1. Of the three inclosures in this letter, JM designates as “No. 1” the copy in his hand of the third paragraph of Washington’s dispatch of 2 January 1781 to the president of Congress, bearing upon the size and composition of the British expeditionary force commanded by Benedict Arnold (Mathews to Greene, 4 January 1781). Since JM’s inclosure is merely an accurately copied extract from a letter readily available in printed form (e.g., Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington, from the Original Sources, 1745–1799 (39 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1931–44). description ends , XXI, 51), it is not reproduced here.

2. Judging from the printed journal, the news reached Congress on Wednesday, 3 January 1781. That evening Congress appointed John Sullivan, John Witherspoon, and John Mathews “to confer with the supreme executive of the State of Pennsylvania, on the subject matter of the intelligence received this day.” Two days later Samuel John Atlee (Pa.) and Theodorick Bland were added to this committee (Journals of the Continental Congress, XIX, 20, 25). The “expresses” were James Potter (1729–1789), brigadier general of the Pennsylvania militia and soon-to-be vice-president of that state’s Supreme Executive Council, and Francis Johnston (1749–1815), colonel of Pennsylvania’s 5th Regiment, continental line, and later the sheriff of Philadelphia County.

3. On 1 January, the “tranquility of winter quarters,” about which Washington wrote that day to Timothy Pickering (Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington, from the Original Sources, 1745–1799 (39 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1931–44). description ends , XXI, 41), was suddenly ended by the mutiny. During the uprising, resulting in the displacement of the commissioned officers by a board of sergeants, one of the officers and one mutineer were killed and two officers were wounded (ibid., XXI, 56 n.; Harry Emerson Wildes, Anthony Wayne: Trouble Shooter of the American Revolution [New York, 1941], p. 227).

4. Brigadier General Anthony Wayne (1745–1796) of the Pennsylvania line reported the mutiny to Washington on 2 January, and wrote to Congress about it six days later. Wayne’s dispatch was not read in Congress until the day after JM penned the present letter to Jefferson (Fitzpatrick, Writings of Washington description begins John C. Fitzpatrick, ed., The Writings of George Washington, from the Original Sources, 1745–1799 (39 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1931–44). description ends , XXI, 56 n., 64–65; Journals of the Continental Congress, XIX, 41). Since no earlier message from Wayne to Congress about the mutiny has been found, JM may refer to a letter of 4 January from Major General Arthur St. Clair to the president of Congress, inclosing copies of the terms asked for by the committee of sergeants on that day, and of Wayne’s reply thereto. St. Clair’s letter, presumably with these inclosures, was laid before Congress on 6 January (NA: PCC, No. 152, IX, 439–46; Journals of the Continental Congress, XIX, 30). Although St. Clair wrote from Trenton, the Wayne inclosures were dated at Princeton, about ten miles away. Colonels Walter Stewart (1756–1796) and Richard Butler (1743–1791) were both of the Pennsylvania line. Stewart, sometimes called “the handsomest man in the American army,” became a Philadelphia merchant after the Revolution (Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XLVII [1923], 275). Butler, a brigadier general and United States agent for Indian affairs, met his death when St. Clair and his troops were ambushed by the Indians in the Ohio country.

5. For this correspondence, see Pennsylvania Archives description begins Samuel Hazard et al., eds., Pennsylvania Archives (9 ser., 138 vols.; Philadelphia and Harrisburg, 1852–1949). description ends , 2d ser., XI, 660–63, 671–72, 687–88, 696.

6. Above, n. 2.

7. Joseph Reed, president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, headed the group of prominent residents of Philadelphia which left that city with General Potter on 5 January to go to Princeton, where the mutineers had encamped. Most of the committee from Congress followed the next day (Carl Van Doren, Mutiny in January [New York, 1943], pp. 98–100).

8. JM’s inclosure “No. 2,” with the exception of a few unimportant word omissions, is a verbatim copy of John Witherspoon’s letter from Trenton, 7 January 1781, written in the name of the committee of Congress, to “the President of Congress.” Congress received this report on 8 January (Journals of the Continental Congress, XIX, 32; NA: PCC, No. 152, IX, 447). It is printed in Burnett, Letters description begins Edmund C. Burnett, ed., Letters of Members of the Continental Congress (8 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1921–36). description ends , V, 515–16. JM’s inclosure “No. 3” is a faithful copy of General Henry Clinton’s undated notice addressed “To the Person appointed by the Pennsylvania Troops to lead them in the present struggle for their Liberties and Rights,” offering to receive the mutineers on generous terms within the British lines. For this invitation, see Samuel Hazard, ed., The Register of Pennsylvania … (16 vols.; Philadelphia, 1828–35), II, 167; or Calendar of Virginia State Papers, II, 149–50.

9. JM here refers to what Witherspoon had written in his letter mentioned in n. 8. The mutineers not only spurned the offer of General Clinton but turned over his emissary and the emissary’s guide to President Reed. These two men, John Mason and James Ogden, were hanged on 11 January (Pennsylvania Archives description begins Samuel Hazard et al., eds., Pennsylvania Archives (9 ser., 138 vols.; Philadelphia and Harrisburg, 1852–1949). description ends , 2d ser., XI, 702; Journals of the Continental Congress, XIX, 82).