Volume 19 of the Revolutionary War Series documents Washington'sactivities during the winter and early spring of 1779, when the bulk of his army wasencamped at Middlebrook, New Jersey, strategically situated where the WatchungMountains rise from the coastal plain in the middle of the state. Washington tookadvantage of the relative quiet of this period to consult with a congressionalcommittee of conference in Philadelphia. He returned to Middlebrook in earlyFebruary and devoted himself yet again to reorganizing and reinvigorating theContinental Army. Recruitment problems, disputes among officers over rank, andcompensation woes had grown old, but Washington corresponded at length with stateofficials and Congress in order to keep an effective fighting force in thefield.