The victory of Saratoga gave a great impetus to the party in France which wished Louis XVI to come out boldly on the side of the Americans in their war with the British.  The King was persuaded.  Vergennes also secured the cooeperation of Spain with France, for Spain had views against England, and she agreed that if a readjustment of sovereignty were coming in America, it would be prudent for her to be on hand to press her own claims.  On February 6, 1778, the treaty between France and America was signed.[1] Long before this, however, a young French enthusiast who proved to be the most conspicuous of all the foreign volunteers, the Marquis de Lafayette, had come over with magnificent promises from Silas Deane.  On being told, however, that the Congress found it impossible to ratify Deane’s promises, he modestly requested to enlist in the army without pay.  Washington at once took a fancy to him and insisted on his being a member of the Commander’s family.

[Footnote 1:  The treaty was ratified by Congress May 4, 1778.]

While Burgoyne’s surrendered army was marching to Boston and Cambridge, to be shut up as prisoners, Washington was taking into consideration the best place in which to pass the winter.  Several were suggested, Wilmington, Delaware, and Valley Forge—­about twenty-five miles from Philadelphia—­being especially urged upon him.  Washington preferred the latter, chiefly because it was near enough to Philadelphia to enable him to keep watch on the movements of the British troops in that city.  Valley Forge!  One of the names in human history associated with the maximum of suffering and distress, with magnificent patience, sacrifice, and glory.

The surrounding hills were covered with woods and presented an inhospitable appearance.  The choice was severely criticised, and de Kalb described it as a wilderness.  But the position was central and easily defended.  The army arrived there about the middle of December, and the erection of huts began.  They were built of logs and were 14 by 15 feet each.  The windows were covered with oiled paper, and the openings between the logs were closed with clay.  The huts were arranged in streets, giving the place the appearance of a city.  It was the first of the year, however, before they were occupied, and previous to that the suffering of the army had become great.  Although the weather was intensely cold, the men were obliged to work at the buildings, with nothing to support life but flour unmixed with water, which they baked into cakes at the open fires ... the horses died of starvation by hundreds, and the men were obliged to haul their own provisions and firewood.  As straw could not be found to protect the men from the cold ground, sickness spread through their quarters with fearful rapidity.  “The unfortunate soldiers,” wrote Lafayette in after years, “they were in want of everything; they had neither coats, hats, shirts nor shoes; their feet and their legs froze till