What happened to the American troops at Valley Forge?

Valley Forge is surrounded in myth. We are told a story that the soldiers were freezing to death and nearly starved. That this was the worse winter in the Revolution and that men were so naked that they left bloody footprints in the snow. This is an exaggeration. Studies by the National Park Service and a team of archaeologist in the 1970's show that no one starved or froze. The researchers found that in December, January, and February that the 10,000 man army was supplied each month with a million pounds of flour and a million pounds of meat and fish. Broken down this means that each soldier was given more than 3 pounds of flour and more than 3 pounds of fish or meat per day. It seems that Washington overplayed the problems at the camp to obtain more aid from Congress and to fend off criticism that the army should spend the winter on the march. Washington was a shrewd man.