September 3, 1783 -- end of America's Revolutionary War

Noticed in "Writer's Almanac" (American Public Media: Garrison Keillor): The U.S. War of Independence officially ended on September 3 in 1783 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The war, which began at Lexington and Concord in the spring of 1775, had more or less been over for two years, since Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown, but the American Navy continued harassing the British. And by the time the treaty was signed, the American fleet had captured dozens of British ships. The treaty required Britain to recognize the independence of the United States and to cede all lands east of the Mississippi to the U.S.