1781 Events

1781
to 1791
Mozart in Vienna
All Mozart biographers struggle with the same problem: The later the year, the more meager the documentation. The composer's early years were chronicled in some detail by his father, L...
1781 Jan Mozart Leaves for Vienna
In January 1781, Mozart's opera Idomeneo premiered with "considerable success" in Munich. The following March the composer was summoned to Vienna, where his employer, Archbishop Colloredo...
1781 Jan 6 Battle Of Jersey
The Battle of Jersey was technically the last battle fought in the British Islands (coming after the Battle of Culloden in 1745). It was the last attempt by France to invade Jersey milita...
1781 Jan 7 Battle of Mobile
The British garrison nearest to Mobile was in West Florida's capital, Pensacola. The commander, General John Campbell, had under his command about 500 men, composed mostly of men from the...
1781 Jan 17 Battle of Cowpens
Morgan's strategy worked perfectly. The British drove in successive lines, anticipating victory only to encounter another, stronger line after exerting themselves and suffering casualties...
1781 Jan 29 Mozart's "Idomeneo" Is First Performed
Idomeneo, re di Creta ossia Ilia e Idamante (Italian for Idomeneo, King of Crete, or, Ilia and Idamante; usually referred to simply as Idomeneo, K. 366) is an Italian language opera by Wo...
1781 Feb 1 Battle of Cowan's Ford
On January 31, Cornwallis began to move his army despite the heavy rain fearing any further delay would cause him to lose his chance of destroying Greene's army. Some six weeks after the ...
1781 Feb 24 Pyle's Massacre
The most commonly accepted account of the battle, pieced together from reports from Lee and Captain Joseph Graham, indicates that Lee's deception was purely chance, and that he had origin...
1781 Feb 25 Battle Of Haw River
The Battle of Haw River occurred near the Haw River in North Carolina on February 25, 1781, late in the American Revolutionary War. Patriot militia leader Colonel Henry Lee deceived Loyal...
1781 Mar 1 Articles of Confederation Adopted
The political push for the colonies to increase cooperation began in the French and Indian Wars in the mid 1750s. The American Revolution in response to lack of elected representation in ...
1781 Mar 6 Battle Of Wetzell's Mill
The Battle of Wetzell's Mill (the name may also be spelled Weitzell, Weitzel, Whitesell, or Whitsall) was an American Revolutionary War skirmish fought on March 6, 1781, between detachmen...
1781 Mar 9
to 1781 May 8
 Battle of Pensacola
On April 28, siege operations finally got underway. By May 1 they had emplaced a battery of cannons overlooking the Queen's Redoubt, and begun digging trenches toward an even more advanta...
1781 Mar 15 Battle of Guilford Court House
The advance guard met near the Quaker New Garden Meeting House. Banastre Tarleton's Light Dragoons were briefly engaged by Light Horse Harry Lee's Dragoons about 4 miles (6 km) from the G...
1781 Mar 16 Battle of Cape Henry
The Battle of Cape Henry was naval battle in the American War of Independence which took place near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on 16 March 1781 between a British squadron led by Vice Adm...
1781 Apr Skirmish at Waters Creek
Lord Cornwallis, while on his Peninsula campaign, sent Captain Brown on a foraging mission. This mission brought Brown, and his group of 40 soldiers, up the James River where they landed ...
1781 Apr 15
to 1781 Apr 23
 Siege Of Fort Watson
The Siege of Fort Watson was an American Revolutionary War confrontation in South Carolina that began on April 15, 1781 and lasted until April 23, 1781. Continental Army forces under Henr...
1781 Apr 16 Battle Of Porto Praya
The Battle of Porto Praya was a naval battle which took place during the American Revolutionary War on 16 April 1781 between a British squadron under Commodore George Johnstone and a Fren...
1781 Apr 25 Battle Of Blandford
The Battle of Blanford was a battle during the American War of Independence, that took place near Petersburg, Virginia on 25 April 1781. Roughly 2,300 British under the command of Brigadi...
1781 Apr 25 Battle of Hobkirk's Hill
On the morning of April 25, 1781, Rawdon was still under the impression that the Continental army was without its artillery. At approximately 9am he left the security of the Camden fortif...
1781 Apr 29
to 1781 Apr 30
 Battle of Fort Royal
In 1762, the English land in the island and take the highest points on the Northern town. With a beautiful view and a solid platform, looking over the defences in order to bomb soldiers a...
1781 May 8
to 1781 May 12
 Siege Of Fort Motte
The Siege of Fort Motte was a military operation during the American Revolutionary War. A force of Patriots led by General Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion and Lt. Colonel "Light Horse" Harry L...
1781 May 22
to 1781 Jun 6
 Siege Of Augusta
The Siege of Augusta began on May 22, 1781 and was conducted by General Andrew Pickens and Colonel Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee against British troops occupying the town of Augusta, Geor...
1781 May 22
to 1781 Jun 19
 Siege Of Ninety-Six
The Siege of Ninety Six was a siege late in the American Revolutionary War. From May 22 to June 18, 1781, Continental Army Major General Nathanael Greene led 1,000 troops in a siege again...
1781 Jun 26 Battle of Spencer's Ordinary
Anthony Wayne, leading the Marquis de Lafayette's van, received word of Simcoe and the Queen's Rangers foraging near Spencer's Ordinary (about six miles north of Williamsburg). On the nig...
1781 Jul Francisco's Fight
Francisco's Fight is the name commonly given to a skirmish between Tarleton's Raiders and Peter Francisco during the American Revolutionary War in July 1781. The common version is that...
1781 Jul 6 Battle of Green Spring
Lord Cornwallis having failed to defeat the Marquis de Lafayette in the campaign in Virginia, was marching from Williamsburg to position his army at a secure port, Yorktown. Lafayette was...
1781 Aug 19
to 1782 Feb 5
 Invasion of Minorca
Work soon began on gun emplacements to besiege St. Philip's Castle, the most important being at La Mola, on the opposite side of the harbor mouth, and at Binisaida, near Georgetown. The B...
1781 Aug 24 Lochry's Defeat
On the night of August 18, 1781, Clark and his men floated past the mouth of the Great Miami River, near the present-day border between Ohio and Indiana. Brant's party was hidden on the n...
1781 Sep 4 El Pueblo De La Reyna De Los Angeles Is Founded
On September 4, 1781, the eleven men, eleven women, and twenty-two children recruited by Alta California Governor Felipe de Neve founded El Pueblo de la Reyna de Los Angeles (The Town of ...
1781 Sep 5 Battle of the Chesapeake
When the British fleet of 19 ships, now under Graves's command, arrived back at the Chesapeake on the morning of September 5, they found 25 French ships at anchor behind Cape Henry. The r...
1781 Sep 6 Battle of Fort Griswold
One of the last battles fought during the American Revolutionary War was fought near New London, Connecticut at a small fort called Fort Griswold which was an outpost held by around 164 C...
1781 Sep 6 Battle Of Groton Heights
The Battle of Groton Heights was a battle of the American Revolutionary War fought on September 6, 1781 between a small Continental Army force led by William Ledyard and the more numerous...
1781 Sep 8 Battle of Eutaw Springs
The Battle of Eutaw Springs was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, the last engagement of the war in the Carolinas. On May 22, 1781, General Nathanael Greene of the Continenta...
1781 Sep 13 Battle Of Lindley's Mill
The Battle of Lindley's Mill took place in Alamance County, North Carolina, on September 13, 1781, during the American Revolutionary War. Lindley's Mill stands at what was once a cross...
1781 Sep 28
to 1781 Oct 19
 Battle of Yorktown
By October 14, the trenches were within 150 yards (140 m) of redoubts #9 and #10. Washington ordered that all guns within range begin blasting the redoubts in order to weaken them for the...
1781 Oct 19 General Charles Cornwallis Surrenders To General George Washington At Yorktown
On October 19, 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered his army of some 8,000 men to General George Washington at Yorktown, giving up any chance of winning the Revolutionary ...
1781 Oct 21
to 1781 Nov 11
 Siege of Negapatam
The Siege of Negapatam was the first offensive military action on the Indian subcontinent following the arrival of news that was had been declared between Great Britain and the Dutch Repu...
1781 Oct 25 Battle Of Johnstown
The Battle of Johnstown was fought in Johnstown, New York. It was one of the last battles in the American theatre of the American Revolutionary War, with approximately 1400 engaged at Joh...
1781 Dec 12 Battle Of Ushant
The Second Battle of Ushant was a naval battle fought between French and British squadrons near Ushant on 12 December 1781, during the American War of Independence.