1. The enclosed letter from Lt. Col. Jeremiah Olney has not been identified. In his second letter to Samuel Huntington of 17 Oct., GW indicated that Olney’s letter reported the arrival at Newport, R.I., on this date, of fifty-six British transports “in Ballast” (empty).

2. See Gates to GW, 15 October. Gen. Henry Clinton had ordered the evacuation of the British garrison at Newport on 7 October. All British troops had embarked by 25 Oct., and on 27 Oct. the transports arrived at New York, the troops being sent to various stations at New York and on Long and Staten Islands (see GW to Gates, 1 Nov. [NHi: Gates Papers]; Davies, Documents of the American Revolution, description begins K. G. Davies, ed. Documents of the American Revolution, 1770–1783; (Colonial Office Series). 21 vols. Shannon and Dublin, 1972–81. description ends 17:236–37; Kemble Papers, description begins [Stephen Kemble]. The Kemble Papers. 2 vols. New York, 1884-85. In Collections of the New-York Historical Society, vols. 16–17. description ends 1:188; and Ritchie, “New York Diary,” description begins Carson I. A. Ritchie, ed. “A New York Diary [British army officer’s journal] of the Revolutionary War.” New-York Historical Society Quarterly 50 (1966): 221–80, 401–46. description ends 442–43).