1780

Events from the year **1780 in the United States**.

## Incumbents

* President of the Second Continental Congress: Samuel Huntington

* January 15 – Congress establishes the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture to provide for final adjudication of appeals from state court prize cases involving disposition of ships and cargo allegedly seized from the British.
* January 16 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent: British Admiral Sir George Rodney defeats a Spanish fleet.
* January 28 – A stockade known as Fort Nashborough is founded on the banks of the Cumberland River. Two years later, the site is renamed Nashville
* February 1
	+ Some 8,000 British forces under General Henry Clinton arrive in Charleston, South Carolina, from New York.
	+ New York cedes to Congress its western claims, including territory west of Lake Ontario. In 1792, New York will sell the Erie Triangle to Pennsylvania.
* February 3 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Young's House.
* February 11 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Van Creek.
* March 1 – Pennsylvania is the first American state to abolish slavery.
* March 2 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Fort Charlotte begins.
* March 14 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Fort Charlotte ends.
* March 17 – San Juan Expedition begins.
* March 29 – American Revolutionary War: Siege of Charleston begins.

### April - June

* April 8 – British Army troops under General Henry Clinton and naval forces under Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot besiege Charleston, South Carolina. British ships sail past Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island to occupy Charleston Harbor.
* April 14 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Monck's Corner.
* April 17 – American Revolutionary War: Second Battle of Martinique.
* May 6 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Lenud's Ferry.
* May 7 – Fort Moultrie falls to the British.
* May 12
	+ American Revolutionary War: Siege of Charleston ends. Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
	+ American General Benjamin Lincoln surrenders Charleston to the British. The British lose 255 men while capturing a large American garrison.
* May 13 – Cumberland Compact signed by American settlers in the Cumberland Valley of Tennessee.
* May 19 – New England's Dark Day: An unaccountable darkness spreads over New England, regarded by some observers as a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
* May 25
	+ American Revolutionary War: Bird's invasion of Kentucky begins.
	+ American Revolutionary War: Battle of St. Louis.
* May 29 – American Revolutionary War: Waxhaw Massacre: Loyalist forces under Col. Banastre Tarleton kill surrendering American soldiers.
* June 7 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Connecticut Farms.
* June 10 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Mobley's Meeting House.
* June 20 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Ramsour's Mill.
* June 23 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Springfield: The American victory at Springfield effectively ends British ambitions in New Jersey.

### July - September

* July 11 – Expédition Particulière: French soldiers arrive in Newport, Rhode Island to reinforce colonists in the American Revolutionary War.
* July 12 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Williamson's Plantation.
* July 20 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bull's Ferry begins.
* July 21
	+ American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bull's Ferry ends.
	+ American Revolutionary War: Battle of Colson's Mill.
* August 1 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Rocky Mount.
* August 6 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Hanging Rock.
* August 8 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Piqua.
* August 9 – American Revolutionary War: Action of 9 August 1780.
* August 10 – American Revolutionary War: Action of 10 August 1780.
* August 13 – American Revolutionary War: Action of 13 August 1780.
* August 16 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden: British troops inflict heavy losses on a Patriot army at Camden, South Carolina.
* August 18
	+ American Revolutionary War: Battle of Fishing Creek.
	+ American Revolutionary War: Battle of Musgrove Mill.
* August 28 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Black Mingo.
* September 21
	+ American Revolutionary War: Battle of Wahab's Plantation.
	+ Benedict Arnold gives detailed plans of West Point to Major John André. Three days later, André is captured with papers revealing that Arnold was planning to surrender West Point to the British.
* September 25 – Benedict Arnold flees to British-held New York.
* September 26 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Charlotte.

### October - December

* October 2 – American Revolutionary War: In Tappan, New York, British spy John André is hanged by American forces.
* October 7 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Kings Mountain: Patriot militia forces annihilate a Loyalists under British Major Patrick Ferguson at Kings Mountain in South Carolina.
* October 9 – Great Hurricane of 1780: The deadliest Atlantic Hurricane in recorded history.
* October 14 – Battle of Shallow Ford.
* October 16 – American Revolutionary War: Royalton Raid.
* October 17 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Shallow Ford.
* October 19 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Klock's Field.
* October 25
	+ American Revolutionary War: Battle of Tearcoat Swamp.
	+ John Hancock is sworn in as the first governor of Massachusetts.
* November 5 – American Revolutionary War: La Balme's Defeat.
* November 8 – San Juan Expedition ends.
* November 9 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Fishdam Ford.
* November 20 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Blackstock's Farm.
* November 23 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Fort St. George.
* December 1 – Continental Army enters sixth winter with encampments in New York's Hudson Highlands, Pompton, and Morristown, New Jersey.

## Memoriam

* January 31 – Jonathan Carver, explorer (aged 69; England, GB)
* June 3 – Thomas Hutchinson, last governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (aged 68; Brompton, Middlesex, England, GB)
* August 19 – Johann de Kalb, Franconian-French major general in the Continental Army, mortally wounded in Battle of Camden (aged 59; Camden, SC, USA)
* September 8 – Enoch Poor, brigadier general in the Continental Army (aged 44; Hackensack, NJ, USA)
* October 2 – John André, British Army officer, hanged as a spy by the Continental Army (aged 29; Tappan, NY, USA)
* December 11 – Joseph Green, poet, satirist and clergyman (aged 74; London, England, GB)