1781 - What happened in 1781 ?

January 1781

Friday 05:

American Revolutionary War: Richmond, Virginia is burned by British naval forces led by Benedict Arnold.

Wednesday 17:

Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina.

March 1781

Thursday 01:

The Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation.

Tuesday 13:

William Herschel discovers the planet Uranus.

Thursday 15:

Near present-day Greensboro, North Carolina, 1,900 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis defeat an American force numbering 4,400.

September 1781

Tuesday 04:

Los Angeles, California, is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (the City of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of the Little Portion) by a group of 44 Spanish settlers.

Thursday 06:

The Battle of Groton Heights takes place, resulting a British minor victory

Friday 28:

American forces backed by a French fleet begin the siege of Yorktown Heights, Virginia, during the American Revolutionary War.

October 1781

Tuesday 16:

George Washington captures Yorktown, Virginia

Wednesday 17:

General Charles Cornwallis offers his surrender to the American revolutionaries at Yorktown, Virginia

Friday 19:

Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrenders to George Washington and Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, Virginia, ending the American Revolutionary War.

November 1781

Thursday 29:

The slave ship Zong dumps its living cargo into the sea in order to claim insurance.

December 1781

Wednesday 12:

The British navy defeated a French fleet in the Second Battle of Ushant during the American Revolutionary War.