1. These nine soldiers were among the one hundred men who had been transferred to the Commander in Chief’s Guard from various regiments at Valley Forge in March 1778 (see General Orders, 17, 18 Mar. 1778). Henry Desperate (Desperett, Despert) had enlisted in the 5th Pennsylvania Regiment in January 1776. Captured at Fort Washington, N.Y., on 16 Nov. 1776 and exchanged a short time later, he had reenlisted for the duration of the war in February 1777 in the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment, from which he had transferred to GW’s guard. Desperate deserted at Philadelphia in March 1782. Daniel Thompson (1754–1835) had transferred to GW’s guard from the 2d New York Regiment, in which he had enlisted for three years in April 1777. Thompson was discharged at Morristown, N.J., in April 1780. John Kidder (1752–1835), who had served in Col. John Fellows’s Massachusetts Regiment in 1775 and the 8th Continental Regiment in 1776, had enlisted for three years in July 1777 in the 13th Massachusetts Regiment, from which he had transferred to GW’s guard. Furloughed for fifteen days at West Point on 31 Aug. 1779, Kidder deserted the following month. John Cole had served in Col. Samuel Drake’s regiment of New York militia levies during 1776 and had enlisted for the war in May 1777 in Col. Oliver Spencer’s Additional Continental Regiment, from which he had transferred to GW’s guard. Cole was furloughed at Newburgh, N.Y., in June 1783, and he was discharged the following November. Asa Adams had transferred to GW’s guard from the 7th Connecticut Regiment, in which he had enlisted for three years in May 1777. Adams was discharged at Morristown, N.J., in May 1780. Samuel Wortman had transferred to GW’s guard from the 1st New Jersey Regiment, in which he had enlisted for one year in November 1775 and had reenlisted for the war in December 1776. Promoted to third corporal in July 1781 and second corporal in April 1782, Wortman was reduced to the ranks in November 1782, and in March 1783 he transferred to the New Jersey Regiment. Wortman was furloughed at New Windsor, N.Y., in June 1783, and he was discharged the following November. Jonathan Moore (More; 1754–1853), a tailor who had served in the 1st New York Regiment during the last half of 1775, had enlisted for one year in the 3d New Jersey Regiment in April 1776 and had reenlisted in that regiment for the war in January 1777. Moore served in GW’s guard from the time of his transfer to it in March 1778 until June 1783, when he was furloughed at Newburgh, New York. He was discharged in November 1783 and later moved to Ohio and then to Indiana. Davis Brown (b. 1756) had enlisted in March 1777 for three years in the 2d Rhode Island Regiment, from which he had transferred to GW’s guard. Promoted to second corporal in June 1780, fourth sergeant in July 1781, and third sergeant in February 1783, Brown was furloughed at Newburgh, N.Y., in June 1783, and he was discharged the following November. Edward Wiley had transferred to GW’s guard from the 2d New York Regiment, in which he had enlisted for the war in January 1777. Absent in June 1778 and sick in July 1778, Wiley was sick again at the Quaker Hill, N.Y., hospital from 6 Nov. 1778 to 1 Jan. 1779. He was furloughed at Newburgh, N.Y., in June 1783, and he was discharged the following November.

2. Thomas Piper (1756–1787) of Gilmanton, N.H., had enlisted for three years in May 1777 in the 3d New Hampshire Regiment, from which he had transferred to GW’s guard at Valley Forge in March 1778. Furloughed for sixty days on 1 Nov. 1779, Piper deserted on 1 April 1780.

3. This article said that any officer or soldier who was convicted of leaving “his post or colors to go in search of plunder” should “suffer death, or such other punishment as by a court-martial shall be inflicted” (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 , 5:799). Hate-evil (Hatevil) Colson (Colston) of the 6th Massachusetts Regiment applied for a military pension in Hancock County, Maine, in 1819, and he was living at Frankfort, Maine, without any family two years later when he was declared insane.

4. This catchall article covered “All crimes not capital, and all disorders and neglects which officers and soldiers may be guilty of, to the prejudice of good order and military discipline” that were not mentioned in the other articles of war (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 , 5:807). Joseph Timberlake (1752–1841) of Louisa County, Va., who had enlisted for three years in the 7th Virginia Regiment in February 1776 and had transferred to GW’s guard in May 1777, reenlisted in the guard in January 1779. Promoted to sergeant and furloughed in June 1783, he was discharged the following November.

5. The orderly book of Brig. Gen. Henry Knox’s artillery brigade for 23 July–31 Dec. 1778 includes the words “of his Excellency’s Guard” at this place in the general orders of this date (NHi).

6. Five of these eight men—Roach, Smith, Palmer, Flemister, and Jones—had transferred to the Commander in Chief’s Guard from various regiments at Morristown, N.J., in May 1777, and the other three—Forbes, Townsend, and Perry—had transferred to it at Valley Forge in March 1778 (see General Orders, 6 May 1777, and 17, 18 Mar. 1778). William Roach had transferred to GW’s guard in May 1777 from the 3d Virginia Regiment, in which he had enlisted as a private for three years in March 1776. Roach had been promoted to second corporal in the guard on 1 April 1778, first corporal on 2 Aug. 1778, and sixth sergeant on 1 Sept. 1778, and he continued to be promoted over the next several months until he became first sergeant in March 1780. Roach remained on the rolls of the guard until at least January 1781. Joshua Forbes had enlisted for three years in the 7th North Carolina Regiment in December 1776, and he had moved the following spring to the 1st North Carolina Regiment, from which he transferred to GW’s guard in March 1778. Forbes had been promoted to fourth corporal in the guard on 1 Sept. 1778. He was discharged at Morristown, N.J., in December 1779. John Smith had transferred to GW’s guard in May 1777 from the Virginia line, in which he had enlisted for three years in August 1776. Although Smith reenlisted in January 1779, his failure to return from his one-hundred-day reenlistment leave the following April made him a deserter. Solomon Townsend, who had enlisted for the duration of the war in the 10th Pennsylvania Regiment in March 1777 and had transferred to GW’s guard in March 1778, was sick at the Quaker Hill, N.Y., hospital from 26 Nov. 1778 to 1 Jan. 1779 and at the Fishkill hospital from 1 Jan. to 31 Mar. 1779. He remained on the rolls of the guard until at least April 1781. William Palmer had enlisted for three years in January 1777 in the 15th Virginia Regiment, from which he transferred to GW’s guard in May 1777. He was discharged at Morristown, N.J., in January 1780. Lewis Flemister had transferred to GW’s guard in May 1777 from the 7th Virginia Regiment, in which he had enlisted for three years in February 1777. Promoted to sergeant and furloughed in June 1783, Flemister was discharged the following November. He subsequently moved from Virginia to Georgia. Henry Perry (1755–1816), who had enlisted for three years in the 7th Virginia Regiment in January 1777 and had transferred to GW’s guard in March 1778, was discharged at Morristown, N.J., in January 1780. William Jones had transferred to GW’s guard in May 1777 from the Virginia line, in which he had enlisted for three years in August 1776. Jones reenlisted in January 1779. He was in a hospital in January 1782, and he was discharged at Philadelphia the following March.

7. These six soldiers had enlisted for the duration of the war in August 1777 in Capt. Tilghman Dixon’s company in the 1st North Carolina Regiment, and at this time Capt. James Read was their company commander. Jesse Goldsmith served as both a fifer and a private, and in 1790 his heirs received a military warrant for 640 acres of land, based on his seven years of service. Gibbs Lamb was promoted to corporal in April 1782, and he later qualified for a military pension. William York (c.1758–1830) later received a military warrant for 533 acres, based on five years of service. He eventually moved to Georgia. John Eldridge apparently was John Ethridge (Etheridge, Etherige), who had enlisted for the war in Capt. Tilghman Dixon’s company in 1777 and who later received a military warrant for 640 acres, based on seven years of service. For Sgt. Thomas Glover’s execution on 24 Oct., see note 9.

8. Elijah Fisher, who served as a private in GW’s guard, writes in his diary entry for 6 Oct. that on returning from leave and rejoining the guard, he found “an alteration in the Dress of my mates I asked one of them J[ohn] Herrick it seams as though there had been a alteration since I have been gon. He said that he had that Money sent to him that he sent for (Now I know that he had sent for som Money from his father) I said that I was glad off it for I hoped that we should not be so putout for money to bye things with now and that you will be able to pay me that trifill you owe me (Sixteen Dollars) he said he hoped he should. Presently in comes one or two more I said have you had money sent you from home too I fear that you have taken some other way to git it than that; then Herrick said that as J[ohn] Herrin [Hurring] was out after things for the General’s famely (now Herrin was one that was sent after to bye things for the General’s Famely and he had a horse and a pass to go where he Could git such things as was wanted for the General’s Famely) he Come to an old Tory’s house and they would not Let him have any thing and he see several things that he wanted so when he Come home he gos to his messmates and tales them and they gos and robed him of several things. I said that Whether he be a tory or not If it should be found out (which such things as Robery seldim is) some or all of you will be hung which surprised them Vary much but there was no more heard about it” (Godfrey, Commander-in-Chief’s Guard description begins Carlos E. Godfrey. The Commander-in-Chief’s Guard: Revolutionary War. Washington, D.C., 1904. description ends , 282–83).

In his diary entry for 18 Oct., however, Fisher says that the victim, Prince Howland, complained about the incident and identified the men who had robbed him as wearing round hats “with a peace of Bare skin” on them, the kind of hats that were worn only by GW’s guards. An investigation was immediately launched by the officers of the guard. John Herrick, Moses Walton, and Elias Brown were arrested on 18 Oct., and John Hurring, who had been absent from camp, was arrested on his return the next day (Godfrey, Commander-in-Chief’s Guard description begins Carlos E. Godfrey. The Commander-in-Chief’s Guard: Revolutionary War. Washington, D.C., 1904. description ends , 284–85).

On examination, Herrick said that on the night of the robbery he had been “loth to go[.] after they had set out and gon a little way he would fane have had them gon back but they told him that if he did not go that they would Despach him for they would not have him Enform against them so he was obliged to go so he turned States Evedence aga[i]nst the others so after Examination was found gilty and what things that Could be found that they had not Desposed of was Restored to them again that they belonged too and where they had Payd any Dets they was obliged to Restore it to them again and they to the ones they got it from, then the Same Day they was all sent to the purvey guard.” Their trial occurred on 22 Oct. (Godfrey, Commander-in-Chief’s Guard description begins Carlos E. Godfrey. The Commander-in-Chief’s Guard: Revolutionary War. Washington, D.C., 1904. description ends , 285–86).

John Hurring (Herring) of Nantucket, Mass., had enlisted for one year in the 6th Continental Regiment in January 1776, and a year later he had reenlisted for the duration of the war in the 1st Massachusetts Regiment, from which he had transferred to GW’s guard in March 1778. Moses Walton of Westfield, Mass., had enlisted for the war in January 1777 in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment, from which he had transferred to GW’s guard in March 1778. Elias Brown (1758–1843), a farmer from Windsor, Conn., who had enlisted for the war as a fifer in the 5th Connecticut Regiment in April 1777, had transferred to GW’s guard at White Plains, N.Y., on 1 Aug. 1778. Walton and Brown escaped before they could be executed (see note 9), and Brown, after working for several months “as a mechanick in the service of the United States, remote from the army & unknown,” was pardoned by GW in the spring of 1779 at the request of his father, Ephraim Brown of Windsor, Conn. (see Ephraim Brown to GW, 15 May 1779, DLC:GW). Rejoining the 6th Connecticut Regiment, Elias Brown was promoted to fife major in September 1781. He was furloughed at New Windsor, N.Y., in June 1783, and he was discharged the following November. John Herrick of Brookfield, Mass., had enlisted for the war in January 1777 in the 4th Massachusetts Regiment, and he had transferred to GW’s guard in March 1778. Herrick was listed as sick in a hospital on 31 Oct. 1778, and he was a patient at the Quaker Hill, N.Y., hospital from 26 Nov. 1778 to 1 Jan. 1779 and at the Fishkill hospital from 1 Jan. to 31 Mar. 1779. Promoted to fourth corporal in April 1782, third corporal in October 1782, and second corporal in March 1783, Herrick was furloughed at Newburgh, N.Y., in June 1783, and he was discharged the following November.

9. Elijah Fisher says in his diary entry for 22 Oct. that “Walton made his escape from the purvey gard and Herrin was hung at Fishkills and Brown made his escape from the gard that was sent to gard him to the Place of Execusion to New Millford to the part of the army that lay there. Herrick was Carried to Fredrixburg and had a hundred Lashes” (Godfrey, Commander-in-Chief’s Guard description begins Carlos E. Godfrey. The Commander-in-Chief’s Guard: Revolutionary War. Washington, D.C., 1904. description ends , 286; for Elias Brown’s escape, see also Alexander McDougall to GW, 3 Nov.).

In his diary entry for 24 Oct., Fisher says: “The Gard Marcht down to Fredrixburg to see a man hung for Robing he was Executed at Eleven in the fournoon Thomas Glover by Name and there was five Whipt one hundred Lashes apeace all save one for Robing two of them belonged to the Gard Viz. John Harrick and Joseph Timberlek was for striking an offiser” (Godfrey, Commander-in-Chief’s Guard description begins Carlos E. Godfrey. The Commander-in-Chief’s Guard: Revolutionary War. Washington, D.C., 1904. description ends , 286).

10. For the trials of David Farnsworth and John Blair, see Horatio Gates to GW, 9 Oct., and note 1 to that document, and GW to Gates, 10 Oct.; see also GW to Alexander McWhorter, 12 October. They were executed at Hartford on 3 November.