Revolutionary War: Valley Forge 1777-1778 Encampment National Park Service Research & Histories

Revolutionary War: Valley Forge 1777-1778 Winter Encampment of the Continental Army - National Park Service Research & Histories

4,773  pages of histories and reports related to the Valley Forge 1777-1778 winter encampment of the Continental Army under General George Washington, and its preservation, produced by the National Parks Service. Composed of studies, research reports, guides, handbooks, and other material.

The history and mythology of the Valley Forge winter encampment is fundamental to understanding America identity. Valley Forge is the location of the 1777-1778 winter encampment of the Continental Army under General George Washington. Here the Continental Army, a collection of disparate colonial militias, emerged under General Washington’s leadership as a cohesive and disciplined fighting force. In late 1777, while the British occupied the patriot capital of Philadelphia, Washington decided to have his troops winter at Valley Forge, a day’s march from Philadelphia.

Highlights from the 25 items in this collection include:

VALLEY FORGE HISTORICAL RESEARCH REPORT

A multi-volume 2,040-page historical study produced by the National Park Service.

Abstract:

Valley Forge, the site of the Continental Army's 1777-1778 winter encampment, acquired in the nineteenth century a symbolic significance as an emblem of the patriotic endurance and sacrifice of American revolutionary soldiers. That symbolism has shaped and distorted interpretations of the episode by modern historians.

This study based on extensive unpublished documentation assembled by the National Park Service, presents a more complex portrait of this episode. The army fought effectively during the 1777 campaign. Indeed, its disruption by logistical problems itself shows the degree to which it had already evolved from a hardy collection of irregular units into a sophisticated but vulnerable army. Washington's celebrated "starve, dissolve, or disperse" letters shocked Congress into recognizing this reality, and giving it the maintenance needed to operate reliably. Soldiers would not have willingly "starved," and there is no evidence that the army came close to "dissolving." "Dispersal" was contemplated and would have involved quartering troops in interior Pennsylvania population centers. Congress's cooperation with Washington avoided this politically undesirable alternative, and kept the army at Valley Forge, where its members suffered real privations. Friedrich Steuben's legendary training of the regiments had important effects, but Valley Forge was neither the site not the story of the providential deliverance of a mob, and/or the "creation" of an army. Broad organizational reforms were more significant than the adoption of uniform "European" drilling techniques. Few if any problems were resolved at Valley Forge that would not need to be confronted again, in other guises, later in the Revolution.


DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY VALLEY FORGE 1777-1778

 A 308-page study finished in 1982. From the report's forward:

"In recent years historians have learned more about the men who served in the American army during the Revolution. Several excellent studies have investigated who the soldiers were at certain times and in certain places and have established some basic demographic facts about them: their ages, statures, physical descriptions, birthplaces, residences, and occupations... The present report is a first attempt at creating a dynamic portrait of service in the Revolution."
 

The System Of Military Discipline And Justice In The Continental Army, August 1777 - June 1778 

The purpose of this study is to examine the system of military discipline and justice in the Continental Army in some depth during a ten-month period about midway through the war.