Generals and Cattle Raids

The First and Second Pennsylvania Brigades, temporarily commanded by Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, encamped in this area. About 800 men served in each of the sixteen brigades at Valley Forge, and an estimated 34,577 pounds of meat and 168 barrels of flour per day were needed to feed the army. Soldiers relied on their home states and on the Continental Congress to supply food, clothing, and equipment, but shortages varied widely between the regiments, and spoilage, bad roads, or capture by British foragers could prevent supplies from reaching camp. When food ran so low that mutiny seemed imminent, Wayne led an emergency foraging expedition into New Jersey to round up all the cattle they could find and destroy what they could not bring back. Owners concealed their herds in pine woods, and there were skirmishes with British foraging parties, but Wayne was so successful that he became known as “The Drover.”

Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania · United States