- 1760s - The Cape Fear Library was founded and located on the north side of Market Street, between Front and Second.
- 1763 - Thomas Godfrey, playwright, died in Wilmington. He was the author of a dramatic poem entitled "The Prince of Parthia."
- 1764 - A ferry ran at the foot of Market Street across the river, a road was authorized to extend over Eagles Island and the first printing press and newspaper, the Cape Fear Gazette, was established in Wilmington.
- 1765 - Royal Governor William Tryon took the oath of office in Wilmington which had nearly a populace of 800. The Provincial Assembly met in Wilmington the same year. George Whitfield, the eminent English divine, visited Wilmington for the second time. Demonstrations against the Stamp Act were held in Wilmington. Effigy of Lord Bute burned in protest. William Houston, stamp officer, forced to resign.
- 1766 - Cornelius Harnett chosen to represent the borough in the provincial assembly. Armed citizens challenged Royal Governor Tryon at his residence regarding the hated Stamp Act. Shortly thereafter the Royal Governor announced the repeal of the Stamp Act.
- 1769 - The newspaper, Cape Fear Mercury, appeared in Wilmington.
- 1770 - Governor William Tryon brought Claude Joseph Sauthier, a Swiss military surveyor, to North Carolina and by the spring of this year Sauthier prepared handsome detailed maps of several towns including Wilmington.
- 1771 - The Burgwin-Wright House, southwest corner of Third and Market streets, is constructed.
- 1772 - Wilmington authorities met "to prevent Rioting and Disturbances that often happen among Negroes" in town. To do this they barred all slaves, even those who had their masters’ permission, from trading at stands, and they reenacted the 1765 ordinance prohibiting more than three slaves from "playing, rioting, or caballing." Despite the stated need to pass such ordinances, not one case of a slave violator appears in the available records for Wilmington, including its Town Book, between
1765 and 1772.
- 1773 - Josiah Quincy, a patriot of Boston, visited with Cornelius Harnett, at his plantation called Maynard (later called Hilton). Quincy referred to Harnett as the "Samuel Adams of the South."
- 1774 - In January, Governor Josiah Martin writes to the Earl of Dartmouth in England, "I inclose herewith, the Cape Fear Mercury, a weekly paper printed in Wilmington in this Province, under which head, in the last page, your [Lordship] will see what disingenuous representations are made to inflame the minds of the People." A Committee of Safety was formed by Cornelius Harnett, John Quince, Francis Clayton, William Hooper, Robert Howe, John Ancrum, Archibald Maclaine, John Robertson and John Walker. Freeholders of Wilmington held a meeting to effect measures recommended by the First Continental Congress.
- 1775 - The Wilmington Safety Committee endorsed the local newspaper, the Cape Fear Mercury. News was received in Wilmington regarding the battles of Lexington and Concord (May 8). Janet Schaw, a lively social commentator, (Journal of a Lady of Quality) visited her brother Robert Schaw and mentioned, "the accommodations in Wilmington, while not spacious, were well furnished on the inside."
- 1776 - Col. James Moore with his colonial forces departed from Wilmington to oppose MacDonald, McLeod, Campbell and others marching toward Wilmington. The opposing forces met at Widow Moore’s Creek (February 27). Formal notice of the Declaration of Independence received in Wilmington (August 1). Cornelius Harnett, of
Wilmington, was elected president of the North Carolina Council of Safety. British forces make foray on plantations near Wilmington.
- 1778 - Visitor Elkanah Watson attended a slave auction in Wilmington describing a Negro family as "driven in from the country, like swine for market." It is known that at least 24 physicians practiced in Wilmington prior this year (Wilmington Town Book 1743 - 1778). Undoubtedly some of them were self-styled "doctors of physicks" with little formal training, who practiced medicine as the need required.
- 1781 - The army of Lord Cornwallis arrived in Wilmington while en route to Yorktown (April). Political and military prisoners imprisoned in "Bull Pen" on Market Street, between Second and Third. Governor Thomas Burke included. Patriot Cornelius Harnett captured by British, abused while in ill health and as a result died. Col. Richard ‘Lighthorse Harry" Lee arrived in Wilmington with the news of Cornwallis surrender (November). Major James Craig left Wilmington with the British fleet.
- 1784 - Jesuit missionaries stopped over for a short stay in Wilmington. Though there were only an estimated 150 houses in Wilmington by this year, they were thought to be "comfortable, clean, and generally better than those in Newbern. There is more commerce...and the inhabitants appear to be more sociable, more generous, and better dressed." (Francisco de Miranda, New Democracy in America, 12-14.)
- 1788 - The Thalian Association, an amateur theatrical group, was formed in Wilmington. In June of this year, an article in the Wilmington Chronicle & North Carolina Weekly Advertiser entitled "Hints for young MARRIED WOMEN," agreed that a woman was allowed much greater freedoms when single than when married. Upon entering the married state she had to "cease to command, and learn to obey."
- 1789 - Edward Bishop Dudley was born on December 15th. He was later a Governor of North Carolina serving 1836 - 1841.
- 1790 - U.S. Federal Census summary of population lists 6,831 people living in New Hanover, including the Wilmington town.
- 1791 - George Washington, first President of the United States, visited Wilmington on his "Southern Tour."
- 1793 - The newspaper, The Wilmington Chronicle, published.
- 1796 - Rev. Father Burke spent a fortnight in Wilmington, but he found only a few Catholics in this city, so continued his journey southward.
- 1797 - First Methodist Church organized in Wilmington.
- 1798 - A disastrous November fire in Wilmington destroyed all but twelve houses.
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