1. GW apparently is referring to the intelligence contained in the letter from Henry Hollingsworth to John McKinly that he enclosed in his second letter to Hancock of this date. Howe’s army, which consisted of about seventeen thousand British and German troops including artillerymen, landed in five debarkations on 25 and 26 Aug. at Elk Ferry about six miles downstream from the head of navigation on the Elk River, which is near present-day Elkton, Maryland. The first debarkation, which consisted of light infantry, British grenadiers, and Hessian and Anspach foot jägers, landed about ten o’clock on the morning of 25 August. General Howe, his aide-de-camp Capt. Friedrich von Muenchhausen says in his diary entry for that date, “advanced with the jaegers and light infantry for three miles and then made a halt. We found almost all houses deserted, except that some women and children were left behind” (Muenchhausen, At General Howe’s Side description begins Friedrich von Muenchhausen. At General Howe’s Side, 1776–1778: The Diary of General William Howe’s Aide de Camp, Captain Friedrich von Muenchhausen. Translated by Ernst Kipping. Annotated by Samuel Smith. Monmouth Beach, N.J., 1974. description ends , 26; see also André, Journal description begins John André. Major André’s Journal: Operations of the British Army under Lieutenant Generals Sir William Howe and Sir Henry Clinton, June 1777 to November 1778. 1930. Reprint. New York, 1968. description ends , 36–37; Scull, Montresor Journals description begins G. D. Scull, ed. The Montresor Journals. New York, 1882. In Collections of the New-York Historical Society, vol. 14. description ends , 442; Lydenberg, Robertson Diaries description begins Harry Miller Lydenberg, ed. Archibald Robertson, Lieutenant-General Royal Engineers: His Diaries and Sketches in America, 1762–1780. New York, 1930. description ends , 142–43; 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 , 99; and Ewald, Diary description begins Johann Ewald. Diary of the American War: A Hessian Journal. Translated and edited by Joseph P. Tustin. New Haven and London, 1979. description ends , 74–75).