On This Day

June 1779 in History

Events in History


Event of interestEvent of Interest

Jun 8 Admiral Horatio Nelson and Captain Thomas Hardy on HMS Foudroyant set sail against Spanish fleet

Admiral Horatio Nelson
Admiral
Horatio Nelson

Victory in battleVictory in Battle

Jun 16 US General Anthony Wayne captures Stony Point, New York, inflicting heavy losses on the British

Military Leader Anthony Wayne
Military Leader
Anthony Wayne
  • Jun 16 Spain declares war on Great Britain in support of the US, starting the siege of Gibraltar
  • Jun 18 French fleet occupies St Vincent
  • Jun 20 Battle of Stono Ferry fought near Charleston, South Carolina (American Revolutionary War)

Deaths in History

  • Jun 7 William Warburton, English critic and Bishop of Gloucester (b. 1698)
  • Jun 16 Sir Francis Bernard, Governor of New Jersey and Massachusetts (b. 1712)
  • Jun 23 Ras Mikael Sehul, warlord of Ethiopia (b. about 1691)
  • Jun 29 Anton Raphael Mengs, German Bohemian painter and one of the precursors to Neoclassical painting, dies at 51