Editing 1778 (section)

=== April&ndash;June ===
* [[April 7]] &ndash; Former British Prime Minister [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt]] delivers his last speech to Parliament, and speaks to the House of Lords "passionately but incoherently against the granting of independence" to the American colonies, but collapses during the debate, and dies five weeks later.<ref>"Pitt, William (The Elder; Earl of Chatham)", by Philip Woodfine, in ''British Political Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary'', ed. by [[Keith Laybourn]] (ABC-CLIO, 2001) p264</ref> 
* [[April 12]] &ndash; King George III appoints the five-member [[Carlisle Peace Commission]] to present peace terms to negotiate an end to the rebellion of Britain's 13 American colonies.<ref>Barry Alan Shain, ''The Declaration of Independence in Historical Context'' (Yale University Press, 2014) p657</ref>
* [[April 30]] &ndash; The {{convert|1800|ft}} long [[Hudson River Chain]], designed to prevent British ships from moving up the river toward [[West Point, New York]] is stretched across the river and anchored by an engineering team under the direction of Captain Thomas Machin.<ref>Raymond C. Houghton, ''A Revolutionary War Road Trip on US Route 9'' (Cyber Haus, 2003) pp37-38</ref> 
* [[May 12]] &ndash; [[Heinrich XI, Prince Reuss of Greiz]] is elevated to [[Prince]] of the [[Principality of Reuss-Greiz]] by [[Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor]]. This year sees the first appearance of the modern-day [[national colors of Germany]] on a flag that closely resembles the modern [[flag of Germany]], to occur [[Thuringia|anywhere within]] modern-day Germany.
* [[May 30]] &ndash; [[Benedict Arnold]] signs the [[Oath of Allegiance (United States)|U.S. Oath of Allegiance]] at [[Valley Forge]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ushistory.org/ValleyForge/served/arnold.html|title=Benedict Arnold|website=www.ushistory.org}}</ref>
* [[June 24]] &ndash; A total [[Solar eclipse of June 24, 1778|solar eclipse]] takes place across parts of North America, from [[Texas]] to [[Virginia]].
* [[June 28]] &ndash; [[American Revolutionary War]]: [[Battle of Monmouth]] &ndash; [[George Washington]]'s [[Continental Army]] battles British general [[Henry Clinton (British Army officer, born 1730)|Sir Henry Clinton]]'s army to a draw, near [[Monmouth County, New Jersey]].
* [[June]] &ndash; The [[Anglo-French War (1778–83)]] begins.