July 1
1690 – War of the Grand Alliance: Marshal de Luxembourg triumphs over an Anglo-Dutch army at the Battle of Fleurus.
1690 – Glorious Revolution: Battle of the Boyne in Ireland (as reckoned under the Julian calendar).
1766 – François-Jean de la Barre, a young French nobleman, is tortured and beheaded before his body is burnt on a pyre along with a copy of Voltaire's Dictionnaire philosophique nailed to his torso for the crime of not saluting a Roman Catholic religious procession in Abbeville, France.
1770 – Lexell's Comet is seen closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 astronomical units (2,180,000 km; 1,360,000 mi).
1782 – Raid on Lunenburg: American privateers attack the British settlement of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
1819 – Johann Georg Tralles discovers the Great Comet of 1819 (C/1819 N1). It is the first comet analyzed using polarimetry by François Arago.
1823 – The five Central American nations of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica declare independence from the First Mexican Empire after being annexed the year prior.
1837 – A system of civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths is established in England and Wales.
July 2
1776 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress adopts the Lee Resolution, severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain, although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not adopted until July 4.
1823 – Bahia Independence Day: The Siege of Salvador marks the end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.
July 3
1754 – French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
1767 – Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret.
1767 – Norway's oldest newspaper, still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded, and the first edition is published.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: The Iroquois, allied with Britain, massacre 360 Patriot soldiers during the Battle of Wyoming.
1814 – War of 1812: American forces capture Fort Erie from British troops in Upper Canada.
1819 – The Bank for Savings in the City of New-York, the first savings bank in the United States, opens.
1839 – The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today's Framingham State University, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts, with three students.
July 4
1744 – The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iroquois ceded lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, was signed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
1774 – Orangetown Resolutions are adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts.
1776 – American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: US forces under George Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.
1802 – The United States Military Academy opens at West Point, New York.
1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the US people.
1817 – In Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins.
1818 – The US Flag Act of 1818 goes into effect, creating a 13-stripe flag with a star for each state. New stars would be added on July 4 after a new state had been admitted.
1827 – Slavery is abolished in the State of New York.
1831 – Samuel Francis Smith writes "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" for the Boston, Massachusetts, July 4 festivities.
1832 – John Neal delivers the first public lecture in the US to advocate for the rights of women.
1832 – Durham University was established by Act of Parliament; the first recognized university to be founded in England since Cambridge over 600 years earlier.
1837 – Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.
1838 – The Iowa Territory is organized.
July 5
1770 – The Battle of Chesma between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire begins.
1775 – The Second Continental Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition.
1803 – The Convention of Artlenburg is signed, leading to the French occupation of the Electorate of Hanover (which had been ruled by the British king).
1807 – In Buenos Aires, the local militias repel the British soldiers during the Second English Invasion.
1809 – The Battle of Wagram between the French and Austrian Empires begins.
1811 – The Venezuelan Declaration of Independence is adopted by a congress of the provinces.
1813 – War of 1812: Three weeks of British raids on Fort Schlosser, Black Rock, and Plattsburgh, New York commence.
1814 – War of 1812: Battle of Chippawa: American Major General Jacob Brown defeats British General Phineas Riall at Chippawa, Ontario.
1833 – Lê Van Khôi, along with 27 soldiers, staged a mutiny, taking over the Phiên An citadel, developing into the Lê Van Khôi revolt against Emperor Minh Mang.
1833 – Admiral Charles Napier vanquishes the navy of the Portuguese usurper Dom Miguel at the third Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
July 6
1751 – Pope Benedict XIV suppresses the Patriarchate of Aquileia and establishes from its territory the Archdiocese of Udine and Gorizia.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: Siege of Fort Ticonderoga: After a bombardment by British artillery under General John Burgoyne, American forces retreat from Fort Ticonderoga, New York.
1779 – Battle of Grenada: The French defeat British naval forces in the Caribbean during the American Revolutionary War.
1791 – At Padua, the Emperor Leopold II calls on the monarchs of Europe to join him in demanding the king of France, Louis XVI's freedom.
1801 – First Battle of Algeciras: Outnumbered French Navy ships defeat the Royal Navy in the fortified Spanish port of Algeciras.
1809 – The second day of the Battle of Wagram; France defeats the Austrian army in the largest battle to date of the Napoleonic Wars.
July 7
1770 – The Battle of Larga between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire takes place.
1777 – American forces retreating from Fort Ticonderoga are defeated in the Battle of Hubbardton.
1798 – As a result of the XYZ Affair, the US Congress rescinds the Treaty of Alliance with France, sparking the "Quasi-War".
1807 – The first Treaty of Tilsit between France and Russia is signed, ending hostilities between the two countries in the War of the Fourth Coalition.
1834 – In New York City, four nights of rioting against abolitionists began.
July 8
1709 – Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava, thus effectively ending Sweden's status as a major power in Europe.
1716 – The Battle of Dynekilen forces Sweden to abandon its invasion of Norway.
1730 – An estimated magnitude 8.7 earthquake causes a tsunami that damages more than 1,000 km (620 mi) of Chile's coastline.
1741 – Reverend Jonathan Edwards preaches to his congregation in Enfield, Connecticut, his most famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," an influence for the First Great Awakening.
1758 – French forces hold Fort Carillon against the British at Ticonderoga, New York.
1760 – British forces defeat French forces in the last naval battle in New France.
1775 – The Olive Branch Petition is signed by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies of North America.
1776 – Church bells (possibly including the Liberty Bell) are rung after John Nixon delivers the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
1822 – Chippewas turn over a huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.
July 9
1701 – A Bourbon force under Nicolas Catinat withdraws from a smaller Habsburg force under Prince Eugene of Savoy in the Battle of Carpi.
1745 – French victory in the Battle of Melle allows them to capture Ghent in the days after.
1755 – The Braddock Expedition is soundly defeated by a smaller French and Native American force in its attempt to capture Fort Duquesne in what is now downtown Pittsburgh.
1762 – Catherine the Great becomes Empress of Russia following the coup against her husband, Peter III.
1763 – The Mozart family's grand tour of Europe begins, lifting the profile of son Wolfgang Amadeus.
1776 – George Washington orders the Declaration of Independence to be read out to members of the Continental Army in Manhattan, while thousands of British troops on Staten Island prepare for the Battle of Long Island.
1789 – In Versailles, the National Assembly reconstitutes itself as the National Constituent Assembly and begins preparations for a French constitution.
1790 – The Swedish Navy captures one-third of the Russian Baltic fleet.
1793 – The Act Against Slavery in Upper Canada bans the importation of slaves and will free those who are born into slavery after the passage of the Act at 25 years of age.
1795 – Financier James Swan pays off the $2,024,899 US national debt that had been accrued during the American Revolution.
1807 – The second Treaty of Tilsit is signed between France and Prussia, ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.
1810 – Napoleon annexes the Kingdom of Holland as part of the First French Empire.
1811 – Explorer David Thompson posts a sign near what is now Sacajawea State Park in Washington state, claiming the Columbia District for the United Kingdom.
1815 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord becomes the first Prime Minister of France.
1816 – Argentina declares independence from Spain.
1821 – Four hundred and seventy prominent Cypriots, including Archbishop Kypriano, are executed in response to Cypriot aid to the Greek War of Independence.
July 10
1778 – American Revolution: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1789 – Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Mackenzie River delta.
1806 – The Vellore Mutiny is the first instance of a mutiny by Indian sepoys against the British East India Company.
1832 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson vetoes a bill that would re-charter the Second Bank of the United States.
July 11
1735 – Mathematical calculations suggest that it is on this day that dwarf planet Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979.
1789 – Jacques Necker is dismissed as France's Finance Minister, sparking the Storming of the Bastille.
1796 – The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under the terms of the Jay Treaty.
1798 – The United States Marine Corps is re-established; they had been disbanded after the American Revolutionary War.
1801 – French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons makes his first comet discovery. In the next 27 years, he discovers another 36 comets, more than any other person in history.
1804 – A duel occurs in which the Vice President of the United States, Aaron Burr, mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
July 12
1691 – Battle of Aughrim (Julian calendar): The decisive victory of William III of England's forces in Ireland.
1776 – Captain James Cook begins his third voyage.
1789 – In response to the dismissal of the French finance minister Jacques Necker, the radical journalist Camille Desmoulins gives a speech that results in the storming of the Bastille two days later.
1790 – The Civil Constitution of the Clergy is passed in France by the National Constituent Assembly.
1799 – Ranjit Singh conquers Lahore and becomes Maharaja of the Punjab (Sikh Empire).
1801 – British ships inflict heavy damage on Spanish and French ships in the Second Battle of Algeciras.
1806 – At the insistence of Napoleon, Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, and thirteen minor principalities leave the Holy Roman Empire and form the Confederation of the Rhine.
1812 – The American Army of the Northwest briefly occupies the Upper Canadian settlement at what is now Windsor, Ontario.
July 13
1690 – Nine Years' War: French naval forces led by Anne Hilarion de Tourville, fresh from their victory at Beachy Head, sail West and launch a raid on the small English town of Teignmouth, leaving it devastated.
1787 – The Congress of the Confederation enacts the Northwest Ordinance, establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also establishes procedures for the admission of new states and limits the expansion of slavery.
1794 – The Battle of Trippstadt between French forces and those of Prussia and Austria begins.
1814 – The Carabinieri, the national gendarmerie of Italy, is established.
1830 – The General Assembly's Institution, now the Scottish Church College, one of the pioneering institutions that ushered in the Bengali Renaissance, is founded by Alexander Duff and Raja Ram Mohan Roy in Calcutta, India.
1831 – Regulamentul Organic, a quasi-constitutional organic law, is adopted in Wallachia, one of the two Danubian Principalities that were to become the basis of Romania.
July 14
1769 – An expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá leaves its base in San Diego and sets out to find the Port of Monterey (now Monterey, California).
1771 – Foundation of the Mission San Antonio de Padua in modern California by the Franciscan friar Junípero Serra.
1789 – Storming of the Bastille in Paris. This event escalates the widespread discontent into the French Revolution. Bastille Day is still celebrated annually in France.
1790 – Inaugural Fête de la Fédération is held to celebrate the unity of the French people and the national reconciliation.
1791 – Beginning of Priestley Riots (to 17 July) in Birmingham, targeting Joseph Priestley as a supporter of the French Revolution.
1798 – The Sedition Act of 1798 becomes law in the United States, making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the United States government.
1808 – The Finnish War: the Battle of Lapua is fought.
July 15
1738 – Baruch Laibov and Alexander Voznitzin are burned alive in St. Petersburg, Russia. Vonitzin had converted to Judaism with Laibov's help, with the consent of Empress Anna Ivanovna.
1741 – Aleksei Chirikov sights land in Southeast Alaska. He sends men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska.
1789 – French Revolution: Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, is named by acclamation Colonel General of the new National Guard of Paris.
1799 – The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign.
1806 – Pike Expedition: United States Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Bellefontaine near St. Louis, Missouri, to explore the west.
1815 – Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon.
1823 – A fire destroys the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, Italy.
1834 – The Spanish Inquisition is officially disbanded after nearly 356 years.
July 16
1769 – Father Junípero Serra founded California's first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolved into the city of San Diego, California.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: Light infantry of the Continental Army seize a fortified British Army position in a midnight bayonet attack at the Battle of Stony Point.
1790 – The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after the signing of the Residence Act.
1809 – The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown during the La Paz revolution and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
July 17
1717 – King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered.
1762 – Former emperor Peter III of Russia is murdered.
1771 – Bloody Falls massacre: Chipewyan chief Matonabbee, traveling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland journey, massacres a group of unsuspecting Inuit.
1791 – Members of the French National Guard under the command of General Lafayette open fire on a crowd of radical Jacobins at the Champ de Mars, Paris, during the French Revolution, killing scores of people.
1794 – The 16 Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne are executed ten days before the end of the French Revolution's Reign of Terror.
1821 – The Kingdom of Spain cedes the territory of Florida to the United States.
July 18
1723 – Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz, BWV 136, in Leipzig on the eighth Sunday after Trinity.
1806 – A gunpowder magazine explosion in Birgu, Malta, kills around 200 people.
1812 – The Treaties of Orebro end both the Anglo-Russian and Anglo-Swedish Wars.
July 19
1701 – Representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy sign the Nanfan Treaty, ceding a large territory north of the Ohio River to England.
1702 – Great Northern War: A numerically superior Polish-Saxon army of Augustus II the Strong, operating from an advantageous defensive position, is defeated by a Swedish army half its size under the command of King Charles XII in the Battle of Klissow.
1817 – Unsuccessful in his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Hawai'i for the Russian-American Company, Georg Anton Schäffer is forced to admit defeat and leave Kauai.
1821 – Coronation of George IV of the United Kingdom.
1832 – The British Medical Association is founded as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association by Sir Charles Hastings at a meeting in the Board Room of the Worcester Infirmary.
July 20
1705 – A fire in Oulu, Finland, almost destroyed the fourth district, which covered the southern part of the city and was by far the largest of the city districts.
1715 – Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Empire captures Nauplia, the capital of the Republic of Venice's "Kingdom of the Morea", thereby opening the way to the swift Ottoman reconquest of the Morea.
1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia.
1807 – Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France.
1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada, declare independence from Spain.
1831 – Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River.
July 21
1718 – The Treaty of Passarowitz between the Ottoman Empire, Austria, and the Republic of Venice is signed.
1774 – Russo-Turkish War (1768–74): Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, ending the war.
1798 – French campaign in Egypt and Syria: Napoleon's forces defeat an Ottoman-Mamluk army near Cairo in the Battle of the Pyramids.
July 22
1706 – The Acts of Union 1707 are agreed upon by commissioners from the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which, when passed by each country's Parliament, led to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1793 – Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first recorded human to complete a transcontinental crossing of North America.
1796 – Surveyors of the Connecticut Land Company name an area in Ohio "Cleveland" after Gen. Moses Cleaveland, the superintendent of the surveying party.
1797 – Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Battle between Spanish and British naval forces during the French Revolutionary Wars. During the Battle, Rear-Admiral Nelson was wounded in the arm and the arm had to be partially amputated.
1802 – Emperor Gia Long conquers Hanoi and unifies Viet Nam, which had experienced centuries of feudal warfare.
1805 – Napoleonic Wars: War of the Third Coalition: Battle of Cape Finisterre: An inconclusive naval action is fought between a combined French and Spanish fleet under Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve of France and a British fleet under Admiral Robert Calder.
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: Peninsular War: Battle of Salamanca: British forces led by Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) defeat French troops near Salamanca, Spain.
July 23
1793 – Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France.
1813 – Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony.
1821 – While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks capture Monemvasia Castle. Turkish troops and citizens are transferred to Asia Minor's coasts.
1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.
July 24
1701 – Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded the trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later became the city of Detroit.
1712 – War of the Spanish Succession: The French under Marshal Villars win a decisive victory over Eugene of Savoy at Denain.
July 25
1693 – Ignacio de Maya founded the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Mexico.
1718 – At the behest of Tsar Peter the Great, the construction of Kadriorg Palace, dedicated to his wife Catherine, begins in Tallinn.
1722 – Dummer's War begins along the Maine-Massachusetts border.
1755 – British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians.
1759 – French and Indian War: In Western New York, British forces capture Fort Niagara from the French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.
1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war's last action, the Siege of Cuddalore, ended by a preliminary peace agreement.
1788 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K550).
1792 – The Brunswick Manifesto is issued to the population of Paris, promising vengeance if the French royal family is harmed.
1797 – Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain).
1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte defeats a numerically superior Ottoman army under Mustafa Pasha at the Battle of Abukir.
1814 – War of 1812: An American attack on Canada is repulsed.
1824 – Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua.
July 26
1703 – During the Bavarian Rummel, the rural population of Tyrol drove the Bavarian Prince-Elector Maximilian II Emanuel out of North Tyrol with a victory at the Pontlatzer Bridge and thus prevented the Bavarian Army, which was allied with France, from marching as planned on Vienna during the War of the Spanish Succession.
1745 – The first recorded women's cricket match takes place near Guildford, England.
1758 – French and Indian War: The Siege of Louisbourg ends with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
1775 – The office that would later become the United States Post Office Department is established by the Second Continental Congress. Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania takes office as Postmaster General.
1778 – The Emigration of Christians from the Crimea 1778 begins.
1788 – New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States.
1803 – The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world's first public railway, opens in south London, United Kingdom.
1814 – The Swedish–Norwegian War begins.
1822 – José de San Martín arrives in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to meet with Simón Bolívar.
1822 – First day of the three-day Battle of Dervenakia, between the Ottoman Empire force led by Mahmud Dramali Pasha and the Greek Revolutionary force led by Theodoros Kolokotronis.
July 27
1694 – A Royal charter is granted to the Bank of England.
1714 – The Great Northern War: The first significant victory of the Russian Navy in the naval battle of Gangut against the Swedish Navy near the Hanko Peninsula.
1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Medical Department: The Second Continental Congress passes legislation establishing "an hospital for an army consisting of 20,000 men."
1778 – American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant: British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
1789 – The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established (it will later be renamed the Department of State).
1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution".
1816 – Seminole Wars: The Battle of Negro Fort ends when a hotshot cannonball fired by US Navy Gunboat No. 154 explodes the fort's Powder Magazine, killing approximately 275. It is considered the deadliest single cannon shot in US history.
July 28
1778 – Constitution of the province of Cantabria ratified at the Assembly Hall in Bárcena la Puente, Reocín, Spain.
1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are executed by guillotine in Paris, France.
1808 – Mahmud II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
1809 – Peninsular War: Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese, and Spanish army repulse a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte in the Battle of Talavera.
1821 – José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain.
July 29
1693 – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen: France wins a victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.
1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps: General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army.
1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits his prize-winning "Memoir on the Diffraction of Light", precisely accounting for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishing the oldest objection to the wave theory of light.
1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.
July 30
1676 – Nathaniel Bacon issues the "Declaration of the People of Virginia", beginning Bacon's Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.
1729 – Founding of Baltimore, Maryland.
1733 – The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States is constituted in Massachusetts.
1756 – In Saint Petersburg, Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers.
1811 – Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican insurgency, is executed by the Spanish in Chihuahua City, Mexico.
July 31
1703 – Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.
1715 – Seven days after a Spanish treasure fleet of 12 ships left Havana, Cuba, for Spain, 11 of them sank in a storm off the coast of Florida. A few centuries later, treasure is salvaged from these wrecks.
1741 – Charles Albert of Bavaria invades Upper Austria and Bohemia.
1763 – Odawa Chief Pontiac's forces defeat British troops at the Battle of Bloody Run during Pontiac's War.
1777 – The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he has the rank and commission of major-general of the United States."
1790 – The first U.S. patent is issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.