1. The letter from Maj. Gen. William Phillips to St. Clair dated 29 March has not been identified, but his letter to St. Clair written at Perth Amboy, N.J., on 22 March reads: “Having had very much at heart, for a long time, the situation of Major Harnage and Captain Hawker, of the Sixty-second British Regiment, belonging to the troops of Convention, the former of whom has a family, I am to request the favor of your interposition with General Washington that these officers may be allowed the liberty of going immediately upon their paroles to New York. . . . .

“It becomes necessary for me in this public letter, to give the same fair and honorable discription, as I hope I have done in every part relating to our commission, of what respects Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton.

“Unacquainted with what rank he might hold in the army, and uncertain whether he derived any military rank from being Lieutenant-Governor of Detroit, I wrote to those persons and characters at New York who have a right to govern me in my transactions relating to that gentleman, and if his exchange had fortunately become a matter for our decision, I should have been fully competent to decide of what value he might be estimated in the tariff we have used in our calculations on this subject; but that being out of the question, I now offer, from motives of humanity on my part (which I have no doubt will govern you in your report of this matter to General Washington), that if Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton, Major [Jehu] Hay, Captain La Motte [La Mothe], and Mr. Justice [Philip Dejean be sent in upon their paroles to New York, Colonel [George] Mathews, an American prisoner of war on Long Island, shall be admitted to go out on parole for them. It is to be understood, at the same time, that this does not determine or bear on the question of rank, but that we are acting merely from motives of compassion to suffering individuals, in endeavoring to afford them, although not exchanged, the comfort of being with their respective friends. Should I, by accident, have omitted the name or description of any person capitulated for by Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton, and with him a prisoner of war, I request, through your interposition, the favor of General Washington’s consideration for such person or persons, that they may be permitted to go into New York upon parole, and I give my full assurance that adequate ranks from the American prisoners of war shall be sent out for them.

“I will not tire you with a recapitulation upon paper of the various conversations we have had on the subject of exchanges of prisoners of war, the troops of Convention being entirely out of the question, more than to assure you that I believe whenever his Excellency, General Washington, will permit it, the American officers, prisoners of war, violators of parole, to be admitted into an immediate exchange (provided only they can not be sent into New York), that a general exchange of the prisoners of war on both sides might take place” (Smith, St. Clair Papers description begins William Henry Smith, ed. The St. Clair Papers. The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair: Soldier of the Revolutionary War; President of the Continental Congress; and Governor of the North-Western Territory with his Correspondence and other Papers. 2 vols. Cincinnati, 1882. description ends , 1:509–10; see also notes 2, 3, and 7 below; the second letter from the Commissioners for the Exchange of Prisoners to GW, 26 March, and the source note to that document; and GW to Samuel Huntington, 31 March, and the source note to that document).

2. GW had contended with parole requests involving Maj. Henry Harnage and Capt. Erle Hawker since spring 1779 (see Harnage to GW, 27 March 1779; see also n.7 below).

In a letter written at Cambridge, Mass., on 21 April 1780, Harnage informed Maj. Gen. William Heath, then at Roxbury, Mass.: “Having through the indulgence of His Excellency General Washington obtain’d our Parole to New york, we cannot leave this without assuring you that we shall ever retain a most grateful sense of the favor, and attention, you have shewn this family! …

“We expect to leave this about the end of next Week!” (MHi: Heath Papers; see also Heath to Harnage, same date, and Harnage to Heath, 22 April, MHi: Heath Papers).

3. The treatment of Henry Hamilton, former British lieutenant governor of Detroit captured at Vincennes in February 1779, had prompted correspondence between GW and Virginia governor Thomas Jefferson (see GW to Jefferson, 10 July, 6–10 Aug., 13 Sept., and 23 Nov.; Jefferson to GW, 19 June, 17 July, and the enclosure printed with that document, 1, 2, and 8 Oct., and 28 Nov.; see also Daniel Brodhead to GW, 29 May, and n.1 to that document, and GW to Robert Howe, 22 Sept.). For the other prisoners held with Hamilton, see n.1 above; see also n.7 below.

4. The proposed exchange involved New Jersey militia officer Nathaniel Fitz-Randolph, Lt. Peregrine Fitzhugh, and two members of the Convention Army: Lt. James Sandilands, 9th Lord Torphichen, and Lt. James Murray Hadden (see n.7 below).

GW wrote Fitzhugh from Morristown on 5 April: “Since you left Camp, Genl Phillips has sollicited the parole of Exchange of two Officers of the Convention for Mr Randolph and you. I could not, consistent with the practice I have uniformly observed of giving a preference, whether for parole or final exchanges, to those who have been longest in captivity, consent to this proposal, so far as it respected you, in its full extent—But I have desired that Genl Phillips may be informed that the Officers required by him shall be sent in—that Mr Randolph and you shall remain out for a limited time—and that upon your return the two oldest prisoners of ours of equal Ranks shall be allowed to come out—I have limited your times to the 15th July next—This I conceived the best method of giving you an oppertunity of remaining somewhat longer with your friends, without materially injuring the rights of your Brother prisoners. Inclosed is the parole required of you by the British Commy of Prisoners. You will be pleased to sign one Copy and forward it to me, that it may be transmitted to New York” (Df, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW; see also William Fitzhugh to GW, 23 April). The enclosed parole has not been identified.

James Sandilands, 9th Lord Torphichen (1759–1815), served as a lieutenant in the 21st Regiment of Foot and surrendered with Gen. John Burgoyne on 17 Oct. 1777. After his exchange, Sandilands joined the 24th Regiment of Foot in 1781. He eventually attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the British army and retired from the service in 1795.

James Murray Hadden (d. 1817), son of a Royal Marine and educated at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, became a 2d lieutenant in the Royal Regiment of Artillery in January 1774. Following service in Europe, he sailed to Canada, joined Burgoyne’s command as part of a small artillery detachment, and was taken prisoner upon its surrender. After his exchange, Hadden rejoined the British artillery, made the army his career, and retired as major general. For details on Hadden’s military positions, see Hadden’s Journal description begins Horatio Rogers, ed. Hadden’s Journal and Orderly Books. A Journal Kept in Canada and Upon Burgoyne’s Campaign in 1776 and 1777, by Lieut. James M. Hadden, Roy. Art. also Orders kept by him and issued by Sir Guy Carleton, Lieut. General John Burgoyne and Major General William Phillips, in 1776, 1777 and 1778. Albany, 1884. description ends , xli–xlvi.

5. See GW to John Beatty, 4 April. Matters addressed in the three previous paragraphs presumably were raised in the unidentified letter of 29 March from Phillips to St. Clair (see n.1 above and n.7 below).

6. The draft of the passport that GW issued at Morristown on this date to Lt. Thomas Bibby, an aide to Phillips, reads: “Lieutenant Bibby of the Convention Troops has permission to proceed from New York to South Carolina by Water with dispatches from Major General Phillips to His Excellency Sir Henry Clinton, on the subject of the late Meeting of the British and American Commissioners at Amboy, for the purpose of negotiating a Cartel and general Exchange of prisoners[.] He is to return again by Water to New York: But the permission hereby granted to Lieut. Bibby is meant to extend to his personal security only, and not to operate as a passport for the Vessel in which he may go or return, so as to exempt her, her Cargo and Crew from being lawfully captured” (Df, in Tench Tilghman’s writing, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW; see also n.7 below).

7. Noting that the letter from Phillips dated 29 March only arrived on 2 April (see n.1 above), St. Clair replied to Phillips from Jockey Hollow, N.J., on 3 April: “I am happy to inform you that the American Commissary of Prisoners has received General Washington’s orders to signify to Major Harnage and Captain Hawker that they have his permission to go to New York on parole, as their situation will thereby be rendered less irksome to themselves, and it will afford some gratification to you.

“The General can not accede to the proposal respecting Governor Hamilton, and the gentleman included with him, in the capitulation with Colonel [George Rogers] Clarke. Although their release would have been considered in a general exchange, he does not think himself at liberty to make them the objects of a particular parole exchange, as they are claimed as prisoners by the State of Virginia; besides, the return on your part appears to him unequal.

“It was extremely obliging in you to interest yourself in favor of Mr. Randolph and Mr. Fitzhugh. His Excellency will give the necessary orders that Lord Torphicen and Lieutenant Hudson [Hadden] may go into New York on parole, and will consider these gentlemen as opposed to them for the present, but he chooses to limit the stay of Mr. Randolph and Mr. Fitzhugh to a certain period; and it is expected that when they return to New York (if the British officers should not be recalled), that two other American officers of the same rank with Lord Torphicen and Mr. Hadden, and the oldest in captivity, will be immediately liberated on the same conditions.

“It did not occur to me that the stipulation with respect to Chaplains had not been signed by the respective Commissaries of Prisoners, but it was fully understood, and Mr. Beatty has now orders to interchange with the British Commissary a certificate that the Chaplains belonging to either army, when taken, are not to be considered as prisoners of war, but are to be immediately released. If the persons agreed to be exchanged at Amboy, and opposed to the Americans who have been sent to Elizabethtown in consequence, are not yet sent on, he will again have orders to return them with all possible dispatch.

“Inclosed is a passport for Mr. Bibby. …

“P.S.—I forgot to mention that I think there is little reason to expect any change with respect to those who have broken their paroles. All of them that can be come at will certainly be sent in; but I believe General Washington will never be brought to give them a preference in exchange, which he can not help considering as annexing a reward to a perfidious breach of honor” (Smith, St. Clair Papers description begins William Henry Smith, ed. The St. Clair Papers. The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair: Soldier of the Revolutionary War; President of the Continental Congress; and Governor of the North-Western Territory with his Correspondence and other Papers. 2 vols. Cincinnati, 1882. description ends , 1:511–12; see also all the above notes).

Phillips replied to St. Clair from New York City on 8 April: “I yesterday received your letter dated the 3d inst. … The Passport for Mr. Bibby came too late by forty-eight hours, but I shall, however, send him to Sir Henry Clinton by the first opportunity of a ship’s sailing to the southward. …

“The paragraph of your letter relating to Messrs. Randolph and Fitzhugh’s returning, and for other officers being, then, sent out, is very reasonable, and there can be no doubt about it. I am sorry there appears no likelihood of a present exchange of officers, prisoners of war; for, you may depend upon it that, until the violators of parole are accounted for on your part, no other American officers, prisoners of war, will be exchanged. … I have no doubt of all the proceedings between the Commissaries of Prisoners, under our direction at Amboy, being carried into execution, and I request you will make my compliment of thanks to General Washington for his indulgence to Major Harnage and Captain Hawker” (Smith, St. Clair Papers description begins William Henry Smith, ed. The St. Clair Papers. The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair: Soldier of the Revolutionary War; President of the Continental Congress; and Governor of the North-Western Territory with his Correspondence and other Papers. 2 vols. Cincinnati, 1882. description ends , 1:512–14).

Acknowledging a second letter from Phillips dated 8 April, which has not been identified, St. Clair again wrote Phillips from Jockey Hollow on 15 April: “I have been favored with both your letters of the 8th inst., and am very sorry that the passport for Mr. Bibby did not arrive in time. It was sent as soon as possible after the receipt of your former letter. However, from the delay, he may be able to carry with him the result of our conversations, with the intentions of Congress thereupon, which you will be made acquainted with as soon as they are known to the General.

“It gives me great pain that the exchange of those persons who have violated their paroles should, in the first instance, be so strenuously insisted on, as I see but little probability of the proposal that has been made respecting them, on our part, being receded from. …

“I took the earliest opportunity to present your thanks to General Washington respecting Major Harnage and Captain Hawker, and to mention Mr. Pausch to him.

“He very readily consented to Mr. Pausch’s going into New York on parole, on account of the relation in which he stands to his Excellency, General Knyphaussen; but he does not approve of Mr. Williamson’s being opposed to him. For the present, however, Mr. Williamson will not be ordered back; but, he thinks, when particular characters are wanted, on one part or the other, out of the general line of exchanges, there should be previous notice and agreement between the Commissaries.

“I find myself extremely happy in your correspondence, both from the humane purpose of it, and the great respect I bear you personally, and have to regret that it must for some time be interrupted, as I am this day setting out on a visit to my family” (Smith, St. Clair Papers description begins William Henry Smith, ed. The St. Clair Papers. The Life and Public Services of Arthur St. Clair: Soldier of the Revolutionary War; President of the Continental Congress; and Governor of the North-Western Territory with his Correspondence and other Papers. 2 vols. Cincinnati, 1882. description ends , 1:514–15). GW opposed an exchange involving Convention Army prisoner George Pausch, an artillery officer, and Maj. Matthias Williamson, Jr., an assistant quartermaster general captured during a raid on Elizabeth, N.J., in January (see Stone, Pausch description begins William L. Stone, trans. and ed. Journal of Captain Pausch, Chief of the Hanau Artillery during the Burgoyne Campaign. Albany, 1886. description ends , especially iii–vii, 17–18, and Moses Hazen’s third letter to GW, 26 Jan.).