This volume contains an extra-illustrated edition of Thomas Gilpin's Exiles In Virginia: With Observations On the Conduct of the Society of Friends During the Revolutionary War, Comprising the Official Papers of the Government Relating to That Period, 1777-1778 (1848), which concerns a group of Philadelphia Quakers who were imprisoned in Winchester, Virginia, between September 1777 and April 1778. This copy includes marginal notes, as well as 3 original, tipped-in manuscripts related to prisoner John Pemberton and Philadelphia lawyer Nicholas Waln. A handwritten bookplate on the inside cover of the volume reads: "Lindsey Nicholson, with the respects of his friend, Thomas Gilpin. Philadelphia, June 1851."
The original manuscripts included in this volume are:
- 1778 January 7. James Logan letter to John Pemberton, his cousin, from Philadelphia, sharing news of the family's health, including that of Pemberton's wife, Hannah (tipped into the flyleaf).
- 1810 February 23. Nicholas Waln note to Mordecai Churchman regarding a potential financial arrangement, inserted next to a page regarding a petition signed by Waln and others regarding the Winchester prisoners (pp. 60-61).
- [1778]. Timothy Matlack, Secretary of Pennsylvania's Supreme Executive Council, manuscript pass for John Pemberton, certifying his release, inserted next to a page that reprints its text (pp. 230-231).
Exiles in Virginia... includes three printed facsimiles, as issued (between pages 64 and 65), which reflect efforts to send supplies to the prisoners at Winchester. The facsimiles include a letter that Mary Pemberton wrote to George Washington (March 31, 1778) and 2 related letters that Washington wrote to Pennsylvania President Thomas Wharton (April 5, 1778, and April 6, 1778).
John Pemberton of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a member of the Society of Friends, was imprisoned with 19 other men in Winchester, Virginia, between 1777 and 1778, after refusing to swear allegiance to the United States. Fearing collusion with invading British forces, the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania arrested 17 Quakers and three additional men in September 1777, and transferred the prisoners to Winchester, Virginia, later that month. The men were released in April 1778, though two died while in confinement.