Colonists Endure Hardships

There was a time for the Colonists were the weather was not on their favor. In the winter they didn't battle but still suffered; they had to wear rags on their feet and the weather prevented supplies from getting to the camp. There was shortage of everything; food, clothing, medicine. The men were sick from disease, hunger, and exposure to weather. The army camped in log cabins and endured the cold meanwhile the British were in colonial homes. The Patriots were starving while the British soldiers ate perfectly well. The General was worried if he would even have an army left when spring time arrived. The army was small but committed, they hung together no matter what.

 They also caused inflation by issuing papers; Continentals. Continentals were paper money issued by the Continental Congress. If the British won,continentals would have no value. British army actually used gold as their form of payment. This was a problem because the Colonists would prefer to sell to the British. Despite this hard time, Washington accomplished to preoccupy the British. Loyalists (Colonists loyal to British rule) lived in the countryside. What he did was free the militia in the countryside to suppress them from sending information.

To succeed, the continental army needed the support of the people, especially the women. Some of them even followed their husbands into war as nurses, cooks, help wash and clean, even help fire some cannons. A small percentage of women helped with the actual fighting. A lot of battles were fought by the militia and a number of women joined the militia. The army was accepting young boys in and a number or girls joined in. Back then girls had a different nutrition so they developed later then girls nowadays do. This made it very easy for some girls to disguise themselves as boys. Good examples of women who fought along are: Deborah Samson, Hannah Snell, and Sally St. Claire.