General Nathanael Greene was the son of a wealthy Rhode Island Quaker who had little use for education, so Greene educated himself. One of the many topics he educated himself on was warfare. Though he was a Quaker, he was ready to serve when the call went out. Because he had a stiff leg, he was at first deemed unworthy to command troops, so he joined the infantry instead. His natural intelligence and talent were so high, however, that his superiors overlooked the leg and made him the commander of the Rhode Island Army of Observation.

At that time the generals knew they were woefully underprepared. They had very little gunpowder, and the army was wretched. Even without qualified engineers, however, Washington built bigger and bigger fortifications.

The men, mostly New Englanders, knew little but drinking, carousing, and whoring. Their tents were in disarray. They had no uniforms. They would go home to their families—or elsewhere—without official leave and without even asking. Some of their reasons were understandable, like checking on their families and helping to harvest the crops, but it displayed a concerning lack of discipline all the same. Then diseases, like typhoid and dysentery, gripped the camps.