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

Events

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January–June

• January 2 – American Revolution – Second Battle of Trenton: George Washington's army fights the Second Battle of Trenton, New Jersey.
• January 3 – American Revolution – Battle of Princeton: American general George Washington defeats British general Charles Cornwallis.
• January 12 – Mission Santa Clara de As s is founded in what is now Santa Clara, California.
• January 15 – Vermont declares its independence from New York, becoming the Vermont Republic, 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.

US Flag]] (had various star patterns)

• 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: Patriot forces withstand a British attack at Saratoga, New York
• September 26 – American Revolution – British troops occupy Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War.
• October 4 – American Revolution – Battle of Germantown: Troops under George Washington are repelled by British troops under Sir William Howe.
• October 7 – American Revolution – Second Battle of Saratoga: Battle of Bemis Heights: British General John Burgoyne is defeated by American troops.
• 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 20 – Morocco becomes the first nation to formally recognize the American colonies thereby beginning Morocco United States relations.^[1]
• December 24 – Kiritimati is discovered by James Cook.

Date unknown

• The 2nd edition of Encyclop dia 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.
• Kunsthochschule Kassel is founded

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Births

January–March

• January – William Barton (Middlesex cricketer), English cricketer (d. 1825)
• January 2 – Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor (d. 1857)
• January 7 – Lorenzo Bartolini, Italian sculptor (d. 1850)
• January 13 – Elisa Bonaparte, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, sister of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1820)
• January 25 – Karoline Jagemann, German actor (d.1848)
• February 3 – John Cheyne (physician), British physician, surgeon and author (d. 1836)
• February 10 – Amable Berthelot, Quebec lawyer, author and political figure (d. 1847)
• February 12
  • Friedrich de la Motte Fouque, French poet (d. 1843)
  • Bernard Courtois, French chemist (d. 1838)
• February 18 – Andreas Arntzen, Norwegian politician (d. 1837)
• February 20 – Zacheus Burnham, Canadian farmer, judge and public figure (d. 1857)
• March 3 – Adolphe Dureau de la Malle, French geographer, naturalist, historian and artist (d. 1857)
• March 10 – Robert Allison (Pennsylvania), U.S. Representative (d. 1840)
• March 13 – Charles Lot Church, Nova Scotia politician (d. 1864)
• March 17
  • Roger Taney, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1864)
  • Patrick Bront , Irish Anglican curate and writer; father of writers Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bront (d. 1861)
• March 19 – Jos Mar a Bustamante, Mexican composer (d. 1861)

April–June

• April 11 – William Addams, United States Congressman (d. 1858)
• April 12 – Henry Clay, American statesman (d. 1852)
• April 16 – John Alexander (Ohio), U.S. Representative (d. 1848)
• April 30 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (d. 1855)
• May 4 – Richard Bourke, Australian governor (d. 1855)
• May 11 – Samuel Bridger, English cricketer
• May 18 – John George Children, British chemist, mineralogist and zoologist (d. 1852)
• June 12 – Robert Clark, American politician (d. 1837)
• June 14 – Heman Allen (of Milton), U.S. Representative (d. 1844)
• June 15 – David Daniel Davis, British physician (d. 1841)
• June 22
  • Andrzej Alojzy Ankwicz, Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 1838)
  • William Brown (admiral), Irish-born first admiral of Argentina (d. 1857)
• June 23 – Frederick Bates, American politician (b. 1825)

July–September

• July – Thomas Clayton, American lawyer and politician (d. 1854)
• July 9 – Henry Hallam, English historian (d. 1859)
• July 26 – Robert Hamilton Bishop, Scottish-American educator and minister (d. 1855)
• July 27
  • Heinrich Wilhelm Brandes, German physicist (d. 1834)
  • Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet (d. 1844)
  • Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, British peer and soldier (d. 1853)
• July 31 – Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentine statesman and priest (d. 1849)
• August 11 – Giuseppe Bossi, Italian painter (d. 1815)
• August 14 – Hans Christian rsted, Danish physicist and chemist (d. 1851)
• August 23 – Princess Ad la de of Orl ans, French princess (d. 1847)
• August 29 – Nikita Bichurin, Russian monk (d. 1853)
• August 31 – Alexander Bashilov, Russian general (d. 1847)
• September 9 – James Carr (Massachusetts politician), U.S. Congressman (d. 1818)
• September 12 – Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville, French zoologist and anatomist (d. 1850)
• September 25 – Joseph Badeaux, Canadian politician (d. 1835)

October–December

• October 1 – Zaro Aga (claimed to have been born this year or 1774; d. 1934)
• October 16
  • Lorenzo Dow, American Methodist preacher (d. 1834)
  • Levi Barber, surveyor, court administrator, banker and legislator (d. 1833)
• October 18
  • Auguste Fran ois-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais, French general (d. 1809)
  • Heinrich von Kleist, German poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer (d. 1811)
• November 7 – Richard Bassett (clergyman), Welsh cleric (d. 1852)
• November 14 – Nathaniel Claiborne, U.S. politician (d. 1859)
• November 24 – Samuel Butts, militia officer (d. 1814)
• December 1 – Thomas Bradford (British Army officer), British Army officer (d. 1853)
• December 4 – Madame R camier, French writer (d. 1849)
• December 14 – Du Pr Alexander, 2nd Earl of Caledon, Irish peer, landlord and colonial administrator (d. 1839)
• December 15 – Agostino Aglio, Italian painter, decorator and engraver (d. 1857)
• December 21 – John Campbell, 7th Duke of Argyll, Scottish peer and Whig politician (d. 1847)
• December 23 – Emperor Alexander I of Russia (d. 1825)
• December 24 – Barbara Ann Spooner Wilberforce, Wife of English Abolitionist William Wilberforce (d. 1847)

Date unknown

• Suleiman al-Halabi, Syrian student and assassin (d. 1800)
• Carlos Anaya, Uruguayan politician (d. 1862)
• Charles James Apperley, English sportsman and sporting writer (d. 1843)
• Carlo Armellini, Italian politician, activist and jurist (d. 1863)
• Mevlana Halid-i Bagdadi, Ottoman mystic (d. 1826)
• Connell James Baldwin, Irish soldier and civil servant (d. 1861)
• Karl Friedrich Becker, German educator and historian (d. 1806)
• Vicente Benavides, Chilean soldier (d. 1822)
• John Bennett (Hampshire cricketer) (d. 1857)
• William Bellinger Bulloch, U.S. Senator (d. 1852)
• Sophia Campbell, Australian artist (d. 1833)
• Abiel Chandler, U.S. philanthropist (d. 1851)
• John Claiborne, U.S. politician (d. 1808)
• Charles Othon Fr d ric Jean-Baptiste de Clarac, French artist, scholar and archaeologist (d. 1847)
• Thomas Cochran (judge), Canadian judge (d. 1804)
• William Conner, American trader and politician (d. 1855)
• Anselmo de la Cruz, Chilean political figure (d. 1833)
• Thomas Day (Connecticut), American judge (d. 1855)
• Benjamin d'Urban, British general and colonial administrator (d. 1849)
• Tu'i Malila, the longest living animal (a tortoise) on record (d. 1965)

Deaths

• January 10 – Spranger Barry, Irish actor (b. 1719)
• January 12 – Hugh Mercer, American Revolutionary War officer (mortally wounded in battle) (b. 1726)
• 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 4 – Francis Nash, Brigider general killed at the Battle of Germantown
• October 7 – Simon Fraser, British general during the American Revolutionary War (b. 1729)
• October 21 – Samuel Foote, English dramatist and actor (b. 1720)
• November 10 – Cornstalk, Shawnee chief
• November 13 – William Bowyer (printer), English printer (b. 1699)
• December – Dolly Pentreath, claimed to be the last speaker of the Cornish language

References

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