1. Cook received his discharge from the 1st Connecticut Regiment at Newburgh, N.Y, on 15 June 1783.

2. Cook likely refers to the 1794 Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, which GW ratified on 14 Aug. 1795 (see Timothy Pickering to GW, 16 Aug. 1795, and n.4 to that document).

3. British and Hessian forces assaulted and captured Forts Clinton and Montgomery on 6 Oct. 1777. The forts were located along the Hudson River about five miles below West Point, N.Y. (see Israel Putnam to GW, 8 Oct. 1777 [first letter], and George Clinton to GW, 9 Oct. 1777, in Papers, Revolutionary War Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series. 25 vols. to date. Charlottesville, Va., 1985–. description ends 11:447–49, 453–59).

4. King’s Bridge, N.Y., located at the northern tip of Manhattan Island, connected the island to the mainland.

A statement given by Cook on 10 Oct. 1818 indicates that during the war he had been involved in “many verry severe skirmishes, the scenes of which were principally in the States of New-york and New-Jersey” (DNA: RG 15, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800–1900).

Several skirmishes took place in late 1777 and in the fall of 1778 in the vicinity of White Plains and King’s Bridge, Westchester County, New York. One example includes the fighting at Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. (see Charles Scott to GW, 30 Sept. 1778 [second letter], and GW to Nathanael Greene, 1 Oct. 1778, in Papers, Revolutionary War Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series. 25 vols. to date. Charlottesville, Va., 1985–. description ends 17:209–10, 214–15).

The Pennsylvania Ledger: or the Philadelphia Market-Day Advertiser for 7 Jan. 1778 printed an item dated 18 Dec. 1777 at Fishkill, N.Y., that described a skirmish near King’s Bridge between an enemy “party of rangers” and Col. Return Jonathan Meigs of the 6th Connecticut Regiment. The report counted six enemy troops among the killed or wounded, “and one or two made prisoners.” Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy Or, American Oracle of Liberty (Worcester) for 22 Oct. 1778 reported a skirmish between Col. Richard Butler, then commander of a light infantry corps made up of men from the Connecticut line, and “a party of the enemy near White Plains,” which resulted in the capture of about twenty enemy troops. For various other skirmishes and operations around King’s Bridge in 1778, see Martin, Private Yankee Doodle description begins Joseph Plumb Martin. Private Yankee Doodle: Being a Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier. Edited by George F. Scheer. 1962. Reprint. New York, 1968. description ends , 135–42.

5. A merchant and shipmaster in Milford, Conn., Charles Pond (1744–1832) served as captain in the 6th Connecticut Regiment from January 1777 to April 1779. He later received a commission as naval captain. After the war, Pond represented Milford for several years in the Connecticut legislature and served as director of the New Haven and Milford Turnpike Company in the nineteenth century.

6. Lloyd Neck is on the north shore of Long Island, New York.

Cook likely was caught in what was named the “Hessian Storm” of 25–27 Dec. 1778. The storm caused heavy snowfall along the coast of New England and the mid-Atlantic and cast ashore numerous ships (see William Maxwell to GW, 28 Dec. 1778, and n.1 to that document, in Papers, Revolutionary War Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series. 25 vols. to date. Charlottesville, Va., 1985–. description ends 18:522–23).

Gabriel George Ludlow (1736–1808) commanded the Queens County, N.Y., militia at the beginning of the Revolutionary War and was arrested as a suspected Loyalist in January 1776. After his release, Ludlow, with the rank of colonel, recruited and then commanded a battalion of Gen. Oliver De Lancey’s Loyalist brigade.

7. Elizabethtown Point, N.J., was just over two miles east of Elizabeth and across the Arthur Kill (the sound that divides Staten Island, N.Y., from New Jersey) from the northwestern corner of Staten Island.

8. Owned by Loyalist Col. Beverly Robinson, Robinson’s House, also known as Beverly, was an estate located a mile and a half below West Point, on the east bank of the Hudson River. Confiscated in 1779, the house served as headquarters for Continental generals commanding in the Highlands. Benedict Arnold was headquartered there when his treason was uncovered.

9. Brig. Gen. Anthony Wayne and his newly formed light infantry corps led a successful surprise assault on Stony Point, N.Y., on 15–16 July 1779. Following the American capture of Stony Point, the Continentals quickly withdrew from that post, and on 19 July, the British again reoccupied it (see GW to Anthony Wayne, 1 July 1779, and n.2 to that document, in Papers, Revolutionary War Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series. 25 vols. to date. Charlottesville, Va., 1985–. description ends 21:326–30).

About three miles north of Haverstraw, N.Y, Stony Point jutted out from the west bank of the Hudson River.

10. A forlorn hope refers to a “picked body of men, detached to the front to begin the attack’ (OED description begins James A. H. Murray et al., eds. The Oxford English Dictionary: Being a Corrected Re-Issue with an Introduction, Supplement, and Bibliography of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles. 12 vols. 1933. Reprint. Oxford, England, 1970. description ends ).

In a deposition dated 16 Nov. 1816, a deponent testified that Cook was “in the forlorn Hope at the taking of Stoney Point fort,” and that he was “Ruptured by A fall on A piece of Cannon When he gumped [jumped] down the Walls on the Ennemy” (DNA: RG 15, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800–1900).

11. In a certified statement addressed to a congressional committee of Revolutionary War claims, dated 28 Oct. 1814, a physician described Cook’s war wounds: “I … find he Was Wounded as follow, to Wit he Rec’d Seven Wounds in actual Service at the Storm of Stoney point he Rec’d a Wound which Caus’d a Rupter in his Side which is a great Detriment To Bodily exertion. also by a hess[i]an horsman he was Wounded in the top of his head in his thigh and hand which very much Disabled the hand So that he cannot use it much; also in the other thigh he receivd a Wound With a Bayonet in his Right ear with a musket ball also in his Leg With a musket Ball which Broke the main Bone of the Leg. he receivd a Wound in the Backpart of his head Which fractured the … Backpart of the Skull Bone” (DNA: RG 15, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800–1900). Another statement, dated 27 Nov. 1816, certified that the “extension tendons of the middle & ring fingers on the right hand have been divided, by a transverse cut … rendering that hand … half useless.” The deponent listed “a scrotal hernia” as one of Cook’s medical problems, in addition to a “scar on his thigh” caused by “the thrust of a bayonet.” In the 16 Nov. 1816 deposition (see n.10), the deponent testified that Cook had received a wound “by an Ennemy Near the White Plains” in 1781; that the injury was to “the back part of his hand;” and that Cook aggravated an earlier wound while “raising the huts at the Highland” in 1782 (both in DNA: RG 15, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800–1900).

12. Cook may have served in the 150-man corps, consisting of a detachment of guardsmen and troops under the command of Maj. Caleb Gibbs, which served to defend Springfield, N.J., against an offensive led by German lieutenant general Wilhelm von Knyphausen during the Battle of Connecticut Farms, 7–8 June 1780. Gibbs’s detachment was assigned to Maj. Gen. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben’s advance corps on 9 June 1780 (see Battle of Connecticut Farms, 7–8 June 1780, editorial note, in Papers, Revolutionary War Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series. 25 vols. to date. Charlottesville, Va., 1985–. description ends 26:339–47). For the Battle of Springfield, 23–24 June 1780, see Papers, Revolutionary War Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series. 25 vols. to date. Charlottesville, Va., 1985–. description ends 26:514–20).

Lt. John Armstrong served in Steuben’s advance corps and was involved in routing an attempt made on the corps by British cavalry (see Steuben to GW, 15 June 1780, and n.1 to that document, in Papers, Revolutionary War Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series. 25 vols. to date. Charlottesville, Va., 1985–. description ends 26:428).

The term “fox hall” refers to Vauxhall Road, which stretched from Elizabeth, N.J., to the Hobart Gap in the Watchung Mountains. The road crossed the Rahway River at Vauxhall, a village just over one mile from Springfield. For the action in that area during the Battle of Springfield in June 1780, see Papers, Revolutionary War Series description begins W. W. Abbot et al., eds. The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series. 25 vols. to date. Charlottesville, Va., 1985–. description ends 26:522–23, 529–32.

13. Service record summaries for June through November 1782 list Cook as “Sick [in] Conn[ecticu]t” (DNA: RG 93, Compiled Service Records of Soldiers who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War).

14. The German unit of jägers generally consisted of light infantry armed with short rifles and dressed in green uniform. Jägers were typically skilled marksmen, and some were mounted. For the injuries that Cook sustained from encounters with jägers, see n.11.

15. Cook may refer to a skirmish that took place in July 1781, not 1782, in which Capt. Carl von Rau of the Jäger Corps was killed. Von Rau died on 3 July 1781 after receiving a wound while on patrol near Rev. Luke Babcock’s widow’s house, located about five miles below Dobbs Ferry in Westchester County. The skirmish involved militia but may also have seen the participation of Connecticut regiments, including Cook’s, that were stationed near Dobbs Ferry in July 1781 (see 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 , 448–49; see also Diaries description begins Donald Jackson and Dorothy Twohig, eds. The Diaries of George Washington. 6 vols. Charlottesville, Va., 1976–79. description ends , 3:406–7; and Lesser, Sinews of Independence description begins Charles H. Lesser, ed. The Sinews of Independence: Monthly Strength Reports of the Continental Army. Chicago, 1976. description ends , 206).

16. Cook likely refers to Bergen, N.J., located about 1½ miles northwest of the British fortified post at Paulus Hook, New Jersey.

In a petition to Congress, written on 5 Dec. 1822 from Perry County, Ohio, Cook reported that he had been a “Captive in the New city hall at New york at an allowence of half A pint of damaged horse Meal per day and two Ounces of pork” (DNA: RG 15, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800–1900).

17. In the summer of 1780, the Continentals began construction on a blockhouse near Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., an important crossing on the Hudson River, about fifteen miles below King’s Ferry. Designed to be made of wood and stone and located on the heights of the Palisades, the blockhouse was completed in late September 1780 and contained a battery of 18-pounders and several howitzers. A battery of three guns also was nearby (see Roberts, New York’s Forts description begins Robert B. Roberts. New York’s Forts in the Revolution. Rutherford, N.J., 1980. description ends , 190–92).

18. In a letter of 17 Oct. 1801 to President Thomas Jefferson, Cook explained that John Sherman, paymaster for Cook’s regiment, had “fled from the Country with Eighteen thousand dollars belonging to the Connecticut line with about three Hundred Dollars which belonged to Me” (Jefferson Papers description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 41 vols. to date. Princeton, N.J., 1950–. description ends , 35:455–57). John’s father, Roger Sherman, bailed out his son after learning that he had embezzled the regiment’s final settlement certificates (see DHFC description begins Linda Grant De Pauw et al., eds. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, March 4, 1789-March 3, 1791. 20 vols. to date. Baltimore, 1972–. description ends , 20:2718).

19. GW evidently did not reply to Cook; in his 17 Oct. 1801 letter to Jefferson, Cook wrote: “I have laid this Matter Before Jenl. Washington the year before he Resind his Presedency he did not think proper to answer me on the subgeckt.”

The “Act concerning invalid pensioners,” passed by Congress on 3 March 1817, directed that Cook’s name be included “on the pension list of invalid pensioners of the United States.” The law allowed Cook a pension “at the rate” of $4 “per month, to commence” on 27 Nov. 1816 (6 Stat. description begins Richard Peters, ed. The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845 . . .. 8 vols. Boston, 1845-67. description ends 189–91). Cook later applied for an increase in his pension (see, for example, Cook to Smith Thompson, 20 June 1823, in DNA: RG 15, Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800–1900).