1. Maxwell wrote “Thursday,” which was 25 March, above the line after striking out the word “yesterday.” The enclosed newspapers from New York have not been identified, but the one dated 25 March almost certainly was an issue of the Royal American Gazette (New York).

2. At Briar Creek, Ga., on 3 March, Lt. Col. James Marcus Prevost with a combined force of about 900 British regulars and Loyalists completed a 50-mile march to surprise a camp of approximately 1,400 North Carolina militia, 200 mounted Georgia militia, and 100 Georgia Continentals under the command of Brig. Gen. John Ashe. The late-afternoon attack completely scattered the Americans, who lost over 150 killed or drowned and had a comparable number taken prisoner, while British casualties totaled only 5 killed and 11 wounded (see Augustine Prevost to George Germain, 5 March, in 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 , 17:76–79; and Baurmeister, Revolution in America description begins Carl Leopold Baurmeister. Revolution in America: Confidential Letters and Journals, 1776–1784, of Adjutant General Major Baurmeister of the Hessian Forces. Translated and annotated by Bernhard A. Uhlendorf. New Brunswick, N.J., 1957. description ends , 261–62).

3. A British fleet, then attempting to blockade French-held Martinique in the West Indies, never mounted an actual attack on the island. For an example of a newspaper report that gave rise to this erroneous belief, see the New-York Gazette: and the Weekly Mercury, 22 March.