| The park has a splendid new visitor
center that includes a small but handsome museum. No entry fees are
charged. The park is surrounded by urban
development, and for many people it is a convenient and pleasant place to bicycle, jog
and picnic. From the National Park Service leaflet about Valley Forge: "As wintry weather approached, armies often withdrew to fixed camps. Transportation problems made large-scale winter operations infeasible. In choosing a site for quarters, Washington had to balance the Continental Congress's wish for some type of winter campaign aimed at dislodging the British from the capital [Philadelphia] against the needs of his weary and poorly supplied army. By mid-December [1777] he had decided to encamp at Valley Forge. From this location, 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia, the army was close enough to maintain pressur on the British yet far enough away to prevent a surprise attack." |
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| Visitors can use a
computer to display the names and military units of those who served at
Valley Forge. Here it shows the name of Jerry's ancestor Shadrack Pinkston(e). |
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| In November 1776 Shadrack enlisted in the
Virginia 11th regiment, one of those authorized by Congress when it became clear that
the war demanded more than volunteer militas on short-term
enlistments. A well-trained and equipped standing army was needed. Note this pay voucher is stated in terms of British currency. |
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A record of a document signed by Major C. Gibbs that declared "Shadrack Pinckstone
of the Corps of Guards having served his terms of service out is hereby
discharged from the service of the United States. Given at Head
Quarters, Morris Town this 6th day of Decemr 1779." "Corps of Guards" is a reference to the Commander in Chief's Guard, also called the Life Guard. Another record attested "This is to certify that Shadrack Pinkston enlisted as Corporal with me in the 11th Virga Rgmt, commanded by Colo. Morgan the 26 of Novr 1776. Given under my hand this 5 day of August 1783. Wm Smith Capt." |
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| Here is a document that has
Shadrack's signature. The "land due me for my services" was a
bonus earned by military veterans. Apparently it wasn't practical for
him to travel to the office where the land warrants were issued, so he
asked a friend to get it on his behalf. His fine penmanship and composition shows he had a good education. His estate paid for schooling his daughter Charlotte (who married Benjamin Starr) at a time when relatively few women had the advantage of a formal education. |
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| Huts like these reconstructed structures housed the troops -- eleven enlisted men per hut. Officers were less crowded. "The sound that would have reached your ears on approaching the camp was not that of a forlorn howling wind, but rather that of hammers, axes, saws, and shovels at work. Under the direction of military engineers, the men built a city of 2,000-odd huts laid out in parallel lines along planned military avenues. The troops also constructed miles of trenches, five earthen forts ... and a ... bridge over the Schuylkill River." Toilets were long, open trenches that were sources of pestilence, so it would have been better to have more sub-freezing weather. Disease, not cold or starvation, was the true scourge of the camp. ... two-thirds of the nearly 2,000 men [one in six!] who perished died during the warmer months of March, April, and May, when supplies were more abundant." |
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| "The troops who came to camp included men from all 13 original states and regiments from all except South Carolina and Georgia. The encampment brought together men, women and children of nearly all ages, from all walks of life, from different ethnic backgrounds, and from various religions. While statistically most were of English descent, the ranks also included persons of African, American Indian, Austrian, Dutch, French, German, Irish, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Prussian, Scottish, Spanish, and Swedish descent. ... Many recent European arrivals sought fortune and honor by enlisting in the regiments of the middle states they now called home. In fact, two-thirds of the Pennsylvania troops were foreign-born." |  |
| "Women
followed the army to be with their husbands and contribute actively to
the cause. The women ... at Valley Forge included hundreds of enlisted
men's wives who followed the army year round, and some general
officers' wives on extended visits. The army compensated full-time
women followers for rendering such valuable services as sewing,
laundering, and nursing. Promises of freedom motivated thousands of enslaved African Americans to join Continental and British forces. In the Continental Army, bound individuals yearning for liberty and wages served alongside freemen in search of a better life. ... most American Indians sided with the British. Political, religious, and personal ties, however, led some tribes to support the patriots. Hundreds of Indians enlisted in the Continental Army and many others engaged as scouts in specialized units." |
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| If you think those beds would be uncomfortable, try the "chair." "While the soldiers who entered camp on December 19, 1777 were not well-supplied, they were not downtrodden. ... Army records and eyewitness accounts speak of a skilled and capable force in charge of its own destiny. Rather than wait for deliverance, the army located supplies, built log cabins to stay in, constructed makeshift clothing and gear, and cooked subsistence meals of their own concoction. Provisions, although never abundant, were available. Shortages of clothing did cause severe hardship for a number of men, but many soldiers had a full uniform, and the well-equipped units patrolled, foraged, and defended the camp" |
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| The park interpreter on the right explained to us that he was wearing the summer uniform; the seated man had on warmer winter garb. |  |
| Replica of one of the many ovens that baked thousands of loaves of bread daily for the troops' major source of nutrition. It was meat, or "flesh" as it was commonly referred to, that was in shortest supply. Pork was the easiest to obtain, though the troops first preference was beef. |  |
| "This
bronze equestrian statue stands in an area where Pennsylvania troops
commanded by Gen. Anthony Wayne made their encampment. The statue faces
toward the general's home in nearby Chester County." Accourding to Wikipedia, "Wayne adopted a military career at the outset of the American Revolutionary War, where his military exploits and fiery personality quickly earned him a promotion to the rank of brigader general and the sobriquet of 'Mad Anthony'." |
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| The Isaac Potts house was used as Washington's headquarters. "Gen. George Washington's faith in the moral rightness of the American cause never wavered. At Valley Forge he attempted to balance the wants and needs of hungry soldiers and dissatisfied officers against the nearly incessant demands from political leaders that he pursue the war more aggressively against the British occupying the patriot capital--all while operating in a disputed area where friend and foe were difficult to distinguish." |
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| About a hundred yards from the house were huts that housed the Commander in Chief's guard. |  |
| A sign tells the story of the Guard. |  |
| It seems Shadrack was good-looking and well-behaved. General Washington requested "this company should look well and be nearly of a size, I desire that none of the men may exceed in stature five feet ten inches, nor fall short of five feet nine inches, sober, young, active, and well made. ... I would be understood to mean men of good character in the regiment, that possess the pride of appearing clean and soldier like. ... send me none but natives, and men of some property, if you have them." |  |
| "Baron Friedrich W A. von Steuben, of Prussia, volunteered his service to the revolutionary cause. Much of his success in training the soldiers of Washington's army at Valley Forge was achieved by his reliance on the power of example. He formed a model company of 100 selected men and undertook its drill in person ... The rapid progress of this company under General von Steuben's skilled instruction made an immediate appeal to the imagination of the entire army." |  |
| It was in a hut like these that Shadrack would have been quartered after being selected for the elite unit. |  |
| Interior of a replica of a Guard hut. We suspect those folding campstools are not authentic. But would you want to sit on a log? |  |
| Washington's April 22, 1777 request for uniforms for the guard was directed to Capt. Caleb Gibbs (who would later sign Shadrack's discharge paper, shown above): "Provide for four sergeants, four corporals, a drum and fife, and fifty rank and file. If blue and buff can be had, I should prefer that uniform, as it is the one I wear myself. If it cannot, Mr. Mease and you may fix upon any other, red excepted. I shall get men from five feet nine to five feet ten, for the Guard; for such sized men, therefore make your clothing. You may get a small round hat, or a cocked one, as you please. In getting these clothes no mention need be made for what purpose they are intended; for though no extraordinary expense will attend it, and the Guard which is absolutely necessary for the security of my baggage and papers, etc., may as well be in uniform; yet the report of making a uniform (or if already made of providing uniform) for the Guard, creates an idea of expense which I would not wish should go forth." |  |
| Today's lush vegetation and peaceful atmosphere gives no clue of the army's impact during the winter encampment. "The Continental Army used the rolling terrain of Valley Forge intensively in laying out defense lines and living and working areas. When the army left in June 1778 the land was devastated. On a visit 10 years later, however, Washington saw few remaining traces of the encampment. The land had recovered." |
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| The National Memorial Arch, dedicated in 1917. Inscribed across the top is Washington's tribute to the men under his command: "Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery." Those who endured the privations of the winter encampment deserve such a salute, although as noted above, Washington was not above embellishing his reports about the army's dire circumstances in order to wheedle more support from the Congress. |
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| Florid rhetoric in the style of a bygone day. Yet still appropriate. "On June 28, at the Battle of Monmouth, N.J., Washington's men demonstrated their improved battle prowess when they forced the British from the field. By summer Washington could claim the war effort was going well. Valley Forge was not the darkest hour of the Revolutionary War; it is a place where an already accomplished group of professionals stood their ground, honed their craft, and thwarted one of the major British offensives of the war." |
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