* 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.

* 1776 – American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.

* 1776 – The Battle of Long Island: in what is now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.

* 1776 – Amedeo Avogadro, Italian chemist ( d. 1856 )

* 1717 – Louis François, Prince of Conti ( d. 1776 )

* 1776 – The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place.

* 1734 – Duchess Maria Anna Josepha of Bavaria ( d. 1776 )

* 1776 – Thomas Bladen Capel English navy admiral ( d. 1853 )

* 1776 – American Revolutionary War: American forces are surprised in the Battle of Bound Brook, New Jersey.

In the years between 1776 – 78, Volta studied the chemistry of gases.

Maria's sister, Elizabeth Branwell ( 1776 – 1842 ), moved to the parsonage, initially to nurse her dying sister, but she spent the rest of her life there raising the children.

* 1776 – American Revolutionary War: word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.

* Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first leader of free modern Greece ( 1776 – 1831 ), had a large building erected ; intended as a barracks, it was subsequently used as a museum, a library and a school.

* 1710 – James Ferguson, Scottish astronomer ( d. 1776 )

* 1776 – Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh ( d. 1857 )

* 1776 – Captain John Barry and the captures the Edward.

* Benjamin Franklin: First American Diplomat, 1776 – 1785 US State Department

* 1776 – Marquis de Lafayette arranges to enter the American military as a major general.

* 1776 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German physicist ( d. 1810 )

* 1776 – At The College of William and Mary, Phi Beta Kappa is founded and becomes the first American college fraternity.

* 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The British are defeated in the Battle of Trenton.

* 1776 – Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general ( d. 1811 )

His first wife, Juliet Macpherson ( c. 1776 – 1850 ), was a daughter of James Macpherson ( 1736 – 1796 ), a probable translator of Ossian poems.

Edvard Munch was related to painter Jacob Munch ( 1776 – 1839 ) and historian Peter Andreas Munch ( 1810 – 1863 ).

Washington Crossing the Delaware, December 25, 1776, by Emanuel Leutze, 1851

Washington crossing the Delaware, Dec. 25 1776, an iconic event of the American Revolutionary War | American Revolution

* Delaware Colony ( before 1776, the Lower Counties on Delaware ), later Delaware

In 1776, the counties of Kent, New Castle, and Sussex declared their independence from Pennsylvania and entered the United States as the State of Delaware.

In December 1776, General George Washington and his troops camped in Bucks County as they prepared to cross the Delaware River to take Trenton, New Jersey, by surprise on the morning of December 26.

On the night of December 25 – 26, 1776, General George Washington led American forces across the Delaware River to attack the Hessian barracks in Trenton on the morning of December 26.

On December 17, 1776, Colonel Samuel Griffin of the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River with 600 men — mostly untrained men and boys, and with little equipment — and marched to Mount Holly, where he set up a few " 3-pounder " artillery pieces on Iron Works Hill.

After George Washington crossed the Delaware River on December 25, 1776, the fact that thousands of Hessian troops had been drawn to Mount Holly aided in the Continental Army's success in the Battle of Trenton the next day, a surprising American victory that helped turn the Army's fading morale after the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington just weeks before and the ignominious retreat through New Jersey.

The " Ambush of Geary " on December 14, 1776, helped rein in British scouting parties in Hunterdon County in the crucial weeks before Washington's crossing of the Delaware.

From this site, General George Washington and men of the Continental Army and militia crossed the Delaware River on the night of December 25 – 26, 1776 and marched to Trenton, New Jersey.

George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River here the night of December 25 – 26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War in preparation for the Battle of Trenton.

On September 24, 1776, Kościuszko was ordered to fortify the banks of the Delaware River against a possible British crossing.

Washington's crossing of the Delaware River | Washington's surprise crossing of the Delaware River in December 1776 was a major comeback after the loss of New York City ; his army defeated the British in two battles and recaptured New Jersey.

It also raised the first ten companies of Continental troops on a one-year enlistment, riflemen from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia to be used as light infantry, who later became the 1st Continental Regiment in 1776.

On the night of December 25 – 26, 1776 General George Washington, Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, led 2, 400 men across the Delaware River.

The Battle of Trenton took place on December 26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, after General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River north of Trenton, New Jersey.

He was in charge of logistics in the critical crossing of the Delaware River that preceded the December 26, 1776 at the Battle of Trenton.

* Before Washington's crossing of the Delaware River at the Battle of Trenton in 1776, " Victory " was the password and " Or Death " was the response

** Delaware Legislative Council: the upper house under the Delaware Constitution of 1776 ( since 1792, the Delaware State Senate )