The Continental Army’s winter encampment from December 1777 to June 1778 was Valley Forge.
George Washington led roughly 12,000 people, including soldiers and camp followers, to Valley Forge in Pennsylvania on December 19, 1777. The site was about 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia and offered high ground, defensible terrain, and a position between the British army and American supply areas.
The encampment became famous for severe shortages of food, clothing, shoes, and medicine. Disease and poor conditions killed many soldiers, although popular stories sometimes exaggerate the weather. The army built hundreds of log huts and remained there for about six months.
Valley Forge was also a place of military improvement. Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben trained the Continental troops in drilling, discipline, and battlefield formations. When the army left on June 19, 1778, it was better organized and soon faced the British at the Battle of Monmouth. The site is now preserved as Valley Forge National Historical Park and remains an important Revolutionary War location associated with America250.