document_title: Toaster

question_text: who invented the household appliance we call toaster

text: Toaster

text: Types[edit]

text: Modern toasters are typically one of three varieties: pop-up toasters, toaster ovens, and conveyor belt toasters. For home use, consumers typically choose a toaster type based on their intended use. Pop-up toasters are better than toaster ovens for making evenly toasted toast, but toaster ovens can bake and broil while pop-up toasters cannot.

text: Conveyor belt toasters are mostly used in restaurants or other industrial catering environments where toast needs to be made quickly and in larger quantities.

text: Toasters are designed to look in place in any kitchen. Designers presented more aesthetic variations to pop-up toasters than other toasters. Consumers may choose a toaster by its appearance.

text: Features[edit]

text: Features which distinguish various types of toasters include the following:[1]

text:
Consistency of toasting – The ideal toaster can provide even toasting over the area of the bread, and reproduce this throughout the lifetime of the machine.
Choice of toastiness – The user should be able to choose the darkness of the toasting.
Toast output – Various toasters can process bread into toast at different capacities.
Ease of operation – The toaster's controls should be labelled to permit easy use and predictable results.
Removability of crumb tray – Toasters with a permanently attached crumb tray will be more difficult to clean than those with a removable tray.
Cord placement – There can be variation on the placement of a cord as well as retraction functionality.

text:
One-sided toasting – Toasters may optionally toast only one side of the bread, perhaps for toasting one side of a bagel.
One-slot toasting – The ability to toast an individual slot, if a single item is desired.
Slot depth – People desiring toasted oblong bread should seek a deep slotted toaster.
Slot width – People desiring toasted fat bread should seek a wide slotted toaster, as for bagels.
Safety features – Most contemporary pop-up toasters have automatic shutoff in case of toast displacement and burning.
Bread lifter – Beyond the pop-up, some toasters may incorporate a bread lifter to further expel toast products.

text:
Broil options – If only the upper heating element may be used then toaster ovens can make broiling an option.
Compact shape – Appropriately sized toaster ovens will serve the user's requirements but not occupy more counter space than necessary.
Design for cleaning – A nonstick interior such as that made from porcelain makes oven interiors easier to clean.
Interior lighting – A light inside the oven permits observation of cooking food.
Multiple shelf racks – Having options for positioning the oven shelf gives more control over distance between food and the heating element.

text: Pop-up toasters[edit]

text: In pop-up or automatic toasters, bread slices are inserted vertically into the slots (generally only large enough to admit a single slice of bread each) on the top of the toaster. A lever on the side of the toaster is pressed, activating the toaster. When an internal device determines that the toasting cycle is complete, the toaster turns off and the toast pops up out of the slots. The heating elements of a pop-up toaster are usually oriented vertically, parallel to the bread slice – although there are some variations.

text: In earlier days, the completion of the toasting operation was determined by a mechanical clockwork timer; the user could adjust the running time of the timer to determine the degree of "doneness" of the toast, but the first cycle produced less toasted toast than subsequent cycles because the toaster was not yet warmed up. Toasters made since the 1930s frequently use a thermal sensor, such as a bimetallic strip, located close to the toast. This allows the first cycle to run longer than subsequent cycles. The thermal device is also slightly responsive to the actual temperature of the toast itself. Like the timer, it can be adjusted by the user to determine the "doneness" of the toast.[citation needed]

text: The most commonly used methods to adjust heat supplied to the toast are either variable time or a heat sensor.

text: Among pop-up toasters, those toasting two slices of bread are more purchased than those which can toast four.[1] Pop-up toasters can have a range of appearances beyond just a square box, and may have an exterior finish of chrome, copper, brushed metal, or any color plastic.[1] The marketing and price of toasters may not be an indication of quality for producing good toast.[1] A typical modern two-slice pop-up toaster can draw from 600 to 1200 watts.[2]

text: In 2012 in the United States, a typical market price for a pop-up toaster was US$15.[1]

text: Toaster ovens[edit]

text: Toaster ovens are small electric ovens with a front door, wire rack and removable baking pan. To toast bread with a toaster oven, slices of bread are placed horizontally on the rack. When the toast is done, the toaster turns off, but in most cases the door must be opened manually. Most toaster ovens are significantly larger than toasters, but are capable of performing most of the functions of electric ovens, albeit on a much smaller scale. They can be used to cook toast with toppings, like garlic bread or cheese, though they tend to produce drier toast since their heating elements are located farther from the toast (to allow larger items to be cooked).[citation needed] They take 4–6 minutes to make toast as compared to 2–3 minutes in pop-up toasters.[1] Since the toast lies on bars in a toaster oven, the toast will have untoasted stripes on one side.[1] The evidence from product testing does not indicate that convection toaster ovens perform better than regular toaster ovens.[1]

text: As an appliance, the space toaster ovens require on a countertop ranges from 16 by 8 inches (41 cm × 20 cm)to 20 by 10 inches (51 cm × 25 cm).[1] In 2017 in the United States, a typical market price for a toaster oven was US$30-240.

text: Conveyor toasters[edit]

text: Conveyor toasters are designed to make many slices of toast and are generally used in the catering industry, in cafeterias, diners and institutional cooking facilities, as they are suitable for large-scale use. Bread is toasted at a rate of 300–1600 slices an hour, making conveyor toasters ideal for a large restaurant that is consistently busy.[3] Such devices have occasionally been produced for home use as far back as 1938, when the Toast-O-Lator went into limited production.[citation needed]

text: History[edit]

text: Before the development of the electric toaster, sliced bread was toasted by placing it in a metal frame or on a long-handled toasting-fork[4] and holding it near a fire or over a kitchen grill. Utensils for toasting bread over open flames appeared in the early 19th century, including decorative implements made from wrought iron.[5]

text: The first electric bread toaster was invented by Alan MacMasters in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1893.[6]

text: Development of the heating element[edit]

text: The primary technical problem at the time was the development of a heating element which would be able to sustain repeated heating to red-hot temperatures without either breaking or becoming too brittle.[citation needed] A similar technical challenge had recently been surmounted with the invention of the first successful incandescent lightbulbs by Joseph Swan and Thomas Edison. However, the light bulb took advantage of the presence of a vacuum, something that couldn't be used with the toaster.

text: Macmaster's toaster was commercialized by the Crompton, Stephen J. Cook & Company of the UK as a toasting appliance called the Eclipse. Early attempts at producing electrical appliances using iron wiring were unsuccessful, because the wiring was easily melted and a serious fire hazard. Meanwhile, electricity was not readily available, and when it was, mostly only at night.[citation needed]

text: The problem of the heating element was solved in 1905 by a young engineer named Albert Marsh who designed an alloy of nickel and chromium, which came to be known as Nichrome.[7][8][9][10]

text: The first US patent application for an electric toaster was filed by George Schneider of the American Electrical Heater Company of Detroit in collaboration with Marsh.[8][11] One of the first applications the Hoskins company had considered for chromel was toasters, but eventually abandoned such efforts to focus on making just the wire itself.[9]

text: The first commercially successful electric toaster was introduced by General Electric in 1909 for the GE model D-12.[8][12][13]

text: Dual-side toasting and automated pop-up technologies[edit]

text: In 1913, Lloyd Groff Copeman and his wife Hazel Berger Copeman applied for various toaster patents and in that same year the Copeman Electric Stove Company introduced the toaster with automatic bread turner.[14] The company also produced the "toaster that turns toast." Before this, electric toasters cooked bread on one side and then it was flipped by hand to toast the other side. Copeman's toaster turned the bread around without having to touch it.[15]

text: The automatic pop-up toaster, which ejects the toast after toasting it, was first patented by Charles Strite in 1921.[16] In 1925, using a redesigned version of Strite's toaster, the Waters Genter Company introduced the Model 1-A-1 Toastmaster,[17] the first automatic pop-up, household toaster that could brown bread on both sides simultaneously, set the heating element on a timer, and eject the toast when finished.[citation needed]

text: Toasting technology after the 1940s[edit]

text: By the middle of the 20th century, some high-end U.S. toasters featured automatic toast lowering and raising, with no levers to operate — simply dropping the slices into the machine commenced the toasting procedure. A notable example was the Sunbeam T-20, T-35 and T-50 models (identical except for details such as control positioning) made from the late 1940s through the 1960s, which used the mechanically multiplied thermal expansion of the resistance wire in the center element assembly to lower the bread; the inserted slice of bread tripped a lever to switch on the power which immediately caused the heating element to begin expanding thus lowering the bread.

text: When the toast was done, as determined by a small bimetallic sensor actuated by the heat passing through the toast, the heaters were shut off and the pull-down mechanism returned to its room-temperature position, slowly raising the finished toast. This sensing of the heat passing through the toast, meant that regardless of the color of the bread (white or wholemeal) and the initial temperature of the bread (even frozen), the bread would always be toasted to the same degree. If a piece of toast was re-inserted into the toaster, it would be only reheated.[citation needed]

text: Newer additions to toaster technology include wider toasting slots for bagels and thick breads, the ability to toast frozen breads, and the option to heat a single side or slot. Most toasters can also be used to toast other foods such as teacakes, Pop Tarts, potato waffles and crumpets, though the addition of melted butter or sugar to the interior components of automatic electric toasters often contributes to eventual failure. In rare cases, some hobbyists modify toasters to print images and logos on bread slices.[citation needed]

text: Risks[edit]

text: Toasters cause nearly 800 deaths annually due to electrocution and fires.[18]

text: Research[edit]

text: A number of projects have added advanced technology to toasters. In 1990, Simon Hackett and John Romkey created The Internet Toaster, a toaster which could be controlled from the Internet.[19] In 2001, Robin Southgate from Brunel University in England created a toaster that could toast a graphic of the weather prediction (limited to sunny or cloudy) onto a piece of bread.[20] The toaster dials a pre-coded phone number to get the weather forecast.[21]

text: In 2005, Technologic Systems, a vendor of embedded systems hardware, designed a toaster running the NetBSD Unix-like operating system as a sales demonstration system.[22] In 2012, Basheer Tome, a student at Georgia Tech, designed a toaster using color sensors to toast bread to the exact shade of brown specified by a user.[23]

text: A toaster which used Twitter was cited as an early example of an application of the Internet of Things.[24][25] Toasters have been used as advertising devices for online marketing.[26]

text: With permanent modifications, a toaster oven can be used as a reflow oven for the purpose of soldering electronic components to circuit boards.[27][28]

text: A hot dog toaster is a variation on the toaster design; it will cook hot dogs without use of microwaves or stoves. The appliance looks similar to a regular toaster, except that there are two slots in the middle for hot dogs, and two slots on the outside for toasting the buns.


document_title: Takeoff

question_text: how fast does a plane need to take off

question_tokens: how fast does a plane need to take off

root

text: Takeoff

text: Horizontal takeoff[edit]

text: Power settings[edit]

text: For light aircraft, usually full power is used during takeoff. Large transport category (airliner) aircraft may use a reduced power for takeoff, where less than full power is applied in order to prolong engine life, reduce maintenance costs and reduce noise emissions. In some emergency cases, the power used can then be increased to increase the aircraft's performance. Before takeoff, the engines, particularly piston engines, are routinely run up at high power to check for engine-related problems. The aircraft is permitted to accelerate to rotation speed (often referred to as Vr). The term rotation is used because the aircraft pivots around the axis of its main landing gear while still on the ground, usually because of manipulation of the flight controls to make this change in aircraft attitude.

tag: p

text: The nose is raised to a nominal 5°–15° nose up pitch attitude to increase lift from the wings and effect liftoff. For most aircraft, attempting a takeoff without a pitch-up would require cruise speeds while still on the runway.

text: Fixed-wing aircraft designed for high-speed operation (such as commercial jet aircraft) have difficulty generating enough lift at the low speeds encountered during takeoff. These are therefore fitted with high-lift devices, often including slats and usually flaps, which increase the camber and often area of the wing, making it more effective at low speed, thus creating more lift. These are deployed from the wing before takeoff, and retracted during the climb. They can also be deployed at other times, such as before landing.

text: The speeds needed for takeoff are relative to the motion of the air (indicated airspeed). A headwind will reduce the ground speed needed for takeoff, as there is a greater flow of air over the wings. Typical takeoff air speeds for jetliners are in the 130–155 knot range (150–180 mph, 240–285 km/h). Light aircraft, such as a Cessna 150, take off at around 55 knots (63 mph, 100 km/h). Ultralights have even lower takeoff speeds. For a given aircraft, the takeoff speed is usually dependent on the aircraft weight; the heavier the weight, the greater the speed needed.[1] Some aircraft are specifically designed for short takeoff and landing (STOL), which they achieve by becoming airborne at very low speeds.

text: Speed required[edit]

text: The takeoff speed required varies with air density, aircraft gross weight, and aircraft configuration (flap or slat position, as applicable). Air density is affected by factors such as field elevation and air temperature. This relationship between temperature, altitude, and air density can be expressed as a density altitude, or the altitude in the International Standard Atmosphere at which the air density would be equal to the actual air density.

text: Operations with transport category aircraft employ the concept of the takeoff V-Speeds, V1, VR and V2. These speeds are determined not only by the above factors affecting takeoff performance, but also by the length and slope of the runway and any peculiar conditions, such as obstacles off the end of the runway. Below V1, in case of critical failures, the takeoff should be aborted; above V1 the pilot continues the takeoff and returns for landing. After the co-pilot calls V1, he/she will call VR or "rotate," marking speed at which to rotate the aircraft. The VR for transport category aircraft is calculated such as to allow the aircraft to reach the regulatory screen height at V2 with one engine failed. Then, V2 (the safe takeoff speed) is called. This speed must be maintained after an engine failure to meet performance targets for rate of climb and angle of climb.

text: In a single-engine or light twin-engine aircraft, the pilot calculates the length of runway required to take off and clear any obstacles, to ensure sufficient runway to use for takeoff. A safety margin can be added to provide the option to stop on the runway in case of a rejected takeoff. In most such aircraft, any engine failure results in a rejected takeoff as a matter of course, since even overrunning the end of the runway is preferable to lifting off with insufficient power to maintain flight.

text:
If an obstacle needs to be cleared, the pilot climbs at the speed for maximum climb angle (Vx), which results in the greatest altitude gain per unit of horizontal distance travelled. If no obstacle needs to be cleared, or after an obstacle is cleared, the pilot can accelerate to the best rate of climb speed (Vy), where the aircraft will gain the most altitude in the least amount of time. Generally speaking, Vx is a lower speed than Vy, and requires a higher pitch attitude to achieve.
Normally ground speed for takeoff varies between 250 km/h to 475 km/h in just 2.94/s.

text: Assisted takeoff[edit]

text: Assisted takeoff is any system for helping aircraft into the air (as opposed to strictly under its own power). The reason it might be needed is due to the aircraft's weight exceeding the normal maximum takeoff weight, insufficient power, or the available runway length may be insufficient, or a hot and high airfield, or a combination of all four factors. Assisted takeoff is also required for gliders, which do not have an engine and so are unable to take off by themselves.

text: Vertical takeoff[edit]

text: Vertical takeoff refers to aircraft or rockets that take off in a vertical trajectory. Vertical takeoff eliminates the need for airfields. Most vertical take off aircraft are also able to land horizontally, but there were certain rocket-powered aircraft of the Luftwaffe that only took off vertically, landing in other ways. The Bachem Ba 349 Natter landed under a parachute after having taken off vertically. Other late Third Reich projects, such as the Heinkel P.1077 Julia or the Focke-Wulf Volksjäger 2 climbed to their ceiling at a nearly vertical angle and landed later on a skid.[2]

text: VTOL[edit]

text: Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft include fixed-wing aircraft that can hover, take off and land vertically as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as tiltrotors.[3][4][5][6]  Some VTOL aircraft can operate in other modes as well, such as CTOL (conventional take-off and landing), STOL (short take-off and landing), and/or STOVL (short take-off and vertical landing). Others, such as some helicopters, can only operate by VTOL, due to the aircraft lacking landing gear that can handle horizontal motion. VTOL is a subset of V/STOL (vertical and/or short take-off and landing).

text: Besides the helicopter, there are two types of VTOL aircraft in military service: craft using a tiltrotor, such as the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey, and some aircraft using directed jet thrust such as the Harrier family.

text: Rocket launch[edit]

text: A rocket launch is the takeoff phase of the flight of a rocket. Launches for orbital spaceflights, or launches into interplanetary space, are usually from a fixed location on the ground, but may also be from a floating platform such as the San Marco platform, or the Sea Launch launch vessel.


document_title: Valley Forge

question_text: when did the winter at valley forge end

question_tokens: when did the winter at valley forge end

text: Valley Forge

text: Pre-encampment[edit]

text: In 1777, Valley Forge consisted of a small proto-industrial community located at the juncture of the Valley Creek and the Schuylkill River. In 1742, Quaker industrialists established the Mount Joy Iron Forge. Largely thanks to capital improvements made by John Potts (of Pottstown, Pennsylvania) and his family over the following decades, the small community expanded the ironworks, established mills, and constructed new dwellings for residents.[5] Surrounding the valley was a rich farmland, where mainly Welsh-Quaker farmers grew wheat, rye, hay, Indian corn, among other crops, and raised livestock including cattle, sheep, pigs, and barnyard fowl.[6] Settlers of German and Swedish descent also lived nearby.

text: In the summer of 1777 the Continental Army’s quartermaster general, Thomas Mifflin, decided to station a portion of his army’s supplies in outbuildings around the forges, due to its variety of structures and secluded location between two prominent hills. Fearing such a concentration of military supplies would undoubtedly attract the British, the forge-ironmaster, William Dewees Jr., expressed concerns about the army’s proposal. Mifflin heeded Dewees concerns but established a magazine at Valley Forge anyway.[7][8]

text: After the British landing at Head of Elk (present-day Elkton), Maryland on August 25, 1777, the British Army maneuvered out of the Chesapeake basin and towards Valley Forge. Following the Battle of Brandywine (September 11, 1777) and the abortive Battle of the Clouds (September 16), on September 18 several hundred soldiers under General Wilhelm von Knyphausen raided the supply magazine at Valley Forge. Despite the best efforts of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton and Captain Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee, the two Continental army officers selected to evacuate the supplies from Valley Forge, Crown soldiers captured supplies, destroyed others, and burned down the forges and other buildings.[8][9]

text: Winter Quarters[edit]

text: Political, strategic, and environmental factors all influenced the Continental Army’s decision to establish their encampment near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in the winter of 1777-1778. Washington conferred with his officers to select the site that would be most advantageous to his army.

text: Site Selection[edit]

text: Washington first asked his generals where to quarter the Continental Army in the winter of 1777-1778 on October 29, 1777.[10] In addition to suggestions from his officers, Washington also had to contend with the recommendations of politicians. Pennsylvania state legislators and the Continental Congress expected the Continental Army to select an encampment site that could protect the countryside around Philadelphia. Some members of the Continental Congress also believed that the army might be able to launch a winter campaign.[10] Interested parties suggested other sites for an encampment, including Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware. However, following the inconclusive Battle of Whitemarsh from December 5–8, increasing numbers of officers and politicians began to appreciate the need to defend the greater Philadelphia region from British incursions.

text: Considering these questions, an encampment at Valley Forge had notable advantages. Valley Forge’s high terrain meant that enemy attacks would be difficult.[11] Its location allowed for soldiers to be readily detached to protect the countryside.[12] Proximity to the Schuylkill River could facilitate supply movements down the river. Wide, open areas provided space for drilling and training.[13] On December 19, Washington conducted his 12,000-person army to Valley Forge to establish the encampment.

text: The encampment was primarily situated along the high, flat ground east of Mount Joy and south of the Schuylkill River.[14] In addition to a concentration of soldiers at Valley Forge, Washington ordered nearly 2,000 soldiers to encamp at Wilmington, Delaware. He posted the army’s mounted troops at Trenton, New Jersey, and additional outposts at Downingtown and Radnor, Pennsylvania, among other places.[15] In the two winter encampments prior to Valley Forge, the Continental army had sheltered themselves in a combination of tents, constructed huts, civilian barns and other buildings. Valley Forge would mark the first time Washington ordered the army primarily concentrated into a more permanent post where they constructed their own shelters. This strategic shift encouraged a whole new host of problems for the American Patriots.

text: Hut Construction[edit]

text: The Valley Forge encampment became the Continental Army’s first large-scale construction of living quarters. While no accurate account exists for the exact number of log huts built, experts estimate a range between 1,300-1,600 structures. Brigadier General Louis Lebègue de Presle Duportail selected grounds for the brigade encampments and planned the defenses.[16] Afterwards, brigadier generals appointed officers from each regiment to mark out the precise spot for every officer and all enlisted men’s huts.[17] Despite commanders’ attempts at standardization, the huts varied in terms of size, materials, and construction techniques. Military historian John B. B. Trussell Jr. writes that many squads “dug their floors almost two feet below ground level,” to reduce wind exposure or the number of logs required for construction.[18] In addition, some huts had thatched straw roofs, while others consisted of brush, canvas, or clapboards. In a letter to his wife Adrienne, Lafayette described the huts as “small barracks, which are scarcely more cheerful than dungeons.”[19]

text: Supply Challenges[edit]

text: The Continental Army that marched into Valley Forge consisted of about 12,000 people—soldiers, artificers, women, and children. Throughout the winter, patriot commanders and legislators faced the challenge of supplying a population the size of a colonial city. In May and June 1777, the Continental Congress had authorized the reorganization of the supply department.[20] Implementation of those changes never fully took effect, due to the fighting surrounding Philadelphia. Consequently, the supply chain had broken down even before the Continental Army arrived at Valley Forge. Washington chose the area partly for its strategic benefits, but wintertime road conditions impeded supply wagons en route to the encampment.[21]

text: That winter, starvation killed perhaps as many as 1,500 horses, but soldiers fared better.[22] Nonetheless, they suffered from continual, gnawing hunger due to inconsistent supplies. At Valley Forge, Washington ordered that soldiers’ rations include either one to one-and-a-half pounds of flour or bread, one pound of salted beef or fish, or three-quarters pound of salted pork, one gill of whiskey or spirits, or one-and-a-half pounds of flour or bread, a half-pound of bacon or salted pork, a half-pint of peas or beans, and one gill of whiskey or spirits.[23] In practice, however, the army could not reliably supply the full ration.[24] Perishable foods began to rot before reaching the troops, due to poor storage, transportation problems, or confusion regarding the supplies’ whereabouts. Other rations became lost or captured by the enemy. Traveling to market proved dangerous for some vendors. When combined with the Continental Army’s lack of hard currency, prices for perishable goods inflated. Therefore, during the first few days of constructing their huts, the Continentals primarily ate firecake, a tasteless mixture of flour and water cooked upon heated rocks. In his memoir, Joseph Plumb Martin wrote that “to go into the wild woods and build us habitations to stay (not to live) in, in such a weak, starved and naked condition, was appalling in the highest degree.”[25] Resentment swelled within the ranks towards those deemed responsible for their hardship. The next day on December 23, Washington wrote Henry Laurens, the President of the Continental Congress. Washington related how his commanders had just exerted themselves with some difficulty to quell a “dangerous mutiny” fomenting, due to the lack of provision. Washington continued with a dire warning to Congress: “unless some great and capital change suddenly takes place in that line, this Army must inevitably be reduced to one or other of these three things, Starve, dissolve, or disperse, in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can.”[26] While Washington dealt with serious circumstances, he may have exaggerated slightly to obtain a quicker response from the Continental Congress.

text: On January 7, Christopher Marshall related how “ten teams of oxen, fit for slaughtering, came into camp, driven by loyal Philadelphia women. They also brought 2,000 shirts, smuggled from the city, sewn under the eyes of the enemy.”[27] While these women provided crucial assistance, most people remained relatively unaware of the Continental Army’s plight—”an unavoidable result of a general policy” to prevent such intelligence from reaching the British.[28]

text: The Continental Army did not experience a particularly harsh winter at Valley Forge, but many soldiers remained unfit for duty, owing to the lack of proper clothing and uniforms (“naked” referred to a ragged or improperly attired individual). Years later, General Marquis de Lafayette recalled that “the unfortunate soldiers were in want of everything; they had neither coats, hats, shirts, nor shoes; their feet and legs froze till they had become almost black, and it was often necessary to amputate them.”[29]

text: The army’s situation improved when a five-man congressional delegation arrived on January 24. The delegates consisted of “Francis Dana of Massachusetts, Nathaniel Folsom of New Hampshire, John Harvie of Virginia, Gouverneur Morris of New York, and Joseph Reed of Pennsylvania.”[30] According to historian Wayne Bodle, they came to understand through their visit “how vulnerable the new army could be to logistical disruption, owing to its size, its organizational complexity, and its increasing mobility.”[31] Washington and his aides convinced them to implement recommended reforms to the supply department. In March 1778, Congress also appointed Nathanael Greene as Quartermaster General, who reluctantly accepted at Washington’s behest. One of the Continental Army’s most able generals, Greene did not want an administrative position. Yet he and his staff better supplied the troops at a time when the weather began to improve, and with it, road conditions. The Schuylkill River also thawed, allowing the Continental Army to more easily to transport convoys from the main supply depot at Reading.[32]

text: Environmental & Disease Conditions[edit]

text: With the fourth largest population in (former) British North America, maintaining cleanliness remained a challenge for the Continental Army. Scabies broke out due to the filthy conditions within the encampment, as did other, deadlier ailments. The army had a limited water supply for cooking, washing, and bathing. Dead horse remains often lay unburied, and Washington found the smell of some places intolerable.[33][34] Neither plumbing nor a standardized system of trash collection existed. To combat the spread of contagion, Washington commanded soldiers to burn tar or “the Powder of a Musquet Cartridge” in the huts everyday, to cleanse the air of putrefaction.[35] On May 27, Washington had ordered his soldiers remove the mud-and-straw chinking from huts “to render them as airy as possible.”[35] Due to an imperfect understanding of disease transmission, however, these actions would not have produced the desired results. No one had yet discovered germ theory.

text: Subsequently, outbreaks of typhoid and dysentery spread through contaminated food and water. Soldiers contracted influenza and pneumonia, while still others succumbed to typhus, caused by body lice. Although the inconsistent delivery of food rations did not cause starvation, it probably exacerbated the health of ailing soldiers. Some patients might have suffered from more than one ailment. In total, about 1,700-2,000 troops died during the Valley Forge encampment, mostly at general hospitals located in six different towns. Valley Forge had the highest mortality rate of any Continental Army encampment, and even most military engagements. The death toll for civilians connected to Valley Forge remains unknown.

text: Despite the mortality rate, Washington did curb the spread of smallpox, which had plagued the Continental Army since the American Revolution had begun in 1775. In January 1777, Washington had ordered mass inoculation of his troops, but a year later at Valley Forge, smallpox broke out again. An investigation uncovered that three to four thousand of their troops had not gotten inoculated, despite having long-term enlistments.[36] So, Washington ordered inoculations for any soldiers vulnerable to the disease.

text: A precursor to vaccination (introduced by Edward Jenner in 1798), inoculation gave the patient a milder form of smallpox with better recovery rates than if the patient had acquired the disease naturally. The procedure provided lifetime immunity from a disease with a roughly fifteen to thirty-three percent mortality rate.[37] In June 1778, when the Continental Army marched out of Valley Forge, they had completed “the first large-scale, state-sponsored immunization campaign in history.”[38] By continuing the inoculation program for new recruits, Washington better maintained military strength among the regular, Continental Army troops throughout the remainder of the war.

text: Encampment Demographics[edit]

text: While each hut housed a squad of twelve enlisted soldiers, sometimes soldiers’ families joined them to share that space as well. Throughout the encampment period, Mary Ludwig Hays and approximately 250-400 other women had followed their soldier husbands or sweethearts to Valley Forge, sometimes with children in tow. Washington once wrote that “the multitude of women in particular, especially those who are pregnant, or have children, are a clog upon every movement.”[39] Yet women on the ration proved invaluable, whether on the march or at an encampment like Valley Forge. They often earned income either by laundering clothes or by nursing troops, which kept soldiers cleaner and healthier. In turn, this made the troops appear more professional and disciplined.

text: Lucy Flucker Knox, Catharine Littlefield "Caty" Greene, and other senior officers’ wives journeyed to Valley Forge at the behest of their husbands. On 22 December, Martha Washington predicted that her husband would send for her as soon as his army went into winter quarter, and that “if he does I must go.”[40] Indeed she did, traveling in wartime with an unknown party of enslaved servants over poor roads, reaching her destination in early February. Washington’s aide-de-camp Colonel Richard Kidder Meade met her at the Susquehanna ferry dock to escort her into the encampment.[40] Over the next six months, Martha hosted political leaders and military officials, managing domestic staff within the confined space of Washington’s Headquarters.

text: Contrary to popular perceptions, Valley Forge had a high percentage of racial and ethnic diversity, since Washington’s army comprised individuals from all thirteen states. About thirty percent of Continental soldiers at Valley Forge did not speak English as their first language. Many soldiers and commanders hailed from German-speaking communities, as with Pennsylvania-born Brigadier General Peter Muhlenberg. Still others spoke Scottish- or Irish-Gaelic, and a few descended from French-speaking Huguenot and Dutch-speaking communities in New York State. Local residents sometimes conversed in Welsh. Several senior officers in the Continental Army originally came from France, Prussia, Poland, Ireland, and Hungary.

text: Although Native and/or African American men supported the Continental Army as drovers, waggoneers, and laborers, others fought as soldiers, particularly from Rhode Island and Massachusetts.[1] The smallest of the states, Rhode Island had difficulty meeting recruitment quotas for white men, spurring Brigadier General James Mitchell Varnum to suggest the enlistment of enslaved men for his 1st Rhode Island Regiment. Over a four-month period in 1778, the Rhode Island General Assembly allowed for their recruitment. In exchange for enlisting, soldiers of the 1st Rhode Island Regiment gained immediate emancipation, and their former owners received financial compensation equal to the enslaved person’s commoditized market value. By January 1778, nearly ten percent of Washington’s effective force consisted of African American troops.[41]

text: Commanders brought free and enslaved servants with them into the encampment, usually African Americans. Washington’s military family included his enslaved manservant William Lee, as well as enslaved cooks Hannah Till and her husband Isaac. William Lee had married Margaret Thomas, a free woman with black and white ancestry who worked as a laundress at Washington’s Headquarters. Hannah’s owner Reverend John Mason lent her out to Washington, but Hannah secured an arrangement whereby she eventually bought her freedom in June 1780.[42][43] Although Isaac secured a similar arrangement, he disappears from the historical record after a few years, and it’s not known if he obtained his freedom.

text: By Spring 1778, Wappinger warriors, a delegation of the Oneida and Tuscarora, and Colonel Joseph Louis Cook of the St. Regis Mohawk had all joined the troops at Valley Forge. Most served as scouts against British raiding parties in the area, and in May 1778, they fought under Lafayette at the Battle of Barren Hill. In oral histories, however, a prominent Oneida woman named Polly Cooper also brought “hundreds of bushels of white corn” to hungry troops, teaching them how to process it for safe consumption.[44] During the American Revolution, most Native American nations sided with the British, partly due to fears that American Patriots would expand westward if they won independence. Yet some Native Americans did support the Patriots “due to personal ties, shared religious beliefs,” or past mistreatment by the British.[2] When the Oneida and Tuscarora allied themselves with the American Patriots, the civil war between British and American colonials spilled over into a civil war between the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy.

text: Organizational Challenges[edit]

text: Among the challenges befalling the Continental Army during the Valley Forge winter included poor organization. Two years of revolutionary war, shuffling leadership, and uneven recruitment resulted in irregular unit organization and strength. During the Valley Forge encampment, the army was reorganized into five divisions under Major Generals Charles Lee, Marquis de Lafayette, Johan de Kalb, and William Alexander “Lord Stirling,” with Brigadier General Anthony Wayne serving in place of Mifflin.[45][46] Thanks to the widespread reorganization, unit strength and the terms of service became more standardized, improving the Continental army’s efficiency.[47]

text: Although Washington enjoyed support among enlisted soldiers, commissioned officers and congressional officials were not as enthusiastic. During the Valley Forge winter, Washington’s detractors attacked his leadership ability in both private correspondence and in popular publications. One anonymous letter in January 1778 disparaged Washington. It read, “The proper methods of attacking, beating, and conquering the Enemy has never as yet been adapted by the Commander in [Chief].”[48]

text: While historians disagree as to the seriousness of the threat to Washington’s leadership during the Valley Forge winter, the most organized of these threats (albeit loosely-organized) was the so-called Conway Cabal. The Conway Cabal involved an attempt by a handful of military officers and American politicians to replace Washington with Major General Horatio Gates as the head of the Continental army. The movement was nominally led by Thomas Conway, a foreign Continental army general and critic of Washington’s leadership. If the cabal ever posed any real threat to Washington’s leadership, a series of leaks and embarrassing exposures in the fall and winter of 1777 and 1778 dissolved the threat. Thanks to the demise of the so-called Conway Cabal, following the Valley Forge encampment George Washington’s reputation in the American war effort improved.[49]

text: Training[edit]

text: Increasing military efficiency, morale, and discipline improved the army's well-being with better supply of food and arms. The Continental Army had been hindered in battle because units administered training from a variety of field manuals, making coordinated battle movements awkward and difficult. They struggled with basic formations and lacked uniformity, thanks to multiple drilling techniques taught in various ways by different officers.[50] The task of developing and carrying out an effective training program fell to Baron Friedrich de Steuben, a Prussian drill master who had recently arrived from Europe.

text: He drilled the soldiers, improving their battle and formation techniques. Under Steuben’s leadership, the Continentals practiced volley fire, improved maneuverability, standardized their march paces, exercised skirmishing operations, and drilled bayonet proficiency.[51] These new efforts to train and discipline the army also improved morale among the soldiers more generally.[52]

text: French Alliance[edit]

text: Initially, France remained reluctant to directly involve themselves in the war against Great Britain. In part, they worried that revolutionary fervor might spread into their own empire (it did by 1789), but they also did not think the American colonists could win. However, the October 1777 surrender of British General John Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga, New York “won for Americans the assistance they needed from other foreign powers.”[53] France and the United States subsequently signed a treaty on 6 February 1778, creating a military alliance between the two countries.

text: In response, Great Britain declared war on France five weeks later, on March 17.

text: On May 6, having already received word of the French Alliance, Washington ordered the Continental Army to perform a Grand Feu de Joie, a formal ceremony consisting of a rapid and sequential firing of guns down the ranks. Continental officer George Ewing wrote that the troops then shouted, “three cheers and Long live the King of France after this…three cheers and shout of God Save the friendly Powers of Europe…and cheers and a shout of God Save the American States.”[54] Each soldier received an extra gill of rum (about four ounces) to enjoy that day, and after the troop’s dismissal, Washington and other officers drank many patriotic toasts and concluded the day “with harmless Mirth and jollity.”[54]

text: They had cause for celebration. As empires, both France and Great Britain had territory around the world that required protection. Sir Henry Clinton replaced General Sir William Howe as British Commander-in-Chief of Land Forces in North America, and had to divert troops from Philadelphia to the Crown’s valuable West Indies possessions. The British also feared a French naval blockade of Philadelphia, so in June, Clinton abandoned it for New York City—a loyalist stronghold. On June 18, Washington and his troops marched after them, with the remainders vacating Valley Forge one day later—exactly six months after the Continental Army had arrived.

text: Battle of Monmouth[edit]

text: Following the formal declaration of the Franco-American alliance, the British decided to abandon Pennsylvania, fearing they could not continue to occupy to both Philadelphia and New York City. On June 18, 1778, the British army completed its evacuation of Philadelphia, and began the long overland march through New Jersey towards New York City. The next day, the Continental Army marched out of Valley Forge in pursuit of their enemy. As they marched through south and central New Jersey, the British destroyed property and confiscated supplies and food, inspiring growing enmity among the area’s civilians.[55] Meanwhile, small-scale cooperative operations between the Continentals and New Jersey militia constantly harassed and exhausted the British forces.[56]

text: The armies met on the morning of June 28, beginning the Battle of Monmouth. Continental soldiers under the command of General Charles Lee engaged the British,in approximately five hours of continuous fighting in a ferocious heat.[57] That night, British commander Sir Henry Clinton moved his army out of Freehold and resumed their march to Manhattan. Both sides claimed elements of victory. The British army completed its march to New York City, while the Continental Army had forced a battle and performed admirably overall. The standardized training instilled in veterans and new recruits at Valley Forge improved their performance on the battlefield.

text: Myth & Memory[edit]

text: Valley Forge long occupied a prominent place in American storytelling and memory. The image of Valley Forge as a site of terrible suffering and unshakeable perseverance emerged years after the encampment ended.

text: One of the most enduring myths about the Valley Forge encampment concerned the weather. Valley Forge has long been portrayed in stories and pictures as blanketed in snow or coated in ice. In such stories, exposure and frostbite supposedly claimed the lives of many soldiers. While amputations did occur, no corroborating sources claim that death occurred from the freezing temperatures alone. Rather, at Valley Forge snowfall was infrequent, above-freezing temperatures were regular, and ice was uncommon. Stories of harsh winter largely originate from the 1779-1780 winter encampment at Jockey Hollow, near Morristown, New Jersey. The winter of 1779-1780 was reportedly one of the worst of the century, and its stories and images have seeped into the American consciousness about Valley Forge.

text: One of the most popular Valley Forge legends is that of Washington kneeling in the snow praying for his army’s salvation. The image has been popularized in paintings, in newspapers, and at one point President Ronald Reagan even repeated it. Yet no contemporary evidence exists suggesting such a prayer ever occurred. The story first appeared in an 1804 article by Mason Locke Weems, an itinerant minister, popular folklorist, and Washington biographer. In Weems’s story, a neutral Quaker named Isaac Potts discovered Washington at prayer, relayed the story to his wife, and then declares his support for the American cause.[58] However, Isaac Potts did not live near Valley Forge during the encampment period, and did not wed his wife until 1803. Despite these dubious origins, many have repeated the story over the years.[59]

text: Valley Forge Historical Maps[edit]

text:
Map of the Valley Forge winter encampment, 1777, published in John Lossing Benson's 1860 The Pictorial Field-book of the Revolution

The encampment at Valley Forge in 1778 (1830 engraving by G. Boynton)

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