endence.
10/11/1782. The Americans massacred the British-backed Shawnee Indians. 1,000 Kentucky riflemen fired unremittingly on them, and destroyed their food stockpiles.
7/1782, British troops left Savannah for England.
12/4/1782, Admiral Rodney defeated a French fleet off the West Indies in the Battle of the Saints; named after the nearby Saints Islands. This was during the War of American Independence.
18/3/1782, John Calhoun, US statesman (died 31/1/1850) was born.
27/2/1782. The UK Parliament rejected Lord North’s appeal to continue the American War. Lord North resigned on 19/3/1782 and was replaced by Lord Rockingham.
1781, The US Department of State was created. It was known as the Department of Foreign Affairs until 1789.
19/10/1781. British forces under Lord Cornwallis, 7,000 soldiers, urrendered to George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia. This was a combined force of Americans and their French allies. This ended the American War of Independence.
5/10/1781, After the victory at Chesapeake Bay (5/9/1781), George Washington commenced a heavy attack on the British besieged in Yorktown.
16/9/1781, The British holding Yorktown scuttled ships in the estuary of Yorktown to try and thwart a French attack by sea. The British had superior sea-power (but faced a French naval threat) whilst the American rebels controlled the inland regions. The British hoped that some 2,000 escaped slaves, who believed a British victory would mean freedom for them, would enable their victory, but the Carolinas area could not be held against American forces. In August 1781 the British commander, Cornwallis, retreated to Virginia and established a defensive perimeter at Yorktown, Besides French warships, the British knew that the French commander Rochambeau was marching south from the Hudson Valley. The British sailed south from New York to support Yorktown, but a cannon battle off Yorktown between British and French proved inconclusive. After five days the British fleet under Graves, outgunned, withdrew back to New York. Yorktown was to surrender on 19/10/1781, ending the War of Independence.
5/9/1781, Battle of Chesapeake Bay, USA, between British and French fleets. The British with 19 ships were defeated by De Grasse Tilly with 24 ships. The British were prevented from resupplying the troops under Lord Cornwallis, who was under siege in Yorktown.
30/8/1781, A French fleet commanded by De Grasse Tilly arrived in Chesapeake Bay.
6/7/1781, General Cornwallis defeated General Lafayette at Jamestown Road, Virginia.
1/3/1781, The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were ratified by all US States.
7/10/1780, Battle of Kings Mountain. A force of 900 from North Carolina defeated 900 pro-British militia.
2/10/1780, John Andre (see 23/9/1780) was executed as a spy.
23/9/1780, During the War of American Independence, British agent John Andre, carrying information that Benedict Arnold was about to surrender West Point, was captured by American forces.
16/8/1780, Battle of Camden, South Carolina.
12/5/1780. Charleston, in South Carolina, surrendered with 5,000 American troops to the British under Major Benjamin Lincoln.
2/5/1780. Louis XVI sent 6,000 men to New England to reinforce the American forces against the British. On 11/5/1780 the Americans began negotiating with Spain to get support; France had been pressurising Spain to support the Americans.
23/9/1779. American privateers on the Bonhomme Richard, captained by John Paul Jones, captured the British warship, the Serapis, after a great battle off the English coast at Flamborough Head, Yorkshire.
1/8/1779, Francis Scott Kay, US poet who wrote The Star Spangled Banner, which became the official US national anthem in 1931, was born in Carroll County, Maryland.
12/4/1779. A secret treaty was signed at Aranjuez, whereby Spain agreed to help France in supporting the American rebels against the British. See 16/1/1780.
25/2/1779. American troops recaptured the fort at Vincennes from the British.
29/12/1778. The British captured Savannah, the capital of Georgia.
10/7/1778. In support of the Amer