VALLEY FORGE

in U.S. War of Independence, Pennsylvania encampment grounds of the Continental Army under Gen. George Washington from Dec. 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778, a period that marked the triumph of morale and military discipline over severe hardship. Following the American failures at nearby Brandywine and Germantown, Washington led 11,000 regulars to take up winter quarters at Valley Forge on the west bank of the Schuylkill River, 22 miles northwest of Philadelphia, then occupied by the British. The site was considered a defensible one, strategically located on leading trade routes and near farm supplies. During that unusually harsh winter, the force of Washington's leadership held together the dwindling American Army, which was suffering from the bitter cold, lack of clothes, semi-starvation, gross mismanagement in the commissary and transport departments, Congressional neglect, and public criticism. More adequate money and supplies were forthcoming after the Franco-American Alliance became known in late spring 1778. Despite rampant disease and hundreds of deaths, the Continental Army was reorganized, and it emerged the following June as a well-disciplined and efficient fighting force, largely due to the efficient drilling methods introduced by Baron Frederick von Steuben. The encampment grounds of more than 2,000 acres are maintained by the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior as the Valley Forge National Historic Park.