Today in History for Year 1776

Months in Year 1776: January February March April May June July August September October November December

Historical Events

Events 1 - 78 of 78

Jan 1st - Gen George Washington hoists Continental Union Flag
Jan 2nd - 1st revolutionary flag displayed
Jan 2nd - Austria ends interregation torture
Jan 5th - Assembly of New Hampshire adopts its 1st state constitution
Jan 10th - "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine, published
Jan 16th - Continental Congress approves enlistment of free blacks
Jan 18th - James Wright, Royal Governor of Georgia, is placed under house arrest by Major Joseph Habersham
Jan 24th - Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga.
Feb 8th - Wolfgang von Goethes' "Stella," premieres in Hamburg
Feb 17th - 1st volume of Gibbon's "Decline & Fall of Roman Empire" published
Mar 2nd - Americans begin shelling British troops in Boston
Mar 3rd - US commodore Esek Hopkins occupies Nassau Bahamas
Mar 4th - The American War of Independence: The Americans capture "Dorchester Heights" dominating the port of Boston, Massachusetts.
Mar 9th - Publication of the economics book The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.
Mar 17th - British forces evacuate Boston to Nova Scotia during Revolutionary War
Mar 25th - Continental Congress authorized a medal for George Washington
Mar 28th - Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.
Apr 1st - Friedrich von Klinger's "Sturm und Drang," premieres in Leipzig
Apr 3rd - Washington receives honorary Ll.D. degree from Harvard College
First US President George Washington Apr 7th - Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the Edward.
Apr 12th - Halifax resolution for independence adopted by North Carolina
Apr 15th - Duchess of Kingston found guilty of bigamy
May 1st - Adam Weishaupt founds secret society of Illuminati
May 2nd - France & Spain agreed to give weapons to American rebels
May 4th - Rhode Island declares independence from England
May 12th - Turgot, French minister of Finance, resigns
Jun 7th - Richard Lee (VA) moves Decl of Independence in Continental Congress
Jun 11th - Continental Congress creates committee (Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston) to draft a Declaration of Independence
Jun 12th - Virginia adopts Declaration of Rights
Jun 23rd - Final draft of Declaration of Independence submitted to US Congress
Jun 28th - Charleston, SC repulses British sea attack
Jun 29th - Mission Dolores founded by SF Bay
Jun 29th - Virginia state constitution adopted & Patrick Henry made governor
Jul 1st - 1st vote on Declaration of Independence
Jul 2nd - NJ gave all adults who could show a net worth of 50 pounds right to vote
Jul 2nd - Continental Congress resolves "these United Colonies are & of right ought to be Free & Independent States"
Jul 4th - Declaration of Independence-US gains independence from Britain
Jul 6th - Dec of Ind announced on front page of "PA Evening Gazette"
Jul 8th - Col John Nixon gave 1st public reading of Dec of Independence (Phila)
Jul 9th - Declaration of Independence is read to George Washington's troops (NY)
Captain/Explorer James Cook Jul 11th - Captain James Cook begins his third voyage
Jul 12th - Capt Cook departs with Resolution for 3rd trip to Pacific Ocean
Aug 2nd - Formal signing of the US Declaration of Independence by 56 people
Aug 10th - American Revolutionary War: word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.
Aug 27th - British defeat Americans in Battle of Long Island
Aug 29th - Americans withdraw from Manhattan to Westchester
Aug 30th - US army evacuates Long Island/falls back to Manhattan, NYC
Sep 6th - Hurricane hits Martinique; 100 French & Dutch ships sinks; 600 die
Sep 6th - 1st (failed) submarine attack (David Bushnell's "Turtle" attacks British sailboat "Eagle" in Bay of NY)
Sep 6th - Hurricane hits Guadeloupe, killing more than 6000.
Sep 9th - Continental Congress renames "United Colonies," "US"
Sep 10th - George Washington asks for a spy volunteer, Nathan Hale volunteers
Sep 12th - Nathan Hale leaves Harlem Heights Camp (127th St) for spy mission
Sep 15th - British forces capture Kip's Bay Manhattan during Revolution
Sep 17th - The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.
Sep 21st - 5 days after British take NY, a ¼ of city burns down
Sep 21st - Nathan Hale, spied on British for American rebels, arrested
Sep 24th - 1st St Leger horesrace held at Doncaster
Oct 9th - Mission Dolores founded by SF Bay
Oct 11th - Brig Gen Arnold's Lake Champlain fleet defeated by British
Oct 12th - British Brigade begins guarding Throgg Necks Road in Bronx
Oct 18th - In a NY bar decorated with bird tail, customer orders "cock tail"
Oct 18th - Battle of Pelham: Col John Glover & Marblehead regiment meet British Forces in Bronx
United States founding father Benjamin Franklin Oct 26th - Benjamin Franklin departed from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.
Oct 28th - Battle of White Plains; Washington retreats to NJ
Nov 1st - Mission San Juan Capistrano founded in California
Nov 16th - 1st gun salute for an American warship in a foreign port - US Andrew Doria at Ft St Eustatius
Nov 16th - British troops captured Fort Washington during American Revolution
Nov 18th - Hessians capture Ft Lee, NJ
Nov 30th - Capt Cook begins 3rd & last trip to Pacific (South Sea)
Dec 5th - 1st US fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa (William & Mary College), forms
Dec 8th - George Washington's retreating army crosses Delaware River from NJ
Dec 19th - Thomas Paine published his 1st "American Crisis" essay, in which he wrote, "These are the times that try men's souls"
Dec 23rd - Continental Congress negotiates a war loan of $181,500 from France
Dec 23rd - Thomas Paine writes "These are the times that try men's souls"
Dec 25th - Washington crosses Delaware & surprises & defeats 1,400 Hessians
Dec 26th - George Washington defeats Hessians at Battle of Trenton in American Revolutionary War
Dec 31st - Rhode Island establishes wage & price controls to curb inflation: Limit is 70 cents a day for carpenters, 42 cents for tailors

Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 33 of 33

Jan 6th - Ferdinand von Schill, Prussian officer/rebel
Jan 24th - Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, German writer/judge/composer (Undine)
Feb 11th - Ioannis Kapodistrias, Greek diplomat of the Russian Empire and first head of state of independent Greece (d. 1831)
Feb 18th - John Parry, composer
Feb 21st - Vincenzo Lavigna, composer
Feb 23rd - John Walter II, London, chief proprietor (The Times, 1812-47)
Mar 10th - Luise, queen of Prussia/wife of Frederik Willem III
Mar 16th - Johan G Verstolk van Soelen, Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs
Apr 1st - Sophie Germain, French mathematician (d. 1831)
Apr 8th - Thaddaus Weigl, composer
Apr 25th - Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (d. 1857)
Apr 26th - Joan M Kemper, Dutch lawyer (designed civil code law book)
May 4th - Johann Friedrich Herbart, Germany, philosopher/psychologist
May 10th - George Thomas Smart, composer
May 12th - Juan Bros y Bertomel, composer
May 13th - Charles Ots, composer
May 13th - Rodrigo Ferreira da Costa, composer
Jun 1st - John George Schetky, composer
Jun 11th - John Constable, England, landscape painter (Hay Wain)
Jul 13th - Caroline of Baden, queen of Bavaria (d. 1841)
Aug 4th - Wenzel Sedlak, composer
Savant Amedeo Avogadro (Aug 9th) Aug 9th - Amedeo Avogadro, Tuin Italy, 6.022 x 10 ^ 23 (Avogadro's Law), (d. 1856)
Aug 15th - Gottlieb Schick, German painter (Apollo under the Hirten)
Aug 15th - Ignaz Xaver von Seyfried, composer
Aug 16th - Philipp Jakob Riotte, composer
Aug 20th - Bernardo O'Higgins, South American revolutionary (d. 1842)
Sep 27th - Maria E J Versfelt, actress/mistress (General Moreau & Marshal Ney)
Nov 14th - Henri Dutrochet, discovered & named process of osmosis
Dec 3rd - Johann Spurzheim, German neuroscientist (d. 1832)
Dec 6th - Paul Friedrich Struck, composer
Dec 16th - Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German physicist (d. 1810)
Dec 27th - Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (d. 1811)
Dec 29th - Charles Macintosh, Scotland, patented waterproof fabric

Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 1 of 1

Oct 7th - Crown Prince Paul of Russia marries Sophie Marie Dorothea of Württemberg.

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 28 of 28

Mar 5th - Yeongjo of Joseon, ruler of Korea (b. 1694)
Mar 10th - Élie Catherine Fréron, French critic (b. 1719)
Mar 10th - Niclas Sahlgren, Swedish merchant and philanthropist (b. 1701)
Mar 24th - John Harrison, English clockmaker (b. 1693)
Mar 26th - Samuel Ward, American politician (b. 1725)
Apr 19th - Jacob Israel Emden, [Jacob ben Tswi], German rabbi, dies at 78
Apr 22nd - Johann Adolph Scheibe, German music theroist/composer, dies at 67
Apr 24th - Carolus van de Abeele, Flemish Jesuit, dies at 84
Apr 24th - Giuseppi Paolucci, composer, dies at 49
Apr 29th - Edward Wortley Montagu, English traveler and writer (b. 1713)
May 4th - Jacques Saly, French sculptor (b. 1717)
May 6th - James Kent, composer, dies at 76
May 13th - Anton de Haen, medical Ratio medendi, dies at 71
Jun 10th - Leopold Widhalm, Austrian luthier (b. 1722)
Jun 20th - Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and manufacturer (b. 1704)
Jun 27th - Thomas Hickey, plan to hand George Washington to British, executed
Jun 28th - Thomas Hickey, American sergeant convicted of treason, hanged
Jul 1st - Francis Salvador, 1st Jew to die in American Revolutionary War
Jul 7th - Jeremiah Markland, English classical scholar (b. 1693)
Jul 10th - Richard Peters, English-born clergyman (b. 1704)
Aug 2nd - Louis François I, Prince of Conti, French military leader (b. 1717)
Philosopher David Hume (Aug 25th) Aug 25th - David Hume, Scottish philosopher and historian (b. 1711)
Sep 22nd - Nathan Hale, US captain/patriot/spy, hanged by British at 21
Oct 17th - Pierre François le Courayer, French theologian (b. 1681)
Nov 17th - James Ferguson, British astronomer (b. 1710)
Nov 22nd - Johann Caspar Simon, composer, dies at 75
Nov 26th - Dov Baer of Mezhirech, hassidic rabbi, dies
Dec 26th - Johann Gottlieb Rall, Hessian colonel/mercenary, dies in battle in American Revolutionary War