The Papers of George Washington: Revolutionary War Series. Volume 23: 22 October–31 December 1779 ed. by William M. Ferraro, and: The Papers of George Washington: Revolutionary War Series. Volume 24: 1 January–9 March 1780 ed. by Benjamin L. Huggins (review)

These two recently published volumes are significant works of The Papers of George Washington: Revolutionary War Series. Volumes 23 and 24 cover four-and-a-half crucial months of the war from late October 1779 through early March 1780. Readers will uncover a frustrated General George Washington, fearful that his Continental army may not survive the winter. Soldiers suffered from a lack of money, clothing, provisions, and housing. His soldiers' recurring hardships in the harsh winter months of 1779–1780 are well known to military historians of the American Revolution. Yet the correspondence and annotations in these volumes offer historians valuable primary source materials that disclose the complexities of the war.

In the fall of 1779, Washington hoped to strike British-controlled New York City with the assistance of French vice admiral Charles-Hector, Comte d'Estaing's fleet. In October, d'Estaing and Major General Benjamin Lincoln launched an unsuccessful attack on Savannah, Georgia. The French and American force failed to capture Savannah. As a result, the fleet did not meet Washington's army in New York. In November 1779 Washington concluded that no "cooperation, with the French Admiral, can possibly take place" so late in the campaign season (Vol. 23, p. 251). Washington did not give up hope on working with d'Estaing. His perseverance contributed to the American Revolutionaries' success with d'Estaing's fleet two years later at Yorktown.

These volumes have significant value for readers interested in researching the Continental army's winter encampment in Morristown, New Jersey. The army had resided in Morristown before, in the winter of 1776–1777, but Washington chose a different encampment location for the winter of 1779–1780. The editors of Volume 23 have produced a new map that effectively details the layout of the camp buildings. The camp included the Jockey Hollow area near Morristown. Enlisted men immediately cut down trees to construct their own huts in the Jockey Hollow camp. These soldiers experienced the coldest winter of the war there.

A significant theme in these volumes focuses on the makeshift circumstances at Morristown. While officers lived more comfortably than did enlisted soldiers, senior officers, including Washington, lacked adequate quarters for their working and personal needs. Washington made his headquarters in the home of Theodosia Johnes Ford in early December 1779. Readers will learn that the Ford home frustrated Washington, as it did not have sufficient space to accommodate the general and his junior officers. Nearly two months after his arrival, Washington explained to Major General Nathanael Greene, the Continental army's quartermaster general in charge of supplies, that he and his staff had "not a Kitchen to cook a dinner in, … nor is there a place at this moment in which a servant can lodge, with the smallest degree of comfort" (Vol. 24, p. 217). Ultimately, Washington added a few more rooms to the home for his staff and servants' quarters.

The army's housing and provisioning inefficiencies demonstrated the limitations of Washington's and his senior officers' authority during the war. Local residents generally resented the army's presence around Morristown. In December 1779 Greene explained to Washington that despite his best efforts he could not obtain "convenient and suitable quarters" for officers (Vol. 23, p. 668). For Greene the law proved as difficult as the populace. He complained that locals refused to share their homes and that magistrates provided no assistance since they believed "that the Laws will not support...