Hutts, which they say is tolerably comfortable; the army are as healthy as can be well expected in general.  The General’s apartment is very small; he has had a log cabin built to dine in, which has made our quarters much more tolerable than they were at first."[1]

[Footnote 1:  P.L.  Ford, The True George Washington, 99.]

While the Americans languished and died at Valley Forge during the winter months, Sir William Howe and his troops lived in Philadelphia not only in great comfort, but in actual luxury.  British gold paid out in cash to the dealers in provisions bought full supplies from one of the best markets in America.  And the people of the place, largely made up of Loyalists, vied with each other in providing entertainment for the British army.  There were fashionable balls for the officers and free-and-easy revels for the soldiers.  Almost at any time the British army might have marched out to Valley Forge and dealt a final blow to Washington’s naked and starving troops, but it preferred the good food and the dissipations of Philadelphia; and so the winter dragged on to spring.

Howe was recalled to England and General Sir Henry Clinton succeeded him in the command of the British forces.  He was one of those well-upholstered carpet knights who flourished in the British army at that time, and was even less energetic than Howe.  We must remember, however, that the English officers who came over to fight in America had had their earlier training in Europe, where conditions were quite different from those here.  Especially was this true of the terrain.  Occasionally a born fighter like Wolfe did his work in a day, but this was different from spending weeks and months in battleless campaigns.  The Philadelphians arranged a farewell celebration for General Howe which they called the Meschianza, an elaborate pageant, said to be the most beautiful ever seen in America, after which General Howe and General Clinton had orders to take their army back to New York.  As much as could be shipped on boats went that way, but the loads that had to be carried in wagons formed a cavalcade twelve miles long, and with the attending regiment advanced barely more than two and a half miles a day.  Washington, whose troops entered Philadelphia as soon as the British marched out, hung on the retreating column and at Monmouth engaged in a pitched battle, which was on the point of being a decisive victory for the Americans when, through the blunder of General Lee, it collapsed.  The blunder seemed too obviously intentional, but Washington appeared in the midst of the melee and urged on the men to retrieve their defeat.  This was the battle of which one of the soldiers said afterwards, “At Monmouth the General swore like an angel from Heaven.”  He prevented disaster, but that could not reconcile him to the loss of the victory which had been almost within his grasp.  Those who witnessed it never forgot Washington’s rage when he met Lee and asked him what he meant and then ordered him to the rear.  Washington prepared to renew the battle on the following day, but during the night Clinton withdrew his army, and by daylight was far on his way to the seacoast.