This volume presents recent archaeological and ethnohistorical research on the encampments, trails, and support structures of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. These sites illuminate the daily lives of soldiers, officers, and camp followers away from the more well-known military campaigns and battles. The research featured here includes previously unpublished findings from the winter encampments at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, as well as work from sites in Redding, Connecticut, and Morristown, New Jersey. Topics range from excavations of a special dining cabin constructed for General George Washington to ballistic analysis of a target range established by General von Steuben. Contributors use experimental archaeology to learn how soldiers constructed their log hut quarters, and they reconstruct Rochambeau’s marching route through Connecticut on his way to help Washington defeat the British at Yorktown. They also describe the underrecognized roles of African descendants, Native peoples, and women who lived and worked at the camps. Showing how archaeology can contribute insights into the American Revolution beyond what historical records convey, this volume calls for protection of and further research into non-conflict sites that were crucial to this formative struggle in the history of the United States. Contributors: Cosimo Sgarlata | Joseph Balicki | Joseph R. Blondino | Douglas Campana | Wade P. Catts | Daniel Cruson | Mathew Grubel | Mary Harper | Diane Hassan | David G. Orr | Julia Steele | Laurie Weinstein

This edited volume presents archaeological and ethno-historic research concerning Washington's Army's encampments, trails, and support structures during the American Revolution. Important sites and preserves that the following chapters discuss include Valley Forge in Pennsylvania; Putnam Park and General Parson's Preserve in Redding, Connecticut; Morristown National Historic Park in New Jersey; and Rochambeau's marching trail through Connecticut. Topics pursued by contributors to the volume are the military discipline and training of soldiers; the routine activities of soldiers and officers; the special accomodations accommodations at George Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge; the layouts and organizations of encampments; the participation of African descendants, Native peoples, and women in the war; and the historic technology used by soldiers to construct their winter quarters.

This dissertation focuses on the history and archaeology of the American military encampments of the American Revolution. The organization of this dissertation reflects the purpose and methodology of the study to create context - both historically and archaeologically - for the American military encampments of the American Revolution, in order to understand the encampments' design, implementation, and evolution over the course of the war. By employing a multifaceted approach towards the documentary record, this dissertation illustrates as many perspectives as possible by consulting a diverse collection of primary source material to construct a historical framework that explores how the military and the individual soldiers involved negotiated the theater of war during the encampment periods. Specific attention is paid to the orders that were handed down from the military hierarchy and how the soldiers reacted. This dissertation further refines the discussion of the American military encampments of the American Revolution by examining the physical remains of the encampments through the archaeological record. Utilizing information collected from nearly a century of archaeological investigations at places such as Middlebrook, New Jersey, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, Pluckemin, New Jersey, Redding, Connecticut, Morristown, New Jersey, and New Windsor, New York, this dissertation will provide a review and assessment of the archaeology of American military encampments of the American Revolution. In doing so, this dissertation examines the results these investigations have yielded and evaluates whether different approaches or a reevaluation of the results obtained from these investigations can provide new avenues of information to further interpret these historic sites. A case study is presented based on the author's own excavations within the Valley Forge winter encampment on the grounds of the modern Washington Memorial Chapel. Through this case study, the physical and material remains of this encampment site are interpreted as expressions of the Continental Army's adaptation to the landscape, as well as an expression of their status and training during this early stage of the war. Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben's work is presented as a determining factor in this development. This dissertation uses the archaeological remains of these military landscapes to provide insight into the lifeways and power structures of the military as well as the soldiers who defined the social and economic disposition of this diverse community. Viewing each of these sites as a particular marker in time, this dissertation provides case studies of events over the course of the American Revolution to examine how the Army and its soldiers interact with the then-contemporary conflict, training, and the environment. Each of these influences played a role in the evolution of this military force.

The Revolutionary War encampments of George Washington's Continental Army at Middlebrook and nearby Pluckemin, New Jersey, have been neglected in history. These places were critical to the American struggle during the Middle Atlantic campaigns. The highlands and surrounding valleys of this natural fortress were the location of two major encampments of Washington's Continental Army­­-a harrowing seven weeks during the early summer of 1777, and during the entire winter of 1778-1779. What is astonishing is that the American Army spent close to nine months here, yet this hub of the American Revolution has languished in obscurity and virtually disappeared from national awareness for over 200 years.These campgrounds served as the center of operations for American forces through much of the war and during many of its darkest hours. Most significant is that at Middlebrook, where during the winter of 1778-1779 the raw American Army matured into a cohesive fighting power capable of defeating the British forces, who were regarded at the time as the best trained and equipped army in the world. Unlike Valley Forge and Jockey Hollow, that have been so eulogized that they are familiar to most school children, this sacred land, where decisive events occurred that changed the course of the war, is now built over by suburban creep, rarely marked, shrouded in mystery and mythology, and fading from the collective American memory.

George Washington and his Continental Army braving the frigid winter at Valley Forge form an iconic image in the popular history of the American Revolution. Such winter camps, Steven Elliott tells us in Surviving the Winters, were also a critical factor in the waging and winning of the War of Independence. Exploring the inner workings of the Continental Army through the prism of its encampments, this book is the first to show how camp construction and administration played a crucial role in Patriot strategy during the war. As Elliott reminds us, Washington's troops spent only a few days a year in combat. The rest of the time, especially in the winter months, they were engaged in a different sort of battle--against the elements, unfriendly terrain, disease, and hunger. Victory in that more sustained struggle depended on a mastery of camp construction, logistics, and health and hygiene--the components that Elliott considers in his environmental, administrative, and operational investigation of the winter encampments at Middlebrook, Morristown, West Point, New Windsor, and Valley Forge. Beyond the encampments' basic function of sheltering soldiers, his study reveals their importance as a key component of Washington's Fabian strategy: stationed on secure, mountainous terrain close to New York, the camps allowed the Continental commander-in-chief to monitor the enemy but avoid direct engagement, thus neutralizing a numerically superior opponent while husbanding his own strength. Documenting the growth of Washington and his subordinates as military administrators, Surviving the Winters offers a telling new perspective on the commander's generalship during the Revolutionary War. At the same time, the book demonstrates that these winter encampments stand alongside more famous battlefields as sites where American independence was won.

The Revolutionary War encampments of George Washington's Continental Army at Middlebrook and nearby Pluckemin, New Jersey, have been neglected in history. These places were critical to the American struggle during the Middle Atlantic campaigns. The highlands and surrounding valleys of this natural fortress were the location of two major encampments of Washington's Continental Army---a harrowing seven weeks during the early summer of 1777, and during the entire winter of 1778-1779. What is astonishing is that the American Army spent close to nine months here, yet this hub of the American Revolution has languished in obscurity and virtually disappeared from national awareness for over 200 years. These campgrounds served as the center of operations for American forces through much of the war and during many of its darkest hours. Most significant is that at Middlebrook, where during the winter of 1778-1779 the raw American Army matured into a cohesive fighting power capable of defeating the British forces, who were regarded at the time as the best trained and equipped army in the world. Unlike Valley Forge and Jockey Hollow, that have been so eulogized that they are familiar to most school children, this sacred land, where decisive events occurred that changed the course of the war, is now built over by suburban creep, rarely marked, shrouded in mystery and mythology, and fading from the collective American memory.

George Washington and his Continental Army braving the frigid winter at Valley Forge is an iconic image in the popular history of the American Revolution. Such winter camps, Steven Elliott tells us in Surviving the Winters, were also a critical factor in the waging and winning of the War of Independence. Exploring the inner workings of the Continental Army through the prism of its encampments, this book is the first to show how camp construction and administration played a crucial role in Patriot strategy during the war. As Elliott reminds us, Washington's troops spent only a few days a year in combat. The rest of the time, especially in the winter months, they were engaged in a different sort of battle--against the elements, unfriendly terrain, disease, and hunger. Victory in that more sustained struggle depended on a mastery of camp construction, logistics, and health and hygiene--the components that Elliott considers in his environmental, administrative, and operational investigation of the winter encampments at Middlebrook, Morristown, West Point, New Windsor, and Valley Forge. Beyond the encampments' basic function of sheltering soldiers, his study reveals their importance as a key component of Washington's Fabian strategy: stationed on secure, mountainous terrain close to New York, the camps allowed the Continental commander-in-chief to monitor the enemy but avoid direct engagement, thus neutralizing a numerically superior opponent while husbanding his own strength. Documenting the growth of Washington and his subordinates as military administrators, Surviving the Winters offers a telling new perspective on the commander's generalship during the Revolutionary War. At the same time, the book demonstrates that these winter encampments stand alongside more famous battlefields as sites where American independence was won.