Think It's Cold Now? Imagine Winters During The Revolutionary War

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- As temperatures continue to drop to the single digits in and around the Philadelphia area, students and parents from across the country spent time in Old City wondering what it was like for those who lived during cold winters of the Revolutionary War.

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"The period of the American Revolutionary War is right at the tail end of what was called the Little Ice Age," said Tyler Putman with the Museum of the American Revolution.

Putman is the gallery education manager at the museum and if you feel cold in 2017, look back 240 years for perspective.

"They're living in small wooden huts heated by a fireplace on the end and they're all mostly wearing one or two layers of wool clothing," he said.

Putman says the winter of 1779 was one of the coldest on record. Many people died from cold-associated illnesses.

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"In the 18th century you might get a sinus infection that would  progress into your lungs that could last for the whole winter that could even eventually prove to be fatal," Putman said.