250th pope. February 26 – The British East India Company factory on Balambangan Island is destroyed by Moro pirates. March 6 – Raghunathrao, Peshwa of the Maratha Empire in India, signs the Treaty of Surat with the British Governor-General Warren Hastings in Bombay ceding the territories of Salsette and Bassein to the British East India Company along with part of the revenues from Surat and Bharuch districts in return for military assistance. This leads to the First Anglo-Maratha War fought between the British and the Marathas, ending with the Treaty of Salbai in 1782. March 17 – Catherine the Great of Russia issues a manifesto prohibiting freed serfs from being returned to serfdom. March 23 – American Revolution: Patrick Henry, a delegate to the Second Virginia Convention after the Virginia House of Burgesses was disbanded by the Royal Governor, delivers his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia. April 18 – American Revolution: Paul Revere and William Dawes, instructed by Dr. Joseph Warren, ride from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Sam Adams that British forces are coming to take them prisoner and to seize colonial weapons and ammunition in Concord. April 19 – American Revolution – Battles of Lexington and Concord: Hostility between Britain and its American colonies explodes into bloodshed, igniting the American Revolutionary War. May 10 American Revolution: The Second Continental Congress meets, elects John Hancock president, raises the Continental Army under George Washington as commander and authorizes the colonies to adopt their own constitutions. American Revolution: Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, leading the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont, capture Fort Ticonderoga. May 17 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress bans trade with Canada. June 11 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Machias: In the first naval engagement of the American Revolution, Patriot forces capture the schooner HMS Margaretta. June 12 – American Revolution: The British forces offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms. Action by citizens of Machias, Maine, in capturing British ships recognises the existence of a United States Merchant Marine. June 14 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress names George Washington as commander of the Continental Army. June 16 – The post of Chief Engineer of the Continental Army is created. June 17 – American Revolution: Two months into the colonial siege of Boston, British open fire on Breed's