The year the United States came to be was an interesting time to be alive, particularly for those living in colonial America. The American Revolutionary War began in 1776, and much of the year was marked by events stemming from that conflict. Below are some of the more notable events to take place during a year that has come to symbolize so much to generations of Americans.
• Thomas Paine publishes his 47-page pamphlet Common Sense in Philadelphia on January 10. Initially published anonymously, the pamphlet is considered a watershed moment in American history, as Paine’s easily digestible writing style appealed to the masses, helping promote his arguments that encouraged common people to fight for an egalitarian government.
• The Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge takes place near Wilmington, North Carolina on February 27. The battle is sparked when loyalists, after storming across a bridge over Moore’s Creek, attack a group of men they believe to be rebels. Though the engagement was brief, two loyalist leaders are killed, another is captured and the force is scattered. The failed attempt later complicated efforts to recruit loyalists in the area to fight.
• The Fifth Virginia Convention is held in Williamsburg between May 6 and July 5. The meeting of the Patriot legislature of Virginia ultimately leads to the declaration of Virginia as an independent state and the production of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which asserts the state’s right to reform or abolish any form of government it deems inadequate.
• Thomas Hickey becomes an early casualty of the burgeoning conflict between the colonies and England when the Irish-born soldier is the first to be executed by the Continental Army for “mutiny, sedition, and treachery” on June 28 in New York City. Hickey had been part of a protective detail for General George Washington but was briefly jailed for passing counterfeit money. During that brief incarceration, Hickey told a fellow prisoner he was part of a conspiracy, and reports ultimately indicated he might have been part of a plot to assassinate General Washington, which proved enough to warrant his execution.
• An uptick incidents of violence between Native Americans and settlers in Kentucky was a ripple effect of the American Revolutionary War, and that increase in aggression was behind the capture of Jemima Boone and the Callaway girls on July 14. Days later Daniel Boone led a successful attempt to rescue his daughter and Elizabeth and Frances Callaway, who were the children of Colonel Richard Callaway, one of the first white settlers in Kentucky. A fictionalized version of the incident was included in James Fennimore Cooper’s novel The Last of the Mohicans.
• The Great Fire of New York destroys as much as 25 percent of all buildings in New York City as it burns through areas in lower Manhattan on September 20 and 21. The fire broke out shortly after British forces began occupying the city. While each side accused the other of arson in the aftermath of the fire, historians dispute such assertions, noting the fire likely started with burning rooftop debris before windy conditions spread the conflagration to surrounding buildings.
