- Oct 12 America's first asylum opens for 'Persons of Insane and Disordered Minds' in Virginia
- Oct 13 The Whirlpool Galaxy was discovered by Charles Messier
- Oct 14 The first recorded Ministry of Education, the Komisja Edukacji Narodowej (Polish for Commission of National Education), is formed in Poland.
- Oct 14 American Revolutionary War: The United Kingdom's East India Company tea ships' cargo are burned at Annapolis, Maryland.