On the front line of the Continental Army's Valley Forge encampment, General Peter Muhlenberg's Virginia brigade, one of 15 brigades at Valley Forge, held ground protected by a system of closely spaced huts, defensive entrenchments, and redoubts known as the Outer Line of Defense. The earthworks augmented the area's natural topography, with high ground in a triangular shape surrounding the broad valley used as a training ground called the Grand Parade, a ridge north of the valley overlooking the Schuylkill River, and the Inner Line of defense built midway up Mount Joy. The defenses appeared strong enough that the British never attacked, though the soldiers faced each night with uncertainty about whether an assault would come and whether the works would hold. Peter Muhlenberg, known as the Fighting Parson, grew up nearby in a prominent Pennsylvania German family, received schooling and brief military service in Germany, and then moved to Virginia's frontier as a minister to a community of German-Americans. As war threatened, George Washington asked him to recruit and command a regiment, and Muhlenberg enlisted 300 men in a day. Because military units were commonly raised within a community, these Virginians shared experiences, outlooks, and even language, and that common heritage may have eased the strain of eight years of war. After the Revolution, Muhlenberg joined the new American democracy, serving in the first United States Congress and later as a senator from Pennsylvania.