George Weedon: Discipline at Valley Forge
Baron Steuben drilling troops at Valley Forge, E. A. Abbey, before 1911
Daniel Petronella
The winter encampment of General George Washington's Continental Army throughout late 1777 and early 1778 has lived on in the public memory of the Revolution as an example of the patriot cause in its finest hour. Perhaps no image from the Revolutionary struggle better encapsulates the underdog, hard-fought, desperate effort for independence than the Commander-in-Chief withstanding a brutally cold, harsh winter with his troops. One critical element of the army's survival was military discipline, described here by Washington's subordinate, General George Weedon.