1776 In The United States

January–July 3 (Thirteen Colonies)

January

• January 1
  • The 3rd New Jersey Regiment is raised at Elizabethtown, New Jersey.
  • American Revolution: Burning of Norfolk.
  • The 22nd Continental Regiment is formed.
• January 2 – The Tory Act of 1776 is signed by Peyton Randolph.
• January 10 – Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense.
• January 20 – American Revolution: South Carolina Loyalists led by Robert Cunningham, signed a petition from prison agreeing to all demands for peace by the newly formed state government of South Carolina.
• January 24
  • American Revolution: Henry Knox arrives at Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga.
  • American Revolution: The Continental Congress writes the third and final letter to the inhabitants of Canada urging Quebec to join the revolution.
• January 28 – The Annapolis Convention changes to the Assembly of Freeman.

February

• February 27 – American Revolution: Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge: North Carolina Loyalists charge across Moore's Creek bridge near Wilmington to attack what they mistakenly believe to be a small force of rebels. Several loyalist leaders are killed in the ensuing battle. The patriot victory virtually ends all British authority in the town.
• February 29 – The Boston News-Letter ceased publication.

March

• March 2–3 – American Revolution: Battle of the Rice Boats: Following the British seizure of rice from merchant ships on the Savannah River, militia from Georgia and South Carolina attack the British squadron on the river using fire ships.
• March 3–4 – Raid of Nassau.
• March 4 – American Revolution: The Americans capture "Dorchester Heights" dominating the port of Boston, Massachusetts.
• March 7 – The 1st and 2nd Maryland Regiments are organized.
• March 17 – American Revolution: Threatened by Patriot cannons on Dorchester Heights, the British evacuate Boston.
• March 26 – Henry Laurens ends as the President of the South Carolina Committee on Safety and becomes the Vice President of South Carolina.
• March 27 – The 3rd, 4th and 6th Maryland Regiments are organized.
• March 28 – Juan Bautista de Anza finds the site for the Presidio of San Francisco.

April

• April 3 – Nicholas Cooke is elected the 1st Governor of Rhode Island.
• April 4 – the first session of the Fourth North Carolina Provincial Congress meets in Halifax, North Carolina with Samuel Johnston as president and Allen Jones as vice president.
• April 11 – Jonathan Trumbull elected the 16th governor of Connecticut.
• April 12 – American Revolution: The Royal Colony of North Carolina produces the Halifax Resolves making it the first British colony to officially authorize its Continental Congress delegates to vote for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
• April 15 – Archibald Bulloch is sworn in as the first governor of Georgia.

May

• May – The German Battalion is authorized.
• May 4
  • American Revolution: Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III of Great Britain.
  • The Edenton, Halifax, Hillsborough, New Bern, Salisbury and Wilmington District Brigades are established by the North Carolina Provincial Congress.
• May 6 – The Fifth Virginia Convention is first held at Williamsburg.
• May 14 – The first session of the Fourth North Carolina Provincial Congress ends.
• May 15 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress passes John Adams' preamble, explaining why a declaration of independence was being proposed. The Lee Resolution of independence is first brought before Congress.

June

 

• June 7 – American Revolution: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposes to the Continental Congress the Lee Resolution that "these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states."
• June 8
  • American Revolution: Battle of Trois-Rivières: American invaders are driven back at Trois-Rivières, Quebec.
  • Lee's Legion is raised at Williamsburg, Virginia.
• June 11 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress appoints the Committee of Five to draft the Declaration of Independence. The principal draft will be written by Thomas Jefferson.
• June 12 – American Revolution: Virginia Declaration of Rights by George Mason adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates.
• June 15 – American Revolution: Delaware Separation Day: The Delaware General Assembly votes to suspend government under the British Crown.
• June 17
  • Lt. Jose Joaquin Moraga leads a band of colonists from Monterey Presidio, landing on June 29 and, with Father Francisco Palóu, constructing the Mission San Francisco de Asís ("Mission Dolores") of the new Presidio of San Francisco, the oldest surviving building in the modern-day city.
  • The Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment is organized.
• June 18 – The Pennsylvania Provincial Conference begins at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia.
• June 25 – The Pennsylvania Provincial Conference ends at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia.
• June 28
  • American Revolution: The Committee of Five presents their United States Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress, which begins a further revision process, removing reference to slavery.
  • Battle of Sullivan's Island.
  • Thomas Hickey becomes the first person executed by the Continental Army for mutiny, sedition, and treachery.
• June 29
  • American Revolution: Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet – The Continental Navy successfully challenges the British Royal Navy blockade off Cape May County, New Jersey.
  • The Constitution of Virginia is first adopted with Patrick Henry elected its first governor defeating Thomas Nelson Jr..

July

 

 

July 4: United States Declaration of Independence

• July 1 – American Revolution: Congress sitting as a committee of the whole votes in favor of independence.
• July 2 – American Revolution: The final (despite minor revisions) U.S. Declaration of Independence is written. The full Continental Congress passes the Lee Resolution.
• July 3 – American Revolution: British troops first land on Staten Island, which will become the longest occupied land for the duration of the conflict.

July 4–December (United States)

July

• July 4
  • American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence, in which the United States officially declares independence from the British Empire, is approved by the Continental Congress and signed by its president, John Hancock, together with representatives from Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia.
  • John Rutledge is sworn in as the 31st governor of South Carolina.
  • Josiah Martin ends as the ninth and last Governor of the Province of North Carolina and gets in exiled.
  • Henry Beeson founds the town of Union now Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
• July 5
  • Patrick Henry is sworn in as the first governor of Virginia.
  • The Fifth Virginia Convention ends at Williamsburg.
• July 8–10 – American Revolution: Battle of Gwynn's Island.
• July 8 – American Revolution: The Liberty Bell rings for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia.
• July 9 – American Revolution: An angry mob in New York City topples the equestrian statue of George III in Bowling Green.
• July 14 – Capture and rescue of Jemima Boone.
• July 15 – American Revolution: Battle of Lindley's Fort.
• July 19 – The Treaty of Watertown is signed in the Edmund Fowle House in the town of Watertown, Massachusetts Bay.
• July 20 – American Revolution: Battle of Island Flats.
• July 29 – Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, and eight other Spaniards set out from Santa Fe on an eighteen-hundred mile trek through the American Southwest. They are the first Europeans to explore the vast region between the Rockies and the Sierras.

August

• August 2 – American Revolution: A parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence is signed by 56 members of Congress (not all of whom had been present on July 4).
• August 13 – The New Jersey Legislative Council is elected, with the New Jersey Provincial Council being succeeded into the Legislative Council.
• August 14 – The delegates of Maryland draft the Maryland Constitution of 1776.
• August 15 – American Revolution: First Hessian troops land on Staten Island to join British forces.
• August 23 – The 12th Pennsylvania Regiment is raised at Sunbury, Pennsylvania.
• August 27
  • American Revolution: Battle of Long Island: Washington's troops routed in Brooklyn by British under William Howe.
  • The first session of the New Jersey Legislative Council convenes with the Provincial Congress of New Jersey ceased to function under the New Jersey State Constitution.
• August 31 – William Livingston is sworn in as the first governor of New Jersey.

September

• September 1 – Invasion of Cherokee Nation by 6,000 patriot troops from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina begins. The troops destroy thirty-six Cherokee towns.
• September 6 – Montgomery County and Washington Counties, Maryland are founded.
• September 7 – American Revolution: World's first submarine attack. American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor.
• September 11 – American Revolution: The British and Americans meet at the Staten Island Peace Conference seeking to end the revolution. The meeting is brief and unsuccessful.
• September 15 – American Revolution: British land on Manhattan at Kip's Bay.
• September 16
  • American Revolution: Battle of Harlem Heights is fought, and won, making it Washington's first battle field victory.
  • The 7th Maryland Regiment is authorized.
  • The 4th New Jersey Regiment is raised at Elizabethtown, New Jersey
  • The 7th North Carolina Regiment is raised at Halifax, North Carolina.
  • The 11th Pennsylvania Regiment is authorized.
• September 20
  • The Delaware Constitution of 1776 is adopted.
  • The Great Fire of New York begins.
• September 21 – The Great Fire of New York ends.
• September 22 – American Revolution: Nathan Hale executed in New York City for espionage.
• September 28 – The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 is ratified.

October

 

• October 7 – The first session of the 1st Virginia General Assembly convenes.
• October 9
  • Father Francisco Palou founds Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California.
  • Monongalia County, Virginia is formed (now West Virginia).
• October 10 – Johnathan Trumbull is sworn in as the 16th governor of the newly formed state of Connecticut.
• October 11 – American Revolution: Battle of Valcour Island: On Lake Champlain near Valcour Island, a British fleet led by Sir Guy Carleton defeats 15 American gunboats commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. Although nearly all of Arnold's ships are destroyed, the two-day-long battle will give Patriot forces enough time to prepare defenses of New York City.
• October 17 – The Rutherford Light Horse expedition begins.
• October 18 – American Revolution: Battle of Pell's Point.
• October 20 – The 1st Delaware General Assembly convenes.
• October 22 – American Revolution: Battle of Mamaroneck.
• October 28 – American Revolution: Battle of White Plains: British forces arrive at White Plains, attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Americans.
• October 31 – In his first speech before British Parliament since the Declaration of Independence that summer, King George III acknowledges that all is not going well for Britain in the war with the United States.

November

• November – Whitcomb's Rangers is formed at Fort Ticonderoga, New York.
• November 10–28 – American Revolution: Battle of Fort Cumberland.
• November 12 – The first session of the Fifth North Carolina Provincial Congress meets in Halifax, North Carolina with Richard Caswell as president and Cornelius Harnett as vice president.
• November 16
  • American Revolution: Battle of Fort Washington – Hessian forces under Lieutenant General Wilhelm von Knyphausen capture Fort Washington (Manhattan) from the American Continental Army.
  • The Rutherford Light Horse expedition ends.
• November 20 – American Revolution: Battle of Fort Lee – Invasion of New Jersey by British and Hessian forces and subsequent general retreat of the Continental Army.
• November 26 – The 8th North Carolina Regiment is authorized.
• November 28 – The 9th North Carolina Regiment is established.

December

 

• December – The Virginia Legislature incorporates Bath, Virginia now West Virginia.
• December 5 – Phi Beta Kappa honor society founded at the College of William and Mary.
• December 7 – American Revolution: Marquis de Lafayette attempts to enter the American military as a major general.
• December 14 – American Revolution: Ambush of Geary
• December 19 – American Revolution: Thomas Paine, living with Washington's troops, publishes the first in the series of pamphlets on The American Crisis in The Pennsylvania Journal, opening with the stirring phrase, "These are the times that try men's souls."
• December 21
  • American Revolution: The Royal Colony of North Carolina reorganizes into the State of North Carolina after adopting its own constitution. Richard Caswell becomes the first governor of the newly formed state.
  • The North Carolina Council of State is formed by the constitutional convention of North Carolina.
• December 22–23 – American Revolution: Battle of Iron Works Hill
• December 23 – the first session of the Fifth North Carolina Provincial Congress ends.
• December 25 – American Revolution: At 6 p.m. Gen. George Washington and his troops, numbering 2,400, march to McConkey's Ferry, cross the Delaware River, and land on the New Jersey bank by 3 a.m. the following morning.
• December 26 – American Revolution: Battle of Trenton: Washington's troops surprise the 1500 Hessian troops under the command of Col. Johann Rall at 8 a.m. outside Trenton and score a victory, taking 948 prisoners while suffering only 5 wounded.

Undated

• The Maryland Court of Appeals now the Supreme Court of Maryland is founded by Article 56 of the Maryland Constitution of 1776.
• Fort Clinton is erected by the Continental Army west bank of the Hudson River.
• Fort Defiance is constructed by Nathanael Greene.
• Fort Salonga is built in Fort Salonga, New York.
• Peter Van Brugh Livingston is appointed by the New York Provincial Congress as the first New York State Treasurer.
• Brunswick Town, North Carolina is attacked by British soldiers of the Royal Navy ship Cruizer and burns most of the town including St. Philip's Church.
• Henry Robason settles in the location that will become Robersonville, North Carolina.
• Forks of the Tar changes to Washington, North Carolina naming it in honor of George Washington.
• Thoughts on Government is written by John Adams.
• The Continental Powder Works at French Creek is constructed.
• Crawford Township, Pennsylvania is settled.
• The Dobbin House Tavern is built in the location now to be Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
• The Seal of South Carolina is adopted.
• The Boston Caucus dissolves.
• Garnet Fort later to be Fort Andrew is built.
• Fort Revere is first fortified by Patriot forces.
• Gill, Massachusetts is first settled.
• Hancock, Massachusetts is incorporated named after John Hancock.
• The Independent Chronicle publishes its first issue.
• North Cemetery is built in Leverett, Massachusetts.
• The House of Burgesses comes to an end.
• Fort Nelson is constructed by Virginia's Revolutionary government.
• Fort Randolph is built in Point Pleasant, Virginia.
• Kentucky County, Virginia is founded.
• Washington County, Virginia is formed by Virginians and named after George Washington.
• The Pennsylvania Provincial Council dissolves.
• The 20th Continental Regiment is established.
• Lookout Place is constructed by British Regulars.

January–June

•  
  James M. Broom
•  
  Jeremiah Chaplin
•  
  Matthew Brown
•  
  Elisha Haley
•  
  Peter Augustus Jay
•  
  Gerard Troost
•  
  David Rogerson Williams
•  
  Jesse Bledsoe
•  
  James Miller
•  
  Amos Eaton
•  
  Dennis Pennington
•  
  William Reed
•  
  Stephen Longfellow

• January 1 – James M. Broom, politician (died 1850)
• January 2 – Jeremiah Chaplin, Reformed Baptist theologian (died 1841)
• January 16 – Matthew Brown, college president (died 1853)
• January 21 – Elisha Haley, politician (died 1860)
• January 24 – Peter A. Jay, politician (died 1843)
• February 26 – Innis Green, congressman for Pennsylvania (died 1839)
• March 1
  • John Collins, manufacturer and politician (died 1822)
  • Elias Moore, American-born politician (died 1847 in Canada)
• March 3 – James Parker, politician (died 1868)
• March 5 – Gerard Troost, mineralogist (died 1850)
• March 8
  • David Rogerson Williams, politician (died 1830)
  • Samuel Tweedy, politician (died 1868)
• March 17 – Joel Abbot, politician (died 1826)
• March 19 – Philemon Beecher, politician (died 1839)
• March 20 – Joshua Bates, educator (died 1854)
• April 6 – Jesse Bledsoe, U.S. senator from Kentucky from 1813 to 1814 (died 1836)
• April 25 – James Miller, politician and military general (died 1851)
• May 5 – Valentine Efner, politician (died 1865)
• May 6 – Rensselaer Westerlo, politician (died 1851)
• May 13 – Jett Thomas, militia general (died 1817)
• May 17 – Amos Eaton, naturalist and pioneer of scientific education (died 1842)
• May 18 – Dennis Pennington, politician (died 1854)
• May 31 – José Antonio de la Garza, mayor (died 1851)
• June 1 – George Schetky, violoncellist and composer (died 1831)
• June 4 – Isaac B. Van Houten, politician (died 1850)
• June 6 – William Reed, politician (died 1837)
• June 19 – Francis Johnson, congressman (died 1842)
• June 23 – Stephen Longfellow, politician (died 1849)

July–December

•  
  Samuel Thatcher
•  
  Ethan Allen Brown
•  
  Daniel Dobbins
•  
  James McSherry
•  
  Stephen Whitney
•  
  Calvin Willey
•  
  Langdon Cheves
•  
  Cowles Mead
•  
  George M. Bibb
•  
  Elijah H. Mills
•  
  William Logan
•  
  John Slater
•  
  William Drayton

• July 1 – Samuel Thatcher, politician (died 1872)
• July 4 – Ethan Allen Brown, politician (died 1852)
• July 5
  • Daniel Dobbins, captain in the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service (died 1856)
  • Bernard Smith, politician (died 1835)
• July 10 – Samuel Powell, politician (died 1841)
• July 29 – James McSherry, politician (died 1849)
• August 13 – Abraham Shepherd, politician (died 1847)
• August 21 – Joseph Healy, politician (died 1861)
• August 26 – Henry A. Livingston, politician (died 1849)
• September 1 – Ezekiel Bacon, politician (died 1870)
• September 4 – Stephen Whitney, merchant (died 1860)
• September 9 – Parmenio Adams, politician (died 1832)
• September 15
  • William Baylies, politician (died 1865)
  • Calvin Willey, U.S. senator from Connecticut from 1825 to 1831 (died 1858)
• September 17 – Langdon Cheves, politician (died 1857)
• October 18 – Cowles Mead, politician (died 1844)
• October 30
  • George M. Bibb, U.S. senator from Kentucky from 1811 to 1814 (died 1859)
  • John Hahn, politician (died 1823)
• October 31 – Francis Locke, politician (died 1823)
• November 1 – Abraham McClellan, politician (died 1851)
• November 7 – Bartow White, politician (died 1862)
• November 10
  • Samuel Gross, politician (died 1839)
  • General Washington Johnston, politician (died 1833)
• December 1
  • Elijah H. Mills, politician (died 1829)
  • Isaac Lacey, politician (died 1844)
• December 7 – Reuben Whallon, politician (died 1843)
• December 8 – William Logan, U.S. senator from Kentucky from 1819 to 1820 (died 1822)
• December 10 – David Marchand, politician (died 1832)
• December 13 – James Hawkes, congressman (died 1865)
• December 25 – John Slater, businessman (died 1843)
• December 30 – William Drayton, politician (died 1846)

•  
  Samuel Ward
•  
  Jonathan Belcher
•  
  Nathan Hale
•  
  Johann Rall

• March 26 – Samuel Ward, politician (born 1725)
• March 30 – Jonathan Belcher, lawyer, chief justice, and lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia (born 1710)
• June 28 – Thomas Hickey, sergeant in the Commander-in-Chief's Guard, tried and executed for mutiny and sedition (birth unknown)
• August 1 – Francis Salvador, patriot (born 1747)
• September 22 – Nathan Hale, spy (born 1755; executed)
• December 27 – Johann Rall, Hessian colonel (born c. 1726)

• 1776 in Great Britain
• Timeline of the American Revolution (1760–1789)