November 10. 2009
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, was the site to which George Washington's troops dragged themselves for the 6-month winter/spring encampment - December 1777 to June 1778. The roads were soggy, then frozen. The troops were mostly shoeless and the ice-hardened roads cut into their rag-bound feet. The general said that "you might have tracked the army ... to Valley Forge by the blood of their feet." George Washington and 12,000 soldiers survived against terrible odds and kept the British Army contained in Philadelphia. Some 2,000 troops died from disease brought on by supply shortages, exposure and poor sanitation. Still, afterwards the army was better trained and more efficient because Baron von Steuben reorganized them during this time.
They did not have much food but ate "fire cake (flour and water baked in thin cakes on hot stones) and water. Marquis de Lafayette recalled that nearly 3,000 men were listed unfit for duty from the want of clothing".
The soldiers built log cabins when they arrived. I have learned that the Swedes brought that knowledge to this country.
The museum was very interesting and I am showing some of the information here. Just click on the picture and you can read it. Afterwards we drove on the self-guided tour around the area.
The National Memorial Arch commemorates the patriotism and suffering of George Washington and the men who were under his command. It was dedicated 1917.
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