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1777

Year 1777 (MDCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar).

January - June

January 3 - American Revolution - Battle of Princeton: American general George Washington defeats British general Charles Cornwallis.

January 12 - Mission Santa Clara de Asís is founded in what is now Santa Clara, California.

January 15 - Vermont declares its independence from New York, becoming an independent country, a status it retains until it joins the United States as the 14th state in 1791.

May 16 - Lachlan McIntosh and Button Gwinnett shoot each other during a duel near Savannah, Georgia. Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, dies 3 days later.

June 13 - American Revolution: The Marquis de Lafayette lands near Charleston, South Carolina to help the Continental Congress train its army.

June 14 - The Stars and Stripes is adopted by the Continental Congress as the Flag of the United States.

July - December

August 16 - American Revolution - Battle of Bennington: British forces are defeated by American troops.

September 3 - American Revolution - Cooch's Bridge: In a minor skirmish in New Castle County, Delaware, the Flag of the United States was flown in battle for the first time.

September 11 - American Revolution - Battle of Brandywine: The British gain a major victory in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

September 19 - American Revolution - First Battle of Saratoga/Battle of Freeman's Farm/Battle of Bemis Heights: British General John Burgoyne is defeated by American troops.

October 4 - American Revolution - Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.

October 17 - American Revolution- Battle of Saratoga: British General John Burgoyne surrenders to the American troops.

November 15 - American Revolution: After 16 months of debate, the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation in the temporary American capital at York, Pennsylvania.

November 17 - The Articles of Confederation are submitted to the states for ratification.

November 29 - San Jose, California is founded. It is the first pueblo in Spanish Alta California.

December 19 - American Revolution: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

December 24 - Kiritimati is discovered by James Cook.

Undated

The 2nd edition of Encyclopædia Britannica is published.

The code duello is adopted at the Clonmell Summer Assizes as the form for pistol duels in Ireland. It is quickly denounced but nevertheless widely adopted throughout the English-speaking world.

Births

October 1 - Zaro Aga (d.1933?)

January 2 - Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor (d. 1857)

January 5 - Robert Hart, Father of the British 1820 settlers to South Africa (d. 1867)

February 12 - Friedrich de la Motte Fouque, French poet (d. 1843)

March 17 - Roger Taney, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1864)

April 12 - Henry Clay, American statesman (d. 1852)

April 30 - Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (d. 1855)

June 12 - Robert Clark, American politician (d. 1837)

August 14 - Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish physicist and chemist (d. 1851)

October 16 - Lorenzo Dow, American Methodist preacher (d. 1834)

October 18 - Heinrich von Kleist, German writer (d. 1811)

December 4 - Madame Récamier, French writer (d. 1849)

December 23 - Emperor Alexander I of Russia (d. 1825)

date unknown - Benjamin d'Urban, British general and colonial administrator (d. 1849)

Deaths

January 10 - Spranger Barry, Irish actor (b. 1719)

January 12 - Hugh Mercer, American Revolutionary War officer (mortally wounded in battle)

February 9 - Seth Pomeroy, American gunsmith and soldier (b. 1706)

February 24 - King Joseph I of Portugal (b. 1714)

March 1 - Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Austrian composer (b. 1715)

May 11 - George Pigot, Baron Pigot, British governor of Madras (b. 1719)

May 19 - Button Gwinnett, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1735)

September 22 - John Bartram, American botanist (b. 1699)

September 25 - Johann H. Lambert, mathematician, physicist and astronomer (b. 1728)

October 21 - Samuel Foote, English dramatist and actor (b. 1720)

November 10 - Cornstalk, Shawnee chief

December - Dolly Pentreath, claimed to be the last speaker of the Cornish language