Valley Forge (Geography)

Though several locations were proposed, Washington selected Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Named for an iron forge on Valley Creek, the area was close enough to the British to keep their raiding and foraging parties out of the interior of Pennsylvania, yet far enough away to halt the threat of British surprise attacks. The densely forested plateau of Mount Joy and the adjoining two-mile long plateau of Mount Misery combined with the Schuylkill River to the north, made the area easily defensible, along with providing abundant forests of timber that would later be used to construct the thousands of log huts. 78 of the huts in the camp would house the soldiers, but over 2,500 of those so