Valley Forge was the Continental Army’s third winter encampment during the American Revolutionary War, where about 12,000 troops under George Washington stayed from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778, after the British captured Philadelphia. Chosen for its strategic position between the British army and the Second Continental Congress in York, it also protected supplies in Reading while allowing Americans to watch British movements. The encampment became one of the army’s hardest ordeals, marked by privation and endurance, but the shared hardship and military training associated with Baron Friedrich von Steuben helped transform a struggling force into a more effective army in a turning point toward independence.

Photo: Wikipedia · Public domain

Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania · USA