1. On 28 Aug. 1777 Congress, taking note that it was “certain and notorious” that “the society of people commonly called Quakers” were “with much rancour and bitterness, disaffected to the American cause” and that it would “be their inclination, to communicate intelligence to the enemy, and, in various other ways, to injure the councils and arms of America,” had “earnestly recommended” to the Pennsylvania supreme executive council that they “apprehend and secure the persons” of a number of leading Quakers, including Israel Pemberton, Jr. (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 , 8:694). The council responded by ordering arrests on 31 Aug., and when the prisoners were unwilling to give oaths of allegiance, the council, with the approval of Congress, sent them to Virginia in September 1777 (ibid., 707–8, 718–19, 722–23; Pa. Col. Records description begins Colonial Records of Pennsylvania. 16 vols. Harrisburg, 1840–53. description ends , 11:283–84, 286–90, 293–96). At this time the prisoners remained in Virginia, but Congress had resolved on 16 Mar. “That the Board of War be directed to deliver over to the order of the president and council of Pensylvania, the prisoners sent from that State to Virginia” (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 , 10:260). Finally, on 8 April the Pennsylvania council voted to send the prisoners to Shippensburg, Pa., and set them at liberty (Pa. Col. Records description begins Colonial Records of Pennsylvania. 16 vols. Harrisburg, 1840–53. description ends , 11:459–61). On 27 April they appeared before the council at Lancaster and were given passes to Pottsgrove, where they were to be discharged (ibid., 472–73). On 29 April, GW’s aide Tench Tilghman gave at least four of the men a pass to Philadelphia, where the former prisoners arrived on 30 April (Pa. Mag. description begins Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 139 vols. to date. 1877–. description ends , 39 [1915], 221; Samuel Pleasants to Timothy Matlack, 18 May, Pa. Archives description begins Samuel Hazard et al., eds. Pennsylvania Archives. 9 ser., 138 vols. Philadelphia and Harrisburg, 1852–1949. description ends , 6:524; and 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 , 167).

2. Thomas Gilpin (1728–1778), a Philadelphia merchant, Delaware farmer, and member of the American Philosophical Society, died at Winchester, Va., on 2 Mar., and by 20 Mar. reports of his death had reached Philadelphia. Elizabeth Drinker noted reports of illness among other prisoners in diary entries of 24 and 27 Mar. (Crane, Elizabeth Drinker Diary description begins Elaine Forman Crane et al., eds. The Diary of Elizabeth Drinker. 3 vols. Boston, 1991. description ends , 1:291–92).

3. GW replied to Pemberton on 5 April: “It would give me pleasure to oblige you, by granting the passport you desire; but as those for whose benefit it is intended are prisoners of the state, I do not think myself at liberty to do it. I shall however transmit your letter to Governor Wharton and interest myself for the success of its contents. I have no doubt an application of such a nature will meet with his most chearful concurrence” (Df, DLC:GW; see also GW to Thomas Wharton, Jr., 5 April).