1777: British commander General John Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga in the United States War of Independence.

Several songs have been written about the Battle of Saratoga. However, Wikipedia reports that YANKEE DOODLE was played at the British surrender at Saratoga in 1777. The song had evolved during the conflict.

An alternate verse that the British are said to have marched to is attributed to an incident involving Thomas Ditson of Billerica, Massachusetts. Ditson attempted to purchase a Brown Bess musket from a British soldier in the 47th Regiment of Foot in Boston on March 1775; after a group of the soldier's comrades spotted the transaction as it was occurring, they tarred and feathered Ditson in order to prevent any such illegal purchases from happening in the future. Ditson eventually managed to secure a musket and fought at the Battles of Lexington and Concord. For this reason, the town of Billerica is called the home of "Yankee Doodle":
Yankee Doodle came to town, For to buy a firelock,
We will tar and feather him, And so we will John Hancock.

Another pro-British set of lyrics believed to have used the tune was published in June 1775 following the Battle of Bunker Hill:
The seventeen of June, at Break of Day, The Rebels they supriz'd us,
With their strong Works, which they'd thrown up, To burn the Town and drive us.

"Yankee Doodle" was played at the British surrender at Saratoga in 1777. A variant is preserved in the 1810 edition of Gammer Gurton's Garland: Or, The Nursery Parnassus, collected by Francis Douce:
Yankey Doodle came to town, How do you think they serv'd him?
One took his bag, another his scrip, The quicker for to starve him.

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Link to Mudcat post above THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA