1777

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1777 (MDCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Sunday (dominical letter A) of the Julian calendar, the 1777th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 777th year of the 2nd millennium, the 77th year of the 18th century, and the 8th year of the 1770s decade. As of the start of 1777, the Gregorian calendar was 11 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Events

January–June

Night of January 2: General George Washington at Trenton

• January 3 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Princeton: American general George Washington's army defeats British troops.
• January 11 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of the Assunpink Creek: American general George Washington's army repulsed a British attack by Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis in a second battle at Trenton, New Jersey.
• January 12 – Mission Santa Clara de Asís is founded in what is now Santa Clara, California.
• January 15 – Vermont declares its independence from New York, becoming the Vermont Republic, an independent country, a status it retains until it joins the United States as the 14th state in 1791.
• February 24 – King Joseph I of Portugal dies and is succeeded by his brother and son in law Peter III of Portugal and his daughter Maria I of Portugal
• March – Third voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain Cook discovers Mangaia and Atiu in the Cook Islands.
• April 1 – Friedrich Maximilian Klinger's play Sturm und Drang is premiered by the Seyler Theatre Company in Leipzig, giving its name to the whole Sturm und Drang movement in German literature.
• April 13 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bound Brook: A British and Hessian force led by Charles Cornwallis surprises a Continental Army outpost in New Jersey commanded by Major General Benjamin Lincoln.
• May 8 – First performance of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's comedy of manners The School for Scandal at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.^[1]
• May 16 – Lachlan McIntosh and Button Gwinnett shoot each other during a duel near Savannah, Georgia. Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, dies 3 days later.
• June 13 – American Revolution: The Marquis de Lafayette lands near Georgetown, South Carolina, to help the Continental Congress train its army.

June 14: US Flag (had various star patterns)

• June 14 – The Stars and Stripes is adopted by the Continental Congress as the flag of the United States.

July–December

• July 8 – The 1777 Constitution of Vermont is signed, officially abolishing slavery.
• July 6 – American Revolutionary War – Siege of Fort Ticonderoga: After a bombardment by British artillery under General John Burgoyne, American forces retreat from Fort Ticonderoga, New York. On July 7 at the Battle of Hubbardton British forces capture over 200 of the American rearguard.
• August 6 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Oriskany: Loyalists gain a tactical victory over Patriots; Iroquois fight on both sides.
• August 16 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Bennington: British and Brunswicker forces are decisively defeated by American troops.
• August 22 – American Revolutionary War – Siege of Fort Stanwix is ended by withdrawal of British forces following a ruse by Benedict Arnold to persuade them that a much larger force is arriving.
• September 3 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cooch's Bridge: British and Hessian forces defeat American militia in a minor skirmish in New Castle County, Delaware.
• September 11 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Brandywine: The British gain a major victory in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
• September 19 – American Revolutionary War – First Battle of Saratoga: Battle of Freeman's Farm: Patriot forces withstand a British attack at Saratoga, New York
• September 26 – American Revolutionary War – British troops occupy Philadelphia; members of the Continental Congress flee to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
• October 4 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.
• October 6 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery: British troops capture Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery (Hudson River) and are able to dismantle the Hudson River Chain.
• October 7 – American Revolutionary War – Second Battle of Saratoga: Battle of Bemis Heights: British General John Burgoyne is defeated by American troops.
• October 17 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Saratoga: British General John Burgoyne surrenders to the American troops.
• November 15 – American Revolution: After 16 months of debate, the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation in the temporary American capital at York, Pennsylvania.
• November 17 – American Revolution: The Articles of Confederation are submitted to the states for ratification.
• November 29 – San Jose, California is founded. It is the first pueblo in Spanish Alta California.
• December 19 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
• December 24 – Third voyage of James Cook: English explorer Captain Cook locates Kiritimati (Christmas Island).
• December 30 – Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria dies & is succeeded by his distant cousin Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria.

Date unknown

• The 2nd edition of Encyclopædia Britannica is published.
• The code duello is adopted at the Clonmel Summer Assizes as the form for pistol duels in Ireland. It is quickly denounced but nevertheless widely adopted throughout the English-speaking world.
• Kunsthochschule Kassel is founded.

Births

January–March

• January – William Barton, English cricketer (d. 1825)
• January 2 – Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor (d. 1857)
• January 7 – Lorenzo Bartolini, Italian sculptor (d. 1850)
• January 11 – Vincenzo Borg, Maltese merchant and rebel leader (d. 1837)
• January 13 – Elisa Bonaparte, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1820)
• January 25 – Karoline Jagemann, German actor (d.1848)
• February 3 – John Cheyne (physician), British physician, surgeon and author (d. 1836)
• February 10 – Amable Berthelot, Quebec lawyer, author and political figure (d. 1847)
• February 12
  • Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, French poet (d. 1843)
  • Bernard Courtois, French chemist (d. 1838)
• February 18 – Andreas Arntzen, Norwegian politician (d. 1837)
• February 20 – Zacheus Burnham, Canadian farmer, judge and public figure (d. 1857)
• February 26 – Matija Nenadović, Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 1854)
• March 3 – Adolphe Dureau de la Malle, French geographer, naturalist, historian and artist (d. 1857)
• March 10 – Robert Allison (Pennsylvania), U.S. Representative (d. 1840)
• March 13 – Charles Lot Church, Nova Scotia politician (d. 1864)
• March 17
  • Patrick Brontë, Irish Anglican curate and writer; father of writers Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë (d. 1861)
  • Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1864)
• March 19 – José María Bustamante, Mexican composer (d. 1861)
• March 28 – Antoine Germain Labarraque, French chemist (d. 1850)

April–June

Carl Friedrich Gauss

• April 11 – William Addams, United States Congressman (d. 1858)
• April 12 – Henry Clay, American politician (d. 1852)
• April 16 – John Alexander (Ohio politician), U.S. Representative (d. 1848)
• April 30 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer and physicist (d. 1855)
• May 4 – Richard Bourke, Australian governor (d. 1855)
• May 8 – Mateli Magdalena Kuivalatar, Finnish-Carelian Folksinger (d. 1846)
• May 11 – Samuel Bridger, English cricketer
• May 12 – Mary Reibey, Australian businessperson (d. 1855)
• May 18 – John George Children, British chemist, mineralogist and zoologist (d. 1852)
• June 12 – Robert Clark, American politician (d. 1837)
• June 14 – Heman Allen (of Milton), U.S. Representative (d. 1844)
• June 15 – David Daniel Davis, British physician (d. 1841)
• June 22
  • Andrzej Alojzy Ankwicz, Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 1838)
  • William Brown (admiral), Irish-born first admiral of Argentina (d. 1857)
• June 23 – Frederick Bates, American politician (d. 1825)

July–September

Hans Christian Ørsted

• July – Thomas Clayton, American lawyer and politician (d. 1854)
• July 9 – Henry Hallam, English historian (d. 1859)
• July 23 – Philipp Otto Runge, German painter (d. 1810)
• July 26 – Robert Hamilton Bishop, Scottish-American educator and minister (d. 1855)
• July 27
  • Heinrich Wilhelm Brandes, German physicist (d. 1834)
  • Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet (d. 1844)
  • Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, British peer and soldier (d. 1853)
• July 31 – Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentine statesman and priest (d. 1849)
• August 11 – Giuseppe Bossi, Italian painter (d. 1815)
• August 12 – George Wolf, American politician (d. 1840)
• August 14 – Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish physicist and chemist (d. 1851)
• August 23 – Princess Adélaïde of Orléans, French princess (d. 1847)
• August 29 – Nikita Bichurin (Hyacinth), Russian monk (d. 1853)
• August 31 – Alexander Bashilov, Russian general (d. 1847)
• September 9 – James Carr (Massachusetts politician), U.S. Congressman (d. 1818)
• September 12 – Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville, French zoologist and anatomist (d. 1850)
• September 25 – Joseph Badeaux, Canadian politician (d. 1835)
• December 16 – Madame Clicquot Ponsardin, French champagne producer (d. 1866)

October–December

Heinrich von Kleist

Alexander I of Russia

• October 1 – Zaro Aga, Turkish-Kurdish possible supercentenarian (claimed to have been born this year or 1774; d. 1934)
• October 5 – Guillaume Dupuytren, French anatomist and military surgeon (d. 1835)
• October 16
  • Levi Barber, American surveyor, court administrator, banker and legislator (d. 1833)
  • Lorenzo Dow, American Methodist preacher (d. 1834)
• October 18
  • Auguste François-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais, French general (d. 1809)
  • Heinrich von Kleist, German poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer (d. 1811)
• November 7 – Richard Bassett (clergyman), Welsh cleric (d. 1852)
• November 14 – Nathaniel Claiborne, American politician (d. 1859)
• November 24 – Samuel Butts, American militia officer (d. 1814)
• December 1 – Thomas Bradford, British Army officer (d. 1853)
• December 4 – Juliette Récamier, French writer (d. 1849)
• December 10 – William Conner, American trader and politician (d. 1855)
• December 14 – Du Pré Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon, Irish peer, landlord and colonial administrator (d. 1839)
• December 15 – Agostino Aglio, Italian painter, decorator and engraver (d. 1857)
• December 21 – John Campbell, 7th Duke of Argyll, Scottish peer and Whig politician (d. 1847)
• December 23 – Emperor Alexander I of Russia (d. 1825)
• December 24 – Barbara Spooner Wilberforce, wife of English abolitionist William Wilberforce (d. 1847)

Date unknown

• Suleiman al-Halabi, Syrian student and assassin (d. 1800)
• Carlos Anaya, Uruguayan politician (d. 1862)
• Charles James Apperley, English sportsman and sporting writer (d. 1843)
• Carlo Armellini, Italian politician, activist and jurist (d. 1863)
• Mevlana Halid-i Bagdadi, Ottoman mystic (d. 1826)
• Connell James Baldwin, Irish soldier and civil servant (d. 1861)
• Karl Friedrich Becker, German educator and historian (d. 1806)
• Vicente Benavides, Chilean soldier (d. 1822)
• John Bennett (Hampshire cricketer) (d. 1857)
• William Bellinger Bulloch, U.S. Senator (d. 1852)
• Sophia Campbell, Australian artist (d. 1833)
• Abiel Chandler, U.S. philanthropist (d. 1851)
• John Claiborne, U.S. politician (d. 1808)
• Charles Othon Frédéric Jean-Baptiste de Clarac, French artist, scholar and archaeologist (d. 1847)
• Thomas Cochran (judge), Canadian judge (d. 1804)
• Anselmo de la Cruz, Chilean political figure (d. 1833)
• Thomas Day, American judge (d. 1855)
• Benjamin D'Urban, British general and colonial administrator (d. 1849)
• Tu'i Malila, Malagasy-born tortoise, longest living animal on record (d. 1965)

Deaths

• January 10 – Spranger Barry, Irish actor (b. 1719)
• January 12 – Hugh Mercer, American Revolutionary War officer, mortally wounded in battle (b. 1726)
• February 9 – Seth Pomeroy, American gunsmith and soldier (b. 1706)
• February 24 – King Joseph I of Portugal (b. 1714)
• March 1 – Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Austrian composer (b. 1715)
• March 20 – Jean-François-Joseph de Rochechouart, French Roman Catholic Cardinal (b. 1708)
• March 23 – Sir Hugh Paterson, 2nd Baronet, Baronet of Bannockburn (b. 1685)
• May 11 – George Pigot, 1st Baron Pigot, British governor of Madras (b. 1719)
• May 19 – Button Gwinnett, signatory of the American Declaration of Independence (b. 1735)
• August 23 – Celia Grillo Borromeo, Italian scientist and mathematician (b. 1684)
• September 22 – John Bartram, American botanist (b. 1699)
• September 25 – Johann H. Lambert, Swiss mathematician, physicist and astronomer (b. 1728)
• October 4 – Francis Nash, American brigadier general, killed at the Battle of Germantown (b. c.1742)
• October 6 – Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin, French salon holder (b. 1699)
• October 7 – Simon Fraser of Balnain, British general during the American Revolutionary War, killed in battle (b. 1729)
• October 21 – Samuel Foote, English dramatist and actor (b. 1720)
• November 10 – Cornstalk, Shawnee chief (b. c.1720)
• November 13 – William Bowyer, English printer (b. 1699)
• December 30 – Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1727)
• December – Dolly Pentreath, claimed to be the last native speaker of the Cornish language

References

Further reading

• John Blair; J. Willoughby Rosse (1856). "1777". Blair's Chronological Tables. London: H.G. Bohn – via Hathi Trust.