1778
1778 was a
common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar).
*The term
thoroughbred was first used in the
United States in an advertisement in a
Kentucky gazette to describe a
New Jersey stallion called
Pilgarlick.
*
January 18 - Third
Pacific expedition of Capt.
James Cook, with ships
HMS Resolution and
HMS Discovery, first view
O'ahu then
Kaua'i in the
Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "
Sandwich Islands."
*
February 5 -
South Carolina becomes the first state to ratify the
Articles of Confederation.
*
February 6 -
American Revolutionary War: In
Paris the
Treaty of Alliance and the
Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the
United States and
France signaling official recognition of the new republic.
*
February 23 - American Revolutionary War:
Baron von Steuben arrives at
Valley Forge,
Pennsylvania and begins to train the
Continental Army.
*
July 3 - American Revolutionary War: the
Wyoming Massacre takes place near
Wilkes-Barre, Pa., ending in a terrible defeat of the local colonists.
*
July 10 - American Revolutionary War:
Louis XVI of France declares war on the
Kingdom of Great Britain.
*
July 27 - American Revolution:
First Battle of Ushant -
British and
French fleets fight to a standoff.
*
August 26 - Triglav, at 2,864 metres above sea level the highest peak of
Slovenia, was ascended for the first time by four brave men:
Luka Korošec,
Matevž Kos,
Štefan Rožič and
Lovrenc Willomitzer on
Sigismund Zois's initiative.
*September - The
Massachusetts Banishment Act, providing punishment for
Loyalists, is passed.
*
November 26 - In the
Hawaiian Islands, Captain
James Cook becomes the first European to discover
Maui.
*
France introduced the first state-controlled
brothel.
*The first
settlement was made in the area of what is now
Louisville, Kentucky by 13 families under Col.
George Rogers Clark.
*
Phillips Academy, the most prestigious secondary boarding school in the United States, was founded by Samuel Phillips Jr.
*first
Ironbridge*
January 3 -
Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish bishop (d.
1861)
*
February 22 -
Rembrandt Peale, American artist (d.
1860)
*
March 19 -
Edward Pakenham, British general (d.
1815)
*
April 10 -
William Hazlitt, English essayist (d.
1830)
*
May 18 -
Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, British politician (d.
1854)
*
August 11 -
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, German patriot (d.
1852)
*
September 8 -
Clemens Brentano, German poet (d.
1842)
*
September 19 -
Henry Peter Brougham,
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (d.
1868)
*
November 1 -
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (d.
1837)
*
November 25 -
Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, British Christian writer (d.
1856)
*
December 17 -
Sir Humphry Davy,
English chemist (d.
1829)
*
December 19 -
Marie Thérèse Charlotte (d. 1851)
*
December 28 -
Franciszek Ksawery Drucki-Lubecki, Polish politician (d.
1846)
*
January 10 -
Carolus Linnaeus, Swedish botanist (b.
1707)
*
February 18 -
Joseph Marie Terray, French statesman (b.
1715)
*
February 20 -
Laura Bassi, Italian scholar (b.
1711)
*
March 5 -
Thomas Augustine Arne, English compoer (b.
1710)
*
March 7 -
Charles De Geer, Swedish industrialist and entomologist (b.
1720)
*
March 13 -
Charles le Beau, French historian (b.
1701)
*
April 22 -
James Hargreaves, English weaver, carpenter, and inventor (b.
1720)
*
May 16 -
Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English diplomat and politician (b.
1718)
*
May 30 -
Voltaire, French philosopher (b.
1694)
*
June 12 -
Philip Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b.
1716)
*
June 16 -
Konrad Ekhof, German actor (b.
1720)
*
June 24 -
Pieter Burmann the Younger, Dutch philologist (b.
1714)
*
July 2 -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher (b.
1712)
*July 2 -
Bathsheba Ruggles, American murderer (b.
1746?)
*
August 5 -
Charles Clémencet, French historian (b.
1703)
*
August 12 -
Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, British general and politician (b.
1714)
*
November 9 -
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Italian artist (b.
1720)
*
November 20 -
Francesco Cetti, Italian Jesuit scientist (b.
1726)
