* 1726 – Francesco Cetti, Italian scientist ( d. 1778 )

* 1697 – Johann Gottlieb Görner, German composer and organist ( d. 1778 )

* 1720 – Konrad Ekhof, German actor ( d. 1778 )

* 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British forces begin besieging the French outpost at Pondicherry.

Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Jacob Johnson ( 1778 – 1812 ) and Mary (" Polly ") McDonough ( 1783 – 1856 ), a seamstress and the daughter of Andrew McDonough.

* 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British and American forces battle indecisively at the Battle of Rhode Island.

* 1778 – Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, Prussian educator and nationalist ( d. 1852 )

Salieri's Italian tour of 1778 – 80 began with the production of Europa riconosciuta ( Europa Recognized ) for La Scala ( which was revived in 2004 for the same opera house's re-opening following extensive renovations ).

Following his conquest of most of Western Europe, the first Napoleon made his elder brother Joseph ( 1768 – 1844 ) king first of Naples ( 1806 – 1808 ) and then of Spain ( 1808 – 1813 ), his third brother Louis ( 1778 – 1846 ) king of Holland ( 1806 – 1810 ) ( subsequently forcing his abdication after his failure to subordinate Dutch interests to those of France ) and his youngest brother Jérôme Bonaparte ( 1784 – 1860 ) king of Westphalia, the short-lived realm created from some of the states of northwestern Germany ( 1807 – 1813 ).

# Louis Bonaparte ( 1778 – 1846 ) married Hortense de Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepdaughter

Carl Linnaeus ( Swedish original name Carl Nilsson Linnæus, 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778 ), also known after his ennoblement as, was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature.

** Charles Darwin ( 1758 – 1778 ) physician and scientist, uncle of Charles Darwin ( 1809 – 1882 )

* 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British and French fleets clash in the Battle of St. Lucia.

* Jacques le fataliste et son maître, novel ( 1771 – 1778 )

* 1778 – John Ordronaux, privateer of the War of 1812 ( d. 1841 )

* 1778 – Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French physicist and chemist ( d. 1850 )

* 1778 – American Revolutionary War: 3, 000 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia.

* 1716 – Philip Livingston, American founding father ( d. 1778 )

* January 15 – Philip Livingston, American signer of the Declaration of Independence ( d. 1778 )

* Yorke, Philip, ed., Miscellaneous State Papers, vol. 1 ( 1778 ) pp. 1 – 20, instructions for the royal wedding.

* Petronilla Melusina von der Schulenburg ( 1693 – 1778 ), who married Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, a leading Whig politician.

Sarah was the daughter of Philip Thomas Lee ( 1736 – 1778 ) and Ann Russell ( died 1777 ) of England.

* Robert Le Roy Livingston ( 1778 – 1836 ), U. S. Representative from New York

Letter from Governor William Livingston to Israel Shreve, 1778

In 1778, during the American War of Independence, the French mounted a successful invasion with the active cooperation of the population, which was largely French.

* 1778 – American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.

* 1778 – Rembrandt Peale, American artist ( d. 1860 )

* 1778 – American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.

Having lost its colonial empire, France saw a good opportunity for revenge against Britain in signing an alliance with the Americans in 1778, and sending an army and navy that turned the American Revolution into a world war.

John Adams served as an American envoy to France from 1778 until 1779 and to the Netherlands from 1780 until 1782, and the younger Adams accompanied his father on these journeys.

* 1778 – American Revolution: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain.

* 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

* 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British forces kill 360 people in the Wyoming Valley massacre.

* 1778 – American Revolutionary War: American forces under George Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.

In 1778, Simcoe, during a foraging expedition opposed by rebel militia, commanded the attack on Judge William Hancock's house, killing 20 American rebels in their sleep and wounding 12 others.

* 1778 – American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant – British and French fleets fight to a standoff.

* 1778 – American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.

During the American Revolution, " the mid-Atlantic work " ( as Wesley called it ) diminished, and, by 1778, the work was reduced to one circuit.

* 1778 – Cherry Valley Massacre: Loyalists and Seneca Indian forces attack a fort and village in eastern New York during the American Revolutionary War, killing more than forty civilians and soldiers.

The Kingdom of France had been a critical ally of the United States in the American Revolutionary War from the spring of 1776, and had signed in 1778 a Treaty of Alliance with the United States.

Portsmouth was the site of the first African American military unit, the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, to fight for the U. S. in the Battle of Rhode Island of August 29, 1778.