1. Q.v., and n. 3.

2. JM to Randolph, 28 July, and n. 12; 5 Aug. 1783.

3. By “a very few of our apostate friends,” Harrison meant Virginia Loyalists who had borne arms against the state or the United States. See Instruction to Delegates, 23–24 May, and n. 1; JM Notes, 30 May, n. 1; Jones to JM, 31 May, and nn. 11, 14; 21 June, and n. 21; 28 June. For the evacuation of New York City, see Pendleton to JM, 4 May 1783, n. 5.

4. Harrison to Delegates, 9 May, and n. 6; Jones to JM, 31 May, and citations in n. 15; 21 June, and n. 3; Pendleton to JM, 16 June 1783. On 5 December 1783, the speaker of the House of Delegates signed into law “An act, for further continuing an act, entitled ‘an act, to ascertain the losses and injuries sustained from the depredations of the enemy within this Commonwealth’” (JHDV description begins (1828 ed.). Journal of the House of Delegates of Virginia, Anno Domini, 1776 (Richmond, 1828). description ends , Oct. 1782, p. 50; May 1783, p. 45; Oct. 1783, p. 49; Hening, Statutes description begins William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619 (13 vols.; Richmond and Philadelphia, 1819–23). description ends , XI, 27, 109, 193, 317). The session of October 1783 also extended for about six months the duration of several laws previously enacted “for suspending the issuing of executions on certain judgments” against delinquent debtors (Hening, Statutes description begins William Waller Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619 (13 vols.; Richmond and Philadelphia, 1819–23). description ends , XI, 349). Although “camp fever” usually meant typhus or typhoid fever, the term was often employed generically.

5. Papers of Madison description begins William T. Hutchinson, William M. E. Rachal, et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison (7 vols. to date; Chicago, 1962——). description ends , VI, 479; 480, n. 7; JM to Jefferson, 13 May, and n. 10; Delegates to Harrison, 20 May, and n. 3; 27 May; JM Notes, 26 May 1783, and n. 1. The three commissioners, appointed by Washington in May to proceed to New York City and, as warranted by the seventh article of the preliminary treaty of peace, “take delivery” of the Negroes and other American property in the possession of British “armies, garrisons and Fleets,” quickly found after their arrival that they were reduced to making ineffective remonstrances to General Sir Guy Carleton. He occasionally, through his deputy secretary, replied to their protests about Negroes’ overtly leaving the city aboard merchant vessels or ships conveying Loyalists to Nova Scotia, that these departures did not violate the treaty, for it applied only to slaves in the custody of the armed forces. Being apprised of the frustration of the commissioners, Washington on 23 June sent copies of their correspondence with him and with the British authorities to President Elias Boudinot and suggested that they be recalled.

A congressional committee, composed of Hugh Williamson, chairman, JM, and Jacob Read, to which these documents were referred on 2 July, rendered two weeks later an acceptable recommendation, instructing Washington to withdraw the commissioners “unless some change of circumstances shall have occurred, from which he may conclude that further continuance in New York may be productive of some advantage to the citizens of the United States.” This instruction probably did not reach Washington until 5 August, when he was again at his headquarters at Newburgh after an absence of eighteen days in northeastern New York and the Mohawk valley. See NA: PCC, No. 152, XI, 345, 349–80; Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington, from the Original Sources, 1745–1799 (39 vols.; Washington, 1931–44). description ends , XXVII, 27–28, and nn. 42 and 44, 71, and n. 8, 83; JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds., Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (34 vols.; Washington, 1904–37). description ends , XXIV, 422, 436; JM to Randolph, 8 July; to Jefferson, 11 Aug., n. 12; Delegates to Harrison, 23 Aug. 1783; Burnett, Letters description begins Edmund C. Burnett, ed., Letters of Members of the Continental Congress (8 vols.; Washington, 1921–36). description ends , VII, 166, 279.

On reflection, Washington decided that “some advantage” might accrue from maintaining liaison with British headquarters and thereby even contrived to supply Fort Herkimer on the New York frontier with beef purchased from British and Loyalist merchants in New York City (JM to Jefferson, 11 Aug. 1783, and n. 11). Insofar as the commissioners’ prime mission was concerned, he later characterized its discharge as “little more than a farce,” for they had “inspected no more property than the British chose they should be witness to the embarkation of” (Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington, from the Original Sources, 1745–1799 (39 vols.; Washington, 1931–44). description ends , XXVII, 27 n., 42, 72, 122–23; XXVIII, 121, 283).

6. Jones to JM, 28 July, and citations in n. 7; JM to Randolph, 28 July, and nn. 3, 5; 5 Aug. 1783, and n. 4.