Valley Forge was the Continental Army’s major winter encampment in Pennsylvania from 1777 to 1778.
General George Washington’s army arrived at Valley Forge in December 1777 after British forces captured Philadelphia. The army remained there until June 1778, enduring shortages of food, clothing, shelter, and firewood.
The encampment was not a battle site. Its importance comes from the army’s training and reorganization under Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian military officer who helped standardize drills and discipline.
Although popular accounts often describe Valley Forge as a period of constant starvation, historians emphasize a more complicated picture: disease and supply failures caused severe suffering, but the army emerged better trained and more effective.