1. GW wrote the dateline.

2. GW enclosed his letter to Lafayette of 19 May. No letter from Lafayette to GW of 17 May has been found.

3. For these dispatches, see GW to Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., 19 May, n.1, and to La Touche-Tréville, same date; see also GW to Jeremiah Wadsworth, 23 May, found at GW to William Greene, 23 May, n.2.

4. On 19 May, GW’s aide-de-camp Alexander Hamilton wrote Captain La Touche-Tréville in part: “I execute with the greatest pleasure a commission with which The Marquis De La Fayette has done me the honor to charge me for you; Influenced by the double motive of complying with his desire and giving you a mark of the esteem with which the character I have heard of you has inspired me. It is to give you a detail of the enemy’s naval force and disposition at New York. The last particular account we had of them was received about ten days since. The vessels of force then in the harbour were—The Russel of 74—The Pearl of 32—the Thames 32—the Delight 28 the Delaware 28 The Galatea 28 and the Swift—brig of 14—These except two, the Pearl and another not known, sailed out of the Hook the 11th instant. ’Tis said their destination was to escort the Thames, going to England with dispatches, clear of the coast and afterwards to cruise in quest of Paul Jones whose approach they have been sometime expecting. There of course remain at New York only two frigates.

“It appears to me probable that the destination supposed is the true one. In this case they will be likely to steer towards the Eastward, as they will naturally conjecture that Jones’ squadron, will make for an Eastern port—If so, in going out you may have occasion for all your vigilance not to fall into their hands.

“It is possible they may be going towards the Southward—There are rumours in New York that the enemy intend to withdraw their troops from South Carolina in consequence of late European advices—This fleet may be sent to meet and assist in escorting them to New Yo⟨rk⟩ or it may be supposed that Jones will be bound for the Delaware. …

“I should apprehend you would run the greatest risk in crusing off New York—where you would have the best chance of doing something; on the other hand, You have not leisure to go any distance from the coast to endeavour to fall into the usual trail of vessels coming from England or Ireland to New York or going from the West Indies to those places; your time is too short to hope to effect any thing by such a plan.

“You may just appear before the Hook and proceed directly towards the Capes of Virginia—or some other intermediate point between New York and Charles Town—in hopes of falling in with vessels passing from one of those ports to the other—This however would be a delicate manreuvre and perhaps hardly justified by the probability of succeeding” (DLC:GW).

5. Lafayette wanted French consul Jean Holker to assist French war commissary Corny in gathering supplies and making logistical arrangements for the anticipated French expeditionary force (see Lafayette to La Luzerne, 17 and 24 May, in Lafayette Papers description begins Stanley J. Idzerda et al., eds. Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790. 5 vols. Ithaca, N.Y., 1977-83. description ends , 3:20–24, 29–31).

6. GW wrote the previous four words. Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene sought approval before acting on Lafayette’s and Corny’s requests (see Greene’s first letter to GW of 25 May and the notes to that document).

7. GW likely is referring to a congressional committee appointed on 17 May to maintain communications with French minister La Luzerne and gather intelligence. Schuyler was not among its members (see the source note to La Luzerne to the Continental Congress, 16 May, printed as an enclosure to Samuel Huntington to GW, 29 May; see also Huntington to GW, 20 May, n.4).

8. GW instead wrote La Luzerne on 5 June.

9. GW wrote this sentence in the left margin of the draft. For this intelligence, see Elias Dayton to GW, 19 May; see also Dayton to GW, 15 May.

10. Hamilton wrote “recall” on the draft. GW struck out that word and wrote “halt” above the line.

11. The draft of the enclosed letter from GW to Maj. Henry Lee, Jr., written at headquarters in Morristown on this date, reads: “You will be pleased to halt your Horse and Foot till further orders, whereever they may be, when this reaches you—Should the Horse be in Philada and it should be found difficult to subsist them there, you will consult the Board of War and remove them to any place which may be found more convenient in the neighbourhood—A very few days will probably determine whether you are to proceed further just now” (Df, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW). On 30 March, GW had ordered Lee to march his legion to South Carolina to join the southern army. Since receiving GW’s orders, Lee had been preparing his legion for the march at Burlington, N.J., and planned to begin his march on 19 May (see GW to Lee, 30 March, and Lee to GW, 10 April; see also Lee to Joseph Reed, 17 May, in “Letters of Henry Lee,” description begins “Letters of General Henry Lee.” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 6 (1898-99): 153-58. description ends 153; Lee to GW, 11 June; and Robert R. Livingston to Philip Schuyler, 21 May 1780, in Smith, Letters of Delegates description begins Paul H. Smith et al., eds. Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774–1789. 26 vols. Washington, D.C., 1976–2000. description ends , 15:169–70).

12. GW is referring to his letter to Lafayette of 19 May (see also GW to Thomas Jefferson, 15 May).

13. Holker wrote an unknown correspondent on 21 May that Lafayette left Philadelphia for GW’s headquarters on that date (DLC: John Holker Papers). Lafayette was at Morristown by 24 May (see Lafayette’s letters to La Luzerne, that date, in Lafayette Papers description begins Stanley J. Idzerda et al., eds. Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790. 5 vols. Ithaca, N.Y., 1977-83. description ends , 3:29–35).