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).

Events of 1777

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)

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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

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