Events of 1777

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 Asís is founded in what is now Santa Clara, California.

June 14: US Flag (had various star patterns)

• 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.

• 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 24 – Kiritimati is discovered by James Cook.

Undated

• The 2nd edition of Encyclopædia 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.

Births

January–March

• January – William Barton (Middlesex cricketer), English cricketer (d. 1825)

• January 2 – Christian Daniel Rauch, German sculptor (d. 1857)

• January 5 – Robert Hart, Father of the British 1820 settlers to South Africa (d. 1867)

• 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 Brontë, Irish Anglican curate and writer; father of writers Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë (d. 1861)

• March 19 – José María 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 7 – Abigail LaFey, the embodiment of evil, born stillborn

• 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 Ørsted, Danish physicist and chemist (d. 1851)

• August 23 – Princess Adélaïde of Orléans, 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 (d. 1933?)

• October 16

• *Lorenzo Dow, American Methodist preacher (d. 1834)

• *Levi Barber, surveyor, court administrator, banker and legislator (d. 1833)

• October 18

• *Auguste François-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais, French general (d. 1809)

• 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 Récamier, French writer (d. 1849)

• December 14 – Du Pré 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. 1883)

• Abiel Chandler, U.S. philanthropist (d. 1851)

• John Claiborne, U.S. politician (d. 1808)

• Charles Othon Frédéric 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)

• 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 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