1. Bethlehem was a village in eastern Orange County, N.Y., that took its name from a Presbyterian church established about 1730.

2. Beatty had told GW in late September about his intention to inspect prisoners in the eastern portion of his department (see GW to Horatio Gates, 29 Sept.).

3. The Connecticut Gazette; and the Universal Intelligencer (New London) for Wednesday, 13 Oct., printed a report under a heading of the same place and date: “Last sabbath, a fleet of the enemy’s shipping, from the westward, passed this harbour, supposed to be bound to Newport;—they consisted of 29 ships, 9 brigs, 5 schooners, 12 sloops, and 1 Vineyard boat.

“Monday last, capt. King, in the brig Defiance; arrived here from a cruize. Last saturday, off Blue-point, the south-side of Long Island, he fell in with and took the transport ship Badger, commanded by Edward Flynn, under jury-masts, having on board 122 troops; but she was the next morning met by a British cruizing ship, and retaken. Capt. King took out of the vessel 4 Hessian officers and 9 soldiers, 12 British soldiers belonging to the 44th regiment, the captain, mate and 9 seamen belonging to the Badger, and also a parcel of small arms.

“We learn that this vessel sailed from N. York the 10th of September, in company with 11 other transports, bound to Quebec, having on board two Hessian regiments and one (the 44th) British, with 14 merchantmen ⟨in⟩ company, bound to Halifax and ⟨Quebec:⟩ that on the 13th of the month ⟨they met⟩ with a violent gale of wind, ⟨which conti⟩nued to the 17th; that on th⟨e 16th, at 5⟩ o’clock, A.M. they fell foul ⟨of the Clem⟩mentia, a transport ship, one o⟨f th⟩e above fleet, having 120 troops on board: she was laying on her beam-ends, her main and mizzen-mast gone, a terrible sea going, and the vessel water-log’d: the two vessels lay in this condition about 5 minutes, in which time 15 of the soldiers & sailors get on board the Badger, but a number of others in attempting to do the same were drowned.” Obscured material is supplied in angle brackets from a version of the report printed in The Connecticut Journal (New Haven) for 20 October.

4. This letter from Beatty to Connecticut governor Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., and other state officials has not been identified.

5. The Massachusetts Council issued a notice on 12 Oct. that appeared in The Boston Gazette, and the Country Journal for 18 Oct.: “WHEREAS it hath been represented to this Board, that many Prisoners of War who were ordered to be confined in the Barracks in Rutland, in the County of Worcester, have found ways and means to make their escape therefrom; others have obtained Passes from the Deputy Commissary of Prisoners in that Department, to go at large in the Town of Rutland, and other Towns within this State, either for their curiosity only, or for the Purpose of labouring for some particular Inhabitants of this State, which mode of conduct is found to be big with mischief: Therefore,

“Ordered, That the Selectmen and Committees of Correspondence, &c. in the several Towns and Plantations within this State, be and hereby are directed, immediately to apprehend all such Prisoners of War, as have made their escape from the Barracks in the Town of Rutland, in the County of Worcester, or have obtained Passes or Permits from the Deputy Commissary of Prisoners of War in that Department, to go at large, or to labour for any of the Inhabitants of this State, and without loss of time, to convey them to the Barracks in Rutland aforesaid, and there deliver them to the Commissary of Prisoners of War aforesaid, at the expence of the said Commissary:

“And all Persons who have any of the Prisoners aforesaid in their Service, are also hereby directed, to return the same, to the said Commissary, as they will answer their default.”

6. Beatty probably is referring to a letter that he received from the Marine Committee of Congress dated 7 Sept.: “The following paragrap is in A Letter lately received by this Committee from the Commissioners of the Continental Navy Board at Boston. ‘We are sorry to inform you that the Commissary of Prisoners department is under bad regulations in this Town. The Deputy Commissary Mr. Messereau, seldom here, his Deputy now gone to New York, in the flag General Gates, by order of his principal left his business with we hardly know whom, but a very improper person, that is incapable to make suitable disposition of the Prisoners that are landed out of the prizes to the Number of upwards of 200, we wish more Attention was paid to this necessary business.’ We desire Sir that you will immediately pay proper Attention to the subject of the foregoing Paragrap” (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 13:469).

7. The enclosed orders have not been identified but likely pertained to the prisoners mentioned later in this letter.

8. Upon a request from the New Hampshire Committee of Safety, the Massachusetts General Court passed a resolution on 2 Oct.: “That whereas it is clearly represented to them that Dr. John Quin, late Surgeon of the private armed Ship Sullivan, now a Prisoner at Halifax, is treated in a most cruel and unprecedented Manner, under pretence of his being a Deserter from the British Service, when he was compelled into it by their Inhumanity: Therefore

“Resolved, That the Honorable Council be and hereby are requested as soon as may be to issue their Order that the Surgeon of the British Sloop of War, lately captured by the Dean and Boston Frigates, be immediately committed to and retained in close Prison until the said Dr. John Quin be liberated; and that the Council as early as possible remonstrate to the Commanding-Officer of the British Forces by Sea and Land at New York and Halifax on the Subject” (Mass. Acts and Resolves, description begins The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. … 21 vols. Boston, 1869–1922. description ends 21:184; see also Mass. House of Rep. Journal, 8 Sept.–9 Oct., 49–50). For recent captures of the Continental frigates Deane and Boston, see the New-Hampshire Gazette. or, State Journal, or General Advertiser (Portsmouth), 14 Sept. 1779. The General Court passed another resolution on 16 March 1780 that sent the detained British surgeon, William Goldson, “to the barracks in the town of Rutland” for health reasons (Mass. Acts and Resolves, description begins The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. … 21 vols. Boston, 1869–1922. description ends 21:373). While at Rutland on 3 April 1780, Goldson signed a certificate that declared a fellow prisoner “to be consumptive” and in need “of his native air” (DLC:GW). Goldson apparently returned to England after the war and published books on women’s reproductive health (1787) and the ineffectiveness of smallpox vaccination (1804).

9. GW probably knew something about Capt. Nathan Goodale’s efforts to contact British officials, because Robert Hanson Harrison, GW’s secretary, had written Maj. Gen. William Heath from West Point on 19 Aug.: “His Excellency desires you will permit an Officer to go with a flag with a Letter from Captain Goodale to Colo. Simco of the British Army” (MHi: Heath Papers). The docket of this item indicates that the enclosure was a letter from Goodale to Lt. Col. John Graves Simcoe. In response to the order, Heath wrote a pass on the same date from his camp in the Highlands, N.Y.: “Permission is hereby given to Lieut. John Trotter of the 5th Massachusetts Regt to proceed with a Flag and Trumpet or Drum (Accompanied by Docr Annin of the Same Regt) to the nearest Out Post of the Enemy above Kings-bridge with a Letter from Capt. Nathan Goodale to Lieut. Colo. Commdt Simcoe, and return as Soon as Business is Compleated” (MHi: Heath Papers). Heath also wrote Jeremiah Powell, president of the Massachusetts Council, on that date: “About Twelve months Since Captain Nathan Goodale of the 5th Massachusetts Regt (Colo. Putnams) was taken Prisoner near Kingsbridge and caried to New York where he has remained Untill the last week when he Obtained leave to Come out for 40 Days on Parole, Captain Goodale is a Brave and Good Officer a Partizan beloved and respected in the army and would render the Public particular Service were He exchanged: The Commander in Chief of the Army of the United States, has adopted a rule not to Exchange Officers who are Prisoners in the Hands of the Enemy only in their turn, by this rule altho there is no Captain from Massachusetts who is a Prisoner besides Capt. Goodale yet there are a number from other States whose turn is before his. consequently his Exchange Cannot yet take place, If the State should have at this Time a British Officer of the Rank of Captain at their Command, permit me to request that He may be given in Exchange for Capt. Goodale, or that the Honorable Council, would listen to and further any Proposal which may be made to them on this Subject that may appear Just and reasonable It is probable that Major Mersereau will address the Hon. Council on the Same Occasion” (MHi: Heath Papers).

The Massachusetts Council subsequently adopted an order on 9 Sept. that “truly recommended to Capt. Alexr Dickey Dy Continental Commissary of Prisoners to deliver Capt. Kerr a prisoner of War at Rutland to Capt. Nathan Goodale an Officer in Colo. Putnam’s Regt in the Contl Service or his Order to be conveyed by him to Head Quarters in the State of New York and there to obtain of his Exclly Genl Washington a Flagg to New York for the purpose of his being exchanged for the said Goodale, first taking Capt. Kerr’s Parole that he will cause Capt. Goodale now a Prisoner on his parole from New York to be liberated & disharged from his said Parole for him the said Capt. Kerr on his Arrival at New York, or to return himself in one Month from the date hereof, and said Dy Commissary of Prisoners is further Directed to Cause the said Kerr to settle his Accts which he has Contracted since his Captivity” (DNA:PCC, item 147). Goodale’s parole evidently ended late in 1779 when he returned to confinement in New York, but he was again on parole in Massachusetts by March 1780 (see Mass. Acts and Resolves, description begins The Acts and Resolves, Public and Private, of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay. … 21 vols. Boston, 1869–1922. description ends 21:260, 386; see also John Nixon to GW, 1 Nov. 1778, and GW to Horatio Gates, 3 Nov. 1778, and n.3 to that document).

10. Beatty is referring to a letter to himself from Joshua Loring, British commissary general of prisoners, written at New York on 12 October. Gen. Henry Clinton’s letter to GW of 9 Nov. enclosed a copy of the same letter, which reads: “I was deceived into a Belief that some Agreement was at hand and that difficulties were surmounted, I am sorry to observe with Yourself that You have only overcome every Aversion to Altercation & Asperity.

“I demand the immediate Return to Captivity of all Officers or Persons admitted by Us to parole.

“Presuming yourselves may think it too flagrant a Violation of Right to withold & protect those Men who have broken their Word of Honour I expect they be restored without any further Delay. Upwards of Seventy remain unaccounted for by our Estimate, and upwards of fifty even by your own.

“The Officers taken in the Eagle packet we consent to exchange immediately Rank for Rank. as also those Officers of the Convention mentioned in the inclosed List. You must take Credit for them out of the Violators of their parole.

“We have to demand that a Person may reside at Philadelphia upon the footing on which Mr Pintard resides here, and to ask that under such Restrictions as You may judge necessary he may be permitted to visit the Prisoners in other parts of the Country.

“Further proposals of Exchanges on your part as well as ours must be put off until such Gentlemen as are on parole return and those who are with You contrary to parole are restored or accounted for” (DLC:GW; see also Beatty to Samuel Blachley Webb, 27 Oct., in Ford, Webb Correspondence and Journals, description begins Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed. Correspondence and Journals of Samuel Blachley Webb. 3 vols. New York, 1893–94. description ends 2:213). The enclosed list, also found in DLC:GW, under “Officers taken in the Eagle Packet,” named Lt. Col. John Anstruther, 62d Regiment; Lt. Col. John McDonell, 71st Regiment; Lt. Col. Humphrey Stephens, 3d Guards Regiment; Maj. George Berclay, formerly of the 35th Regiment (“not in the Army having sold out a long time before”); Capt. James Cathcart, Duke of Athols; a cornet; “& three Servants.” The same enclosed list, under “Officers of the Convention at home by Leave,” named Lt. Col. Nicholas Sutherland, 47th Regiment, and fourteen other officers affiliated with the 9th, 24th, 26th, 29th, 31st, 34th, 47th, 53d, and Brunswick regiments. Loring’s “N.B.” completed the list: “If I have omitted any be so good as to let me know it.”

Loring’s demand for the return of parolees caused Beatty to prepare a notice on 8 Nov.: “Whereas the British Commissary of Prisoners by Letter to Me dated the 12th of October last, has required the immediate return of all Officers or Persons admitted by them to Paroles, I am hereby to direct that strict attention and compliance be paid to this Summons and that they return to the City of New York without further delay. …

“The Printers in the different States are requested to insert the above” (DNA:PCC, item 78). For published examples of Beatty’s notice, see The Connecticut Journal (New Haven), 24 Nov. 1779, and The Independent Ledger, and the American Advertiser (Boston), 27 Dec. 1779.