Christmas 1776. The Revolution was not going well. The previous months had brought news that New York, Rhode Island and most of New Jersey had fallen to the British. Operational and intelligence blunders committed by Washington and his generals during these campaigns could have resulted in his dismissal as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. Washington knew he needed to make a bold move in order to galvanize the Continental Army and rally the American people to his cause.
But before he could make that decisive move, Washington had to overcome a series of problems. Among these was the dwindling strength of the Continental Army. Many soldiers only enlisted for months at a time. Their enlistments were often up just as key campaigns were about to get underway. More importantly, though, poor sanitary conditions and lack of medical care resulted in extraordinarily high deaths from diseases like dysentery and malaria.
Soldiers also lacked adequate clothing and shoes. More than one contemporary account describes bloody footprints left by barefoot Revolutionary soldiers in the snow.
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