Entitled: "Washington at Valley Forge" showing Washington on horseback in snow at Valley Forge. Valley Forge was the military camp in southeastern Pennsylvania, approximately 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia, where the American Continental Army spent the winter of 1777-78 during the American Revolutionary War. Starvation, disease, malnutrition, and exposure killed over 2,500 American soldiers by the end of February 1778. With winter almost setting in, and with the prospects for campaigning greatly diminishing, General George Washington sought quarters for his men. Washington and his troops had fought what was to be the last major engagement of 1777 at the Battle of White Marsh (or Edge Hill) in early December. He devised to pull his troops from their present encampment in the White Marsh area (now Fort Washington State Park) and move to a more secure location for the coming winter. Camp followers at Valley Forge consisted of the wives, children, mothers, and sisters of the soldiers. These camp followers often served as laundresses, cleaning and mending the uniforms of the soldiers. Reproduction of painting by E. Percy Moran.