1. Anna must have met with GW upon her arrival in Philadelphia. She traveled there to seek compensation from Congress for the Revolutionary War expenditures incurred by her husband and his firm on behalf of the United States and South Carolina (see Alexander Hamilton to GW, 19 Jan., and n.2 to that document).

The list of debtors and creditors has not been identified, but the firm Jean de Neufville & Fils had submitted countless letters and accounts to the Continental Congress during and after the war. Among these was the firm’s account with the United States, dated 10 Aug. 1784. That account shows Congress owing the firm 462,405.11 florins in 1781 for expenses related to the fitting out of vessels for Commodore Alexander Gillon’s venture to purchase ships for South Carolina. The account indicates that by August 1784, Jean de Neufville & Fils had received payment in the amount of 455,853.13 florins but that the United States still owed the firm 6,551.18 florins (DNA:PCC, item 78).

2. No reply to Anna de Neufville from GW has been found, but Congress soon took action relative to her case. On 3 Feb., the U.S. House of Representatives read “a memorial of Anna de Neufville … in behalf of herself and her infant daughter … praying compensation for services rendered, and losses sustained by the deceased [Jean de Neufville], in support of the American cause, during the late war” (Journal of the House description begins The Journal of the House of Representatives: George Washington Administration 1789–1797. Edited by Martin P. Claussen. 9 vols. Wilmington, Del., 1977. description ends , 9:154). The committee handling Anna’s petition concluded that de Neufville’s services during the Revolutionary War “constituted a reasonable claim in behalf of his distressed widow and children,” and proposed that the sum of $3,000 be “equally divided amongst them” (Madison Papers, Congressional Series description begins William T. Hutchinson et al., eds. The Papers of James Madison, Congressional Series. 17 vols. Chicago and Charlottesville, Va., 1962–91. description ends , 16:487–88). On 2 March, Congress passed an act granting a total of $3,000 to be divided equally among Anna, her son Leonard, and her baby Anna, but a final settlement was not made until 1851 (see 6 Stat. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 29; see also GW to Leonard de Neufville, 29 June 1789, and the source note to that document).