Part of a series of articles titled From the Journals of Valley Forge.
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February 1778 - From the Journals of Valley Forge
NPS Image / G. Purifoy
February 1, 1778
"I know of no other way to prevent the supply of Flour but disabling the Mills as we have not Guards sufficient to stop all the roads. You are therefore in concert with Genl Lacey to fix upon a certain time and attempt to disable all the Mills upon Pennepack, Frankfort and Wissahicken Creeks, beginning Morrises at Frankfort, Vanderens on Wissahicken and Lewis’s at Pennepack and proceed as far as the people usually come out for Flour. As it will be impossible for you to remove the stones, I am advised to take off the spindles and saw off the spikes of the water wheels."
—letter from General George Washington to Major John Jameson
February 2, 1778
Many deserters came in to-day. A colonel belonging to their army was seized by some of the cavalry people and brought a prisoner to town. The river is now entirely free from ice, and the weather is very fine.
February 3, 1778
“Barefooted, naked and miserable beyond expression – several brave soldiers having nothing more than a piece of old Tent to shield them from the inclemency of the season, and not more than one Blanket to six or perhaps eight men. Very few indeed, are in any wise fit for duty; the Clothing of both Officers and Soldiers having been lost in the course of the Campaign, … and their Blankets lost in the several Actions we have had with the Enemy.”
—letter from Captains Thomas Bowen and James Chrystie to the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania
February 4, 1778
“I Returned into Camp last ____ Evening Just about Sunsett when the troops had just buried Corporal lodg, This Morning we had another man die. Major Hagen Sett off to day to bring him a horse. I Recd my money to day and Mr Davids took his leave of us to day, and went to Lancester where he is agoing to practice fhisick (medicine). So the day Ended with as fine weather as Ever I saw for the Season.”
—diary of Colonel Israel Angell
February 5, 1778
Mrs Washington arrivd in Camp this evening.
February 6, 1778
“This morning was very raw and Cold and Clowded up about noon and begun to Storm … it was as tedious a time as Ever I was out in, and Rain’d as hard as Ever I Saw it, with a high wind at N.E. and Sevear Cold”
—diary of Colonel Israel Angell
February 7, 1778
This morning was very Clear as it had Cleard off in the Night with Snows about ankel Deep,. There was a man found in Frunt of our Encampment at about 150 yards Distance from the huts pitched with his face into the mud dead Supposed to have ben in Licquor and perishd with the Coald and weet, there was two more Murdered in the Camp in the frunt Line, among the Southern troops one of them was Cut to peaces in a hacking Mannor.
February 8, 1778
"It is with pain and grief I find, by your Letter of the 20th ulto., that our Countrymen are still averse to Innoculation, especially when consequences so apparently ill, must result from it."
—letter from General George Washington to Virginia politician Thomas Nelson Jr.
February 9, 1778
This day the snow was so deep that we did not stir out.
February 10, 1778
"The Clothier General Informed me when I was at Lancaster that there were shirts in plenty at Camp. I find he was mistaken, for altho some Hundreds of our poor worthy fellows have not a single ragg of a shirt, (but are obliged to wear their waistcoats next their skins & to sleep in them at nights,) I have not been able to draw a single shirt from the store, for the want of which our men are falling sick in numbers every day—contracting vermin and dying in Hospitals, in a condition shocking to Humanity, & horrid in Idea —for God sake procure a Quantity for me if you strip the Dutchmen for them."
—letter from Brigadier General Anthony Wayne to the President of Pennsylvania, Thomas Wharton Jr.
February 11, 1778
It begun to Storm last Evening and Raind Very hard all Night and was an Exceeding Stormey Day with both Snow and Rain. The Snow being about half a leg Deap, which Soon become Like water, and was such traveling that there was no Stiring about; the Day Ended very Stormey and our hutt Leaked Extreem bad.
February 12, 1778
This morning it began to rain very early and made it very bad walking & so wet in our hut, that we could keep no fire – the water being over Shoe[s] on the floor, about 12 OC. Capt. Cleaveland, Lieut Smith and myself went over the Schuykiln with Cap't. Eben'r Cleaveland, Who was going home on Furlough, but the weather being so Stormy he tarried at Mr. Bare's an old high Duchman's house.
February 13, 1778
“We have had the Honour of composing a Committee of Congress appointed to confer with his Excellency General Washington on the Affairs of the Army & concert with him such Measures as might enable him to open the Campaign with Spirit & Vigour. We were proceeding on this important Business when the critical Situation of the Army in the Article of Provisions was disclosed to us. We are extremely concerned to find Sir, that after subsisting our Army a long Time by casual & almost daily Supplies, they are now in Danger of experiencing a total Stagnation. Some Brigades have not tasted Flesh for four days & the Commissaries give us little Hopes of Relief beyond what we are about to suffer. We need not enlarge Sir upon the alarming Consequences of such a Situation."
—letter from the Congressional Committee at Camp to governor of New Jersey, William Livingston
February 14, 1778
"1st. There is not at present at Camp Sufficient Strength of Teams and Horses to move the Artillery and Baggage of the Army, should the Movements of the Enemy render a Retreat necessary. 2. Were more Horses and Teams supplied at this Time for Want of a proper Supply of Forage, a judicious Mode of Feeding, and a proper Discipline in the Arrangement and Care of the Teams, they would before the month of April is past be in as miserable a Condition as they are at present. 3d. Upwards of two thousand horses have been Expended in the course of the last Campaign in the Q.M. Department; and from what I can learn few (if any) of the Harness belonging to these Horses have been preserved. 4. Through Want of proper Management and Care of the Tents, few if any of them can be made Serviceable for the next Campaign. 5. No Magazines of Forage from what I can learn is as yet laid up for the Spring Service."
—letter from Congressman William Duer to Virginia Congressman Francis Lightfoot Lee
February 15, 1778
P.S. please present my Compliments to Mrs Washington and desire her acceptance of a pound Hyson Tea & a Loaf of double refined Sugar I have sent you three Bottles Shrub in your Cantiens & half a Dozn Lemons.
February 16, 1778
"For some days past, there has been little less, than a famine in camp. A part of the army has been a week, without any kind of flesh & the rest three or four days. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not been, ere this, excited by their sufferings, to a general mutiny and dispersion. Strong symptoms however of discontent have appeared in particular instances; and nothing but the most active efforts every where, can long avert so shocking a catastrophe."
—letter from General George Washington to New York Governor George Clinton
February 17, 1778
"Genl Wayne is detached by Genl Greene to cross the Delaware at Wilmington, for the purpose of destroying all the hay on the Jersey shore which we cannot secure for our own use, and which may fall into the enemy’s hands, and with a view of driving all the cattle from the neighborhood of the river, by a circuitous road to camp. If he finds it practicable to cross the river and carry that plan into execution, he is to make a large sweep and return here with whatever he can collect by the way of Gorshen."
—letter from Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens to his father, president of Congress Henry Laurens
February 18, 1778
"This day Had the happiness to be Inform’d by Lt Holmes that you were well; my honored Mother and Sisters; I shoud wrote Oftener but have been in expectation of Coming home but this day find my expectations blasted, and have no maner of hope to get home Untill April, tho I’me anxious to see you, and all my friends. I have Receivd my Coat & boots by Capt. Weycoff and am Informd you have procured me Some shirts which I am Extremily Glad of as I Shall be in Great need of them in a Short time … P.S: Camp does not very well agree with me"
—letter from Lieutenant William Barton to his father, Glibert Barton
February 19, 1778
Warm & rain – We hear that Yesterday a party of the Enemy came to Surprize a Pickett of Militia on the East Side of Schuykiln but they having intilligence of it drew off into the feilds and came upon the back of the Enemy, cut them off & took a Hundred Suprised Prisoners!
February 20, 1778
We now, Sir, beg Leave to submit to your Consideration, a Proposition of employing a Number of Indians in the American Army. We have fully discussed it with the General, & upon the maturest Deliberation are induced to recommend it to Congress. We are of Opinion no Measure can be adopted so effectual to break off the pernicious Intercourse which the disaffected Inhabitants of this Country still hold with the Enemy, from which they derive the greatest Advantages.
February 21, 1778
I am exceedingly apprehensive, from the immense waste, which has constantly attended them, that we shall be very much distressed for arms, at the opening of the next Campaign. I am also much afraid that without the greatest care we shall come far short of having a sufficiency of Cartridge boxes—These are matters to which I most urgently request your particular attention—that every possible exertion may be used to avoid a deficiency in such essential articles.
February 22, 1778
My dear, having an opportunity to write to you I gladly embrace it. I would inform that I am in good health at present, through the goodness of God, & I hope these lines will find you & all friends possessed of the same blessings I have not been able to procure a furlough as I expected when I wrote last. But I hope you did not depend a great deal upon it, as I think I wrote that I was not starting of getting one when I tried.
February 23, 1778
"I am sure that at that time a general would have thought himself lucky to find a third of the men ready for action whom they found on paper … The loss of bayonets was still greater. The American soldier, never having used this arm, had no faith in it, and never used it but to roast his beefsteak … The arms at Valley Forge were in horrible condition, covered with rust, half of them without bayonets, many from which a single shot could not be fired … The description of dress is most easily given. The men were literally naked, some of them in the fullest extent of the word … With regard to their military discipline, I can safely say no such thing existed."
—Baron Friedrich von Steuben arrives in camp and later records this first impression of the Continental Army
February 24, 1778
I cannot describe the impression that the first sight of that great man [Washington] made upon me. I could not keep my eyes from that imposing countenance, grave yet not severe; affable without familiarity. Its predominant expression was calm dignity through which you could trace the strong feelings of the patriot and discern the father, as well as, the Commander of his Soldiers.
February 25, 1778
The General cannot perceive upon what principle the Court acquitted Lt Tipton having been clearly convicted of gaming, which is a palpable breach of the general orders prohibiting it in every form and is therefore obliged to disapprove the sentence yet as Lieutenant Tipton has undergone his trial it would be improper to bring him to a second; he is of course to be released from his arrest.
Image credit: NPS Photo
February 26, 1778
"This morning we got up very Early in order to proceed on our Journey, But it set to Raining very hard which occation’d us to wait about one hour, but See no prospect of It holding up, we left … and went on in the worst riding I every saw as far as Dillworth’s Tavarn … then Sett forward for the Camp … and Arrived in Camp about Sunset and found all the officers well but the Soldiers very Sickly, they was buring two when I ariv’d in Camp which Died out of my Regt. Major Thayer had just got a Quantity of Cloathing into the Camp."
—diary of Colonel Israel Angell
February 27, 1778
"It begun to Storm Extreem hard &c our hutt Leakt So bad that my Bed and Cloathes were Soon all weet, my Shirt was Ringing wett to my Back. Such was our Situation in the morning, our hutt all of a float, our Cloathes all weet it Still Continued Raining, till about Noon, when it begun to Snow, and Snow’d all the after Noon untill Sunsit, when it brook away and the Sun Sett Clear, there was one Malencully Accident happen’d the night before last. Eight waggons &c horses and their Drivers was all drownd crossing Schuylkill."
—diary of Colonel Israel Angell
February 28, 1778
We jined our Reg’t and Company and I was anockulated for the Small poxe and had it Prity favorable to what others had it.
Last updated: August 25, 2025