The main British Army winters comfortably in Philadelphia while poor conditions and supply problems at Valley Forge result in the deaths of some twenty-five hundred troops by the end of February 1778.

Baron von Steuben had meanwhile arrived at Valley Forge on February 23 and reported for duty as a volunteer.

Appointed by Washington as temporary inspector general, he gad gone out into the camp to talk with the officers and men, inspect their huts, and scrutinize their equipment.

Steuben establishes standards of sanitation and camp layouts that will still be standard a century and a half later.

There had previously been no set arrangement of tents and huts.

Men relieve themselves where they wish and when an animal dies, it is stripped of its meat and the rest is left to rot where it lies.

Steuben lays out a plan to have tent rows for command, officers and enlisted men.

Kitchens and latrines are on opposite sides of the camp, with latrines on the downhill side.

There is the now-familiar arrangement of company and regimental streets.