Winter at Valley Forge
From December 1777 to June 1778, Washington's army of approximately 11,000–12,000 men encamped at Valley Forge, eighteen miles northwest of Philadelphia, which Howe had occupied in September. The Continental Congress, which controlled supply, had largely failed to provision the army; the quartermaster and commissary systems had broken down under corruption and logistical incompetence. By February 1778, thousands of men were without shoes, blankets, or adequate shelter; disease — typhus, typhoid, dysentery, and smallpox — killed perhaps 2,000 soldiers over the winter, more than had died in battle in the same period. The winter at Valley Forge was also the army's transformation. Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian military officer, arrived in late February and began drilling the Continental regiments in the Prussian manual of arms — close-order drill, bayonet technique, march discipline, and the tactical procedures that professional armies used to maintain cohesion under fire. By spring, the army that emerged from Valley Forge could manoeuvre and fight in the open against British regulars on something approaching equal terms; this was demonstrated at the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778, where Clinton's evacuating army was engaged and fought to a standstill.
- Year: 1777 CE
- Category: Military
