Noel F. Busch, along with researchers at the William Clements Library of the University of Michigan, uses “Winter Quarters” to describe the illness and fatalities due to illness during the Continental Army’s time at Valley Forge. The chart states that 50% of soldiers at the camp, 3,989 men, suffered from sickness on February 1, 1778. In just December of last year, 1777, only 2,898 soldiers were ill. What’s more, the death estimates due to illness from December to June was between 1,800 to 2,500. And this is just due to sickness, not combat. The number of sick cases over the course of just three months increased by over 1000. Even without counting the deaths in battle, sickness caused too many fatalities. Anyone who valued good health of themselves and others would have abandoned Valley