Abstract
Introducing a fresh metric—general courts-martial per thousand fi t-for-duty troops—this article expands Valley Forge historiography by quantifying trial incidence in a forty-two-month context to suggest military justice played a signifi cantly greater role over the winter of privation than previously thought. Courts-martial discipline, the essay argues, served as General Washington’s fundamental instrument of command and control until drillmaster Baron von Steuben’s iconic parade-ground regimen took hold. As Washington’s unheralded “courtroom von Steuben,” Judge Advocate General John Laurance superintended rule of military law over eighty tattered Valley Forge regiments by diligently enforcing the 1776 Articles of War among private soldiers, offi cers, and civilians alike.