Timeline 1771-1779 Return to home ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1771 Apr 13, Richard Trevithick, inventor of the steam locomotive, was born in Cornwall, Eng-land. (ON, 4/04, p.4) 1771 May 14, Robert Owen, English factory owner, socialist, was born. (MC, 5/14/02) 1771 May 14, Thomas Wedgwood, English physicist, was born. He is acknowledged as the first photographer. (HN, 5/14/99) 1771 Jun 3, Sydney Smith, preacher, reformer, author, was born in Woodford, Essex. (MC, 6/3/02) 1771 Jun 12, Patrick Gass, Sgt. of Lewis & Clark Expedition, was born in Falling Springs, PA. (MC, 6/12/02) 1771 Jun 24, E.I. Du Pont, chemist, was born. (HN, 6/24/98) 1771 Jul 12, James Cook sailed Endeavour back to Downs, England. (MC, 7/12/02) 1771 Jul 14, Father Junipero Serra founded the Mission San Antonio de Padua in California. (SFEC, 3/12/00, p.T4)(MC, 7/14/02) 1771 Jul 30, Thomas Gray (54), English poet, died. His work included "Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard" (1751). (MC, 7/30/02) 1771 Aug 15, Sir Walter Scott (d.1832), Scottish novelist who wrote "Ivanhoe" and "Rob Roy," was born. (WUD, 1994, p.1281)(HN, 8/15/98) 1771 Sep 8, Mission San Gabriel Archangel was formed in California. (MC, 9/8/01) 1771 Sep 10, The Scottish explorer Mungo Park (d.1806) was born. He settled the question as to the direction of flow of the Niger River as he traced the northern reaches of the African river in the 1790s. Park was one of the first explorers sponsored by England's African Associa-tion. He died in 1806 on another expedition to determine if the Niger linked with the Congo River. He reportedly drowned while fleeing attackers near Bussa, which is in present-day Nige-ria. (HNQ, 6/6/98) 1771 Sep 17, Tobias George Smollett, novelist (Adventures of Roderick Random), died at 50. (MC, 9/17/01) 1771 Nov 4, Carlo Goldoni's "Le Bourru Bienfaisant," premiered in Paris. (MC, 11/4/01) 1771 Nov 6, Alois Senefelder, inventor (lithography), was born. (MC, 11/6/01) 1771 Nov 11, Ephraim McDowell, surgeon (pioneered abdominal surgery), was born. (MC, 11/11/01) 1771 Dec 26, Claude A. Helvétius (56), French encyclopedist (L'esprit), died. (MC, 12/26/01) 1771 Fedot Ivanovich Choubine, Russian sculptor and painter, carved a bust of Catherine the Great. (Econ, 12/23/06, p.126)(http://tinyurl.com/y4ydna) 1771 A color engraving from this year of the fish Acarauna is on display at the Mariner's Mu-seum Library in Newport News, Va., USA. (Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.97) 1771 Mark Catesby had his work: "The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands" printed in London. (WSJ, 7/7/98, p.A14) 1771 In California Father Junipero Serra moved the Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Rio Carmelo over from Monterey. The Carmel mission was his 7th. (SFEC, 3/12/00, p.T5) 1771 Benjamin Banneker, black mathematician and surveyor, helped create the initial bounda-ries of Washington D.C. (SFC, 5/26/96, T-7) 1771 By this time some 50,000 British convicts were dumped on American shores. Most of them came from Middlesex, the county that includes London. (SFEC, 10/27/96, p.T9) 1771 A group of 79 underwriters established their Society of Lloyd's, Lloyd's of London, at the Lloyd's coffee shop. (Econ, 12/20/03, p.89) 1771 Britain?s Parliament named Benjamin Franklin to a committee to investigate how light-ning rods might help protect gunpowder. (WSJ, 8/15/05, p.D8) 1771 Joseph Priestley, English minister, grasped the rudiments of the carbon cycle after his experiments showed that mint in a sealed jar refreshed the air. (NG, Feb, 04, p.28) 1771 In Mexico Father Toribio Basterrechea, vicar of Huachinango, was convicted by the In-quisition of officiating at the marriage of two dogs. He was sentenced to 4 months of fasting and penance. (SFC, 9/18/96, p.A11) 1771-1858 Johann Baptist Cramer, composer and pianist, played Bach in public before 1800. (LGC-HCS, p.32) 1772 Feb 10, Louis Tocque (75), French painter, died. (MC, 2/10/02) 1772 Mar 10, Friedrich Von Schlegel (d.1829) was born. He was a German romantic poet and critic whose books included "Philosophy of History" and "History of Literature." "A historian is a prophet in reverse." (AP, 5/25/97)(HN, 3/10/99) 1772 Apr 11, Manuel Jose Quintana, Spanish author, poet (El Duque de Viseo), was born. (MC, 4/11/02) 1772 May 10, British Parliament passed the Tea Act, taxing all tea in the colonies. [see Apr 27, 1973] (HN, 5/10/98) 1772 May 11, Joseph Kerckhoff, Limburg surgeon, robber captain, was hanged. (MC, 5/11/02) 1772 May 20, William Congreve, English officer (design fire rocket), was born. (MC, 5/20/02) 1772 Jun 6, Haitian explorer Jean Baptiste-Pointe DuSable settled Chicago. [see Mar 12, 1773] (MC, 6/6/02) 1772 Jun 9, The 1st naval attack of Revolutionary War took place when residents of Provi-dence, RI., stormed the HMS Gaspee, burned it to the waterline and shot the captain. (WSJ, 6/24/03, p.A1) 1772 Jun 22, Slavery was in effect outlawed in England by Chief Justice William Murray, First Earl of Mansfield, following the trial of James Somersett. In 2005 Steven Wise authored ?Though the Heavens May Fall: The Landmark Trial that Led to the End of Human Slavery.? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somersett%27s_Case)(Econ, 2/5/05, p.76)(ON, 12/08, p.9) 1772 Jul 13, Capt James Cook began a 2nd trip on the ship Resolution to South Seas. (MC, 7/13/02) 1772 Aug 11, An explosive eruption blew 4,000 feet off Papandayan, Java, and 3,000 people were killed. (MC, 8/11/02) 1772 Aug 19, Gustavus III of Sweden eliminated the rule of parties and establishes an abso-lute monarchy. It had been subordinate to parliament since 1720. (HN, 8/19/98)(MC, 8/19/02) 1772 Sep 1, Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa formed in California. Father Junipero Serra held the 1st Mass at San Luis Obispo. He left Father Jose Cavalier the task of building the state?s 5th mission. (SFEC, 10/11/98, p.T6)(MC, 9/1/02)(SSFC, 10/20/02, p.C1) 1772 Sep 26, New Jersey passed a bill requiring a license to practice medicine. (MC, 9/26/01) 1772 Oct 4, Francois-Louis Pierne, composer, was born. (MC, 10/4/01) 1772 Oct 21, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (d.1834), English poet and author, was born. His work included "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan". (AP, 9/12/97)(HN, 10/21/00) 1772 Oct 30, Capt. Cook arrived with ship Resolution in Capetown. (MC, 10/30/01) 1772 Nov 2, The first Committees of Correspondence were formed in Massachusetts under Samuel Adams. (HN, 11/2/98) 1772 Dec 22, A Moravian missionary constructed the 1st schoolhouse west of Allegheny. (MC, 12/22/01) 1772 Beaumarchais wrote his "Barber" as an opera. Rossini later adopted it for his opera "Barber of Seville." (SFC, 8/13/96, p.B2) 1772 After Father Serra established a mission in Monterey, Ca, Pedro Fages and Father Juan Crespi set out to explore the SF Bay by land. (SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W34) 1772 Daniel Rutherford discovered nitrogen. (Dr, 7/17/01, p.2) 1772 Shoelaces were invented in England. (SFC, 8/28/98, p.B4) 1772 The Paris Faculty of Medicine declared potatoes to be an edible food. (SSFC, 10/5/08, p.A15) 1772 The French Veuve Clicquot champagne was first produced, but the first bottles were laid down for ten years. (AFP, 7/17/10) 1772 In Germany the silver and most of the silver-gilt in the Green Vault of Dresden was melted down and made into coin. (Econ, 9/16/06, p.95) 1772 Upon the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, or simply Galicia, became the largest, most populous, and northernmost province of Austria where it remained until the dissolution of Austria-Hungary at the end of World War I. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galicia_(Central_Europe)) 1772-1801 Friedrich von Hardenberg, aka Novalis, visionary Romantic poet, novelist and political theorist. In 1997 a novel by English author Penelope Fitzgerald, "The Blue Flower," gave an ac-count of his life. (WSJ, 4/8/97, p.A20) 1772-1811 Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, the grandson of the founder of Hasidism, used storytelling to teach his followers. (WSJ, 6/28/99, p.A24) 1772-1823 David Ricardo, English Economist and stockbroker. He postulated that landlords be-come rich at the expense of society. (V.D.-H.K.p.253)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R20) 1773 Jan 12, The first public museum in America was established, in Charleston, S.C. (AP, 1/12/98) 1773 Jan 17, Captain James Cook became the first person to cross the Antarctic Circle (66d 33' S). (HN, 1/17/99)(MC, 1/17/02) 1773 Feb 9, William Henry Harrison, the 9th president of the United States (March 4- April 4, 1841), was born in Charles City County, Va. (HN, 2/9/97)(AP, 2/9/99)(MC, 2/9/02) 1773 Feb 26, Construction was authorized for Walnut St. jail in Philadelphia, (1st solitary). (SC, 2/26/02) 1773 Mar 12, Jeanne Baptiste Pointe de Sable settled what is now known as Chicago. [see Jun 6, 1772] (MC, 3/12/02) 1773 Mar 26, Nathaniel Bowditch (d.1838), mathematician, astronomer, polyglot, author (Ma-rine Sextant), was born in Salem, Mass. In 1802 he published "The New American Practical Navigator." (SS, 3/26/02)(AH, 12/02, p.22) 1773 Apr 6, James Mill (d.1836), English philosopher, historian (Hist of British India) and economist, was born in Scotland. (V.D.-H.K.p.253)(WUD, 1994 p.909)(MC, 4/6/02) 1773 Apr 27, British Parliament passed the Tea Act. [see May 10, 1772] (HN, 4/27/98) 1773 May 10, To keep the troubled East India Company afloat, Parliament passed the Tea Act, taxing all tea in the American colonies. (HN, 5/10/99) 1773 May 15, Prince Clemens Von Metternich (d.1859), Chancellor of Austria, was born in Coblenz. His policies dominated Europe after the Congress of Vienna. (HN, 5/15/99)(WUD, 1994 ed., p.903) 1773 Jul 20, Scottish settlers arrived at Pictou, Nova Scotia (Canada). (MC, 7/20/02) 1773 Jul 21, Pope Clement XIV abolished the Jesuit order. He disbanded, defrocked, and stripped them of their sustenance. They were ignored by other orders and denounced as schemers and plotters. The Jesuits finally regained respectability in 1814after flourishing under-ground. (HN, 7/21/98)(MC, 7/21/02) 1773 Sep 1, Phillis Wheatley (d.1834), a slave from Boston, published a collection of poetry, "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral," in London. Although she received her free-dom soon after, Wheatley?s last years saw only misery. (HN, 9/1/99)(HNPD, 2/21/00) 1773 Sep 11, Benjamin Franklin wrote "There never was a good war or bad peace." (MC, 9/11/01) 1773 Sep 14, Russian forces under Aleksandr Suvorov successfully stormed a Turkish fort at Hirsov, Turkey. (HN, 9/14/99) 1773 Oct 14, Britain's East India Company tea ships' cargo was burned at Annapolis, Md. (HN, 10/14/98) 1773 Nov 22, Robert Clive (~48), English occupier (India), died. (MC, 11/22/01) 1773 Dec 16, Some 50-60 "Sons of Liberty" of revolutionary Samuel Adams disguised as Mo-hawks defied the 3 cents per pound tax on tea boarded a British East India Tea Company ship and dumped 342 chests of British tea into the Boston Harbor in what became known as the Boston Tea Party. Parliament had passed the 1773 Tea Act not to regulate trade or make the colonies pay their own administrative costs, but to save the nearly bankrupt British East India Tea Company. The Tea Act gave the company a monopoly over the American tea trade and au-thorized the sale of 17 million pounds of tea in America at prices cheaper than smuggled Dutch tea. In spite of the savings, Americans would not accept what they considered to be taxation without representation. Overreacting to the Boston Tea Party, the British attempted to punish Boston and the whole colony of Massachusetts with the Intolerable Acts of 1774--another in the series of events that ultimately led to American independence. A bill for the tea ($196) was paid Sep 30, 1961. (HFA, '96, p.44)(A&IP, Miers, p.18)(SFEC,11/23/97, Par p.14)(AP, 12/16/97)(HNPD, 12/16/98)(MC, 9/30/01) 1773 Dec 26, Expulsion of tea ships from Philadelphia. (MC, 12/26/01) 1773 Dec 27, George Cayley, founder of the science of aerodynamics, was born in England. (MC, 12/27/01) 1773 Dmitri Levitsky (1735-1822), Kiev born Russian-Ukrainian artist, painted a portrait of Katerina Khrouchtchova and princess Katerina Khonanskaia. (Econ, 12/23/06, p.126)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Levitsky) 1773 Augustin Pajou, French sculptor, completed his bust of Madame du Barry. (WSJ, 3/18/98, p.A20) 1773 Phillis Wheatley, black poet, published "Poems on Various Subjects." (SFEC, 4/30/00, p.C12) 1773 Thomas Jefferson planted Yellow Newtown Pippin apples at his home in Monticello. (T&L, 10/1980, p.42) 1773 John Harrison (1693-1776) received a monetary award in the amount of £8,750 from the British Parliament for his achievements regarding the invention of the marine chronometer solv-ing the problem of establishing the East-West position or longitude of a ship at sea. He never received the official award, proclaimed in 1714, which was never awarded to anyone. (Econ, 5/1/10, p.80)(www.surveyhistory.org/john_harrison%27s_timepiece1.htm) 1773 In England Sir Robert Clive was acquitted of embezzlement. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8) 1773 A group of English traders broke away from Jonathan's coffee house and moved to a new building. This became the forerunner of the London Stock Exchange (f.1801). (Econ, 12/20/03, p.89) 1773 The Samuel Deacon & Co. ad agency opened in London. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42) 1773 A large earthquake destroyed so much of Antigua that the Spanish moved away and built a new capital on a plateau 30 miles away that became Guatemala City. (NG, 6/1988, p.798) (SFEM, 6/13/99, p.33) 1773 The Royal Captain, a merchant ship of the British East India Co., was lost off a coral reef in the Philippines. (WSJ, 7/21/00, p.W2) 1773 Captain James Cook found a group of islands 1800 miles northeast of New Zealand. They became known as the Cook Islands. "A couple of years ago, the Cook Islands hired a law-yer from the United States to draft an asset protection statute that instantly made the islands one of the best places in the world to protect assets from creditors. (Hem, 8/95, p.38) 1773 In Russia the Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev, pretending to be the dead emperor Peter III, incited a widespread rebellion. (SFC,10/28/97, p.A8) 1773 Samuel Johnson and James Boswell toured the countryside of Scotland. (SFC, 6/25/95, p.T-1) 1773-1777 William Bartram, American Quaker naturalist, was commissioned by Dr. John Fothergill to travel through the American South to hunt plants. Bartram?s travels led to the publication in 1791 of his "Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida." (Nat. Hist., 4/96, p.10-12) 1773-1785 Warren Hastings served as the British governor-general of India. [see 1787] (WSJ, 5/1/00, p.A24)(WSJ, 2/22/00, p.A20) 1773-1793 Rule of Timur Shah. The capital of Afghanistan was transferred from Kandahar to Kabul because of tribal opposition. Constant internal revolts occurred. (www.afghan, 5/25/98) 1773-1827 Elizabeth de Meulan Guizot, French author: "Much misconstruction and bitterness are spared to him who thinks naturally upon what he owes to others, rather than on what he ought to expect from them." (AP, 7/18/99) 1773-1833 John Randolph, state representative from Virginia. He said of Edward Livingston, a mayor of NY and later a senator from Louisiana and US Sec. Of State, that he "shines and stinks like rotten mackerel by moonlight." (WSJ, 11/4/98, p.A20) 1774 Feb 10, Andrew Becker demonstrated a diving suit. (MC, 2/10/02) 1774 Feb 17, Raphaelle Peale, U.S. painter, was born. (HN, 2/17/98) 1774 Feb 22, English House of Lords ruled that authors do not have perpetual copyright. (MC, 2/22/02) 1774 Mar 4, The 1st sighting of the Orion nebula was made by William Herschel. (SC, 3/4/02) 1774 Mar 7, A 2nd Boston tea party was held. (SFEC,11/23/97, Par p.14) 1774 Mar 7, The British closed the port of Boston to all commerce. (HN, 3/7/98) 1774 Mar 25, English Parliament passed the Boston Port Bill. (MC, 3/25/02) 1774 Mar 28, Britain passed the Coercive Act against Massachusetts. [see May 20] (HN, 3/28/98) 1774 Apr 4, Oliver Goldsmith, Irish poet (She Stoops to Conquer), died. (MC, 4/4/02) 1774 Apr 19, Gluck's opera "Iphigenia in Aulis," premiered in Paris. (MC, 4/19/02) 1774 Apr, NYC patriots dumped 18 chests of tea off Murray?s Wharf. (WSJ, 10/16/02, p.D8) 1774 May 10, Louis XV (64), King of France (1715-74), died of smallpox and was succeeded by his grandson Louis XVI (19). Louis XVI soon appointed Charles Gravier, comte de Ver-gennes, as his new foreign minister. (AP, 5/10/97)(HN, 5/10/99)(PCh, 1992, p.318)(AH, 2/06, p.55) 1774 May 19, Ann Lee and eight Shakers sailed from Liverpool to New York. The religious group originated in Quakerism and fled England due to religious persecution. They become the first conscientious objectors on religious grounds and were jailed during the American Revolu-tion in 1776. In 1998 Suzanne Skees published "god Among the Shakers." The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing is the full, proper name for the 19th-century religious group better known as the Shakers. Although they were the largest and best-known communal society a century ago, the Shakers were rarely referred to by their proper name. Outsiders dubbed them "Shakers" for the movements in their ritualistic dance. (DTnet 5/19/97)(WSJ, 3/27/98, p.W10)(HNQ, 7/2/98) 1774 May 20, The British Parliament passed the Coercive Acts to punish the colonists for their increasingly anti-British behavior. The acts closed the port of Boston. [see Mar 28] (HN, 5/20/99) 1774 May, The conjunction of the Moon, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter in the same constellation spread panic among the unenlightened in Europe. (NH, 6/00, p.10) 1774 Jun 1, The Boston Port Bill, the first bill of the Intolerable Acts (called by the Colonists) became effective. It closed Boston harbor until restitution for the destroyed tea was made (passed Mar. 25, 1774). (DTnet 6/1/97)(HN, 6/1/98) 1774 Jun 2, The Quartering Act, requiring American colonists to allow British soldiers into their houses, was reenacted. (HN, 6/2/98) 1774 Jun 13, Rhode Island became the 1st colony to prohibit importation of slaves. (MC, 6/13/02) 1774 Jul 11, Jews of Algiers escaped an attack of the Spanish Army. Jun 11 was also cited for this event. (MC, 7/11/02) 1774 Jul 12, Citizens of Carlisle, Penn., passed a declaration of independence. (MC, 7/12/02) 1774 Jul 16, Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed the treaty of Kuchuk-Kainardji, ending their six-year war. This brought Russia for the first time to the Mediterranean as the acknowl-edged protector of Orthodox Christians. (HN, 7/16/98)(WSJ, 4/29/99, p.A24) 1774 Jul 17, Capt Cook arrived at New Hebrides (Vanuatu). (MC, 7/17/02) 1774 Aug 1, British scientist Joseph Priestley succeeded in isolating oxygen from air in Calne, England. He called his new gas "dephlogisticated air.? (ON, 10/05, p.2)(AP, 8/1/07) 1774 Aug 6, Mother Ann Lee, founder of the Shaker Movement, arrived in NY. (MC, 8/6/02) 1774 Aug 12, Robert Southey, English poet laureate (1813-1843) and biographer of Nelson, was born. (HN, 8/12/98)(SC, 8/12/02) 1774 Aug 18, Meriwether Lewis, American explorer, was born in Charlottsville, VA. He led the Corps of Discovery with William Clark. (HN, 8/18/00)(MC, 8/18/02) 1774 Aug 28, Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint and the founder of the Sisters of St. Joseph, was born in New York City. She was canonized in 1975.. (AP, 8/28/97)(HN, 8/28/98)(RTH, 8/28/99) 1774 Sep 5, The first Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia in a secret session in Carpenter's Hall with representatives from every colony except Georgia. Tensions had been tearing at relations between the colonists and the government of King George III. The British taking singular exception to the 1773 shipboard tea party held in Boston harbor. The dispute convinced Britain to pass the "Intolerable Acts"- 4 of which were to punish Mass. for the Boston Tea Party. Peyton Randolph of Williamsburg, Va., chaired the 1st Continental Congress. Its first official act was a call to prayer. (AP, 9/5/97)(HNQ, 6/25/00)(AH, 10/04, p.14)(AH, 4/07, p.31) 1774 Sep 13, Tugot, the new controller of finances, urged the king of France to restore the free circulation of grain in the kingdom. (HN, 9/13/98) 1774 Sep 26, John Chapman (d.1845), later known as Johnny Appleseed, was born in Mas-sachusetts. A pioneer agriculturalist of early America, Chapman began his trek in 1797, collect-ing apple seedlings from western Pennsylvania and establishing apple nurseries around the early American frontier. Chapman was a Swedenborgian missionary, a land speculator and an eccentric dresser (he hated shoes and seldom wore them. He planted orchards across western Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana from seed. (www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=94)(T&L, 10/1980, p.42)(ON, 4/09, p.10) 1774 Oct 14, Patrick Henry, in declaring his love of country in a speech during the First Conti-nental Congress on October 14, 1774, proclaimed, "I am not a Virginian, but an American." (HN, 8/2/98) 1774 Oct 20, The Continental Congress ordered the discouragement of entertainment. (MC, 10/20/01) 1774 Oct 26, The first Continental Congress, which protested British measures and called for civil disobedience, concluded in Philadelphia. (AP, 10/26/97)(HN, 10/26/98) 1774 Oct 26, Minute Men were organized in the American colonies. (MC, 10/26/01) 1774 Nov 14, Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini, composer, was born. (MC, 11/14/01) 1774 Nov 26, A congress of colonial leaders criticized British influence in the colonies and af-firmed their right to "Life, liberty and property." (HN, 11/26/98) 1774 Dec 2, Johann Friedrich Agricola (54), German court composer and organist, died. (MC, 12/2/01) 1774 Dec 13, Some 400 colonists attacked Ft. William & Mary, NH. (MC, 12/13/01) 1774 Dec 16, Francois Quesnay (b.1694), French economist, died. He was the first to think of the economy as a system of interacting parts to be judged by the necessities and conveniences it produces. Quesnay wrote his Tableau Économique (1758), renowned for its famous "zig-zag" depiction of income flows between economic sectors. (Econ, 8/7/10, p.84)(www.economyprofessor.com/theorists/francoisquesnay.php) 1774 Dec 18, Empress Maria Theresa expelled Jews from Prague, Bohemia and Moravia. (MC, 12/18/01) 1774 Dec, In Paris nearly 100 feet of the Rue d?Enfer ("street of Hell") collapsed to a depth of 100 feet. (Hem., 3/97, p.129) 1774 Sir Francis Beaufort (d.1857) hydrogapher, was born near Navan in Co. Meath, Ireland. (NH, 11/1/04, p.51) 1774 Kaspar David Friedrich (d.1840), German painter and master of numinous landscapes, was born. He painted "Wreck of the Hope." (AAP, 1964)(WSJ, 7/16/98, p.A16) 1774 John Singleton Copley, painter, left for England. This allowed his student, Charles Will-son Peale, to step in as the most fashionable colonial portraitist. (SFC, 1/25/97, p.E3) 1774 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) published his novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther." In 1887 French composer Jules Massenet (1842-1912) turned into an opera. The op-era premiered at the Imperial Theatre Hofoper in Vienna on February 16, 1892. (SFC, 9/17/10, p.F1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werther) 1774 Ann Lee, leader of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, arrived in the New World. She was a young Englishwoman and led the Shakers in their faith which is based on celibacy, confession of sin, and belief in human perfectibility. She never learned to read or write. They withdrew from the world into their own agricultural communities which spread to Ohio & Kentucky and produced a wealth of songs, as many as 10,000. One of the best known is Simple Gifts made famous by Aaron Copland in Appalachian Spring. (WSJ, 10/16/95, p. A-12)(SFC, 9/21/96, p.E4) 1774 Nicholas Cresswell, Englishman, arrived in the US and spent 3 years traveling and meeting prominent Americans of the time including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and British Gen. William Howe. Cresswell kept a journal and in 2009 it was published as ?A Man Apart: The Journal of Nicholas Cresswell 1774-1781.? (WSJ, 4/11/09, p.W9) 1774 Tadeusz Kosciusko came to America from Poland after an unsuccessful love affair. He became a hero fighting the British in the American war for Independence. (SFEC, 11/24/96, T7) 1774 A Dutch merchant cobbled together the earliest mutual-style fund, Eendragt Maakt Magt (Unity creates Strength). The first modern mutual fund was launched in Boston in 1924. (Econ, 4/21/07, p.83) 1774 Captain Cook dropped anchor at the Marquesas Islands. (SFEC, 8/25/96, p.T6) 1774 Capt. Cook discovered the 13-square-mile Norfolk Island 1,000 miles east of Sidney. It was later turned into a penal settlement from which the last prisoner left in 1855. (AP, 8/12/02) 1774 Captain Cook discovered Norfolk Island, between new Caledonia and new Zealand, and dubbed it "paradise" in his log. The British later turned it into a penal colony and resettled the inhabitants of Pitcairn island there in 1856. (SFEM, 3/12/00, p.66) 1774 In England Georgiana Spencer (1757-1806) married William Cavendish, the 5th Duke of Devonshire. Spencer was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Princess Diana. In 1999 Amanda Foreman authored "Georgiana," a biography of Georgiana Spencer. (WSJ, 1/7/00, p.W4) 1774 In England Sir Robert Clive (b.1725), considered by some as the richest man ever, committed suicide. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8) 1774 Mexico exported 600 tons of the cochineal shell, known as carmine, to Spain. The acid color was extracted from the shell of the tiny red beetle that grew on cactus leaves. It was used to manufacture a red dye that was used in British "redcoats" and by Betsy Ross to color the first US flag. (WSJ, 10/7/98, p.B1) 1774 A Scottish printer finally overturned a copyright monopoly that had allowed English booksellers to lock up the works of Shakespeare and other authors for nearly 2 centuries. (WSJ, 3/26/04, p.W6) 1774 Spain established a small settlement on the Falkland Islands, which lasted to 1811. An Argentine outpost was established in the 1820s. (Econ, 4/7/07, p.36) 1774-1781 The British army occupied Manhattan, Staten Island and western Long Island for 7 years. In 2002 Richard M. Ketchum authored "Divided Loyalties," an account of the Revolution-ary spirit in NY; Barnet Schecter authored "The Battle for New York," and Judith L. Van Buskirk authored "Generous Enemies," an account of interactions between loyalists and rebels during the war. (WSJ, 10/16/02, p.D8) 1774-1784 The 1997 film "Beaumarchais" by French director Edouard Molinaro focused on these years. (SFEC,11/23/97, DB p.14)(SFC,11/28/97, p.C15) 1774-1789 Abdul Hamid I succeeded Mustafa III in the Ottoman House of Osman. (Ot, 1993, xvii) 1774-1792 In France King Louis XIV ruled. (WUD, 1994, p.848) 1774-1852 George Chinnery, English watercolorist. He lived and worked in Hong Kong, Macao and Canton. (Hem., 3/97, p.92) 1775 Jan 8, John Baskerville (68), English printer, type designer, died. (MC, 1/8/02) 1775 Jan 11, In South Carolina Francis Salvador became the 1st Jew elected to office in America. [see Aug 1] (AH, 2/05, p.16) 1775 Jan 17, 9 old women were burned as witches for causing bad harvests in Kalisk, Poland. (MC, 1/17/02) 1775 Jan 22, Marshal Oscar von Lubomirski expelled Jews from Warsaw, Poland. (MC, 1/22/02) 1775 Jan 25, Americans dragged cannon up hill to fight the British at Gun Hill Road, Bronx. (MC, 1/25/02) 1775 Jan 28, Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, was born. (HN, 1/28/99) 1775 Feb 9, English Parliament declared the Mass. colony was in rebellion. (MC, 2/9/02) 1775 Feb 10, Charles Lamb (d.1834), critic, poet, essayist, was born in London, England. "No one ever regarded the first of January with indifference. It is the nativity of our common Adam." (AP, 12/31/97)(MC, 2/10/02) 1775 Feb 12, Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams was born. (HN, 2/12/98) 1775 Feb 21, As troubles with Great Britain increased, colonists in Massachusetts voted to buy military equipment for 15,000 men. (HN, 2/21/99) 1775 Feb 22, Jews were expelled from the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland. (MC, 2/22/02) 1775 Mar 17, Richard Henderson, a North Carolina judge, representing the Transylvania Company, met with three Cherokee Chiefs (Oconistoto, chief warrior and first representative of the Cherokee Nation or tribe of Indians, and Attacuttuillah and Sewanooko) to purchase (for the equivalent of $50,000) all the land lying between the Ohio, Kentucky and Cumberland rivers; some 17 to 20 million acres. It was known as the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals or The Henderson Purchase. The purchase was later declared invalid but land cession was not reversed. (www.tngenweb.org/cessions/17750317.html) 1775 Mar 19, In Italy 4 people were buried by avalanche for 37 days and 3 survived. [not clear if this was the date of the avalanche or the recovery date.] (MC, 3/19/02) 1775 Mar 19, Portuguese fleet was repulsed in attack on Montevideo, Uruguay. (AP, 3/19/03) 1775 Mar 22, British statesman Edmund Burke made a speech in the House of Commons, urging the government to adopt a policy of reconciliation with America. (AP, 3/22/99) 1775 Mar 23, In a speech to the Virginia Provincial Convention, assembled at Henrico Church in Richmond, American revolutionary Patrick Henry made his famous plea for independence from Britain, saying, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" (AP, 3/23/97)(AH, 2/06, p.50) 1775 Apr 7, Francis C. Lowell was born. He founded the 1st raw cotton-to-cloth textile mill. (MC, 4/7/02) 1775 Apr 8, Adam A. earl von Neipperg, Austrian general, Napoleon's wife Marie lover, was born. (MC, 4/8/02) 1775 Apr 13, Lord North extended the New England Restraining Act to South Carolina, Vir-ginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The act forbade trade with any country other than Britain and Ireland. (HN, 4/13/99) 1775 Apr 14, The first American society for the abolition of slavery was organized by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush in Philadelphia. (AP, 4/14/97)(HN, 4/14/97) 1775 Apr 14, Gen. Thomas Gage, commander of British forces in North America, received or-ders from Parliament authorizing him to use aggressive military force against the American re-bels. (ON, 3/01, p.2) 1775 Apr 18, Several post riders set out to warn colonists of the British attack that started the American Revolution. One patriotic myth that grew out of that movement began with a poem Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called "Paul Revere's Ride." Paul Revere began his famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington, Mass., warning American colonists that the British were coming. American revolutionaries Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott warned that "the British are coming". Only Prescott galloped all the way to Concord. Revere was corralled by a British cavalry patrol near Lexington, MA; Dawes and Prescott escaped. A company of over 700 British troops marched toward Concord. 23-year-old church sexton Robert Newman hung two lanterns in the Old North Church to warn riders that the British were leaving Boston by boat to march on Concord. Every April, a descendant of the 18th-century patriot still climbs to the stee-ple of Old North Church and hangs two small tin and glass lanterns. (HN, 4/18/98)(ON, 3/01, p.2)(HNQ, 7/5/01)(AP, 4/18/07) 1775 Apr 19, Alerted by Paul Revere the American Revolutionary War began at Lexington Common with the Battle of Lexington-Concord. Capt. John Parker mustered 78 militiamen on the town green of Lexington to send a warning to the 700 British soldiers marching to Concord to seize weapons and gunpowder. Maj. Gen. Thomas Gage sent a force of 700 British troops to Concord, west of Boston, to capture colonial weapons and arrest Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Arriving at Lexington on their way to Concord, the British were met on the town common by about 70 Minutemen. The "shot heard ?round the world" ignited the American Revolutionary War. No one knows who fired the first shot, but when the smoke cleared, eight Americans lay dead. The British suffered more than 250 casualties as they opposed more than 1,500 Massachusetts men. The events are documented in the 1997 book "Liberty by Thomas Fleming." Isaac Davis was among the first to die at Lexington and Concord. (HFA, '96, p.28)(V.D.-H.K.p.224)(AP, 4/19/97)(SFEC,11/23/97, Par p.14) (HN, 4/19/97)(HNPD, 4/19/99)(HNQ, 10/17/00) 1775 Apr 20, British troops began the siege of Boston. (HN, 4/20/98) 1775 Apr 23, Joseph Mallord William Turner, landscape painter, was born in England. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M._W._Turner) 1775 Apr 23, Mozart's Opera "Il Re Pastore" was produced (Salzburg). (MC, 4/23/02) 1775 May 5, Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia following almost a decade in Europe. (AH, 2/06, p.52) 1775 May 10, The Second Continental Congress convened in Pennsylvania. It named George Washington as supreme commander. Benjamin Franklin represented Pennsylvania soon pre-sented his reworked Plan of Union under the title The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Continental_Congress)(AH, 2/06, p.47) 1775 May 10, Ethan Allen and his 83 Green Mountain Boys captured the British-held fortress at Ticonderoga, N.Y., on the western shore of Lake Champlain. They took the entire garrison captive without firing a shot. This was the 1st aggressive American action in the War of Inde-pendence. (AP, 5/10/97)(HN, 5/10/98)(ON, 3/00, p.4) 1775 May 20, North Carolina became the first colony to declare its independence. Citizens of Mecklenburg County, NC, declared independence from Britain. (HN, 5/20/98)(MC, 5/20/02) 1775 May, George Washington went to the Philadelphia State House where the Second Con-tinental Congress was meeting and John Adams moved to name him Commander-in-chief of the Continental army. (A & IP, ESM, p.13) 1775 Jun 7, The United Colonies changed name to United States. (HN, 6/7/98) 1775 Jun 12, In the 1st naval battle of Revolution the US ship Unity captured the British ship Margaretta. (MC, 6/12/02) 1775 Jun 14, The Continental Army, forerunner of the United States Army, was founded when the Continental Congress first authorized the muster of troops under its sponsorship. (HN, 6/14/98)(AP, 6/14/07) 1775 Jun 15, Word reached the Americans that the British intended to occupy the Charles-town peninsula. (HT, 3/97, p.30) 1775 Jun 15, The Second Continental Congress voted unanimously to appoint George Wash-ington head of the Continental Army. (AP, 6/15/97)(HN, 6/15/98) 1775 Jun 16, American Col. William Prescott led 1200 men from Cambridge to dig in at Bun-ker?s Hill but arrived at night and dug in at Breed?s Hill. A siege on Boston by Colonial militia generals John Stark and Israel Putnam prompted the British to attack. (HT, 3/97, p.30)(SFC, 4/2/97, Z1 p.6) 1775 Jun 17, The Battle at Bunker?s Hill was actually fought on Breed?s Hill near Boston. It lasted less than 2 hours and was the deadliest of the Revolutionary War. The British captured the hill on their third attempt but suffered over 1,000 casualties vs. about 400-600 for the Ameri-cans. Patriotic hero Dr. Joseph Warren died in the battle. Patriot General William Prescott alleg-edly told his men, "Don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes!" British casualties were estimated at 226 dead and 828 wounded, while American casualties were estimated at 140 dead and 301 wounded. (SFC, 4/2/97, Z1 p.6)(AP, 6/17/98)(HNQ, 4/1/99)(AH, 10/07, p.72) 1775 Jul 2, George Washington arrived in Boston and took over as commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army. (HT, 3/97, p.33) 1775 Jul 3, Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Mass. (AP, 7/3/97) 1775 Jul 5, William Crotch, composer, was born. (MC, 7/5/02) 1775 Jul 5, The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by the Continental Congress and pro-fessed the attachment of the American people to George III. It expressed hope for the restora-tion of harmony and begged the king to prevent further hostile actions against the colonies. The following day, Congress passed a resolution written by Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson, a "Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms," which rejected independence but asserted that Americans were ready to die rather than be enslaved. King George refused to receive the Olive Branch Petition on August 23 and proclaimed the American colonies to be in open rebellion. (HNQ, 7/2/99) 1775 Jul 10, Gen Horatio Gates, issued an order excluding blacks from Continental Army. [see Oct 8] (MC, 7/10/02) 1775 Jul 16, John Adams graduated from Harvard. (MC, 7/16/02) 1775 Jul 25, Anna Symmes Harrison, 1st lady, was born. (SC, 7/25/02) 1775 Jul 25, Maryland issued currency depicting George III trampling the Magna Carta. (SC, 7/25/02) 1775 Jul 26, The Continental Congress established a postal system for the colonies with Ben-jamin Franklin as the first postmaster general in Philadelphia. (AP, 7/26/97)(HN, 7/26/98) 1775 Jul 30, Captain Cook returned to England. (MC, 7/30/02) 1775 Aug 1, Francis Salvador and his men were ambushed by a group of Cherokees and Loyalists near present-day Seneca, South Carolina, while leading a militia group under the gen-eral command of Major Wilkinson. Salvador was wounded and then scalped by the Cherokees. (MC, 1/11/02) 1775 Aug 5, Lieutenant Juan Manuel de Ayala was the first European explorer to sail through the Golden Gate of California. He anchored at Angel Island and waited for the overland expedi-tion of Captain Juan Bautista de Anza. Isla de los Angeles, or Angel Island, was one of the first landforms named by the Spanish when they entered SF Bay. The Spanish fregata, Punta de San Carlos, was the first sailing vessel to enter the San Francisco Bay while on a voyage of ex-ploration. Ayala named Alcatraz Island after a large flock of pelicans, called alcatraces in Span-ish. (SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide, p.16)(CAS, 1996, p.19)(SFEC, 2/9/97, p.W4)(SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W38)(SFC, 12/26/01, p.A28) 1775 Aug 23, Britain's King George III refused the American colonies' offer of peace and pro-claimed the American colonies in a state of "open and avowed rebellion." (HN, 8/23/98)(AP, 8/23/07) 1775 Sep 13, Gotthold Lessing's "Die Juden," premiered in Frankfurt-am-Main. (MC, 9/13/01) 1775 Sep 25, British troops captured Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga, when he and a handful of Americans led an attack on Montreal, Canada. (AP, 9/25/97)(HN, 9/25/98) 1775 Oct 8, Officers decided to bar slaves and free blacks from Continental Army. [see Jul 10, Oct 23, Nov 12, Dec 31] (MC, 10/8/01) 1775 Oct 13, The U.S. Navy had its origins as the Continental Congress ordered the construc-tion of a naval fleet. The Continental Congress authorized construction of two warships. The 1st ship in the US Navy was the schooner Hannah. It was commissioned by George Washington and outfitted at Beverly, Mass. In 2006 Ian W. Toll authored ?Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the US Navy. (AP, 10/13/97)(HN, 10/13/98)(SFC, 2/12/00, p.B3)(Econ, 11/4/06, p.94) 1775 Oct 16, Portland, Maine, was burned by British. (MC, 10/16/01) 1775 Oct 23, Continental Congress approved a resolution barring blacks from army. (MC, 10/23/01) 1775 Oct 30, Fr. Lasuen founded Mission San Juan Capistrano, but the site was abandoned after eight days when they received word of an attack at the San Diego Mission. They quickly buried the bells for safe keeping and fled to the Presidio (fort) in San Diego for shelter. (http://missions.bgmm.com/sanjuanc.htm) 1775 Nov 7, Lord Dunmore promised freedom to male slaves who would join the British army. (MC, 11/7/01) 1775 Nov 10, The US Marines were organized under authority of the Continental Congress. Congress commissioned Samuel Nicholas to raise two Battalions of Marines. That very day, Nicholas set up shop in Philadelphia?s Tun Tavern. He appointed Robert Mullan, then the pro-prietor of the tavern, to the job of chief Marine Recruiter serving, of course, from his place of business at Tun Tavern. (AP, 11/10/97)(www.usmcpress.com/heritage/usmc_heritage.htm) 1775 Nov 12, General Washington forbade the enlistment of blacks. (MC, 11/12/01) 1775 Nov 12, US Gen. Montgomery began his siege of St. John?s and brought about the sur-render of 600 British troops. (ON, 3/00, p.6) 1775 Nov 13, American forces under Gen. Richard Montgomery captured Montreal. This was part of a two-pronged attack on Canada, with the goal of capturing Quebec entrusted to Bene-dict Arnold, who was leading a 1,100 man force through a hurricane ravaged Maine wilderness. In 2006 Thomas A. Desjardin authored ?Through A Howling Wilderness,? an account of Arnold?s march to Quebec. (AP, 11/13/97)(WSJ, 5/12/06, p.W5) 1775 Nov 17, George Washington was in Boston with his ragtag army facing 12,000 Redcoat regulars. (SFEC, 10/15/00, p.T12) 1775 Nov 28, The Second Continental Congress formally established the American Navy. (DTnet 11/28/97) 1775 Nov 29, The American Congress formed the Committee of Secret Correspondence with the mission of corresponding with friends in Great Britain, Ireland and other parts of the world. It April, 1777, its title was changed to Committee for Foreign Affairs. Members included Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Harrison, John Jay, Thomas Johnson and John Dickinson. (AH, 2/06, p.54) 1775 Nov 29, Sir James Jay invented invisible ink. (MC, 11/29/01) 1775 Dec 6, Nicolas Isouard, composer, was born. (MC, 12/6/01) 1775 Dec 16, Jane Austen (d.1817), novelist, was born in [Steventon] Hampshire, England, as the 6th of 7 children [7th of 8]. Her well-educated parents encouraged reading and writing. Her work included "Sense and Sensibility" (1811), "Pride and Prejudice" (1812), "Mansfield Park" (1814) "Lady Susan" and "Emma" (1815). Her books "Persuasion" (1817) and "Northanger Ab-bey" were published posthumously. Austen's witty, well-constructed stories about realistic mid-dle-class characters challenged the limits of women writers. Although she called herself a "merely domestic" novelist, she greatly influenced the development of the modern novel. Aus-ten's most famous works were published between 1811 and 1816, shortly before she died in July 1817. Later in the 19th century critics appreciated Austen's writing more, and her novels remain popular today--for both literary critics and moviegoers, as they are widely read and adapted for the silver screen. "One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it unless it has all been suffering, nothing but suffering." Two biographies were published in 1997 with the same title: "Jane Austen: A Life," one by Calire Tomalin and the other by David Nokes. (SFEC, 5/11/97, BR p.10)(Hem., 5/97, p.102)(AP, 5/31/97)(SFEC, 11/9/97, BR p.4)(WSJ, 11/17/97, p.A24)(HN, 12/16/98)(HNPD, 12/18/98) 1775 Dec 18-1775 Dec 27, In Philadelphia Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and Francis Daymon, members of the Committee of Secret Correspondence, met 3 times at Carpenter?s Hall with French agent Chevalier Julien-Alexandre Achard de Bonvouloir regarding French support for American Independence. (www.historynet.com/benjamin-franklin-revolutionary-spymaster.htm/3) 1775 Dec 22, Esek Hopkins was named the first commander of the US Navy. He took com-mand of the Continental Navy, a total of seven ships. (HFA,'96,.44)(AP, 12/22/97)(HN, 12/22/98) 1775 Dec 31, George Washington ordered recruiting officers to accept free blacks into the army. (HN, 12/31/98) 1775 Dec 31, The British repulsed an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgom-ery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec during a raging snowstorm; Montgomery was killed. (AP, 12/31/97)(SFEC, 1/10/99, p.T5) 1775 James Adair (~65) authored ?The History of the American Indians,? based on his experi-ences living in their midst. In 2005 Kathryn E. Holland Braund edited a new edition. (WSJ, 2/11/05, p.W6) 1775 Beaumarchais wrote his farce "The Barber of Seville." Beaumarchais reconceived his Barber opera as a play and turned it into a triumph at the Comedie Francaise. (WSJ, 12/19/96, p.A16)(SFC, 8/13/96, p.A20) 1775 Joseph Priestley published his book ?Experiments and Observations on Different Kinds of Air.? He refuted some opinions of Lavoisier, who had recently named oxygen based on ex-periments modeled after Priestley?s work. In 1777 German chemist Karl Wilhelm Schele verified that he had independently isolated oxygen in 1772. (www.woodrow.org/teachers/chemistry/institutes/1992/Priestley.html)(ON, 10/05, p.2) 1775 Richard Brinsley Sheridan?s wrote "The Duenna." In 1940 Prokofiev composed the opera "Betrothal in a Monastery," based on Sheridan?s work. The Prokofiev work had its premiere in Prague. (WSJ, 5/7/98, p.A21)(SFC, 11/25/98, p.D1) 1775 Mozart at 19 composed Il Re Pastore, K. 208. It is considered the last major stage work from Mozart?s Salzburg period. (EMN, 1/96, p.3) 1775 Presbyterians made up the third largest denomination in America with more than 400,000 members. The largest denomination was made up of Congregationalists, with the sec-ond largest being Anglicans. (HNQ, 7/6/99) 1775 Tucson, Arizona was founded as a Spanish presidio. (AWAM, Dec. 94, p.31) 1775 Bodega Bay, Ca., was founded by the Spanish. (SFEC, 9/14/97, p.T3) 1775 Juan Manuel de Ayala named Alcatraz Island after a large flock of pelicans, called alca-traces in Spanish. (SFEC, 3/8/98, p.W38) 1775 Juan Bautista Anza, a 40-year-old Mexican captain, led 240 soldiers, priests and settlers to Monterey. Jose Manuel Valencia was one of the soldiers. His son, Candelario Valencia, later served in the military at the Presidio and owned a ranch in Lafayette and property next to Mis-sion Dolores. (SFEC, 9/21/97, p.C7) 1775 The 7th Virginia Volunteers first fought as militia in the War of Independence. (RC handout, 5/27/96) 1775 Lord Dunmore, Royal Governor of Virginia, called on local slaves to join the British side to suppress the American Revolution: ?When we win we will free you from your shackles.? The British issued similar proclamations throughout their North American colonies and enticed thou-sands of indentured servants and slaves, known as Black Loyalists, to the British side. (MT, summer 2003, p.8) 1775 The Hornet and the Wasp were frigates of the Continental Navy that fought British ships in Chesapeake Bay. (SFC, 8/17/98, p.A22) 1775 The Swedish chemist Scheele found a way to detect arsenic in the body. (SFEC, 12/22/96, zone1 p.2) 1775 Captain Cook on his 2nd voyage around the southern continent landed on an island (South Georgia) that he named after his sponsor, George III of England. He described the land as "savage and horrible." (NH, 2/97, p.54) 1775 Daniel Boone blazed a trail through the Cumberland Gap in Kentucky. (WSJ, 1/28/00, p.W8) 1775 Kabul became the capital of Afghanistan. (NG, V184, No. 4, Oct. 1993, p.66) 1775 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe moved to Weimar after Carl August asked him to be his secretary of state. (SSFC, 8/1/04, p.D10) 1775 Altar was founded in Mexico?s Sonora state as a military base. It?s location 60 miles south of Arizona later proved valuable as a jumping off point for immigrant smuggling to the US. (Econ, 8/12/06, p.31) 1775 In Mexico the Monte de Piedad (Mount of Pity), or National Pawn Shop, stands on the site of Montezuma's brother's palace in Mexico City. It was founded by the Count of Regla. As a lender of last resort the shop provided loans worth one-fifth to one-third an item?s value at inter-est rates of 4% a month. (Hem., 1/96, p.50)(SFC, 1/15/98, p.A10) 1775 In Mexico Manuel Arroyo of Real del Monte confessed to 30 counts of oral sex on men. He claimed that his doctor told him it was good for his health and a way to avoid evil thoughts about women. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison by the Inquisition. (SFC, 9/18/96, p.A11) 1775 Szymon Antoni Sobiekrajski, cartographer to King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, calculated that the center of Europe was in Suchowola, Eastern Poland. (WSJ, 7/14/04, p.A7) 1775 Catherine the Great of Russia received an ornament containing over 1000 diamonds, the "Sultan Feather" from the Turkish Sultan Abdulhamid. (WSJ, 2/10/98, p.A16) 1775 In Russia the Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev was captured and beheaded. (SFC,10/28/97, p.A8) 1775-1776 Juan Bautista de Anza led 198 colonists and 1,000 cattle from Sonora, Mexico, to Cali-fornia. (SFC, 6/7/00, p.A15) 1775-1781 George Washington got his brother-in-law, Fielding Lewis, to take charge of provisioning his regiments for the 6 years of the Revolutionary War. In 2002 Gordon S. Wood authored "The American Revolution: A History." (HT, 5/97, p.47)(WSJ, 3/8/02, p.AW9) 1775-1781 Some 5,000 Black Americans fought in the Revolutionary War. A silver coin commemo-rating their contribution was issued in 1998 to help finance a new memorial on the National Mall. (SFC, 2/26/98, p.A22) 1775-1781 The Royal Welch Fusiliers, a British regiment, was among the British troops that fought in the American Revolution during this period. In 2007 mark Urban authored ?Fusiliers: the Saga of a British Redcoat Regiment in the American Revolution. (WSJ, 11/15/07, p.D6) 1775-1782 More Revolutionary War engagements were fought in New Jersey--238--than in any other state. New York was second with 228. New Hampshire. The only one of the original 13 colonies not invaded by the British during the Revolutionary War was New Hampshire. (HNQ, 4/17/99)(HNQ, 7/31/99) 1775-1844 John Rubens Smith, British born painter. He came to the US in 1806 and produced nu-merous paintings of the emerging American landscape. He authored such books as: A Com-pendium of Picturesque Anatomy (1827), The Key to the Art of Drawing the Human Figure (1831), and the Juvenile Drawing-Book (1839). A collection of almost 700 drawings, paintings and engravings was acquired by the Library of Congress in 1993. (Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.66) 1775-1847 Daniel O'Connell, Irish political leader: "Bigotry has no head, and cannot think; no heart, and cannot feel." (AP, 8/12/98) 1775-1851 Joseph Mallord William Turner, English painter. In 1999 Anthony Bailey published "Standing in the Sun: A Life of J.M.W. Turner." (SFC, 4/29/97, p.B5)(SFEC, 2/7/99, BR p.6) 1775-1880 The Shaker community produced handmade furniture until 1880 when manufactured furniture became acceptable and their workshops were forced to close. The watercolors "Tree of Light" by Hannah Cohoon and "Gift Drawing" by Polly Collins were found in 1996 and put up for auction. (WSJ, 1/30/96, p.A-12) 1776 Jan 1-1776 Dec 31, In 2005 David McCullough authored ?1776,? and an account of Washington?s Continental Army throughout this year. (SSFC, 6/19/05, p.C1) 1776 Jan 2, 1st US revolutionary flag was displayed. (MC, 1/2/02) 1776 Jan 5, Assembly of New Hampshire adopted its 1st state constitution. (MC, 1/5/02) 1776 Jan 10, Thomas Paine (1737-1809), British émigré and propagandist, anonymously pub-lished "Common Sense," a scathing attack on King George III's reign over the colonies and a call for complete independence. It sold some 120,000 copies in just a few months, greatly af-fecting public sentiment and the deliberations of the Continental Congress leading up to the Declaration of Independence. He advocated an immediate declaration of independence from Britain. An instant bestseller in both the colonies and in Britain, Paine baldly stated that King George III was a tyrant and that Americans should shed any sentimental attachment to the monarchy. America, he argued, had a moral obligation to reject monarchy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Paine)(AP, 1/10/98) 1776 Jan 14, George Washington commanded an army that consisted of some 9,000 men, up to half of whom were not fit for duty. (WSJ, 5/19/05, p.W10) 1776 Jan 16, Continental Congress approved the enlistment of free blacks. This led to the all-black First Rhode Island Regiment, composed of 33 freedmen and 92 slaves, who were prom-ised freedom if they served to the end of the war. The regiment distinguished itself at the Battle of Newport. (SFEC,11/23/97, Par p.19)(MC, 1/16/02) 1776 Feb 8, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's "Stella" premiered in Hamburg. (MC, 2/8/02) 1776 Feb 17, Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), English historian, published his 1st volume of " The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." He completed the 6-volume classic in 1788. (WUD, 1994 p.596)(WSJ, 5/26/07, p.P6) 1776 Mar 1, French minister Charles Gravier advised his Spanish counterpart to support the American rebels against the English. (HN, 3/1/99) 1776 Mar 2, Americans began shelling British troops in Boston. Henry Knox had managed to drag 58 canon and mortars from Fort Ticonderoga to the Dorchester Heights above Boston. (HN, 3/2/99)(WSJ, 5/20/05, p.W10) 1776 Mar 2, The American Secret Committee of Correspondence appointed Connecticut law-yer Silas Deane as a special envoy to negotiate with the French government for aid. (AH, 2/06, p.59) 1776 Mar 3, US commodore Esek Hopkins occupied Nassau, Bahamas. (SC, 3/3/02) 1776 Mar 5, A terrific storm wrecked British hope of a counterattack on Dorchester Heights in Boston, Mass. (WSJ, 5/20/05, p.W10) 1776 Mar 17, British forces evacuated Boston to Nova Scotia during the Revolutionary War. Suffolk Ct. Massachusetts declared this day Evacuation Day (AP, 3/17/97)(HN, 3/17/98)(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.8) 1776 Mar 25, The Continental Congress authorized a medal for General George Washington. (HN, 3/24/98) 1776 Mar 29, Mexican Captain Juan Bautista de Anza, Lt. Jose Moraga, and Franciscan priest Pedro Font arrived at the tip of San Francisco. De Anza planted a cross at what is now Fort Point. They camped at Mountain Lake and searched inland for a more hospitable area and found a site they called Laguna de los Dolores or the Friday of Sorrows since the day was Fri-day before Palm Sunday. Anza became known as the ?father of SF.? Mission Dolores was founded by Father Francisco Palou and Father Pedro Cambon. Rancho San Pedro, near what is now Pacifica, served as the agricultural center. Laguna de los Dolores was later believed to be a spring near the modern-day corner of Duboce and Sanchez. (SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide, p.16)(SFEC, 9/21/97, p.C7)(SFEC, 3/1/98, p.W34)(SFC, 2/19/11, p.A10) 1776 Mar 31, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John that women were "determined to fo-ment a rebellion" if the new Declaration of Independence failed to guarantee their rights. (HN, 3/31/98) 1776 Mar, "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" was published by Adam Smith. He was the first to describe and explain the workings of the labor market and ar-gued for a laissez faire economy. [see 1723-1790, Smith] (WSJ, 11/30/95, p.A-20)(V.D.-H.K.p.214,253)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14) 1776 Apr 1, Friedrich von Klinger's "Sturm und Drang," premiered in Leipzig. (MC, 4/1/02) 1776 Apr 3, George Washington received an honorary doctor of law degree from Harvard Col-lege. (AP, 4/3/97) 1776 Apr 12, North Carolina's Fourth Provincial Congress adopted the Halifax Resolves, which authorized the colony's delegates to the Continental Congress to support independence from Britain. (AP, 4/12/07) 1776 Apr 22, Johann Adolph Scheibe (67), German music theorist, composer, died. (MC, 4/22/02) 1776 Apr 26, Joan M. Kemper, Dutch lawyer (designed civil code law book), was born. (MC, 4/26/02) 1776 Apr, Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, the French foreign minister, enlisted Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, playwright and French spy, to establish a commercial firm to supply America with arms, munitions and equipment. (AH, 2/06, p.59) 1776 May 1, Adam Weishaupt founded the secret society of Illuminati. (MC, 5/1/02) 1776 May 2, France and Spain agreed to donate arms to American rebels. (HN, 5/2/98) 1776 May 4, Rhode Island declared its freedom from England, two months before the Declara-tion of Independence was adopted. (AP, 5/4/97)(HN, 5/4/98) 1776 May 10, George Thomas Smart, composer, was born. (MC, 5/10/02) 1776 May 12, Turgot, French minister of Finance, resigned. (MC, 5/12/02) 1776 May 13, Rodrigo Ferreira da Costa, composer, was born. (MC, 5/13/02) 1776 May 15, Virginia took the lead in instructing its delegates to go for complete independ-ence from Britain at the Continental Congress. (Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.60) 1776 May-1776 Jun, Betsy Ross finished sewing the 1st American flag. (www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagtale.html) 1776 Jun 7, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress the resolu-tion calling for a Declaration of Independence: that "these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States..." Congress delayed the vote on the resolution until July 1. In the meantime, a committee consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin and Robert R. Livingston was created to prepare a declaration of independence. (Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.60)(AP, 6/7/97)(HNQ, 7/3/98) 1776 Jun 10, The Continental Congress appointed a committee to write a Declaration of Inde-pendence. (HN, 6/10/98) 1776 Jun 11, John Constable (d.1837), English landscape painter (Hay Wain), was born. (SFC, 4/29/97, p.B5)(SC, 6/11/02) 1776 Jun 11, A committee to draft the document of Independence met. John Adams, Benja-min Franklin, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman and Thomas Jefferson were the members. They immediately delegated the writing to Adams and Jefferson, and Adams gave it over to Jef-ferson. The events were later documented by Pauline Maier in her 1997 book: "American Scrip-ture: Making the Declaration of Independence." (Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.60)(AP, 6/11/97)(SFEC, 6/29/97, BR p.5) 1776 Jun 11-1776 Jul 4, The Continental Congress met and Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, based on the principals of John Locke. But where Locke had used the word "property," Jefferson used the term "the pursuit of happiness." (V.D.-H.K.p.224-226) 1776 Jun 12 Virginia's colonial legislature became the first to adopt a Bill of Rights. The Vir-ginia Declaration of Rights granted every individual the right to the enjoyment of life and liberty and to acquire and possess property. The Virginia document was written by George Mason and was a precursor to the Declaration of Independence. In 1787 Mason refused to endorse the Declaration of Independence because it did not include a Bill of Rights. (SFEC, 7/27/97, Par p.8)(AP, 6/12/97)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R55) 1776 Jun 15, Delaware declared independence from both England and Pennsylvania with whom it had shared a royal governor. (WSJ, 5/30/00, p.A24) 1776 Jun 23, The final draft of Declaration of Independence was submitted to US Congress. (MC, 6/23/02) 1776 Jun 26, In San Francisco the St. Francis of Assisi Church, later Mission Dolores, was founded by Father Francisco Palleu. (SFEC, 1/30/00, DB p.26) 1776 Jun 27, Thomas Hickey, who plotted to hand George Washington over to British, was hanged. (MC, 6/27/02) 1776 Jun 28, Jefferson's document was placed before the Congress after some minor changes by Adams and Franklin. This event was immortalized in the painting by John Trumball. (Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.61) 1776 Jun 28, Colonists repulsed a British sea attack on Charleston, South Carolina. (HN, 6/28/98) 1776 Jun 28, Thomas Hickey, American sergeant convicted of treason, was hanged. (MC, 6/28/02) 1776 Jun 29, Settlers who had been waiting in Monterey headed north and gathered for Mass under a crude shelter at the new mission in San Francisco. (SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide, p.16) 1776 Jun, Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais established Hortalez et Cie, a fictitious company, to facilitate the transfer of arms to revolutionaries in America. It facilitated the transfer of weapons and munitions from France and Spain to the Americans. Under the scheme, France and Spain each loaned funds to the company for the purchase of munitions and the Americans would in turn pay for the material with rice, tobacco and other products. The scandal-plagued operation continued after the signing of the Franco-American alliance permitting open ship-ments of military aid between the two countries. (HNQ, 4/20/00) 1776 Jul 1, The Continental Congress, sitting as a committee, met on July 1, 1776, to debate a resolution submitted by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee on June 7. The resolution stated that the United Colonies "are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." The com-mittee voted for the motion and, on July 2 in formal session took the final vote for independence. (HNQ, 7/1/99) 1776 Jul 1, The British fleet anchored off Sandy Hook in New York Bay. (WSJ, 11/16/99, p.A28) 1776 July 2, The Continental Congress passed Lee's resolution that "these united Colonies are, and of right, ought to be, Free and Independent States," and then spent two days over the wording of Jefferson's document. (Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.61)(AP, 7/2/97)(HN, 7/2/98) 1776 cJul 3, Caesar Rodney rode 80 miles from Dover to Philadelphia to vote for the Declara-tion of Independence. In 1998 the ride was commemorated by the US mint on the back of a new quarter. (SFC, 1/5/99, p.A2) 1776 Jul 4, The Continental Congress approved adoption of the amended Declaration of In-dependence, prepared by Thomas Jefferson and signed by John Hancock--President of the Continental Congress--and Charles Thomson, Congress secretary, without dissent. However, the New York delegation abstained as directed by the New York Provisional Congress. On July 9, the New York Congress voted to endorse the declaration. On July 19, Congress then re-solved to have the "Unanimous Declaration" inscribed on parchment for the signature of the delegates. Among the signers of the Declaration of Independence, two went on to become presidents of the United States, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Inde-pendence was signed by president of Congress John Hancock and secretary Charles Thomson. John Hancock said, "There, I guess King George will be able to read that." referring to his signa-ture on the Declaration of Independence. Other signers later included Benjamin Rush and Robert Morris. Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, eight were born outside North America. In 2007 David Armitage authored ?The Declaration of Independence: A Global History.? (HN, 7/4/98)(SFC,12/19/97,p.B6)(SFC,2/9/98, p.A19)(HNQ, 9/10/00)(WSJ, 1/4/07, p.B11) 1776 Jul 5, The Declaration of Independence was first printed by John Dunlop in Philadelphia. 200 copies were prepared July 5-6 and distributed to the states. (HN, 7/5/98)(HNQ, 7/4/99)(SFC, 7/4/01, p.A3) 1776 Jul 6, The US Declaration of Independence was announced on the front page of "PA Evening Gazette." (MC, 7/6/02) 1776 Jul 8, Col. John Nixon gave the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence to a crowd gathered at Independence Square in Philadelphia. The reading was announced by the "Liberty Bell." The bell had the inscription: "proclaim liberty throughout all the land onto all the inhabitants thereof." (AP, 7/8/97)(SFEC, 8/16/98, p.T5) 1776 Jul 9, The Declaration of Independence was read aloud to Gen. George Washington's troops in New York. (AP, 7/9/97) 1776 Jul 9, New York was the 13th colony to ratify the Declaration of Independence. (SFC, 7/7/96, T1) 1776 Jul 10, The statue of King George III was pulled down in New York City. (HN, 7/10/98) 1776 Jul 12, Capt. Cook departed with Resolution for 3rd trip to Pacific Ocean. (MC, 7/12/02) 1776 Jul 14, Jemima Boone (13), the daughter of Daniel Boone, and 2 friends were kidnapped by a group of 5 Shawnee and Cherokee Indians near Boonesborough, Kentucky. They were rescued on July 16 by Daniel Boone and 7 other Boonesborough men. (ON, 8/08, p.6) 1776 Jul 15, Declaration of Independence was read to every brigade in NYC. http://condor.stcloudstate.edu/~brixr01/theTIMEMACHINE.html 1776 Jul 19, After New York?s Provincial Congress voted to endorse the declaration, Congress resolved on July 19 to have the "Unanimous Declaration" engrossed on parchment for the sig-nature of the delegates. (HNQ, 7/4/99) 1776 Jul 27, Silas Deane (1737-1789), secretly sent to France as America?s first official envoy, wrote a letter to the US Congress informing them that he has been successful beyond his ex-pectations. Deane had served as the Connecticut delegate to the Continental Congress. (http://tinyurl.com/lwd7xq)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silas_Deane) 1776 Aug 2, In Philadelphia most members of the Continental Congress began attaching their signatures to the parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Harrison was one of the signers. His son and grandson later became the 9th and 23rd presidents of the US. Most of the 55 signatures were affixed on August 2, but Matthew Thornton of New Hampshire, who was not a member of Congress when the declaration was adopted, added his name in No-vember. (Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.61)(SFC, 5/7/96, p.A-6)(AP, 8/2/97)(HNQ, 7/4/99) 1776 Aug 8, John Paul Jones was commissioned as a captain and appointed to command the Alfred. His orders were to harass enemy merchant ships and defend the American coast. (ON, 2/04, p.6)(Internet) 1776 Aug 27, The Americans were defeated by the British at the Battle of Long Island, New York. (HN, 8/27/98) 1776 Aug 29, General George Washington retreated during the night from Long Island to New York City. (HN, 8/29/98) 1776 Aug 29, Americans withdrew from Manhattan to Westchester. (MC, 8/29/01) 1776 Sep 2-9, The Hurricane of Independence killed 4,170 people from North Carolina to Nova Scotia. (WSJ, 9/13/01, p.B11) 1776 Sep 6, The Turtle, the 1st submarine invented by David Bushnell, attempted to secure a cask of gunpowder to the HMS Eagle, flagship of the British fleet, in the Bay of NY but got en-tangled with the Eagle?s rudder bar, lost ballast and surfaced before the charge was planted. Sergeant Ezra Lee released the bomb the next morning as a British barge approached. The brit-ish turned back and the bomb soon exploded. A month later the turtle was lost under British at-tack as it was being transported on a sailboat. (SFEC,11/23/97, Par p.14)(Arch, 5/05, p.36) 1776 Sep 6, A hurricane hit Martinique; 100 French & Dutch ships sank and 600 died. (MC, 9/6/01) 1776 Sep 9, The term "United States" was adopted by the second Continental Congress to be used instead of the "United Colonies." (AP, 9/9/97)(HN, 9/9/98) 1776 Sep 10, George Washington asked for a spy volunteer and Nathan Hale volunteered. (MC, 9/10/01) 1776 Sep 11, An American delegation consisting of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Ed-ward Rutledge met with British Admiral Richard Lord Howe to discuss terms upon which recon-ciliation between Britain and the colonies might be based. The talks were unsuccessful. In 2003 Barnet Schecter authored ?The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution.? (AH, 6/03, p.61)(www.patriotresource.com/people/howe/page2.html) 1776 Sep 12, Nathan Hale left Harlem Heights Camp (127th St) for a spy mission. (MC, 9/12/01) 1776 Sep 15, British forces occupied New York City during the American Revolution. British forces captured Kip's Bay, Manhattan, during the American Revolution. (AP, 9/15/97)(HN, 9/15/99)(MC, 9/15/01) 1776 Sep 17, The Presidio of SF was formally possessed as a Spanish fort. The Spanish built the Presidio on the hill where the Golden Gate Bridge now meets San Francisco. (WSJ, 9/17/96, p.A12)(www.sfmuseum.org/hist6/founding.html) 1776 Sep 20, American soldiers, some of them members of Nathan Hale?s regiment, filtered into British-held New York City and stashed resin soaked logs into numerous buildings and a roaring inferno was started. A fourth of the city was destroyed including Trinity Church. The events are documented in the 1997 book "Liberty by Thomas Fleming." (SFEC,11/23/97, Par p.14)(WSJ, 9/14/01, p.W13) 1776 Sep 21, Nathan Hale was arrested in NYC by the British for spying for American rebels. (SFC, 9/20/03, p.A2) 1776 Sep 21, NYC burned down in the Great Fire 5 days after British took over. (MC, 9/21/01) 1776 Sep 22, American Captain Nathan Hale was hanged as a spy with no trial by the British in New York City during the Revolutionary War. He was considered as one of the incendiaries of the burning of NYC. Hale was commissioned by General George Washington to cross behind British lines on Long Island and report on their activity. His last words are reputed to have been, "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country." (AP, 9/22/97)(SFEC,11/23/97, Par p.14)(HN, 9/22/98) 1776 Oct 3, Congress borrowed five million dollars to halt the rapid depreciation of paper money in the colonies. (HN, 10/3/98) 1776 Oct 9, A group of Spanish missionaries settled in present-day San Francisco. The formal dedication of Mission San Francisco de Asis was made. (SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide, p.16)(AP, 10/9/97) 1776 Oct 11, C. Randle painted: "A View of the New England Arm?d Vessels on Valcure Bay on Lake Champlain." It depicted the fleet of Benedict Arnold just before the Battle of Valcour Is-land on this day. The fleet was defeated but it slowed the British advance from Canada. (SFC, 7/1/97, p.A3) 1776 Oct 11, The naval Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain was fought during the American Revolution. American forces led by Gen. Benedict Arnold suffered heavy losses, but managed to stall the British. (AP, 10/11/07) 1776 Oct 12, British Brigade began guarding Throgs Necks Road in Bronx. (MC, 10/12/01) 1776 Oct 13, Benedict Arnold was defeated at Lake Champlain by the British, who then re-treated to Canada for the winter. Arnold?s efforts bought the colonists 9 months to consolidate their hold in northern New York. In 2006 James L. Nelson authored ?Benedict Arnold?s Navy.? (HN, 10/13/98)(WSJ, 5/12/06, p.W5) 1776 Oct 18, In a NY bar decorated with bird tail, a customer ordered a "cocktail." (MC, 10/18/01) 1776 Oct 18, At the Battle of Pelham Col. John Glover and the Marblehead regiment collided with British Forces in the Bronx. (MC, 10/18/01) 1776 Oct 28, The Battle of White Plains was fought during the Revolutionary War, resulting in a limited British victory. Washington retreated to NJ. (AP, 10/28/06) 1776 Oct 29, Benjamin Franklin departed for France one month to the day after being named an agent of a diplomatic commission by the Continental Congress. He served from 1776-1778 on a three-man commission to France charged with the critical task of gaining French support for American independence. (http://tinyurl.com/kuarvn)(http://history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/BFranklin) 1776 Nov 1, Father Junipero Serra arrived at the site of Mission of San Juan Capistrano and re-founded it. His mission was to convert the members of the Acagchemem tribe called Juane-nos by the Spaniards. The tribe at the time was experiencing the end of a 7-year draught. (HT, 3/97, p.58)(http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/missioncalifornia/a/capistranohist.htm) 1776 Nov 16, British troops captured Fort Washington on the north end of Manhattan during the American Revolution. (AP, 11/1697)(MC, 11/16/01) 1776 Nov 18, Hessians captured Ft Lee, NJ. (MC, 11/18/01) 1776 Nov 20, The British invaded New Jersey. (NH, 5/97, p.76) 1776 Nov 28, Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River. (DTnet 11/28/97) 1776 Nov 30, Captain Cook began his 3rd and last trip to the Pacific South Seas. (MC, 11/30/01) 1776 Dec 2, George Washington's army began retreating across the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. In 2004 David Hackett Fischer authored "Washington's Crossing." (WSJ, 2/6/04, p.W8) 1776 Dec 5, Phi Beta Kappa was organized as the first American college scholastic Greek let-ter fraternity, at William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va. In 2005 the honor society had some 600,00 members with about 15,000 new members joining annually. (AP, 12/5/97)(HN, 12/5/98)(WSJ, 11/4/05, p.W12) 1776 Dec 8, George Washington's retreating army in the American Revolution crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. (AP, 12/8/97) 1776 Dec 19, Thomas Paine published his first "American Crisis" essay, writing: "These are the times that try men's souls." In the first of his Crises papers, Thomas Paine wrote, "These are the times that try men?s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country." Written as Paine took part in the Revolutionary Army?s retreat across New Jersey in 1776, the pamphlet was ordered read to the troops in the Revolu-tionary encampments. (HFA, '96, p.44)(AP, 12/19/97)(HNQ, 9/21/99) 1776 Dec 23, Continental Congress negotiated a war loan of $181,500 from France. (MC, 12/23/01) 1776 Dec 23, Thomas Paine wrote "These are the times that try men's souls." (MC, 12/23/01) 1776 Dec 25, Gen. George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a sur-prise attack against 1,400 Hessian forces at Trenton, N.J. (AP, 12/25/97)(MC, 12/25/01) 1776 Dec 26, The British suffered a major defeat in the Battle of Trenton during the Revolu-tionary War. After crossing the Delaware River into New Jersey, George Washington led an at-tack on Hessian mercenaries and took 900 men prisoner. Two Americans froze to death on the march but none died in battle. There were 30 German casualties, 1,000 prisoners and 6 cannon captured. Four Americans were wounded in the overwhelming American victory, while 22 Hes-sians were killed and 78 wounded. The surprise attack caught most of the 1,200 Hessian sol-diers at Trenton sleeping after a day of Christmas celebration. The Americans captured 918 Hessians, who were taken as prisoners to Philadelphia. The victory was a huge morale booster for the American army and the country. The victory at Trenton was a huge success and morale booster for the American army and people. However, the enlistments of more than 4,500 of Washington?s soldiers were set to end four days later and it was critical that the force remain in-tact. General George Washington offered a bounty of $10 to any of his soldiers who extended their enlistments six weeks beyond their December 31, 1776, expiration dates. The American Revolution Battle of Trenton saw the routing of 1,400 Hessian mercenaries, with 101 killed or wounded and about 900 taken prisoner, with no Americans killed in the combat. Four Americans were wounded and two had died of exhaustion en route to Trenton. (AP, 12/26/97)(HN, 12/26/98)(SFC, 12/26/98, p.A3)(HNQ, 3/20/99)(HNQ, 4/11/99)(HNQ, 12/26/99) 1776 Dec 26, Johann Gottlieb Rall, Hessian colonel and mercenary, died in battle of Trenton. (MC, 12/26/01) 1776 Dec 29, Charles Macintosh, patented waterproof fabric, was born in Scotland. (MC, 12/29/01) 1776 Augustin Pajou, French sculptor, completed his "Monument to Buffon." (WSJ, 3/18/98, p.A20) 1776 Fort Sullivan, outside the town of Charleston, S.C., was built primarily of palmetto logs and sand. Commanded by Colonel William Moultrie--for whom it was later renamed--the par-tially uncompleted Fort Sullivan on Sullivan?s Island bore the brunt of gunfire from a British naval force when the British tried to invade Charleston on June 28, 1776. The palmetto logs and sand from which the fort was primarily constructed absorbed most of the British shot, while the fort?s defenders managed to inflict disproportionate punishment to the British warships, one of which, the frigate Actaeon, ran hard aground and had to be abandoned and blown up by her crew. The successful defense of Charleston effectively left the Carolinas in the hands of the rebelling Pa-triots until a new invasion force returned to Charleston in February 1780. (HNQ, 10/25/01) 1776 Nano Nagle, a wealthy Irish woman, founded the Sisters of Presentation. At this time it was a crime in Ireland for a Catholic to teach or be taught. (SFC, 11/12/04, p.F11) 1776 A New York tavern keeper mixed a rum and "cocktail." The name was derived from rooster feathers used as ornaments for glasses. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34) 1776 George Washington ordered his chief of artillery, Henry Knox, to establish an American arsenal to manufacture guns and ammunition for his army. Knox chose Springfield, Mass., on the Connecticut River. The Springfield Armory stayed open 173 years and was closed in 1967, but continues as a museum. (WSJ, 3/9/95, p.A-16) 1776 Col. George Rogers Clark was charged by the Virginia Assembly to seize the Northwest Territory. By 1778, Clark was in control of the land between Virginia and the Mississippi River?except Fort Sackville. (HNQ, 7/24/00) 1776 Margaret Corbin, the wife of an artilleryman, was badly wounded while serving in her husband?s gun crew at the Battle of Harlem Heights. (SFEC,11/23/97, Par p.19) 1776 The first issue of the US $2 bill was 49,000 notes by the Continental Congress as "bills of credit for the defense of America." (SFC, 9/14/96, p.A4) 1776 The Quakers of Pennsylvania abolished slavery within the Society of Friends and then took their crusade to society at large by petitioning the state legislature to outlaw the practice. (AH, 10/02, p.50) 1776 Don Marcos Briones came to San Francisco. His daughter, Juana Briones, was the first settler on Powell St. in North Beach. She was a battered wife and was the first California woman to get a divorce. (SFC, 5/26/97, p.A11) 1776 Spanish explorers encountered the native Havasupai Indians in Arizona. (SSFC, 2/19/06, p.F4) 1776 The southernmost of the Bantu peoples, the Xhosa, arrived at the Fish River in South Africa. (Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.169) 1776 The Russian Bolshoi Theater was founded. (SFC, 3/29/01, p.A11) 1776 Ike Taiga (b.1723), Japanese painter based in Kyoto, died. (SFC, 12/8/05, p.E1) 1776 David Hume, Scottish philosopher, died. He was the first prominent European atheist. Hume said "the overriding force in all our actions is? the desire for self-gratification. In order to survive, society has to devise strategies to channel our passions in constructive directions." "The most unhappy of all men is he who believes himself to be so." (WSJ, 5/10/96, p.A-8)(SFC, 3/20/99, p.B4)(WSJ, 12/14/01, p.W14) 1776 The Dutch built a slave house on Goree Island off the coast of Senegal. (SFC, 7/9/03, p.A10) 1776-1781 During this period Britain sent 60,000 troops to America. (WSJ, 5/16/96, p.A-12) 1776-1781 It is estimated that 30,000 Hessian soldiers fought for the British during the American Revolution. After Russia refused to provide troops for the war, the German states of Brunswick, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Hanau, Waldeck, Anspach-Bayreuth and Anhalt-Zerbst supplied merce-nary soldiers, collectively referred to as Hessians. Seven thousand Hessians died in the war and another 5,000 deserted and settled in America. The British paid the German rulers for each soldier sent to North America and an additional sum for each killed. (HNQ, 3/31/99) 1776-1781 During the Revolutionary War some 100 ships were scuttled in the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth, Virginia, to prevent their capture by the British. (AM, Jul/Aug ?97 p.15) c1776-1781 Molly Corbin manned a cannon during the American Revolution and was wounded. She was cited for bravery and sent to the Invalid Regiment at West Point where she received half the male pay. She was also denied the daily rum ration until her complaints were heard. (SFEC, 6/4/00, Z1 p.3) 1776-1789 Charles Burney wrote "A General History of Music" that covers this period. (LGC-HCS, p.36) 1776-1822 E.T.A. Hoffman, German poet and novelist, author of "The Tales of Hoffman." The ballet "Coppelia" was based on one of his tales. (Harvard BDM, p.294)(SFC, 11/19/96, p.E1)(WSJ, 6/10/97, p.A16) 1776-1836 The correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison is documented in "The Republic of Letters" by James Morton Smith in 3 volumes published by Norton 1995. The two men are believed to have met in 1776 in the Virginia House of Delegates. (WSJ, 2/2/95, p.A-16) 1776-1841 Jane Austin, English author. She wrote "Sense and Sensibility." (WSJ, 3/25/96, p.A-1) 1776-1856 Amadeo Avogadro, Italian chemist. (V.D.-H.K.p.324) 1776-1876 The population of California Native Americans diminished from about 300,000 to 20,000. (SFC, 5/19/96,City Guide, p.16) 1777 Jan 3, Gen. George Washington's army routed the British led by Cornwallis in the Battle of Princeton, N.J. (AP, 1/3/98)(HN, 1/3/99) 1777 Jan 12, Franciscans founded Mission Santa Clara de Asis, the 8th of California?s original 21 missions. (SFC, 8/19/00, p.A13)(MC, 1/12/02) 1777 Jan 15, The people of New Connecticut declared their independence. The tiny republic became the state of Vermont in 1791. (AP, 1/15/99)(ST, 3/2/04, p.A1) 1777 Feb 13, The Marquis de Sade was arrested without charge and imprisoned in Vincennes fortress. (MC, 2/13/02) 1777 Mar 13, Congress ordered its European envoys to appeal to high-ranking foreign officers to send troops to reinforce the American army. (HN, 3/13/99) 1777 Mar 31, A young Abigail Adams encouraged her husband John to give women voting privileges in the new American government. She wrote to her husband on this day while he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention: "I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous to them than were your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and at-tention are not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold our-selves bound to obey any laws in which we have no voice or representation." Twenty years later her husband was a candidate in America?s first real election. (HNPD, 3/30/99) 1777 Mar, The Rev. Patrick Bronte was born on St. Patrick?s Day in County Down, Ireland. He married Maria Branwell of Cornwall in 1812 and they had six children that included the writers Charlotte and Emily. Mrs. Branwell died in 1821 at 38. (WP, 1952, p.34) 1777 Apr 12, Henry Clay, the "Great Compromiser", American politician and statesman, was born. He ran unsuccessfully for president three times. [see Apr 22] (HN, 4/12/99) 1777 Apr 14, NY adopted a new constitution as an independent state. Governeur Morris was the chief writer of the state constitution. [see Apr 20] (MC, 4/14/02)(WSJ, 5/28/03, p.D8) 1777 Apr 16, New England's minute men, Green Mountain Boys, routed British regulars at the Battle of Bennington. (HN, 4/16/98)(MC, 4/16/02) 1777 Apr 20, New York adopted a new constitution as an independent state. [see Apr 14] (MC, 4/20/02) 1777 Apr 22, Henry Clay, American statesman, the "Great Compromiser," was born. Henry Clay of Kentucky was a master politician in the era preceding the Civil War. Clay was a lawyer by trade. He began his lengthy political career in the Kentucky legislature and made three un-successful bids as the Whig Party's presidential candidate. [see Apr 12] (HN, 4/22/98)(HNPD, 6/29/98) 1777 Apr 26, Sybil Ludington (16) rode from NY to Ct rallying her father?s militia. (MC, 4/26/02) 1777 Apr 30, Karl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, was born. He researched infini-tesimal calculus, algebra and astronomy. He was also a pioneer in topology and is considered one of the world's great mathematicians. His methods in World War II helped disarm magnetic mines (HN, 4/30/99) 1777 May 1, Richard Brinsley Sheridan's "School for Scandal," premiered in London with Georgiana Cavendish as Lady Teazle. "Its assumptions are that lust and greed - when allied with beauty and cunning - deserve to triumph over dullness and age." He also wrote "A Trip to Scarborough," a rewrite of a Restoration original. (WSJ,11/24/95, p.A-6)(WSJ, 11/20/98, p.W6)(MC, 5/1/02) 1777 May 12, The 1st ice cream advertisement appeared in the Philip Lenzi NY Gazette. (MC, 5/12/02) 1777 May 13, University library at Vienna opened. (MC, 5/13/02) 1777 May 16, Button Gwinnet, US revolutionary leader, died from wounds. (MC, 5/16/02) 1777 Jun 13, Marquis de Lafayette landed in the United States to assist the colonies in their war against England. (HN, 6/13/99) 1777 Jun 14, The Continental Congress in Philadelphia adopted the Stars and Stripes, cre-ated by Betsy Ross, as the national flag. America's Flag Day, commemorates the date when John Adams spoke the following words before the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. "Re-solved, that the Flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation." Over the years, there have been 27 versions of the American flag. The present version was adopted on July 4, 1960, when Hawaii became the 50th state. In 2005 Marc Leepson authored ?Flag: An American Biography.? (AP, 6/14/97)(HNQ, 6/14/98)(WSJ, 7/1/05, p.W4) 1777 Jul 1, British troops departed from their base at the Bouquet river to head toward Ticon-deroga, New York. (HN, 7/1/00) 1777 Jul 2, Vermont became the 1st American colony to abolish slavery. [see Mar 1, 1780] (SC, 7/2/02) 1777 Jul 4, No member of Congress thought about commemorating the adoption of the Decla-ration of Independence until July 3 - one day too late. So the first organized elaborate celebra-tion of independence occurred the following day: July 4, 1777, in Philadelphia. (http://tinyurl.com/mpsa8y) 1777 Jul 6, British forces under Gen. Burgoyne captured Fort Ticonderoga from the Ameri-cans. (AP, 7/6/97)(MC, 7/6/02) 1777 Jul 7, American troops gave up Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake Champlain, to the British. (HN, 7/7/98) 1777 Jul 8, The Continental frigate Hancock was captured by the British ships Rainbow and Flora. The prisoners, including cabin-boy John Blatchford, were taken to Halifax. (ON, 1/00, p.4) 1777 Jul 27, Thomas Campbell, Scottish writer (The Pleasures of Hope), was born. (HN, 7/27/01) 1777 Jul 27, The Marquis of Lafayette arrived in New England to help the rebellious colonists fight the British. (HN, 7/27/98) 1777 Jul 31, The Marquis de Lafayette, a 19-year-old French nobleman, was made a major-general in the American Continental Army. (AP, 7/31/97) 1777 Jul, John Paul Jones was given command of the 20-gun ship Ranger at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was then ordered to report to a Secret Committee in Paris, that included Benjamin Franklin. (ON, 2/04, p.6) 1777 Aug 14, Hans Christian Oersted, Danish scientist, was born. He discovered electromag-netism. (HN, 8/14/00) 1777 Aug 16, American forces won the Revolutionary War Battle of Bennington, Vt. (AP, 8/16/97) 1777 Aug 16, France declared a state of bankruptcy. (HN, 8/16/98) 1777 Aug 22, With the approach of General Benedict Arnold's army, British Colonel Barry St. Ledger abandoned Fort Stanwix and returns to Canada. (HN, 8/22/98) 1777 Sep 3, The American flag (stars & stripes), approved by Congress on June 14th, was carried into battle for the first time by a force under General William Maxwell. (HN, 9/3/00) 1777 Sep 11, General George Washington and his troops were defeated by the British under General Sir William Howe at the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania. Posing as a gunsmith, British Sergeant John Howe served as General Gage's eyes in a restive Massachusetts colony. (HN, 9/11/98) 1777 Sep 16, Nathan Rothschild (d.1836), banker, was born in Frankfurt. He was the son of Mayer Rothschild (1744-1812), who rose from the Frankfurt ghetto to become the banker to Prince William of Prussia. Nathan worked in London as a banker and invested Prussian money in the Napoleonic Wars and smuggled it to Wellington in Spain. He was the first to hear news from Waterloo and sold stock to convince other investors that the British had lost. His agents bought the stock at low prices. His 4 brothers established banks in Vienna, Naples and Paris. (WSJ, 1/11/98, p.R18)(www.rothschildarchive.org/ib/?doc=/ib/articles/BW3bNathan)y 1777 Sep 19, During the Revolutionary War, American soldiers won the first Battle of Sara-toga, aka Battle of Freeman's Farm (Bemis Heights). American forces under Gen. Horatio Gates met British troops led by Gen. John Burgoyne at Saratoga Springs, NY. (AP, 9/19/97)(www.americanrevolution.com/BattleofSaratoga.htm) 1777 Sep 20, British Dragoons massacred sleeping Continental troops at Paoli, Pa. Prior to launching a surprise night attack on Anthony Wayne?s Continental division at Paoli, General Charles Grey ordered his troops to rely entirely on their bayonets. To ensure that his troops obeyed, he had his men remove the flints from their weapons so they could not be fired. (MC, 9/20/01)(HNQ, 8/19/02) 1777 Sep 25, English general William Howe conquered Philadelphia. [see Sep 26] (MC, 9/25/01) 1777 Sep 26, The British army launched a major offensive during the American Revolution, capturing Philadelphia. [see Sep 25] (HN, 9/26/99)(AP, 9/26/97) 1777 Sep 27, At the Battle of Germantown the British defeated Washington's army. English General William Howe occupied Philadelphia. [see Sep 25,26] (MC, 9/27/01) 1777 Sep 30, The Congress of the United States, forced to flee in the face of advancing Brit-ish forces, moved to York, Pennsylvania. (AP, 9/30/00) 1777 Oct 4, George Washington's troops launched an assault on the British at Germantown, Penn., resulting in heavy American casualties. (AP, 10/4/97) 1777 Oct 7, The second Battle of Saratoga began during the American Revolution. During the battle General Benedict Arnold was shot in the leg. Another bullet killed his horse, which fell on Arnold, crushing his leg. The "Boot Monument" sits close to the spot where Arnold was wounded, and is a tribute to the general?s heroic deeds during that battle. Although Arnold?s ac-complishments are described on the monument, it pointedly avoids naming the man best known for betraying his country. The British forces, under Gen. John Burgoyne, surrendered 10 days later. (AP, 10/7/97)(HNQ, 7/20/01) 1777 Oct 7, Simon Fraser, English general, died in the battle of Saratoga, NY. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Simon_Fraser_of_Balnian) 1777 Oct 15, Tory Maj. James Graves Simcoe was appointed commandant of Queen's Rang-ers to combat American rebels. (MC, 10/15/01) 1777 Oct 17, General John Burgoyne with British forces of 5,000 men surrendered to General Horatio Gates, commander of the American forces at Schuylerville, NY. In the fall of 1777, the British commander Gen'l. Burgoyne and his men were advancing along the Hudson River. After Burgoyne had retreated to the heights of Saratoga, the Americans stopped and surrounded them. The surrender was a turning point in the American Revolution, demonstrating American determination to gain independence. After the surrender, France sided with the Americans, and other countries began to get involved and align themselves against Britain. (AP, 10/17/97)(HN, 10/17/98)(HNPD, 10/17/99)(SSFC, 6/30/02, p.C10) 1777 Nov 15, The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation in York, Pa. These instituted the perpetual union of the United States of America and served as a precursor to the U.S. Constitution. The structure of the Constitution was inspired by the Iroquois Confed-eracy of six major northeastern tribes. The matrilineal society of the Iroquois later inspired the suffragist movement. (PCh, 1992, p.325)(AP, 11/15/97)(SFEC, 4/19/98, BR p.2)(HN, 11/15/98) 1777 Nov 30, San Jose, California, was founded by the Spanish as El Pueblo de San Jose de Guadeloupe, California's first town. (SFEC, 7/11/99, BR p.1)(SFC, 9/2/99, p.A12)(SFC, 11/30/07, p.B4) 1777 Nov 30, Jean-Marie Leclair (74), composer, died. (MC, 11/30/01) 1777 Dec 2, British officers under Gen. Howe met in the Philadelphia home of Lydia Darragh to discuss plans to the attack American forces on December 5, just prior to Gen. Washington?s planned move to Valley Forge. Mrs. Darragh listened in on the plans and sent word to White-marsh of the impending attack. (ON, 8/07, p.8) 1777 Dec 8, Britain?s Gen. Howe withdrew to Philadelphia following a failed attempt on American forces encamped at Whitemarsh. (ON, 8/07, p.8) 1777 Dec 8, Captain Cook left the Society Islands (French Polynesia). (MC, 12/8/01) 1777 Dec 12, Rev. Benjamin Russen was hanged at Tyburn, England, for rape. (MC, 12/12/01) 1777 Dec 17, France recognized American independence. (AP, 12/17/97) 1777 Dec 18, The 1st America Thanksgiving Day commemorated Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga. A national Thanksgiving was declared by Congress after the American victory over the British at the Battle of Saratoga in December 1777. For many years Thanksgiving celebra-tions were haphazard with Presidents Washington, Adams and Madison declaring occasional national festivities. (HNPD, 11/26/98)(MC, 12/18/01) 1777 Dec 19, Gen. George Washington led his army of about 11,000 men to Valley Forge, Pa., to camp for the winter. [see Dec 17] (AP, 12/19/97) 1777 Dec 23, Alexander I, Czar of Russia, was born. (HN, 12/23/98) 1777 Jean-Baptiste Greuze painted a portrait of Benjamin Franklin. (WSJ, 8/26/97, p.A14) 1777 The Acagchemem Indians built a small adobe church at Mission San Juan Capistrano. It?s been renamed the Serra Chapel and is the oldest building still in use in California. In 1791 a bell tower was completed. (HT, 3/97, p.60)(http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/missioncalifornia/a/capistranohist.htm) 1777 George Washington wrote a letter offering Nathaniel Sackett $50 a month to set up an intelligence network. (SFC, 7/17/02, p.A3) 1777 The circular saw was invented. (SFC, 7/14/99, p.4) 1777 Captain James Cook, while exploring the Pacific, reported on long-board surfers in Tahiti and Oahu and observed that the sport appeared recreational rather than competitive. (WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34) 1777 Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette, arrived in the US in his own boat and offered his services to Gen?l. George Washington. (WSJ, 1/15/97, p.A12) 1777 An Italian scientist became the 1st to identify a certain eel as female. In 1882 another scientist figured out how to identify a male eel. (SFC, 7/22/00, p.E4) 1777 George Washington led a campaign against the British and their Iroquois allies in Penn-sylvania, New York, and the Ohio country. These included the Six Nations Indians: Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida, and Tuscarora. In 2005 Glenn F. Williams published ?The Year of the Hangman: George Washington?s Campaign Against the Iroquois. (WSJ, 7/26/05, p.D8) 1777 Stavropol was founded in south-western Russia during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768?1774 as a military encampment. In 1785 it was designated as a city. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavropol) 1777-1778 Some 2,000 American soldiers died at Washington?s Valley Forge encampment in Penn. over a harsh weather period of 7 months. (WSJ, 1/3/02, p.A7) 1777-1787 Juan Bautista de Anza served as the governor of New Mexico. (SFC, 6/7/00, p.A15) 1777 Vermont including the town of Killington declared independence from New York and New Hampshire. It became a country unto itself, coined its own money, set up its own postal service and elected its own president. The Republic of Vermont stayed independent until 1791. (SFEC, 4/2/00, p.A6)(ST, 3/2/04, p.A5) 1777-1810 Phillip Otto Runge, German artist. (WSJ, 7/16/98, p.A16) 1777-1811 Heinrich von Kleist, writer. His work included "St. Cecilia or The Power of Music." (SFC, 2/19/96, p.E1) 1777-1851 Hans Christian Ursted (Oersted), Danish physicist. (AHD, 1971, p.911) 1778 Jan 10, Carolus Linnaeus [Carl von Linné, b.1707], Swedish botanist, died. His system for classifying living organisms in a hierarchy placed kingdoms at the top and species at the bot-tom. (HN, 5/23/01)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolus_Linnaeus) 1778 Jan 18, English navigator Captain James Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands, which he dubbed the "Sandwich Islands" after the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Sandwich. About 350,000 Hawaiians inhabited them. Cook first landed on Kauai and then Niihau where his men introduced venereal disease. (Wired, 8/95, p.90)(AP, 1/18/98)(HN, 1/18/99) 1778 Jan 27, Nicolo Piccinni's (1728-1800) opera "Roland" premiered in Paris. (WUD, 1994 p.1088)(MC, 1/27/02) 1778 Feb 6, The United States won official recognition from France as the nations signed a treaty of aid in Paris. The Franco-American Treaty of Alliance bound the 2 powers together "for-ever against all other powers." It was the first alliance treaty for the fledgling US government and the last until the 1949 NATO pact. Benjamin Franklin signed for the US. (WSJ, 6/17/96, p.A15)(AP, 2/6/97)(AH, 2/06, p.59) 1778 Feb 6, England declared war on France. (MC, 2/6/02) 1778 Feb 13, Fernando Sor, composer, was born. (MC, 2/13/02) 1778 Feb 14, The American ship Ranger carried the recently adopted Star and Stripes to a foreign port for the first time as it arrived in France. (AP, 2/14/98) 1778 Feb 22, Rembrandt Peale, American painter who painted excellent portraits of the found-ing fathers of the United States, was born. (HN, 2/22/99) 1778 Feb 23, Baron von Steuben joined the Continental Army at Valley Forge. (HN, 2/23/98) 1778 Feb 25, Jose Francisco de San Martin (d.1850) was born in Argentina. He liberated Ar-gentina, Chile and Peru. Protector of Peru (1821-1822). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_de_San_Mart%C3%ADn)(ON, 10/09, p.8) 1778 Feb 28, Rhode Island General Assembly authorized the enlistment of slaves. (MC, 2/28/02) 1778 Mar 5, Thomas A. Arne (67), English composer (Alfred, Rule Britannia), died. (MC, 3/5/02) 1778 Mar 7, Capt. James Cook 1st sighted the Oregon coast and named Perpetua Cape in honor of St. Perpetua?s Day. (SSFC, 9/21/08, p.E7) 1778 Mar 15, In command of two frigates, the Frenchman la Perouse sailed east from Botany Bay for the last lap of his voyage around the world. (HN, 3/15/99) 1778 Mar 15, Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, was discovered by Captain Cook. (HN, 3/15/98)(MC, 3/15/02) 1778 Mar 22, Captain Cook sighted Cape Flattery in Washington state. (MC, 3/22/02) 1778 Apr 1, Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans businessman, created the "$" symbol. (HN, 4/1/98)(OTD) 1778 Apr 10, William Hazlitt (d.1830), essayist, critic, was born in Maidstone, Kent, England. (AP, 11/10/99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hazlitt) 1778 Apr 18, John Paul Jones attacked the British revenue cutter Husar near the Isle of Man, but it escaped. Soon thereafter he raided Whitehaven and burned one coal ship. (ON, 2/04, p.6) 1778 Apr 22, James Hargreaves, inventor (spinning jenny), died. (MC, 4/22/02) 1778 Apr 23, US Captain John Paul Jones attempted to kidnap the Earl of Selkirk, but he only got Lady Selkirk's silverware. (ON, 2/04, p.6) 1778 Apr 24, US Ranger Captain John Paul Jones captured the British ship Drake. (ON, 2/04, p.6)(Internet) 1778 May 11, William Pitt Sr. (69), English premier (1756-61, 66-68), died. (MC, 5/11/02) 1778 May 30, Voltaire (b.1694), French writer born as Francois-Marie Arouet, died. His books included Candide (1759). (www.online-literature.com/voltaire/) 1778 Jun 7, George Byran "Beau" Brummell (d.1840), English wit, was born. He influenced men's fashion and introduced trouser to replace breeches. (HN, 6/7/99) 1778 Jun 18, American forces entered Philadelphia as the British withdrew during the Revolu-tionary War. (AP, 6/18/97)(HN, 6/18/98) 1778 Jun 19, General George Washington?s troops finally left Valley Forge after a winter of training. Washington left to intercept the British force on its way to New York City. (HN, 6/19/98)(MC, 6/20/02) 1778 Jun 27, The Liberty Bell came home to Philadelphia after the British left. (MC, 6/27/02) 1778 Jun 28, "Molly Pitcher," Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, wife of an American artilleryman, carried water to the soldiers during the Revolutionary War Battle of Monmouth, N.J. and, sup-posedly, took her husband's place at his cannon after he was overcome with heat. Tempera-tures reportedly reached 96 degrees in the shade. According to myth she was presented to General George Washington after the battle. Her actual existence is a matter of historical de-bate and the outcome of the battle was inconclusive. (SFEC,11/23/97, Par p.19)(HNQ, 7/25/99)(AP, 6/28/08)(SSFC, 6/28/09, p.B12) 1778 Jun, George Washington appointed Benedict Arnold as military governor of Philadelphia. (ON, 11/01, p.1) 1778 Jul 2, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (b.1712), Swiss-born writer and philosopher, died in France. He was considered part of the French Enlightenment along with Voltaire and Diderot. In 2005 Leo Damrosch authored ?Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius.? (www.infed.org/thinkers/et-rous.htm)(WSJ, 6/7/00, p.A24) 1778 Jul 3, The Wyoming Massacre occurred during the American Revolution in the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania. As part of a British campaign against settlers in the frontier during the war, 360 American settlers, including women and children, were killed at an outpost called Win-termoot's Fort after they were drawn out of the protection of the fort and ambushed. (HNQ, 11/5/98)(MC, 7/3/02) 1778 Jul 8, George Washington headquartered his Continental Army at West Point. (MC, 7/8/02) 1778 Jul 10, In support of the American Revolution, Louis XVI declared war on England. (HN, 7/10/98) 1778 Jul 27, British and French fleets fought to a standoff in the first Battle of Ushant. (HN, 7/27/98) 1778 Summer, American Captain Leonard Helm occupied fort Sackville the British having withdrawn to Detroit. (HNQ, 7/24/00) 1778 Aug 9, Captain Cook reached Cape Prince of Wales in the Bering straits. (MC, 8/9/02) 1778 Aug 14, Augustus Montague Toplady (b.1740), English Calvinist hymn writer (Rock of Ages), died. His best prose work is the "Historic Proof of the Doctrinal Calvinism of the Church of England" (London, 1774). (MC, 8/14/02)(Wikipedia) 1778 Aug 20, Bernardo O'Higgins was born in Chile. He later won independence for Chile. (MC, 8/20/02) 1778 Aug 31, British killed 17 Stockbridge Indians in Bronx during Revolution. (MC, 8/31/01) 1778 Sep 3, Jean Nicolas Auguste Kreutzer, composer, was born. (MC, 9/3/01) 1778 Sep 5, Gideon Olmstead and 3 fellow Americans took over the British sloop Active and sailed it toward the New Jersey coast, where it was intercepted by the American brig Conven-tion, owned by the state of Pennsylvania. A state court ruled the sloop a prize of the state. An appeals committee overturned the Philadelphia court. Olmstead spent the next 30 years fighting for his claim and won in 1808. [see Mar 6, 1779] (ON, 12/01, p.9) 1778 Sep 7, Shawnee Indians attacked and laid siege to Boonesborough, Kentucky. (HN, 9/7/98) 1778 Sep 17, The 1st treaty between the US and Indian tribes was signed at Fort Pitt. (MC, 9/17/01) 1778 Oct 3, Capt. Cook anchored off Alaska. (MC, 10/3/01) 1778 Nov 9, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (58), Italian etcher, died. (MC, 11/9/01) 1778 Nov 11, British redcoats, Tory rangers and Seneca Indians in central New York state killed more than 40 people in the Cherry Valley Massacre. A regiment of 800 Tory rangers un-der Butler (1752-1781) and 500 Native forces under the Mohawk war chief Joseph Brant (1742-1807), fell upon the settlement, killing 47, including 32 noncombatants, mostly by tomahawk. (www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Cherry-Valley-Massacre)(AP, 11/11/07) 1778 Nov 14, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, composer, was born. (MC, 11/14/01) 1778 Nov 26, Captain Cook discovered Maui in the Sandwich Islands, later named Hawaii. (MC, 11/26/01) 1778 Nov 27, John Murray, publisher, was born. (MC, 11/27/01) 1778 Dec 17, Humphrey Davy (d.1829), English chemist who discovered the anesthetic effect of laughing gas (1799), was born. (HN, 12/17/98)(Dr, 7/17/01, p.2)(ON, 12/01, p.7) 1778 Dec 17, The British?under Lt. Col. Henry Hamilton?returned and recaptured Fort Sackville (near Vincennes, Indiana). (HNQ, 7/24/00) 1778 Dec 26, Juan Lovera, artist, was born: ?artist of independence?: originator of Venezuelan historical painting: paintings commemorate Venezuela?s independence dates. (440.com) 1778 Dec 29, British troops, attempting a new strategy to defeat the colonials in America, cap-tured Savannah, the capital of Georgia. (HN, 12/29/98) 1778 John Singleton Copley, American artist, painted "Watson and the Shark." The work was based on a real life incident from 1749 in Cuba?s Havana Harbor, where Brook Watson (14) lost half a leg to a shark. Watson went on to become the Lord Mayor of London. (WSJ, 4/9/99, p.W16) 1778 Thomas West, a Jesuit priest (c.1720-1779), wrote the ?Guide to the Lakes,? the first guidebook to the Lake District of England. (Econ, 4/3/10, p.88)(http://tinyurl.com/y4prxbr) 1778 Federalists won over anti-Federalists in a crucial New York state ratifying convention for the Constitution. (WSJ, 6/10/98, p.A18) 1778 In the winter of 1778, American troops stationed at West Point on the Hudson River nicknamed the place "Point Purgatory." Now the site of the famous military academy, during the Revolutionary War West Point was a strategic highland on the Hudson. Both the British and the Americans considered it very important for controlling the vital Hudson. (HNQ, 5/29/00) 1778 British troops ordered ships in Newport Harbor, R.I., to be sunk as French naval forces approached. (SFC, 3/12/99, p.A9) 1778 Benjamin Franklin, on a diplomatic mission in France, approved a plan by John Paul Jones to disrupt British merchant shipping along Britain's undefended west coast. (ON, 2/04, p.6) 1778 Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga, was released from prison in England as part of a prisoner exchange. (ON, 3/00, p.6) 1778 In New York City Robert Edwards, a Welsh buccaneer, or his son supposedly leased 77 acres of prime land to Trinity Church on a 99-year lease. The land later included what became Wall street. The land was supposed to revert to his descendants but that didn't happen. The case was to go to court in 1999. (SFEC, 1/10/99, p.A13) 1778 Benjamin Tallmadge, under orders from George Washington, organized a spy network in NYC, the heart of the British forces. The code name for the group was Samuel Culper and it be-came known as the Culper Gang. (MT, Fall/99, p.6) 1778 A census in Argentina showed that about 30% of the 24,363 residents of Buenos Aires were African. (SSFC, 11/27/05, p.A24) 1778 Juan Bautista de Anza led a punitive expedition across new Mexico and Colorado against the Comanches. His forces cornered and killed Comanche Chief Cuerno Verde and other leaders at what later became Rye, Colo. (SFC, 6/7/00, p.A15) 1778 The king of the Big Island of Hawaii sent his warrior-general Kamehameha to Lana?i, un-der the rule of Maui, after being thwarted in a bid to conquer Maui. Kamehameha?s troops de-stroyed everyone on the island, which event gave the island its name. Lana?i means "day of conquest." (SFEM, 10/13/96, p.24) 1778 Joshua Spoontree was murdered by three ruffians hired by his wife. (LSA., Fall 1995, p.21) 1778 In England the Catholic Relief Act was enacted. It inspired London riots in Jun 1780. (HNQ, 2/24/99) 1778 Botanist Joseph Banks (1743-1820) became president of the British Royal Society. He had accompanied Capt. Cook to catalog plants and animals of Australia and New Zealand on the 3-year journey (1768-1771). (Econ, 7/11/09, p.87)(www.nndb.com/people/077/000100774/) 1878 A repressive general of the Russian Czar was shot and wounded by revolutionary Vera Zasulich. She was able to talk a jury into acquitting her. Oscar Wilde?s first play, ?Vera? (1883), was inspired by her actions. (SFC, 9/24/08, p.E1) 1778 King Carlos III of Spain sent Spanish settlers from the Canary Islands to Louisiana. They settled in St. Bernard Parish and became known as Islenos or Spanish Cajuns. (SFC, 9/4/00, p.B2) 1778-1781 Under the Treaty of Commerce and Friendship, France aided the American revolutionar-ies. Some 44,000 French troops served during the American War of Independence. (AP, 5/3/03) 1778-1788 John Adams began a series of numerous missions to Europe. He was the first American ambassador to the court of St. James. Adams was able to negotiate a treaty with the Dutch government and secured a loan of $2 million. He also arranged a secret treaty with Brittain that recognized American territorial rights in the Mississippi Valley. (A&IP, Miers, p.20)(WSJ, 12/22/98, p.A16) 1778-1829 Sir Humphrey Davy, British chemist. He discovered 12 chemical elements. (AHD, 1971 p.337) 1779 Jan 5, Stephen Decatur (d.1820), U.S. naval hero during actions against the Barbary pirates and the War of 1812, was born. [see 1820 Decatur-Barron duel] (HFA, '96, p.26)(HN, 1/5/99) 1779 Jan 5, Zebulon Montgomery Pike, explorer, (Pike's Peak), was born. (MC, 1/5/02) 1779 Feb 14, American Loyalists were defeated by Patriots at Kettle Creek, Ga. (HN, 2/14/98) 1779 Jan 18, Peter Roget, thesaurus fame, inventor (slide rule, pocket chessboard), was born. (MC, 1/18/02) 1779 Feb 7, William Boyce (67), composer, died. [see Feb 16] (MC, 2/7/02) 1779 Feb 14, Captain James Cook (b.1728), English explorer, was killed on the Big Island in Hawaii. In 2002 Tony Horwitz authored "Blue Latitudes," and Vanessa Collingridge authored "Captain Cook: A Legacy Under Fire." (WSJ, 10/2/02, p.D12)(www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/3521.html) 1779 Feb 16, William Boyce, English organist, composer (Cathedral Music), died. [see Feb 7] (MC, 2/16/02) 1779 Feb 25, Fort Sackville, originally named Fort Vincennes, was captured by Colonel George Rogers Clark in 1779. Col. Clark led a force of some 170 men from Kaskaskia to lay siege to Fort Sackville in January, and received Hamilton?s surrender on February 25. With the surrender of Fort Sackville, American forces gained effective control of the Old Northwest, thereby affecting the outcome of the Revolutionary War. The fort, which Clark described as ?a wretched stockade, surrounded by a dozen wretched cabins called houses,? was located near present-day Vincennes, Indiana. (HNQ, 7/24/00)(AP, 2/25/08) 1779 Mar 6, The US Congress declared that only the federal government, and not individual states, had the power to determine the legality of captures on the high seas. This was the basis for the 1st test case of the US Constitution in 1808. (ON, 12/01, p.9) 1779 Mar 31, Russia and Turkey signed a treaty by which they promised to take no military action in the Crimea. (HN, 3/31/99) 1779 Apr 24, Mr. H. Sykes, an English optician living in Paris, wrote to Ben Franklin and ex-plained a delay in sending an order for special spectacles, complaining that he was having diffi-culty making them. Franklin is believed to have ordered his first pair of bifocals from Sykes. (www.antiquespectacles.com/topics/franklin/franklin.htm) 1779 May 13, War of Bavarian Succession ended. (SS, Internet, 5/13/97) 1779 May 23, Benedict Arnold, military governor of Philadelphia, wrote a query to the British asking what they would pay for his services. He had already begun trading with the British for personal profit and faced charges. (ON, 11/01, p.1) 1779 May 25, Henry M. Baron de Kock, Dutch officer, politician, was born. (SC, 5/25/02) 1779 May 28, Thomas Moore, Irish poet, was born. (HN, 5/28/01) 1779 Jun 16, Spain, in support of the US, declared war on England. (MC, 6/16/02) 1779 Jun 16, Vice-Admiral Hardy sailed out of Isle of Wight against the Spanish fleet. (MC, 6/16/02) 1779 Jun 18, French fleet occupied St Vincent. (MC, 6/18/02) 1779 Jul 4, A French fleet occupied Grenada. (Maggio) 1779 Jul 10, Alois Basil Nikolaus Tomasini, composer, was born. (MC, 7/10/02) 1779 Jul 15, Clement Moore, founder of the General Theological Seminary in New York City, was born. (HN, 7/15/98) 1779 Jul 16, American troops under General Anthony Wayne, aka Mad Anthony Wayne, cap-tured Stony Point, NY, with a loss to the British of more than 600 killed or captured. (HN, 7/16/98)(http://hhr.highlands.com/stpt.htm) 1779 Jul 24, The Siege of Gibraltar by the Spanish and French was begun. British Gen. George Eliott led the 5,000 man Gibraltar garrison. The siege was finally lifted on Feb 7, 1783. In 1965 T.H. McGuffie authored "The Siege of Gibraltar, 1779-1783). (HN, 2/7/99)(ON, 7/01, p.8) 1779 Aug 1, Francis Scott Key, author of the "Star Spangled Banner," was born. (HN, 8/1/98) 1779 Aug 7, Carl Ritter, cofounder of modern science of geography, was born in Quedlinberg, Prussia. (MC, 8/7/02) 1779 Aug 19, Americans under Major Henry Lee took the British garrison at Paulus Hook, New Jersey. (HN, 8/19/98) 1779 Sep 2, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (d.1844), French king of the Netherlands (1806-10), was born in Corsica. He was one of 3 younger brothers of Napoleon I. (www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Louis-Napoleon-Bonaparte) 1779 Sep 10, Louis Alexandre Piccinni, composer, was born. (MC, 9/10/01) 1779 Sep 13, Frederick II of Prussia issued a manifesto in which he bemoaned the increased use of coffee and called for more consumption of beer. (SFC, 1/30/99, p.D3) 1779 Sep 23, During the Revolutionary War, the American navy under John Paul Jones, commanding from Bonhomie Richard, defeated and captured the British man-of-war Serapis. An American attack on a British convoy pitted the British frigate HMS Serapis against the American Bon Homme Richard. The American ship was commanded by Scotsman John Paul Jones, who chose to name the ship after Benjamin Franklin's ?Poor Richard?s Almanack.? Fierce fighting ensued, and when Richard began to sink, Serapis commander Richard Pearson called over to ask if Richard would surrender and Jones responded, "I have not yet begun to fight!"--a response that would become a slogan of the U.S. Navy. Pearson surrendered and Jones took control of Serapis. The Bonhomie Richard sank 2 days after the battle. In 1959 the film Jean Paul Jones starred Robert Stack. (TVM, 1975, p.294)(AP, 9/23/97)(HN, 9/23/98)(HNPD, 9/23/98)(Arch, 9/02, p.17) 1779 Sep 27, John Adams was named to negotiate the Revolutionary War's peace terms with Britain. (AP, 9/27/97) 1779 Oct 9, The Luddite riots being in Manchester, England in reaction to machinery for spin-ning cotton. (HN, 10/9/00) 1779 Oct 11, Polish nobleman General Casimir Pulaski died two days after being mortally wounded while fighting for American independence during the Revolutionary War Battle of Sa-vannah, Ga. Brig. Gen. Casimir Pulaski had come to America in 1777. In 2005 an attempt to confirm his remains using DNA was inconclusive. (AH, 10/04, p.15)(AP, 6/24/05)(AP, 10/11/07) 1779 Dec 25, A court-martial was convened against Benedict Arnold. He defended himself successfully on 6 of 8 charges but was convicted of illegally issuing a government pass and us-ing government wagons to transport personal goods. (ON, 11/01, p.2) 1779 Nov 4, John W. Pieneman, historical painter (Battle at Waterloo), was born. (MC, 11/4/01) 1779 Nov 13, Thomas Chippendale (61), English furniture maker, died. (MC, 11/13/01) 1779 Dec 6, Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin (80), French still life painter, died. (MC, 12/6/01) 1779 Dec 19, Auguste-Gaspard-Louis Desnoyers, engraver, was born in Paris, France. (MC, 12/19/01) 1779 Dec 23, Benedict Arnold was court-martialed for improper conduct. He followed the time-honored military tradition of using government carts to transport his personal items. He was rou-tinely sentenced to be censured by Gen. Washington- a formality which the thin-skinned Arnold took personally, ultimately leading him to switch allegiance to the British cause. (MC, 12/23/01) 1779 Frances Trollope was born the daughter of a clergyman and raised near Bristol. She produced 35 novels and 5 travel books. In 1998 Pamela Neville-Sington wrote the biography "Fanny Trollope: The Life and Adventures of a Clever Woman." (WSJ, 12/11/98, p.W10) 1779 Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) painted the portrait ?George Washington at Prince-ton.? In 2006 it was auctioned for a $21.3 million, a record price for an American portrait. (SFC, 1/11/06, p.G2)(SSFC, 1/22/06, p.A3) 1779 Richard Samuel (d.1787), British painter, sent the Royal Academy exhibition his ?Nine Living Muses of Great Britain.? The 1778 painting featured a group of female writers and artists that included the Swiss-Austrian painter Angelica Kauffman (1741-1807). (Econ, 3/22/08, p.97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelica_Kauffmann) 1779 The captured journal of British officer Henry De Berniere was published by John Gill, member of the Sons of Liberty. Gill had printed many anti-British pamphlets including the rebel newspaper Boston Gazette. (AH, 10/01, p.56) 1779 The play "Nathan der Weise" (Nathan the Wise) by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, German playwright, was 1st produced. It is set in Jerusalem in 1193 and shows a humane Jewish mer-chant, Nathan, spreading benevolence and reconciliation among local Muslims and Christians. Nathan tells Saladin a story: "My council is: Accept the matter wholly as it stands ?Let each one believe his ring to be the true one." (WSJ,11/24/95, p.A-6)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R55)(WSJ, 1/4/02, p.A11) 1779 Richard Brinsley Sheridan wrote his play "The Critic." It was a rewrite of a Restoration original. (WSJ, 11/20/98, p.W6) 1779 Ethan Allen authored "A Narrative of Ethan Allen?s Captivity." (ON, 3/00, p.6) 1779 The Gluck opera "Iphigenie en Tauride" was composed. (WSJ, 8/12/97, p.A12) 1779 There were 21 regiments of loyalists in the British army estimated at 6500-8000 men. Washington reported a field army of 3468 men. (SFEC,11/23/97, Par p.19) 1779 Thomas Jefferson (36) was wartime governor of Virginia and James Madison (28) served in his cabinet. (WSJ, 2/2/95, p.A-16) 1779 John Adams drafted most of the Massachusetts state constitution. (WSJ, 12/22/98, p.A16) 1779 The Italian grappa distillery, Ditta Bortolo Nardini, was founded. (Econ, 12/18/04, p.104) Go to 1780-1789