"how did blockades and profiteering contribute to economic hardship for american soldiers"

Blockades led to shortages and stopped trade and also outside contact for America and the profiteering raised prices in the colonies.By cutting off from outside contact (Atlantic Coast), which extremely upset American exchange; a couple of homesteaders exploited these deficiencies by offering rare things at irrationally high costs (profiteering).

Three bureaucracies supported the colonial armies: the Treasury Department, the Navy Board, and the Ordnance Board. When hostilities began in North America, the Treasury Department had overall responsibility for supplying the army.