Valley Forge Winter of 1777 - 1778

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Over 11,000 soldiers made their home at Valley Forge near the
end of December. It took about  a month for all of the soldiers
to be housed in small huts. About four inches of snow was on
the ground most of the winter. Valley Forge is about 20 miles
from Philadelphia.

The situation was so bad that the sick were recoveing
from their illness, sometimes their clothes would be stolen.
Disease killed many in the camp and there were few blankets.
Sources of food were almost impossible to locate. Many meals
consisted of rice and vinegar and fire cakes. Very seldom was
meat available.

Of course shoes, clothes and other necessities were hard to
locate. Many soldiers wrapped pieces of their blankets
around their feet.

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