1. This is Thomas Contee, rather than Cortee; the clerk who made the entries in the ledger after 10 Jan. 1774 made frequent mistakes in the names. See Contee to GW, 11 April, and note 1 of that document, and GW to George William Fairfax, 31 May.

2. See GW to William Milnor, 23 Jan., and Milnor to GW, 18 April.

3. See Fairfax Independent Company to GW, 25 April 1775, and note 1 of that document.

4. See Advertisement for Runaway Servants, 23 April, and references in note 2 of that document.

5. This may be the carpenter by that name who lived in Spotsylvania County.

6. This is the last entry in GW’s Cash Memoranda, 1772-75 description begins “Pocket-day-Book or Cash-Memorandums,” 9 Aug. 1772–27 May 1773, 29 May 1773–22 March 1774, 26 Oct. 1774–3 May 1775. Manuscript in George Washington Papers, Library of Congress. 24 March-31 October 1774. Manuscript in Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Calif. description ends for October 1774–May 1775.

7. GW set out for the congress at Philadelphia on this day, probably accompanied by Richard Henry Lee (see Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 3:327). The ferry crossed the Potomac River at West’s Point, at the foot of Orinoco Street in Alexandria, to Thomas Addison’s land south of Oxon Creek in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Addison, who had run the ferry, had died a few months earlier, and the ferry with the land adjoining it was for rent. See Maryland Gazette (Annapolis), 1 June 1775.

8. The Patapsco River is formed about twenty miles west of Baltimore by a junction of the North and South branches and flows about sixty-five miles southeast to the Chesapeake Bay.

9. For GW’s trip to Philadelphia and his stay there, see Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 3:327–38.

10. A message card was a card of invitation to a reception or entertainment.

11. This was probably John Brown (1744–1780), from Pittsfield, Mass., a member of the Massachusetts provincial congress, who had gone to Montreal in March as an emissary from the Boston committee of correspondence to garner support for the Revolutionary cause. On the evening of 17 May Brown arrived in Philadelphia not only with intelligence from Canada but also with the startling news of the taking of Fort Ticonderoga by American forces. For Brown’s report to the Continental Congress on 18 May, see Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia), 24 May; 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 , 2:55. According to a letter from Silas Deane to Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., 19 May: “Mr Brown had the advantage of giving the first Intelligence, which has been handsomly rewarded” (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 , 1:362–63).

12. Thomas Hanson, who called himself “Adjutant to the 2d. Battalion. And Teacher of part of the American Militia,” had a printer in Philadelphia in 1775 print his The Prussian Evolutions in Actual Engagements; Both in Platoons, Sub, and Grand-Divisions; Explaining, All the Different Evolutions, and Manœuvres, in Firing, Standing, Advancing, and Retreating, Which Were Exhibited before His Present Majesty May 8, 1769. Two copies of the book were in GW’s library at his death.

13. Rifles were pieces of wood used by mowers for sharpening their scythes.

14. Robert Morris (1734–1806) was a partner in the Philadelphia firm of Willing, Morris, & Co., and later became superintendent of finance. He and his wife Mary White Morris became close friends of the Washingtons. See GW to George William Fairfax, 31 May.

15. For the guns bought for the Prince William company from Thomas Palmer, see William Milnor to GW, 29 Nov. 1774, and note 4 of that document, and GW to Milnor, 23 Jan. 1775.

16. There are two entries in GW’s Cash Memoranda, 1772-75 description begins “Pocket-day-Book or Cash-Memorandums,” 9 Aug. 1772–27 May 1773, 29 May 1773–22 March 1774, 26 Oct. 1774–3 May 1775. Manuscript in George Washington Papers, Library of Congress. 24 March-31 October 1774. Manuscript in Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, Calif. description ends for 2 or 3 May that have not been entered in the ledger: “By Cash paid Mr [William] Wilson for Mr [Normand] Bruce for 2 Bushls Hempseed & Charges” and “charge Mr Geo. Gilpin with 1 Barrl of Gun powder & charges pr Captn [John] Harpers acct & credit him by Oznabrigs.” No amount is given in either entry.