Hundreds of them marched barefoot, their blood staining the snow or the frozen ground while, at the same time, stores of shoes and clothing were lying unused somewhere on the roads to the camp.
Sickness raged in the army.

Few men at Valley Forge, wrote Washington, had more than a sheet, many only part of a sheet, and some nothing at all.

Hospital stores were lacking.

For want of straw and blankets the sick lay perishing on the frozen ground.

When Washington had been at Valley Forge for less than a week, he had to report nearly three thousand men unfit for duty because of their nakedness in the bitter winter.