Valley Forge was an encampment of the Continental Army in Pennsylvania, just about 20 miles south of Philadelphia. General Washington's troops stayed there from December of 1777 to June of 1778. In 1776, George Washington and his troops crossed the mighty Delaware River. They then fought the Battle of Trenton which decided whether or not General Washington and his troops would stay at Valley Forge.

The first three months that the troops spent at Valley Forge were most definitely the hardest. The troops did not have proper clothing. Many soldiers went without boots and some did not even have other articles of warm clothing. For the first couple of months the troops were there, they began to make log cabins out of wood. It was very hard to put 11,000 men into a wood lot south of Philadelphia.

The troops who camped at Valley Forge for those three months often got sick from the cold. They were also hungry most of the time. It was very hard to survive; one troop expressed it through his words, "half the army are naked, and almost the whole army go barefoot."

The men at Valley Forge did not have many other supplies either. The men were short on guns which many men provided themselves. They were also short on food and money. Some of the officers there did not get paid because the Continental Congress did not have the money to pay them. The troops needed money to buy the proper supplies.

During that difficult winter at Valley Forge, the troops learned discipline. Baron Augustus von Steuben came over from Europe and helped the Continental Army in their strategies for training. He helped General Washington in drilling the troops.

Valley Forge turned out to be a good thing for the Continental Army. General Washington and his troops stay at Valley Forge was probably one of the most important events in the Continental Army's existence.