TIP #499 - DID YOUR ANCESTORS KNOW? WORLD EVENTS 1776 - 1786 A continuation of the previous tip. Also, as a correction to last week's post. George Washington was born in 1732 and married Martha in 1759. I doubled checked my source and they had it wrong and I blindly followed! My apologies! Since this is the time frame of the American Revolution, I cannot show all the battles but am picking some of them. 1776: Declaration of Independence signed. First US Revolutionary flag was displayed. Americans began firing at British troops in Boston. Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams wrote a letter to him stating that women were "ready to forment a rebellion if the new Declaration of Independence failed to guarantee their rights." King George's statue was pulled down in New York City. The Hurricane of Independence killed 4,170 people as it raged from North Carolina to Nova Scotia. The first British submarine named the Turtle attempted to bring gunpowder to the troops in New York but surfaced before the charge was planted. Nathan Hale volunteered to be a spy. New York City burned down in the "great fire." Nathan Hale hung. British invaded New Jersey. Washington and troops cross the Delaware River. George Rogers Clark charged to seize the Northwest Territory. The $2.00 bill issued by the Continental Congress. 1777: New York became an independent state. The first advertisement for ice cream ran in a New York paper. Marquis de Lafayette from France arrived in America to help the American cause. Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the national Flag. Vermont abolished slavery. The country of France declared bankruptcy. The US Congress had to flee from advancing British troops and went to PA. George Washington's troops in Valley Forge. 1778: France recognized America's independence. The first Thanksgiving Day celebrated because of Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga. The circular saw was invented. About 2,000 soldiers died this year and next at Valley Forge because of the weather. Vermont declared itself a county unto itself, elected its own President, coined its own money and had its own postal system. Rhode Island authorized slaves to fight in the war. Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans businessman started using the $ sign to represent money. American soldiers reach Philadelphia and the British withdrew. The Liberty Bell returned to Philadelphia. Mollie Pitcher carried water to the troops in Monmouth, NJ. (Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley) and supposedly took her husband's place when he was overcome with heat. Shawnees attacked Boonesboro in KY. Capt. Cook in Alaska. Iroquois Indians massacred 40 inhabitants of Cherry Valley NY. British capture Savannah GA. 1779: General Anthony Wayne captured Stoney Point NY from the British. Spain declared war on England in support of America. John Paul Jones captured the British man-of-war, Serapis. Thomas Jefferson is wartime governor of Virginia. 1780: Charleston fell to the British. An eerie darkness enveloped much of the New England area and up into Canada for an afternoon, no explanation was ever found. Benedict Arnold joined the British. Battle of Kings Mountain waged with slaughter of loyalists. 20-30,000 killed in a hurricane in the Caribbean. Battle of Rugeley's Mill in SC, Colonel William Washington fashioned a cannon out of a carved log and fooled the Loyalists so that they surrendered to a wooden cannon! These came to be known as "Quaker Guns." John Paul Jones ship, the "Continental Ship of War" was captured by the British at the fall of Charleston and added to the Royal Army. A giant dinosaur head found in the Netherlands. The Winward and Leeward Islands hit by a hurricane which killed between 20-22,000 people. A communal grave at the cemetery called the Cemetery of the Innocents, located in Paris, cracked open and spilled the contents into the cellars of nearby homes and was immediately closed. Sheep were imported into Ireland from Scotland for the first time. 1781: The planet Uranus was discovered by astronomer William Herschel. William Collings sold his wife to Thomas Schooler for the price of $2.00 and threw in her bed, her clothing and a half dozen bowls of gross. (Charles Town, SC). Lord Cornwallis occupied Yorktown. George Washington moves his troops there. Los Angeles CA founded by Mexican Provincial Governor Felipe de Neve. The siege of Yorktown begins with 9,000 Americans and 7,000 French troops. Lord Cornwallis surrenders. John Quincy Adams is the American ambassador to Russia. 1782: The first US Commercial Bank, The Bank of North America opens in Philadelphia. Netherlands recognizes the United States. Congress adopts the Great Seal and names the eagle as the national bird. George Washington creates the Purple Heart. John Hanson of Maryland named the "President of the United States in Congress Assembled" by the Congress. The Revolutionary War ended by the signing of a peace treaty in Paris by the United States and Britain. The first English Bible in America printed. Unitarian movement established. Lexington KY established as the first commercial and cultural center west of the Alleghenies. Martha Jefferson, wife of Thomas, died. 1783: Sweden recognizes the United States. The Pennsylvania Evening Post, the first American daily newspaper published. Last British troops sailed home from NY. The first unmanned hot air balloon launched by the Montgolfier brothers in France. Another hot air balloon sent aloft in Versailles France containing sheep, a rooster and a duck. Benjamin Hanks invents a self-winding clock. Virginia emancipates all slaves who fought during the Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress dissolved and Washington delivers his farewell address. Annapolis, MD became the capitol of the United States in November until June 1974. Washington resigns his military commission. Import of African slaves banned. Noah Webster's Spelling Book published. 1784: The threshing machine was invented. Benjamin Franklin unhappy with the choice of the eagle as the national bird; he wanted the turkey. John Wesley chartered the Methodist Church. Holland law forbade the wearing of orange clothes. The first Russian settlement in Alaska on Kodak Island by Grigori Shelekhov. Tennessee declares itself an independent state and named it Franklin. Rejected a year later. The state of Maryland granted citizenship to Lafayette and his descendants for his assistance during the war. John Filson, a school master, wrote the tales of Daniel Boone as told to him by Boone. Benjamin Franklin, an ambassador to France during this time, came up with the idea of manipulating the hours of the business day so that shops could open earlier and close earlier while it was still daylight. 1785: The first hot air balloon flight made across the English Channel. The Chippewa, Deleware, Ottawa and Wyandot Indians signed a peace treaty at Fort McIntosh (in now Ohio). Thomas Jefferson appointed Ambassador to France, replacing Benjamin Franklin. Joseph Bramah of Britain patented a beer pump handle. Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals. First aviation deaths to two Frenchmen in a hot air balloon. Church of England organized in New England. John Hancock elected President of the Continental Congress for second time. Congress decided that our country's monetary system would be based on a silver coin called a "dollar", similar to a French coin. Not minted until 1794. Eye paintings became the fad in England when Prince George mentioned that he liked his wife's right eye and gave her a painting of it. The American Continental Congress Land Grant of 1785 set aside land for schools. Land was divided into 640 acre sections, selling it for $1.00 an acre. To be continued (c) Copyright 15 July 2004, Sandra K. Gorin Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/