1. Capt. Johann Hinrichs, a jäger staff officer then on a ship awaiting departure for South Carolina, described this fleet in his diary upon reaching Sandy Hook, N.J., “toward noon” on 22 Dec. as “destined for England with invalids, etc., etc. This fleet put to sea the following morning with a splendid wind and under cover of six men-of-war” (Hinrichs, “Diary,” description begins “Diary of Captain Johann Hinrichs.” In The Siege of Charleston: With an Account of the Province of South Carolina: Diaries and Letters of Hessian Officers From the von Jungkenn Papers in the William L. Clements Library. Translated and edited by Bernhard A. Uhlendorf. Ann Arbor, Mich., 1938, pages 103–363. In University of Michigan Publications: History and Political Science, vol. 12. description ends 109; see also the entry for 23 Dec. in Ritchie, “New York Diary,” description begins Carson I. A. Ritchie, ed. “A New York Diary [British army officer’s journal] of the Revolutionary War.” New-York Historical Society Quarterly 50 (1966): 221–80, 401–46. description ends 446, and the entries for 22 and 23 Dec. in Burgoyne, Diaries of Two Ansbach Jaegers, description begins Bruce E. Burgoyne, ed. and trans. Diaries of two Ansbach Jaegers: Lieutenant Heinrich Carl Philipp von Feilitzsch and Lieutenant Christian Friedrich Bartholomai. Bowie, Md., 1997. description ends 71). The previous Friday was 17 December.

2. For reports of British forces preparing to depart from New York, see Anthony Wayne’s first letter to GW of 21 Dec., and n.1 to that document, and Wayne’s second letter to GW, same date, and n.2 to that document.

3. Lt. Gen. Wilhelm von Knyphausen commanded at New York City after Gen. Henry Clinton went with the expedition to Charleston, S.C. (see Wayne to GW, 26 Dec., source note).

4. New York City printer Hugh Gaine wrote in his diary entry for this date: “The British Fleet sails out of the Hook” (Ford, Journals of Hugh Gaine, description begins Paul Leicester Ford, ed. The Journals of Hugh Gaine, Printer. 1902. Reprint. [New York] 1970. description ends 2:73). British officer Archibald Robertson’s diary entry for the same date elaborates: “English Fleet sail’d and were out of sight by 4 in the Afternoon” (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 205; see also the entry for this date in Gruber, Peebles’ American War, description begins Ira D. Gruber, ed. John Peebles’ American War: The Diary of a Scottish Grenadier, 1776–1782. Mechanicsburg, Pa., 1998. description ends 317).

5. GW’s reply to Parsons, written at Morristown on this date, reads: “I am this moment favored with your letter of this date and its inclosure. It is very important, and I wish [to know] how soon we may be able to ascertain the truth of the several particulars. Should the officers you have mentioned take the command there is no doubt but the troops will be adequate to their station” (Df, in James McHenry’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW). The enclosure has not been identified.

For GW’s eagerness to confirm reports of a major British detachment from New York, see his letter to Samuel Huntington, 29 Nov., and n.1 to that document; see also Henry Lee, Jr., to GW, 30 Nov., n.4.