1. GW authorized this court-martial, with Col. Israel Shreve as president, in the general orders for 20 April.

2. The first article of the sixth section of the articles of war reads: “All officers and soldiers, who having received pay, or having been duly inlisted in the service of the United States, shall be convicted of having deserted the same, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as by a court-martial shall be inflicted” (JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 5:792).

The third article of the twelfth section of the articles of war reads: “Every non-commissioned officer or soldier who shall be convicted at a court-martial of having sold, lost or spoiled, through neglect, his horse, arms, clothes or accoutrements shall undergo such weekly stoppages (not exceeding the half of his pay) as a court-martial shall judge sufficient for repairing the loss or damage; and shall suffer imprisonment, or such other corporal punishment, as his crime shall deserve” (JCC description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C., 1904–37. description ends , 5:796).

3. An account printed in The Pennsylvania Evening Post (Philadelphia) for 6 June 1780 under the heading “CHATHAM, May 31” described Pvt. James Coleman’s execution “near the grand parade” in Jockey Hollow, N.J., on 26 May: “The whole being conducted with much solemnity, we cannot but give the following particulars to the public:—Upon the arrival of the criminals at the place of execution, the attending chaplain, rev. mr. Rogers, of gen. Hand’s brigade, prayed and recommended them severally to God, particularly Coleman, who was first to suffer. Prayer being over, the unfortunate wretch was fixed to the gallows, and, previous to his exchanging worlds, addressed the officers and soldiers of the army with the greatest composure. The soldiers he earnestly warned against desertion and forgery. The officers he intreated not to use their soldiers with too much severity, and never to promise them more than they were able to perform. Putting up a few short ejaculations, he made a signal to be turned off. A disagreeable accident now happened in the rope’s breaking. Recovering, he mounted the ladder again, repeated his exhortation to the soldiery, and was a second time turned off. The fortitude with which he died, his resolution and modest deportment, during the whole scene, justly astonished the surrounding spectators, and caused them sincerely to wish that by a better life he had procured a better end.”

The service record for James Coleman (d. 1780), a private in the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment, confirmed his death.

4. GW reported the weather at Morristown in his diary entry for this date: “Raining moderately all the forenoon with a little thunder—thick and misty afterwards—wind Northerly” (Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 3:352). New York City printer Hugh Gaine wrote more explicitly in his journal entries for 30 April and 1 May: “Uncommonly cold for the Season and some Rain. … Still disagreeable weather for the season as ever was known” (Ford, Journals of Hugh Gaine description begins Paul Leicester Ford, ed. The Journals of Hugh Gaine, Printer. 1902. Reprint. [New York] 1970. description ends , 2:86). William Smith, royal chief justice of New York, simply wrote in his memoirs for this date: “Bad Weather” (Sabine, Smith’s Historical Memoirs description begins William H. W. Sabine, ed. Historical Memoirs . . . of William Smith, Historian of the Province of New York. 2 vols. New York, 1956–58. description ends [1971], 259).