On This Day

September 1781 in History

Events in History

  • Sep 4 Los Angeles is founded by 44 Spanish speaking mestizos in the Bahia de las Fumas (Bay of Smokes)

Victory in battleVictory in Battle

Sep 5 American Revolutionary War: French fleet of 24 ships under Comte de Grasse defeat British forces under Admiral Graves at the Battle of the Chesapeake [Battle of the Virginia Capes] and trap Cornwallis

British Admiral Samuel Hood
British Admiral
Samuel Hood
  • Sep 6 The Battle of Groton Heights takes place, resulting a British victory.
  • Sep 25 -26] Joan Derks scatters "On the People of Netherlands" pamphlets

Victory in BattleSurrender at Yorktown

Sep 28 9,000 American and 7,000 French troops begin siege of Yorktown

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'Surrender of Lord Cornwallis' by John Trumbull depicting the British surrender which ended the American Revolutionary War
'Surrender of Lord Cornwallis' by John Trumbull depicting the British surrender which ended the American Revolutionary War
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Birthdays in History

  • Sep 3 Eugène de Beauharnais, stepson of Napoleon I (son of Alexandre de Beauharnais and Joséphine Tascher de la Pagerie), born in Paris (d. 1824)
  • Sep 23 Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1860)

Deaths in History

  • Sep 28 William Henry Nassau de Zuylestein, 4th Earl of Rochford, British diplomat and statesman (b. 1717)