Janr 5th [1776] arrived at Portsmouth 2 & at Eight in the Evening Captn Meadows and I sett out for London in a post chaise with Captn Harris a Horse back. 3
Janr 6th nine in the morning arrivd at London; went immediately to General Gages where I spent the day. After dinner when the Ladies retir'd He surprizd me with somewhat very unexpected. 4
1. Thomas Moffat's Diary, LC.
2. The journal of H.M.S. Tartar, in which Moffat had sailed from Boston on December 16, 1775, reads, for Friday, January 5, 1776, "at Noon saw Land bearg N E Dist 4 or 5 Leagues at 2 P M came through the Needles at 8 came to Anchr at Spithd wth best Br Veerd away & moor'd wth a Cable each way found Riding here His Majts Ships Resolution, St Taur [Centaur] Egmont, and Malbrough." PRO, Admiralty 51/972.
3. Edward Medows was the commander of the Tartar, and Harris was Captain George Harris, of the Grenadier Company of Lord Hugh Percy's Fifth Regiment. Harris had been badly wounded in the head at Bunker Hill.
4. Moffat stated earlier in his diary that before leaving Boston he had a conference with General William Howe "on singular business." Gage's disclosure which was "unexpected" may have related to the same business.