'Terrifying' Top Hat Causes Sensation
Jan 15 1st top hat worn by John Etherington of London
Victory in Battle
Feb 14 The Battle of Cape St Vincent: British fleet under Admiral Sir John Jervis defeats larger Spanish fleet under Admiral Don José de Córdoba y Ramos near Cape St. Vincent, Portugal. Captain Horatio Nelson distinguishes himself.
- Feb 18 Trinidad is surrendered to a British fleet under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby
- Feb 21 Trinidad, West Indies, a Spanish colony, surrenders to the British
Last Invasion of Britain
Feb 22 The Last Invasion of Britain, launched by the French during the Revolutionary Wars, begins near Fishguard, Wales
President Inaugurated
Mar 4 John Adams inaugurated as 2nd President of The United States, Thomas Jefferson 2nd Vice President
- Mar 28 Nathaniel Briggs of New Hampshire patents a washing machine
- Apr 16 Spithead Mutiny begins: British Royal Navy sailors protest over living and working conditions and pay near Portsmouth
- Apr 17 Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, one of the largest invasions of Spanish territories in America
- Apr 18 France & Austria sign ceasefire
- May 10 1st US Navy ship, the "United States," is launched
- May 12 Nore Mutiny: British Royal Navy sailors mutiny on the Thames, England and blockade London
- Jun 2 Surveyor Charles Brodhead achieves the 1st ascent of Giant Mountain (4,626 feet) in Adirondack, New York, the 1st of any Adirondack High Peak [1]
- Jun 11 Spanish Mission San José founded by Franciscan Padre Fermin Francisco de Lasuen at the Ohlone Village of Oroysom in Alta California (now Freemont, California)
- Jun 14 Napoleon forms Ligurian Republic
- Jun 26 Charles Newbold patents 1st cast-iron plow, though farmers fear effects of iron on soil
- Jul 8 1st US senator (William Blount of Tennessee) expelled by impeachment
- Jul 25 Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain)
- Aug 3 Emperor Francis I permits Jews who served in military in "Countries of Bohemian Crown" to marry non Jews
- Aug 16 Comet C/1797 P1 (Bouvard-Herschel) approaches 0.0879 AUs of Earth
- Sep 1 2nd National Meeting in Hague
- Oct 11 Battle of Camperdown (Kamperduin): British navy defeats Dutch fleet
- Oct 17 Peace of Campo Formio: Austrian Dutch possessions & France
- Oct 21 The USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) is launched in Boston
- Oct 22 Andre-Jacques Garnerin makes 1st parachute descent from a balloon in Paris