1. Congress had read letters on 21 March from Col. James Wood and Lieutenant Colonel Dubuysson to Huntington and ordered them “referred to the Commander in Chief” (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 , 19:289–90).

The enclosed letter from Wood, written at Philadelphia on 21 March, reads: “Lieutenant Colonel Hill of the Convention Army, who has been in an Exceeding bad State of Health for Sometime past, has requested of me, that I wou’d make an Application to Congress for his Parole to go to Bath in England; it being recommended by the Faculty as the Only probable means of restoring his Health” (DLC:GW).

John Hill (1727–1796) ascended British ranks to become a major in 1765. He served as lieutenant colonel in the 9th Regiment of Foot beginning in 1775 and was captured at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. GW facilitated his parole to New York City in June 1781 (see GW to the Board of War, 21 June, DLC:GW). Hill rose to colonel in 1782 after returning to England, where he became aide-de-camp to King George III.

The enclosed letter from Dubuysson, written at Philadelphia on 20 March, reads: “Col. Wood who has Charge of the Convention Troops in Maryland, informs me that Lt. Col. Hill of the 9th British Regt has petitioned Congress for Leave to go to bath in England for the recovery of his Health, which is in a very bad State.

“If Congress are pleased to grant Col. Hill his Parole (as my Case is similar) I should be happy if he had Permission to go to New York & then to Europe provided he obtain Genl Clintons leave for me to go to France, & that Col. Wood may receive the necessary Instructions therupon” (DLC:GW).

2. For Dubuysson’s wounding and experiences as a prisoner, see his letter to GW dated 2 Sept. 1780, and the notes to that document. See also GW to Huntington, 29 Oct.; Lafayette to GW, 13 Dec.; and GW to Dubuysson, 1 Feb. 1781.

3. GW wrote Huntington two letters on 1 March. One pertains to a petition from Col. Moses Hazen. The other concerns a letter from Connecticut governor Jonathan Trumbull, Sr., addressed to GW but intended for Huntington, who wrote Trumbull from Philadelphia on 24 March that “I have been honored with your Excellency’s Letter of the 26th of February through Genl Washington. The Letter, by an accidental Mistake of your Secretary, being in the Superscription addressed to the General & by him on discovering the Mistake forwarded to me” (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 , 17:85; see GW’s second letter to Huntington dated 1 March, and n.1 to that document).

GW had returned from visiting Rhode Island (see GW to Alexander Hamilton, 7 March, source note, and to Rochambeau, 16 March, n.1; see also GW to Huntington, 21 March).

4. The enclosed extract of a letter Virginia commodore James Barron wrote Virginia governor Thomas Jefferson from Hampton, Va., on 20 March is filed in DLC:GW with a nearly identical document that Jefferson sent GW (see Jefferson to GW, 21 March, and n.1 to that document).

James Barron (1740–1787) captained a merchant vessel before the war and began raiding British shipping as a Virginia militia captain in 1775. He became commodore in Virginia’s navy in July 1780 and served until his death.

The enclosed extract of Jefferson’s letter to Huntington written at Richmond on 21 March is nearly the same as Jefferson to GW, same date (see DLC:GW; see also Jefferson Papers description begins Julian P. Boyd et al., eds. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. 45 vols. to date. Princeton, N.J., 1950–. description ends , 5:198–99).

5. For this letter on the Battle of Cape Henry, see La Luzerne to GW, 27 March; see also Destouches to GW, 19 March, and the source note to that document.