1776

Updated on Oct 26, 2023

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1776 (MDCCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (dominical letter GF) of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Friday (dominical letter CB) of the Julian calendar, the 1776th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 776th year of the 2nd millennium, the 76th year of the 18th century, and the 7th year of the 1770s decade. As of the start of 1776, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923. The year is dominated by events of the American Revolutionary War.

January–February

January 1 – American Revolutionary War: Burning of Norfolk: The town of Norfolk, Virginia, is destroyed by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces.

January 10 – American Revolution: Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet Common Sense "written by an Englishman" in Philadelphia arguing for independence from British rule in the Thirteen Colonies.

January 20 – American Revolution: South Carolina Loyalists led by Robert Cunningham sign a petition from prison agreeing to all demands for peace by the formed state government of South Carolina.

January 24 – American Revolution: Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga

February 17 – Edward Gibbon publishes the first volume of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

February 27 – American Revolution: Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge: Scottish North Carolina Loyalists charge across Moore's Creek bridge near Wilmington to attack what they mistakenly believe to be a small force of rebels. Several loyalist leaders are killed in the ensuing battle. The patriot victory virtually ends all British authority in the province.

March–April

March – Restrictions on the cereal trade in Sweden are lifted.

March 2–3 – American Revolutionary War:

Battle of Nassau: The American Continental Navy and Marines make a successful assault on Nassau, Bahamas.

Battle of the Rice Boats: American Patriots resist the Royal Navy on the Savannah River. British control over the Province of Georgia is lost.

March 4 – American Revolutionary War: American Patriots capture Dorchester Heights dominating the port of Boston.

March 9 – Scottish economist Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations in London.

March 17 – American Revolutionary War: Threatened by Patriot cannons on Dorchester Heights, the British evacuate Boston, ending the 11‑month Siege of Boston.

March 28 – Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.

April 12 – American Revolution: The Royal Colony of North Carolina produces the Halifax Resolves making it the first British colony officially to authorize its Continental Congress delegates to vote for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.

May–June

May 1 – Adam Weishaupt founds the Illuminati in Ingolstadt, Bavaria.

May 4 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britain.

May 15–26 – American Revolution: Battle of The Cedars: British forces skirmish with the American Continental Army around Les Cèdres, Quebec.

June 6 – A fire destroys major parts of the town of Askersund, Sweden.

June 7 – American Revolution: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposes to the Second Continental Congress (meeting in Philadelphia) that "these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states."

June 8 – American Revolution: Battle of Trois-Rivières: The invading American Continental Army is driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

June 11 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress appoints a Committee of Five to draft a Declaration of Independence.

June 12 – American Revolution: Virginia Declaration of Rights by George Mason adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates.

June 15 – American Revolution: Delaware Separation Day: The Delaware General Assembly votes to suspend government under the British Crown.

June 17 – Lt. José Joaquín Moraga leads a band of colonists from Monterey Presidio, landing on June 29 and, with Father Francisco Palóu, constructing the Mission San Francisco de Asís ("Mission Dolores") of the new Presidio of San Francisco, the oldest surviving building in the modern-day city.

June 28 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Sullivan's Island – South Carolina militia repel a British attack on Charleston.

June 29 – American Revolution: Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet – The American Continental Navy successfully challenges the British Royal Navy blockade off New Jersey.

July–August

July 2 – American Revolution: The final (despite minor revisions) U.S. Declaration of Independence is written. The Continental Congress passes the Lee Resolution.

July 4 – American Revolution: United States Declaration of Independence: The Continental Congress ratifies the declaration by the United States of its independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.

July 8 – American Revolution: The Liberty Bell rings in Philadelphia for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.

July 9 – American Revolution: An angry mob in New York City topples the equestrian statue of George III of Great Britain in Bowling Green.

July 12 – Captain James Cook sets off from Plymouth, England, in HMS Resolution on his third voyage, to the Pacific Ocean and Arctic, which will be fatal.

July 21 – Mozart's Serenade No. 7 (the "Haffner") is first performed in Salzburg, Austria.

July 29 – Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, and eight other Spaniards set out from Santa Fe on an eighteen-hundred mile trek through the American Southwest. They are the first Europeans to explore the vast region between the Rockies and the Sierras.

August 2 – Most of the American colonies ratify the Declaration of Independence.

August 15 – American Revolution: First Hessian troops land on Staten Island to join British forces.

August 27 – American Revolution: Battle of Long Island: Washington's troops routed in Brooklyn by British under William Howe.

September–October

September 1 – Invasion of Cherokee Nation by 6,000 patriot troops from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina begins. The troops destroy thirty-six Cherokee towns.

September 6 – Hurricane hits Guadeloupe, killing more than 6,000 people.

September 7 – American Revolution: World's first submarine attack. American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor.

September 11 – American Revolution: abortive peace conference between British and Americans on Staten Island.

September 15 – American Revolution: Landing at Kip's Bay: British troops land on Manhattan at Kips Bay.

September 16 – American Revolution: Battle of Harlem Heights: The Continental Army under Washington are victorious against the British on Manhattan.

September 22 – American Revolution: Nathan Hale executed in New York City for espionage.

September 24

First running of the St Leger Stakes horse race (not yet named) in England, first of the British Classic Races, devised by Anthony St Leger (British Army officer), on Cantley Common at Doncaster. The winner is a filly (later named Allabaculia) owned by the organiser, the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham.

The Bolshoi Theatre company hosts its first annual opera season, with the opening of the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

October 7 – Crown Prince Paul of Russia marries Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg.

October 9 – Father Francisco Palóu founds the Mission San Francisco de Asís in what is now San Francisco.

October 11 – American Revolution: Battle of Valcour Island: On Lake Champlain near Valcour Island, a British fleet led by Sir Guy Carleton defeats 15 American gunboats commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. Although nearly all of Arnold's ships are destroyed, the two-day-long battle will give Patriot forces enough time to prepare defenses of New York City.

October 18 – American Revolution: Battle of Pell's Point: Troops of the American Continental Army resist a British and Hessian force in The Bronx.

October 28 – American Revolution: Battle of White Plains: British forces arrive at White Plains, attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Americans.

October 31 – In his first speech before British Parliament since the Declaration of Independence that summer, King George III acknowledges that all is not going well for Britain in the war with the United States.

November–December

November 16 – American Revolution: Battle of Fort Washington – Hessian forces under Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen capture Fort Washington (Manhattan) from the American Continental Army. The captain of the American navy ship Andrew Doria fires a salute to the Dutch flag on Fort Oranje and Johannes de Graaff answers with eleven gun shots.

November 20 – American Revolution: Battle of Fort Lee – Invasion of New Jersey by British and Hessian forces and subsequent general retreat of the American Continental Army.

December 5 – The Phi Beta Kappa Society is founded at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

December 7 – American Revolution: The Marquis de Lafayette attempts to enter the American military as a major general.

December 21 – American Revolution: The Royal Colony of North Carolina reorganizes into the State of North Carolina after adopting its own constitution. Richard Caswell becomes the first governor of the newly formed state.

December 23 – American Revolution: Thomas Paine, living with Washington's troops, begins publishing The American Crisis, containing the stirring phrase, "These are the times that try men's souls."

December 25 – American Revolution: Gen. George Washington orders the first issue of The Crisis read to his troops on Christmas Eve, then at 6 p.m. all 2600 of them march to McKonkey's Ferry, cross the Delaware River and land on the New Jersey bank at 3 a.m. the following morning.

December 26 – American Revolution: Battle of Trenton: Washington's troops surprise the 1500 Hessian troops under the command of Col. Johann Rall at 8 a.m. outside Trenton and score a victory, taking 948 prisoners while suffering only 5 wounded.