Nearly two and a half years passed by before the main body of the
Continental Army again returned to Morristown. During that interval the
British both captured and abandoned Philadelphia, Burgoyne’s Army
surrendered to the Americans at Saratoga, and France and Spain entered
the conflict against Great Britain. Washington’s soldiers had stood up
under fire on numerous occasions, besides weathering the winter
encampment periods at Valley Forge in 1777-78, and at Middlebrook in
1778-79. On the other hand, the financial affairs of the young United
States had gone from bad to worse. Hoped-for benefits from the French
Alliance had not yet materialized, and the 3-year enlistments in the
Continental Army had only 4 or 5 months more to run before their
expiration. Moreover, while the military scales somewhat balanced in the
North, the enemy held Savannah, and there were rumors that Sir Henry
Clinton, Howe’s successor, would soon leave New York by sea to attack
Charleston. With the final issue still in doubt, America approached what
was destined to be the hardest winter of the Revolutionary War.