1778

Year 1778 (MDCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1778

January - June

* January 18 - The third Pacific expedition of Capt. James Cook, with ships HMS "Resolution" and HMS "Discovery", first view O'ahu then Kaua'i in the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands".
* February 5 - South Carolina becomes the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
* February 6 - American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France, signaling official recognition of the new republic.
* February 23 - American Revolutionary War: Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania and begins to train the American troops.
* March 10 - American Revolutionary War: George Washington approves the dishonorable discharge of Lieut. Frederick Gotthold Enslin for "attempting to commit sodomy, with John Monhort a soldier".
* May 30 - Benedict Arnold signs US oath of allegiance at Valley Forge [ [http://www.ushistory.org/ValleyForge/served/arnold.html] ]
* June 24 - A total solar eclipse takes place across parts of USA from Texas to Virginia.
* June 28 - American Revolutionary War - Battle of Monmouth: George Washington defeats British general Sir Henry Clinton near Monmouth, New Jersey.

July - December

* July 3 - American Revolutionary War: the Wyoming Massacre takes place near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, ending in a terrible defeat of the local colonists.
* July 4 - American Revolutionary War: George Rogers Clark takes Kaskaskia.
* July 10 - American Revolutionary War: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.
* July 27 - American Revolution - First Battle of Ushant: British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
* August 26 - Triglav, at 2,864 meters above sea level the highest peak of Slovenia, is ascended for the first time by four brave men: Luka Korošec, Matevž Kos, Štefan Rožič, and Lovrenc Willomitzer on Sigmund Zois' initiative.
* September - The Massachusetts Banishment Act, providing punishment for Loyalists, is passed.
* September 17 - The Treaty of Fort Pitt is signed, the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe (the Lenape or Delaware).
* September 19 - The Continental Congress passes the first budget of the United States.
* November 26 - In the Hawaiian Islands, Capt. James Cook becomes the first European to land on Maui.

Undated

* The first settlement is made in the area of what is now Louisville, Kentucky by 13 families under Colonel George Rogers Clark.
* Phillips Academy, the most prestigious secondary boarding school in the United States, is founded by Samuel Phillips Jr.
* First Ironbridge.
* The term "thoroughbred" is first used in the United States in an advertisement in a Kentucky gazette to describe a New Jersey stallion called Pilgarlick.

Births

* January 3 - Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish bishop (d. 1861)
* February 22 - Rembrandt Peale, American artist (d. 1860)
* March 19 - Edward Pakenham, British general (d. 1815)
* April 10 - William Hazlitt, English essayist (d. 1830)
* May 18 - Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, British politician (d. 1854)
* August 11 - Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, German patriot (d. 1852)
* September 8 - Clemens Brentano, German poet (d. 1842)
* September 19 - Henry Peter Brougham, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (d. 1868)
* November 1 - Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (d. 1837)
* November 25 - Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, British Christian writer (d. 1856)
* December 17 - Sir Humphry Davy, English chemist (d. 1829)
* December 19 - Marie Thérèse Charlotte (d. 1851)
* December 28 - Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki, Polish politician (d. 1846)
* Sardar Fath `Ali Khan, Wazir-i-azam of Kabul (d. 1818)

: "See also ."

Deaths

* January 10 - Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist (b. 1707)
* February 18 - Joseph Marie Terray, French statesman (b. 1715)
* February 20 - Laura Bassi, Italian scholar (b. 1711)
* March 5 - Thomas Arne, English composer of "Rule, Britannia!" (b. 1710)
* March 7 - Charles De Geer, Swedish industrialist and entomologist (b. 1720)
* March 13 - Charles le Beau, French historian (b. 1701)
* April 22 - James Hargreaves, English weaver, carpenter, and inventor (b. 1720)
* May 11 - William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1708)
* May 16 - Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English diplomat and politician (b. 1718)
* May 30 - Voltaire, French philosopher (b. 1694)
* June 12 - Philip Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1716)
* June 16 - Konrad Ekhof, German actor (b. 1720)
* June 24 - Pieter Burman the Younger, Dutch philologist (b. 1714)
* July 2 - Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher (b. 1712)
* July 2 - Bathsheba Spooner, American murderer (b. 1746?)
* July 5 - James Townley, English dramatist (b. 1714)
* August 5 - Charles Clémencet, French historian (b. 1703)
* August 12 - Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, British general and politician (b. 1714)
* November 9 - Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian artist (b. 1720)
* November 20 - Francesco Cetti, Italian Jesuit scientist (b. 1726)
*"date unknown" - Thomas Johnson, furniture maker (b. 1714)

: "See also ."

References