).
1836 – The formation of the London Working Men's Association gives rise to the Chartist Movement.
June 17
1767 – Samuel Wallis, a British sea captain, sights Tahiti and is considered the first European to reach the island.
1773 – Cúcuta, Colombia, is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: Colonists inflict heavy casualties on British forces while losing the Battle of Bunker Hill.
1789 – In France, the Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly.
1794 – Foundation of the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom.
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 were established as a result.
June 18
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.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: The British Army abandons Philadelphia.
1799 – Action of 18 June 1799: A frigate squadron under Rear-admiral Jean-Baptiste Perrée is captured by the British fleet under Lord Keith.
1803 – Haitian Revolution: The Royal Navy, led by Rear-Admiral John Thomas Duckworth, commenced the blockade of Saint-Domingue against French forces.
1812 – The United States Declaration of War upon the United Kingdom is signed by President James Madison, beginning the War of 1812.
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.
June 19
1718 – At least 73,000 people died in the 1718 Tongwei–Gansu earthquake due to landslides in the Qing dynasty.
1785 – The Boston King's Chapel adopts James Freeman's revised prayer book, without the Nicene Creed, establishing it as the first Unitarian congregation in the United States.
1800 – War of the Second Coalition: Battle of Höchstädt results in a French victory over Austria.
1811 – The Carlton House Fête is held in London to celebrate the establishment of the Regency era.
1816 – Battle of Seven Oaks between the North West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company, near Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
1821 – Decisive defeat of the Filiki Eteria by the Ottomans at Dragaani (in Wallachia).
June 20
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.
1791 – King Louis XVI, disguised as a valet, and the French royal family attempt to flee Paris during the French Revolution.
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.
June 21
1734 – In Montreal, 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 becomes the ninth state to ratify the Constitution of the United States.
1791 – King Louis XVI 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: Wellington defeats Joseph Bonaparte at the Battle of Vitoria.
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 passed the Quebec Act, setting out rules of governance for the colony of Quebec in British North America.
1783 – A poisonous cloud caused by the eruption of the Laki volcano in Iceland reaches Le Havre in France.
1793 – Haitian Revolution: The Battle of Cap-Français ends with French Republican troops and black slave insurgents capturing the city.
1807 – In the Chesapeake–Leopard affair, the British warship HMS Leopard attacks and boards the American frigate USS Chesapeake.
1812 – France declares war on Russia, starting Napoleon's invasion.
1813 – War of 1812: After learning of American plans for a surprise attack on Beaver Dams in Ontario, Laura Secord sets out on a thirty-kilometer (19 mi) journey on foot to warn Lieutenant James FitzGibbon.
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 the 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, Hanoverian, and Prussian 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 Kyiv.
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 is founded in London, the first Masonic Grand Lodge in the world (now the United Grand Lodge of England).
1724 – On the Feast of St. John the Baptist, Bach leads the first performance of his Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, BWV 7, the third cantata of his chorale cantata cycle.
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 – Battle of Carabobo: Decisive battle in the war of independence of Venezuela from Spain.
June 25
1741 – Maria Theresa is crowned Queen of Hungary.
1786 – Gavriil Pribylov discovers St. George Island of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.
1788 – Virginia becomes the tenth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
June 26
1718 – Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich 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 defeats a British garrison at the Siege of Fort Mose near St. Augustine during the War of Jenkins' Ear.
1794 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Fleurus marks the first successful military use of aircraft and turns the tide of the War of the First Coalition.
1830 – William IV becomes king of Britain and Hanover following the death without surviving legitimate issue of his older brother George IV.
June 27
1743 – In the Battle of Dettingen, George II becomes the last reigning British monarch to participate in a battle.
1760 – Anglo-Cherokee War: Cherokee warriors defeat British forces at the Battle of Echoee near present-day Otto, North Carolina.
1806 – British forces take Buenos Aires during the first of the British invasions of the River Plate.
June 28
1745 – A New England colonial army captures the French fortifications at Louisbourg (New Style).
1776 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Sullivan's Island ends with the American victory, leading to the commemoration of Carolina Day.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Thomas Hickey, Continental Army private and bodyguard to General George Washington, is hanged for mutiny and sedition.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: The American Continentals engage the British in the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse, resulting in a standstill and British withdrawal under cover of darkness.
1797 – French troops disembark in Corfu, beginning the French rule in the Ionian Islands.
1807 – Second British invasion of the Río de la Plata; John Whitelocke lands at Ensenada on an attempt to recapture Buenos Aires and is defeated by the locals.
1838 – Coronation of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.
June 29
1764 – One of the strongest tornadoes in history strikes Woldegk, Germany, killing one person while leveling numerous mansions with winds estimated at greater than 300 miles per hour (480 km/h).
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
1703 – The Battle of Ekeren between a Dutch force and a French force.
1758 – Seven Years' War: Habsburg Austrian forces destroy a Prussian reinforcement and supply convoy in the Battle of Domstadtl, helping to expel Prussian King Frederick the Great from Moravia.
1794 – Northwest Indian War: Native American forces under Blue Jacket attack Fort Recovery.
1805 – Under an act to divide the Indiana Territory into two separate governments, adopted by the U.S. Congress on January 11, 1805, the Michigan Territory is organized.