[revwardoc]

Hawk,

Washington marched into Valley Forge with just under 12,000 troops on December 19, 1777 and marched out exactly 6 months later. During their stay, over 2,500 died of starvation and disease. The total number of desertions was recorded as 1,334. There were also other camps at Wilmington, DE and Fishkill, NY, bringing the total number of American troops in the north to just under 24,000. During a typical winter month, these camps only averaged about 8,000 effectives total combined due to sickness, desertions, and inadequate clothing and supplies. They had it pretty rough. Like I had stated, the following winter camp in NJ was colder and had more snow, but they learned valuable lessons at Valley Forge so that the death, desertion, and illness rates were much less.