Historical events in 1780
- A blizzard hit Washington's army at the Morristown, NJ, winter encampment.
- Pennsylvania
became the first U.S. state to abolish slavery (for new-borns only). It
was followed by Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1784, New York in 1785,
and New Jersey in 1786. Massachusetts abolished slavery through a
judicial decision in 1783.
- The 1st British Sunday newspaper appeared as the British Gazette and Sunday Monitor.
- August L. Crelle, German inventor, mathematician (1st Prussian Railway), was born.
- Charleston, SC, fell to the British in the US Revolutionary War.
- Lieutenant
Colonel Banastre Tarleton, commander of the British Legion, led the
British troops who massacred the surrendering Virginia regulars and
militiamen. Tarletons victory at Waxhaws eliminated the last organized
force in South Carolina. During the course of the Revolutionary War,
the lieutenant colonel became one of the most hated men in America.
- The
East India ship Princess Royal landed at Bengkulu on Sumatra with
American rebels. The prisoners were sent to Fort Marlboro to be trained
as British soldiers.
- HMS Resolution returned to England without Capt Cook.
- King Louis XVI abolished torture as a means to get suspects to confess.
- American General Benedict Arnold joined the British.
- M. Pauline Bonaparte, Corsican duchess of Parma and Guastalla, was born.
- Goethe published a fragment of Faust.
- A
Japanese whaling ship ran aground near the western end of the Aleutian
Islands. Rats from the ship reached the nearest island giving it the
name Rat Island.
- The giant Mosasaurus dinosaur head was found in the Netherlands near Maastricht. [see 1794]
- The
Ottomans build the al-Ajyad Castle in Mecca to protect the city and its
Muslim shrines from invaders. The castle was torn down by the Saudis in
2001 to make way for a trade center and hotel complex. Turkey called
this a "cultural massacre."
- Sheep were introduced to Ireland from Scotland.
- In Peru Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui led a failed Indian revolt against the Spanish.
- Steel pens were developed as more durable than quills.
- English
plumber, William Watts, built a tower to let fall drops of molten lead
to a water well in his cellar to create shot for guns. Just as
raindrops turn spherical on falling, so did his lead drops. His tower
stood till 1968.
- 1780-1783 A 4-year war between England and the Dutch was fought.
- 1780-1820 Some 5,000 cases came before the Spanish Inquisition from which only 6 Spaniards were prosecuted for Judaism.
