1837

Canadian militiamen destroyed the Caroline, a U.S. steamboat docked at Buffalo, New York.

Seminole chief Osceola was captured as he carried a white flag of truce during the Second Seminole War.

Ralph Waldo Emerson gave his famous “The American Scholar” speech to Phi Beta Kappa Society at Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, declaring American literary independence from

Queen Victoria ascended to the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV.