=189. The Winter at Valley Forge.=—Washington’s force, in its winter quarters at Valley Forge, was subjected to terrible suffering. On the 22d of December two brigades became mutinous, because for three days they had gone without bread and for two days without meat. On the following day Washington informed Congress that he had in camp two thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight men “unfit for duty because they are barefooted and otherwise naked.” Even when his army first marched into winter quarters, their route could be traced on the snow by the blood that oozed from their bare and frost-bitten feet; and matters grew worse as the winter advanced. This condition was not owing to any actual want of supplies, for it was afterward found that “hogsheads of shoes, stockings, and clothing were lying at different places on the roads and in the woods, perishing for want of teams or of money to pay the teamsters.” It was in consequence of gross mismanagement on the part of the commissariat, that the winter at Valley Forge was one of such memorable suffering and death. [Illustration: THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES] [Illustration: BARON VON STEUBEN.] =190. The Coming of Baron von Steuben.=—But the winter, sad as it was in most respects, brought one great advantage. Agents in Europe succeeded in persuading one of the most efficient soldiers from the staff of Frederick the Great to offer his experience to the American cause. This was Baron von Steuben.[88] He had gone through every grade of the Prussian service up to the rank of marshal, and his knowledge of military drill caused him to be appointed inspector general of the American armies. It would be difficult to overestimate the value of his services. He found the raw American troops completely unaccustomed to the exact military methods of Europe, and he set himself to teach them all the arts and methods of the regular soldier. Taking a musket in his hand, this Prussian officer of highest rank devoted himself from morning till night to the most elementary, as well as the most intricate, parts of military drill. Thus, in the course of the terrible winter at Valley Forge, Baron von Steuben brought the army into a condition of efficiency it had never known before.