Lesson Plan

Valley Forge: By the Numbers

outdoors, frozen fields, soldiers, women, and children marching

Grade Level:: Middle School: Sixth Grade through Eighth Grade
Subject:: Math,Social Studies
Lesson Duration:: 90 Minutes
State Standards:: PA Standards in Mathematics:
CC.2.1.7.D.1
CC.2.2.7.B.3

PA Standards in Social Studies:
6.1.7.A
6.3.7.A
6.4.7.B
8.2.7.A
8.2.7.D
Thinking Skills:: Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Creating: Bring together parts (elements, compounds) of knowledge to form a whole and build relationships for NEW situations.

Essential Question

1. What would it take to supply the Continental Army of 12,000 at Valley Forge?
2. How would the presence of the Continental Army impact local communities?

Objective

Students will be able to use multiplication and division to gain a better understanding of the quantity of supplies and manpower needed during the Valley Forge winter encampment.

Students will be able to analyze how the Continental Army could impact the lives of locals, from a supply standpoint, during the Valley Forge winter encampment.

Preparation

Anticipatory Set

Introduce background information on Valley Forge. A few talking points are included below. You can also view Valley Forge National Historical Park’s 19 minute film covering the basics of what happened at Valley Forge. The film Determine to Persevere: The Valley Forge Encampment can streamed online here.

1. Valley Forge was a winter encampment, not a battle, which occurred about 20 miles northwest of British occupied Philadelphia during the winter of 1777-1778. It was the 3rd winter of an 8-year war.
2. The Continental Army marched in with 12,000 men. Numbers in camp fluctuated through the 6 months. At its peak, the encampment was pushing 20,000 men. There were additional people including tradesman (artificers) and families of soldiers present throughout the length of the encampment. This temporary encampment became the 4th largest city in America at the time.
3. The soldiers set up camp according to General George Washington’s orders. That meant building living quarters in strategic locations in local farmers’ yards and fields.
4. Disease ran rampant through the encampment causing about 1,700- 2,000 men to die- a death toll higher than any battle or other winter encampment during the entire American Revolution.
5. Supplies, ranging from food to tools to clothes, were frequently in short supply. Many locals did not want to sell supplies to the American Army for various reasons. Some didn’t believe in war due to religious beliefs, primarily Quakers, and chose not to support either sid Others sided with the British and chose not to support the American Army. In addition, the American Army was sometimes paying for supplies with the continental dollar, a form of currency that was quickly losing value, state scrip or IOU’s. Although Washington tried to avoid it, in some cases, they did confiscate supplies.
6. General von Steuben, a Prussian immigrant, set about training the troops at Valley Forge. His training is often credited for making the Continental Army a cohesive unit. Some refer to Valley Forge as the birthplace of the American Army because of this training. It also helped set the stage for future American victories.

Material/Equipment

Copies of the attached worksheet, “Valley Forge: By the Numbers,” pencil, calculator (optional, but recommended)

Technology

Optional but recommended: a computer with internet connection to view the Valley Forge National Historical Park’s 19-minute orientation film Determined to Persevere: The Valley Forge Encampment OR a shorter 3 minute film, Life Before and After the Encampment. See links below.

Materials

Lesson Hook/Preview

Videos

Determined to Persevere: The Valley Forge Encampment - Park orientation film, 19 minutes.

Life Before and After the Encampment - short film, 3 minutes.

Procedure

After students understand where Valley Forge lies in the American Revolution timeline, have students complete the worksheet “Valley Forge: By the Numbers.”

By completing the included worksheet, students will use math to gain a better understanding of the vast supplies and manpower needed to keep the army running at Valley Forge.
Review the worksheet answers with the class.

Differentiation

This activity can be done in small groups or as a whole class if the math is slightly above the class’s ability. If the lesson is used as strictly a math lesson, the video and follow up questions can be skipped.

If your class doesn’t have time for the 19 minute film, a 3 minute short film tilted Life Before and After the Encampment, could be shown. It focuses on the impact the army had on locals. Links are above.

Closure

Valley Forge was considered a prolific farming area. Farmers in the area tended to grow grains such as wheat, rye, and oats in addition to hay, flax, hemp, and vegetables such as beans and potatoes. At times, enough crops were produced that they were imported to the Caribbean. But not every farm grew enough to export. Some may have produced just enough for their family. It is also important to remember the British were searching the same areas as the American army for supplies. They often paid with currency, copper and silver, that had a more stable value than the continental dollar or state script.

From the stance of a local farmer and considering the 3 most prominent viewpoints found in Pennsylvania at the time — someone who was for the British, someone who was for the American cause, or someone who didn’t believe in war due to religious reasons, most notably the Quakers — discuss how the American army and an equally sized British army searching for supplies could potentially impact your life and livelihood?

Assessment Materials

Valley Forge: By the Numbers Worksheet

The worksheet below contains 19 questions. Answering each question requires a mathematical calculation.

On December 19^th, 1777, twelve thousand continental soldiers marched into Valley Forge. Since the number of men fluctuated throughout their time at Valley Forge, please use 12,000 soldiers when finding the answers for the following problems. Realize there are times when they will need more supplies than what you are calculating.

Typically, the soldiers slept in tents, but when the army arrived at Valley Forge, General Washington wanted to collect the tents so they could be repaired after a long year of wear and tear. Washington ordered the soldiers to build log huts instead. Officers frequently had their own huts that they may have shared with one or two other officers, but for enlisted men, 12 soldiers would share a single hut. How many huts did the enlisted soldiers (12,000 men) have to build at Valley Forge?
According to the orders sent out by Washington, each hut was supposed to 14 feet wide and 16 feet long. How many square feet was each hut?
How many square feet should each soldier get in a hut?
Soldiers needed to cut down trees and haul the timber to where their brigade was camped. It’s estimated that each hut took as many as 70 trees to build. How many trees would be needed to build all the huts at Valley Forge?
The soldiers camped at Valley Forge from December 19th, 1777, until June 19th, 1778. How many days were the soldiers at Valley Forge?
Soldiers were issued daily rations of food. Men were to receive a 1 pound (lb) ration of flesh (meat) every day. How many pounds (lbs) of meat were needed to feed all the soldiers for the duration of their stay?
Soldiers were also issued a gill (4 ounces) of alcohol each day. The alcohol was poured into their canteens to help kill off any germs or bacteria that could make them sick — remember there were no water treatment plants back then. How many ounces of alcohol were needed to supply the army for 1 day?
A hogshead (a type of barrel) was a common unit of measurement during the Revolutionary War. It contains 5,664 ounces or 44.25 gallons. How many hogsheads were needed to supply the army for one day?
How many hogsheads were needed to supply the army for the length of the encampment?
Soldiers were also given a loaf of bread each day. There were approximately 25 ovens baking bread every day. How many loaves of bread would each oven have to make to supply the army for one day?
Christopher Ludwick was appointed the Baker General during the Valley Forge encampment. He vowed to produce 135 lbs. of bread for every 100 lbs. of flour used. If each loaf of bread given to a solider weighed approximately one pound, how many pounds of flour were needed every day to supply the troops?
About 30 trees were cut down daily and turned into charcoal to help fire the ovens. How many trees were needed to heat the ovens for the length of the encampment?
Soldiers didn’t bathe as regularly as we do now, but they did bathe. They were issued one “cake” or chunk of soap every two weeks. How many cakes would one soldier be issued during the encampment?
How many cakes of soap would it take to supply all the soldiers at Valley Forge for the length of the encampment?
While there was never a battle at Valley Forge, the army needed to be prepared for one. There were somewhere between 40-50 pieces of artillery (cannons) at Valley Forge. Each cannon took a crew of 6 men to fire. Assuming there were 45 pieces of artillery how many men were needed to fire all the cannons?
Clothing was supposed to be supplied by each colony. Some colonies were better at this than others. Soldiers frequently wore through their shoes. Modern hiking shoes are made to last for about 600 miles. While we don’t have records of how many miles it would take to wear out a shoe in the 1770’s, we do know that the quality of a shoe varied greatly and many tried to repair a shoe before it was worn through. The American army on average could walk 10-15 miles a day when hauling all their gear. Taking the average of 12.5 miles every day, how many days would it take a soldier to wear out their shoes (if they were built with modern materials)?
During the encampment, about 2,000 men died from infectious diseases such as dysentery, typhus, and typhoid. What percent of the troops died at Valley Forge?
The Continental Army was integrated at Valley Forge, which means that black and white soldiers served together. Somewhere between 8-10% of the soldiers at Valley Forge were black. Unfortunately, not all black people who served did so by their own choice. Some were freedmen, others were enslaved and forced to serve in place of their enslaver or in place of someone who paid their enslaver. How many soldiers at Valley Forge were black?
Soldiers were separated into brigades. Each brigade was then further divided into regiments. A brigade was supposed to be made up of 1,000 to 1,500 men, but often that number varied at Valley Forge. General Muhlenberg commanded the 1^st, 5^th,9^th, and 13^th Virginia Regiments, as well as the German Regiment and 1^st and 2^nd Virginia State Regiments. While he had many soldiers under his command, most were frequently not fit for duty. This could mean that they were sick or lacking some sort of basic supply such as shoes, gun powder, or even a musket. Below are the numbers of soldiers assigned to General Muhlenberg for each month of the Valley Forge encampment. What percent were fit for duty in each month?

Month	Fit for Duty	Assigned
December 1777	678	1553
January 1778	491	1592
February 1778	283	1246
March 1778	286	1155
April 1778	673	1301
May 1778	775	1328
June 1778	1026	1640

Rubric/Answer Key