Dbq Essay: It's Winter 1778 At Valley Forge

Imagine: It’s winter 1778 at Valley Forge. (Valley Forge was the military camp 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia, where the American Continental Army spent the winter of 1777–78 during the American Revolutionary War) you walk into the camp and the men huddle around different campfires trying to get warm. Tonight on the menu is more meat, while the men are handed their portions they’re crying in agony to eat something else. You’ve been talking to the men and they tell you stories about the meals their wives made and how their children would have grown by now. But somewhere in both the happy and sad stories there is a certain cheerfulness peering out behind the clouds. When the fires died out men went to their huts that housed 12 men. The fire in the hut caused the men to be emerged in smoke because of extremely poor ventilation. There skin is absorbing the smoke causing men to get sick and cough. In the morning the fires have died out and now you can smell what some people call the stench of death. One

People get sick and die at the camp and I appreciate my life so there is a good chance that I can be one of the people that die. At Valley Forge there was multiple reasons for the army's numbers dropping. For example, people who deserted, when men’s contracts come to an end, and death. According to Document A written by varying people, including Noel F. Busch and researchers at the William Clements Library of the University of Michigan I have reasonable estimated to how the Continental Army numbers plummeted. At the camp Valley Forge there was about 12,000 soldiers in December 1777 and then in February 1778 only 8,000 were left. That’s about a 4,000 soldier decrease. That's just the beginning on December 23, 1777 about 3,000 soldier were sick and in February 1, 1778 about 4,000 men were sick. Finally the deaths due to illness were horrific from December-June 1,800 to 2,500 died due to illness, according to Document