Washington at Valley Forge

During the long, dark days of Valley Forge - when independence was far from certain and the Continental Army’s troops and officers were cold, hungry and weary - their commander-in-chief prayed for wisdom. His encampment, as noted by Washington himself, was filled with more than 12,000 desperate people.

In a letter to his friend John Banister, dated the 21st of April, 1778, Washington writes:

To see the men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lie upon, without shoes...without a house or hut to cover them until those could be built, and submitting without a murmur, is a proof of patience and obedience which, in my opinion, can scarcely be paralleled.