VALLEY FORGE

12/19/1777 - As 1776 ends, Thomas Paine sums up the situation for the American revolutionaries trying to break loose from Great Britain's rule (in the American Crisis) ... "These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of our country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.  Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us; that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."  Concluding a year that has seen American forces defeated in battle time after time, General George Washington and his men are living Paine's words when they arrive at an easily defendable Pennsylvania location of forested plateaus (along the slopes of Mount Joy and Mount Misery) near the Schuylkill River, about 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia (where the British have gone to ground for the winter) that will become their winter camp for the next six months (in defiance of the Continental Congress demanding Washington attack the British at once) ... a place where torment and tragedy will be miraculously transformed into triumph, a location called Valley Forge (so named for an iron forge on Valley Creek).

Paine

1778 Encampment Map

An army almost ready to come apart, 12,000 men begin setting up camp ... a rag wearing, weaponry lacking, slowly starving force in which only one in four men have shoes, that leaves behind bloody footprints on the march.  Freezing winds whipping about the men, the first windowless wooden hut appears three days after the men's arrival ... by February, there will 2,000 huts around the camp (in the spring, windows will be cut into each for ventilation, and gaps between logs will be properly chinked with mud).

Replica Hut At Valley National Historical Park

Inside

Misery

As poor as the shelter situation is at first, the men's need for sustained sustenance is even worse.  Not enough meat and bread to go around, soldiers make due by eating "firecakes" (a tasteless mixture of grilled flour and water) and supping on "pepper pot soup" (a black pepper flavored tripe broth).  And it is no better for the Continental Army's stock animals ... by the end of the winter of 1777-1778, over 700 horses will perish from the cold and lack of food.  Even the water situation is pour as the nearby creeks are frozen over and a lack of ground snow often prevents the men from boiling water for drinking or bathing.

Washington & Lafayette Make The Rounds

Washington And The Continental Army - 12/19/1777

Inadequate shelter, lack of clothing, not enough food, and the cold and wet of course conspire into creating a huge petri dish of disease and pestilence, which in turn causes men to start dropping from typhoid, typhus, smallpox, dysentery, pneumonia, malnutrition, and exposure (along with numerous desertions of soldiers seeking more hospitable climes) ... by the end of winter, over 2,500 men will die in the cause of freedom without firing a shot in battle.

Washington Praying For Guidance

As bleak as the Continental Army's fortunes appear to be, the force is blessed by being commanded by Washington (battling Congress along with the British, Washington offers to resign and return to Mount Vernon if the government can find a better leader ... but they never do!), a special individual who will not accept defeat or the dissolution of the cause of freedom and changes soon begin around camp, helped immensely by a visit from five members of the Continental Congress, who get the flow of supplies to the army started again (additionally, understanding the supply situation is a full-time priority, Washington delegates the task to his number one lieutenant, the incomparable Nathanael Greene. as Quartermaster General).  At the same time, supporting their men and giving a great boost to morale, wives, mothers, sisters, and children of the soldiers begin arriving in Valley Forge (enduring the same conditions, or worse, as the soldiers), including Martha Washington (it will be estimated that there is one woman in camp for every forty-four soldiers, about 500 in all), and immediately bring help to the camp hospital, while gathering food, washing clothes, and starting a sewing circle that mends socks, trousers, and shirts.

Martha Washington

During Martha's Visit

Washington And His Men

To prevent the men's minds for locking on their tribulations, and to correct an obvious deficiency in his men's battlefield talents so recently on display against the British, Washington institutes relentless drilling of his soldiers by a newcomer to the army ... Baron Friedrich von Steuben.

Von Steuben

Von Steuben Drilling The Continental Army

Born the son of a Royal Prussian Engineer in 1730, von Steuben, as a young child is indoctrinated into military life, accompanying his father to various posts, and joining the Royal Prussian Army himself at the age of 17.  As a member of that army, von Steuben serves as a second lieutenant in the Seven Years' War in 1756. is wounded at the Battle of Prague, is wounded a second time at the Battle of Kunersdorf (a bloody battle of over 100,000 men in which more than 30,000 will become casualties), appointed the headquarters deputy quartermaster, serves as aide-de-camp to King Frederick the Great, and in 1762, is one of 13 young officers selected to participate in special military instructions from the king himself (considered a military genius of the time).  A baron by 1771 and out of work with the downsizing of the Prussian army, von Steuben goes looking for other employment, but is thwarted in Europe by never proven rumors of homosexuality, and the American congress refusing to offer more officer jobs to foreigners.  Nonetheless, holding an introductory letter to George Washington from Benjamin Franklin (the two men meet when Franklin is an American minister operating out of Paris), von Steuben leaves for the American colonies, aboard the frigate, Flamand, on September 26, 1777 (along with his dog, an Italian greyhound named Azor, who accompanies his master everywhere!).

von Steuben

Volunteering as a private, the Prussian arrives at Valley Forge in early 1778, and after meeting with Washington, soon finds himself appointed temporary Inspector General of the army (in May, on Washington's recommendation, the position is made permanent), and as such, he establishes standards of sanitation, gives the camp a different layout that is healthier, groups the men by units, and brings book-keeping to the supply situation.  While those changes are taking place, von Steuben also goes about selecting 120 soldiers to turn into an honor guard for Washington, men who can then train the rest of the army in unit movements, firing accuracy, and use of the bayonet ... an extremely difficult task, made even harder by the fact that von Steuben knows very little English (each night, he will work with his secretary, Peter Stephen Du Ponceau, and a Washington secretary in translating his drills from Prussian to French, and then from French to English, preparing for the next day's work). Dressed in full uniform, each day, von Steuben works the men to exhaustion ... and gradually, falling in love with the man who is shaping them (they also enjoy learning the cuss words sent their way in seven different languages), they become soldiers worthy of any army in the world (working with Colonel Alexander Hamilton and General Nathanael Greene, von Steuben's training agenda will be written down and called "Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the troops of the United States," better known as the "Blue Book," which will be used by the army until 1814, and will still affect drilling in 1846, as the Mexican-American War begins).

Du Ponceau

A portent that the tide might turn in the war if the men can just survive the winter, in February news is received at the camp that a decisive victory has been won over the British, German, and Tory forces of Brigadier General "Gentleman" John Burgoyne at the Battles of Saratoga, and that France will begin fighting on the side of the Americans ... news that is celebrated with marching, fired salutes, proclamations of love for France, and one gill of rum being issued to each celebrating soldier.  And there is even more celebrating when the army learns the British have left Philadelphia, and that the Continental Army will leave Valley Forge and to once more pursue battle with its English foes, which they do on June 19, 1778. Tempered into steel by the shared hardships they have endured at Valley Forge, the change in the army is first evident in the force fighting the British to a draw at the Battle of Monmouth Court House (where the legend of female gunner, Molly Pitcher, begins) and in the night bayonet charge that wins the day at the Battle of Stony Point ... and then is placed on display for all the world to wonder at, when the army's Valley Forge core, marches from New York to Virginia, and wins the freedom to create a new country by besting the British (with major help from France) at Yorktown, the climatic 1781 battle of the American Revolution.

Washington Rallying The Troops At Monmouth

Yorktown Surrender

Valley Forge ... a name now forever associated with heroic sacrifice and epic endurance ... the Continental Army's horrific six month winter experience begins on this day ... 12/19/1777!

Inspection Rounds - Washington & Lafayette - Valley Forge

Continental Army!

National Park - Present Day