Whatever Great Britain's difficulties about finance they were light compared with Washington's.
In time the "continental dollar" was worth only two cents.

Yet soldiers long had to take this money at its face value for their pay, with the result that the pay for three months would scarcely buy a pair of boots.

There is little wonder that more than once Washington had to face formidable mutiny among his troops.

The only ones on whom he could rely were the regulars enlisted by Congress and carefully trained.

The worth of the militia, he said, "depends entirely on the prospects of the day; if favorable, they throng to you; if not, they will not move." They played a chief part in the prosperous campaign of 1777, when Burgoyne was beaten.