A soldier nicknamed Picayune Butler engaged in a conversation with Eliza Donner about the Donner Party. He spoke and repeated the words he read in the story of the California Star, that it was a party that is responsible for the misfortunes. If it had a price, the starvation brought by the miserable wretches were not worth the cost to save them.
The maintenance of a high moral in any army is a critical factor for its performance. At the moment that Washington selected Valley Forge as the location for his army's winter camp; his army was not equally trained and not well equipped as the British were. So selecting that location made easier for Washington's army to keep a good supply source, a shelter for extreme winter conditions and also a close location from British lines in order to make and prevent incursions.
