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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).

Contents

Events of 1777

January - June

July - December

Undated

Births

Deaths

Events of 1777

January - June

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

★ 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 retained until it joined 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 three days later.

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

★ June 14 - Stars and Stripes 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 - Cooch's Bridge - Skirmish of American Revolutionary war in New Castle County, Delaware where the Flag of the United States was flown in battle for the first time.

★ September 11 - Battle of Brandywine - Major American Revolutionary war victory for British in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

★ September 19 - American Revolution: First Battle of Saratoga/Battle of Freeman's Farm/Battle of Bemis Heights.

★ 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- American troops defeat the British.

★ 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 - Articles of Confederation submitted to the states for ratification.

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

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

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

★ December 24 - Kiritimati 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.(1934)

★ 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)
: ''See also .''
San Jose (California City) was founded.

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
: ''See also .''