Despite significant Continental victories in the fall of 1777, the following winter proved especially difficult. The quarters at Valley Forge were again marked by bitter cold, poor food, inadequate clothing, and scarce supplies. A French volunteer arrived to see “a few militia men, poorly clad, and for the most part without shoes; many of them badly armed.” Many recent recruits were also poorly trained. Critical assistance arrived with Baron Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian officer recruited by Benjamin Franklin, who took charge of drilling soldiers. Other officers experienced in European warfare also joined the patriot cause that winter: the Marquis de Lafayette of France, Johann Baron de Kalb of Bavaria, and Thaddeus Kosciusko and Casimir Count Pulaski, both of Poland. The Continental Army continued to be plagued by problems of recruitment, discipline, wages, and supplies. But the contributions of foreign volunteers, along with the leadership of Washington and his officers, sustained the military effort.

Patriots on the home front were also plagued by problems in 1777–1778. Families living in battlefield areas were especially vulnerable to the shifting fortunes of war. When British troops captured Philadelphia in fall 1777, a British officer commandeered the home of Elizabeth Drinker, a Quaker matron. An angry Drinker reported that the officer moved in with “3 Horses 2 Cows 2 Sheep and 3 Turkeys.” Women who lived far from the conflict were isolated from such intrusions but were forced to fend for themselves with husbands at the front. Meanwhile, wives of patriot leaders, anxious to end the conflict, formed voluntary associations, like the Ladies Association of Philadelphia, to provide critical resources for the army. See Document Project 6: Women in the Revolution.

While most women worked tirelessly on the home front, some cast their fate with the army. Camp followers continued to provide critical services to the military and suffered, as the troops did, from scarce supplies and harsh weather. Some women also served as spies and couriers for British or Continental forces. Lydia Darragh, a wealthy Philadelphian, eavesdropped on conversations among the British officers who occupied her house and carried detailed reports to Washington hidden in the folds of her dress. Others, like Nancy Hart Morgan of Georgia, took more direct action. Morgan lulled half a dozen British soldiers into a sense of security at dinner, hid their guns, and shot two before neighbors came to hang the rest.

Some patriot women took up arms on the battlefield. A few, such as Margaret Corbin, accompanied their husbands to the front lines. When her husband was killed at Fort Washington in November 1776, Corbin took his place loading and firing cannons. In addition, a small number of women, like Deborah Sampson, disguised themselves as men and enlisted as soldiers.