Valley forge how many soldiers died

The lack of clothing alone, including shoes, socks, and coats left as many as 3, of Washington's troops unfit for service, creating the image of starving, wearied soldiers leaving bloodied footprints in the snow and ice. A Continental Army Private, Joseph Plumb Martin wrote that the army's new winter quarters left them "in a truly forlorn condition,—no clothing, no provisions, and as disheartened as need be.

Though Washington pleaded with the Continental Congress and state governors to obtain food and supplies for his suffering army, starvation, and such dieses as typhus and smallpox, and a lack of protection from the elements caused the death of more than 2, soldiers.

Washington eventually resorted to sending men, led by Nathanael Greene , on foraging missions to procure what provisions could be found in the surrounding countryside. Beyond vying with Congress for the supplies his army desperately needed, Washington had also to contend with threats to his authority that came from ordeals like the Conway Cabal and rivalries between military leaders.

Washington's steady leadership was crucial to keeping the army intact through the logistical and administrative hardships of the winter of , and it likely accounted for the fact that there was a never a mass desertion or mutiny at Valley Forge.

Despite brutal conditions, Valley Forge marked a milestone in the army's military experience. Baron von Steuben worked to bring uniformity to the continental soldiers, who had seen combat, but lacked the martial training to pose an effective threat to the British. Once the troops arrived at their winter camp site, military engineers directed the construction of some 2, huts laid out in parallel lines, forming a kind of city, along with miles of trenches, five earthen redoubts and a bridge over the Schuylkill River.

Yet cold and starvation were not the most dangerous threats to soldiers at Valley Forge: Diseases like influenza, dysentery, typhoid and typhus killed two-thirds of the nearly 2, soldiers who died during the encampment. To keep his battered army together, Washington instituted policies of lashing as punishment and threatened to shoot deserters on sight. Taking rumors of his imminent replacement in stride, he decided to regroup rather than give up.

In February , Washington welcomed to camp Baron Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian officer who put Continental troops through a new training regimen, including the precision marching that was so important to Revolutionary-era warfare.

Von Steuben also instituted new hygiene standards in the slovenly American camp, introducing the first latrines and ensuring they were placed far from the kitchens. Steadfast patriotism found a long-term home among only a few Americans, most notably the veterans who served for the duration.

To fully appreciate the significance of what occurred at Valley Forge, the event must be placed in the context of the entire American Revolution.

Few Americans appreciate the scope of the war. Many do not realize that the war lasted for eight-and-a-half years, was international in scale, or that the American army campaigned in areas as far north as Canada, as far south as Georgia, and even west of the Allegheny Mountains.

The Valley Forge encampment occurred during the third year of the war. Early successes against a smaller British army had led some Revolutionary leaders to believe that the righteousness of their cause and a militia-type force composed of citizen soldiers would be enough to force the British from America. By the time of Valley Forge, however, most Americans realized that the Revolution would be a long, drawn-out affair.

In order to put the army on firmer footing, in the Continental Congress allowed George Washington to recruit soldiers for longer enlistments. The men of this establishment formed the bulk of the professional force that would fight the rest of the war.

British strategy for the third year of the American Revolution included a plan to capture the patriot capital at Philadelphia. The expeditionary force landed at the head of the Chesapeake Bay now Elkton, Maryland. On the march south, Washington paraded the American army through Philadelphia to impress the various factions among the citizenry with the prowess of the patriot force.

Though commonly conceived of today as a rag tag bunch of inexperienced fighters, by the Continental Army was battle-tested and capable of standing up to the British. One observer of the march through the city that summer prophetically stated that. In the two key battles of the Philadelphia campaign, Brandywine and Germantown, the Americans fought with skill and courage. Though they lost both battles, as well as the capital at Philadelphia, the Continental Army emerged from these experiences with a confidence like that of an underdog sports team that had thrown a scare into the champion:.

Yet work remained to be done. The army had difficulty executing complex large- scale maneuvers such as the orderly retreat. As a result, retreats could turn into panicked flights. As the campaign wound down through the months of November and December, Washington maintained strong offensive pressure on the British in the city.

With the British ensconced in Philadelphia, Washington and his general officers had to decide where to encamp for the winter. As he chose a site, Washington had to balance the congressional wish for a winter campaign to dislodge the British from the capital against the needs of his weary and poorly supplied army.

By December 12, Washington made his decision to encamp at Valley Forge. From this location 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia, Washington was close enough to maintain pressure on the enemy dwelling in the captured patriot capital, yet far enough to prevent a surprise attack on his own troops.

From here the Continental Army could protect the outlying parts of the state, with its wary citizens and precious military stores, as well as the Continental Congress, which had fled to York, Pennsylvania. Washington and his campaign-weary men marched into camp on December 19, The soldiers, while not well supplied, were not downtrodden. They exuded the confidence of men who knew that they had come close to beating the British in battle.

They were cautiously optimistic about the future and resigned themselves to the task of establishing their winter camp. It would be difficult to imagine a scenario in which the leader of a popular revolution stood by while his men froze and starved.

The winter of was not the worst winter experienced during the war, but constant freezing and thawing, and intermittent snowfall and rain, coupled with shortages of provisions, clothing, and shoes, made living conditions extremely difficult. Rather than wait for deliverance, the army procured supplies, built log cabins to stay in, constructed makeshift clothing and gear, and cooked subsistence meals of their own concoction.

Provisions were available during the early months of the encampment. For example, army records of the food shipped to camp in the month of January reveal that the men received an average daily ration of one-half pound of beef per man. The most serious food crisis occurred in February, when the men went without meat for several days at a stretch.

Shortages of clothing did cause severe hardship for a number of men, but many soldiers had a full uniform. At the worst point in early March, the army listed 2, men as unfit for duty due to a lack of clothing. During this time, well-equipped units took the place of their poorly dressed comrades and patrolled, foraged, and defended the camp. One of the most immediate remedies against the weather and a lack of clothing was the construction of log shelters by the men.

Valley Forge was the first winter encampment where many thousands of men had to build their own huts. The officers formed the men into construction squads and instructed them to build cabins according to a foot by foot model.

In addition to the huts, the men constructed miles of trenches, five earthen forts redoubts , and a state-of-the-art bridge based on a Roman design over the Schuylkill River. Once the bridge spanning the river was complete, the army made full use of the land north of the river as a vital supply link. John B. Copious supplies of food were nearby. Gristmills abounded…the harvest had been abundant.

General Thomas Mifflin, who was in charge of the transportation, also posed a problem. Mifflin preferred the glory of the battlefield to the tedium of logistics, so he ignored his job and the problems that came with it. By Christmas, General Washington was compelled to write:. The Pennsylvania winter caused the soldiers to feel keenly the lack of clothing and food. It was not only the cold and the hunger that plagued the encampment, but also disease.

The most common killers of the troops were typhus, dysentery, influenza, and typhoid. Although officers were ordered to check cabins twice daily for cleanliness, excavations at Valley Forge indicate that most soldiers simply threw the remains of their meals into the corners of their huts.

The combination of crowded cabins, unwashed bodies, and decaying refuse greatly contributed to the unsanitary conditions at camp. The soldiers who died were often stripped of their clothing, which was then passed on to other soldiers, spreading even more disease. An estimated 3, soldiers died, and almost 70 percent of those deaths occurred during the warmer months of spring, not winter.