January Revolutionary War Calender

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From Breed's Hill Institute

January's Revolutionary Calendar


January 1, 1781
The Pennsylvania Line mutinies.
1,500 soldiers from the Pennsylvania Line--claim that their enlistments are expired, get drunk, kill three officers and leave the Continental Army's winter camp at Morristown, New Jersey to march on Congress in Philadelphia. General Anthony Wayne helped negotiate a solution before the situation could come to a confrontation.


January 2, 1776
The Continental Congress publishes the "Tory Act"
This act set forth how colonies should handle those Americans who remain loyal to the British and King George. The act called on colonial committees to persuade those 'honest and well-meaning, but uninformed people' by enlightening them as to the 'origin, nature and extent of the present controversy."

January 3, 1777
The Battle of Princeton
General George Washington evades General Charles Cornwallis and defeats the British forces departing Princeton for Trenton.


January 5, 1781
Benedict Arnold captures and destroys Richmond
The American traitor and now British Brigadier General Arnold attacks the virtually undefended capital city of Richmond. Arnold later gives the order to burn the city.

January 6, 1777
Washington sets up winter quarters in Morristown
After two significant victories over the British in Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey, General George Washington marches north to Morristown, New Jersey, where he set up winter headquarters for himself and the men of the Continental Army

January 6 1759 George Washington marries widow Martha Dandridge Custis on 12th night. The ceremony takes place at her home known as "White House".


January 7, 1776
Samuel Adams writes that the confederation "is not dead, but sleepeth"
From Philadelphia, Samuel Adams writes to his friend Colonel James Warren that the idea of a confederation, or loose political union, among the colonies 'is not dead, but sleepeth." To those who believed they would see the confederation completed long ago Adams wrote, "I do not despair of it -- since our Enemies themselves are hastening it."


January 8, 1790
President George Washington delivers first State of the Union to the assembled Congress in New York City.


January 9, 1776
Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense, setting forth his arguments in favor of American independence.


January 11, 1775
Francis Salvador, the first Jewish person to hold an elected office in the Americas, takes his seat on the South Carolina Provincial Congress on this day in 1775.


January 12, 1777
American General Hugh Mercer dies from wounds received in Battle of Princeton. Mercer was a close friend of George Washington.


January 14, 1784
Continental Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris, ending the War for Independence.


January 15, 1777
New Connecticut (Vermont) declares independence from the crown of Great Britain and the colony of New York on this day in 1777.


January 17, 1781
Battle of Cowpens, South Carolina
Brigadier General Daniel Morgan and a mixed Patriot force rout British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton and his British forces.


January 20, 1777
Battle of Millstone, New Jersey
Brigadier General Philemon Dickinson leads 400 "raw" men from the New Jersey militia and 50 Pennsylvania riflemen under Captain Robert Durkee in an attack against a group of 500 British soldiers foraging for food led by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Abercromby near Van Nest's Mills in Millstone, New Jersey. After a 20-minute battle the Patriots had captured 107 horses, 49 wagons, 115 cattle, 70 sheep, 40 barrels of flour. They also took 49 prisoners. General Washington reported to John Hancock that the British removed "a good many dead and wounded in light Waggons," estimated to be 24 or 25 in total compared to the 4 or 5 losses sustained by the Patriots.


January 22, 1779
Claudius Smith hangs
Famed Tory outlaw Claudius Smith (known as the "Cowboy of the Rampos") dies on the gallows on this day in 1779 in Goshen, New York.


January 24, 1781
Patriots raid Georgetown, South Carolina
Lieutenant Colonel "Light Horse" Henry Lee and Brigadier General Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion of the South Carolina militia combine forces and conduct a raid on Georgetown, South Carolina.


January 25, 1776
First national memorial is ordered by Congress
The memorial was ordered in honor of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery, who had been killed during an assault on Quebec on December 31, 1775.


January 30, 1781
Maryland ratifies Articles of Confederation
Maryland become the 13th and final state to ratify the Articles of Confederation, almost three years after the official deadline given by Congress of March 10, 1778.