Winter Encampment at Valley Forge (1777-1778)

What happened?

  • George Washington’s winter encampment at Valley Forge, a small American base located in the state of Pennsylvania (image below), was an essential turning point in the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), also known as the American Revolution. During the Revolutionary War, the 13 Colonies fought for their independence from the British Empire due to poor political representation, excessive taxation, and military abuse. 
  • In the winter of 1777-1778, General George Washington (who later on became the first president of the United States of America from 1789 to 1797), and his soldiers, called the Continental Army, camped at Valley Forge. Washington and his troops arrived in Valley Forge to spy on British forces who had captured the nearby city of Philadelphia.
    • The Continental Army consisted of untrained troops from scattered local militias. Valley Forge is known as the birthplace of the United States army because the soldiers received much-needed drilling and weapons training, which shaped the Continental Army into a united military force.
  • Over 12,000 American soldiers and some of their families camped at Valley Forge from December 1777 to June 1778. The soldiers lived in small log cabins that they built by hand upon arriving. Supplies at Valley Forge were scarce, making living conditions difficult. Lack of clothes and food, poor sanitation habits, and winter weather conditions left soldiers vulnerable to disease. As a result, influenza, typhus, typhoid fever, and dysentery spread throughout the encampment, killing an estimated 2,000 people.

How is this related to climate?

Edward P. Moran, American, 1862–1935. Washington at Valley Forge, 1911. Oil paint on canvas. Library of Congress.

  • Historians note that the winter of 1777-1778 was relatively mild, and not the harshest winter of the Revolutionary War. However, Washington’s winter encampment at Valley Forge took place during the Little Ice Age, a period of widespread cooling that lasted from around 1300 to 1850. Europe and North America were especially affected. Winters in North America were as much as 2 to 4°F (1.1 to 2.2°C) colder during the Little Ice Age than average temperatures immediately after the Ice Age.
  • Two years after the winter encampment at Valley Forge, the 13 Colonies experienced the worst winter of the Revolutionary War. During the Hard Winter of 1779-1780, New York Harbor completely froze over (image below), allowing people to walk from Manhattan to Staten Island. The state of New Jersey experienced twenty-six snowstorms, some of which left over four feet (1.2 meters) of snow and six feet (1.8 meters) of snow drifts at once. According to historical accounts, temperatures in New Jersey only rose above freezing several times the entire winter.

Illustration of the frozen East River, bordering New York City, in 1888. This river, along with the entirety of New York Harbor, also froze over in the Hard Winter of 1779-1780 (from Ephemeral New York, 2014), two years after Washington’s winter encampment at Valley Forge.

References and additional resources

How to cite this page

Winter Encampment at Valley Forge (1777-1778). (2025, January 31). Climate in Global Cultures and Histories: Promoting Climate Literacy Across Disciplines. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from https://www.science.smith.edu/climatelit/winter-encampment-at-valley-forge-pennsylvania-u-s-a-1777-1778/.