The Continental Army Winters at Valley Forge

On December 19, 1777, General George Washington marched more than 12,000 soldiers of the Continental Army into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Situated approximately 18 miles northwest of British-occupied Philadelphia, the position along the Schuylkill River offered defensible high ground within reach of the British army that held Philadelphia. The army spent the winter in one place and had to build its own shelter. Soldiers put up between 1,500 and 2,000 log huts, each meant to house about a dozen men.

The encampment quickly deteriorated into a devastating supply crisis. Continental supply departments had fractured during the preceding autumn campaigns, leaving the army short of meat, flour, blankets, and clothing. Many soldiers lacked shoes, coats, and proper uniforms, while winter road conditions prevented supply wagons from reaching camp consistently. Soldiers often relied on firecakes, a plain mixture of flour and water baked over a fire or on hot stones. The lack of standard waste disposal, combined with unburied animal carcasses and poor hygiene, fueled fatal outbreaks of dysentery, typhoid, typhus, and pneumonia. Estimates put the dead at nearly 2,000 or slightly more, about one in six of the soldiers who arrived, and almost all of them died of disease rather than in combat.