The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-01-29
8istoriral.
VALLEY FORGE.
A RENiSiscrScE or THE REVOLUTION.

RENIsIscENcE or THE REVOLUTION.
Valley Forge was selected for the win
ter encampment because from It Wash
ington could best protect the interior Of
the State from the incursions Of the enc
my quartered in Philadelphia. The army
left Whitemarsh on the llth Of December
and reached Valley Forge on the 10Th,
1T77. The soldiers, many of them bare
footed and in rags, had marched thither,
leaving their bloody testimonials on nearly
every foot of ground they had traversed.
The day before, Oh the borders of the
dreary region where they were to pass the
long winter, was spent in religious services.
Congress had directed it to be observed as
. day of thanksgiving and praise Tho
ragged, suffering, weary soldiers, with their
march over the frozen ground, were required
on this bleak day, with prospect full of
gloom before them, to send up their voice
Of thanksgiving aud praise. For what
There seemed need enough for fasting and
prayer, for Heaven looked frowningly
down upon them. They could ask-oh,
how fervently-to be delivered from suf.
fering and want and destitution, and the
gloomy, rcmorseless winter before them,
but to be thankful for them, who was
equal to thatH Still, Washington order
ed the brigades 10 be assembled, with their
chaplains, and religious services to be per.
formed. But, alas, three thousand Of
them, or more than quarter Of the whole
army, were either sick or too shoeless and
ragged to appear on parade. These, in
the wagons that stretched over the dreary
fields, lay suffering and shivering in the
straw, thinking that, to them at least,
Thanksgiving was mockery. Their enc.
mics were well fed and housed in the city
near by, while the bleak hillside must be
their home. Indeed, there was more earn
est prayer, that day. than thanksgiving, BY
the patriotic chaplains who were to share
with the soldiers the privations and suf-
ferings Of the coming winter--beseechin
earnest prayer to Him who alone could
help and pour light on the all-enveloping
darkness.
1t was solemn, not joyful day, and
when it ended, the army Of eleven thou.
sand strong marched on to the frozen hills
whero they were to spend the next three
months, amid scenes and trials never to
be forgotten while single page 10 history
d left for the record Of true patriotism.
In the orders issued by Washington, d.
fecting the work to be done, he told the
soldiers he would share all their privations.
The whole army was divided into groups
of twelve, who we're to build hut or pen
for themselves. Each one was to be six.
teen by fourteen feet, filled in with clay,
with log fireplace lined with clay foot
and half thick. The height was to be
six feet and half. Thus il will be seen
they were mere novels, barely high enough
70 stand up in, and, with the fireplace ac-
coutrcments, &C., would leave barely room
suf6cient for the twelve men to lie down
in, packed closely side by side To stim-
platc the disheartened soldiers to activity,
Washington offered twelve dollars reward
for the first hut built in each regiment,
and hundred dollars TO him who would
Discover the best substitute for boards
(which were not to be had) for the roofs
splt oak slabs were selected, whose irreg-
nlar surfaces could furnish only partial
protection from the snow aud rain. II
was a cold, dreary day when the muskets
were stacked, the knapsacks thrown aside,
and those eleven thousand men, such as
could work, broke up into hundred groups
and scattered themselves through the
woods. Soon the rapid blows Of nearly
ten thousand axes and the incessant crash
Of falling trees echoed on every side for
miles around. From carly dawn till the
wintry night shut in, the work went on,
and then the tired host lay down behind
their piles Of logs 70 break the force Of
Che wind, or gathered, shivcring, round
their blazing camp ires that III up with
Strange splendor the wintry forest. There
vas small house near by, which Wash
ington had selected for bis own quarters,
but he would not occupy il while his rag
ged soldiers were uncovered, and so pitch
I'd his tent in their midst on the frozen
ground. Streets were laid out, and, foot
by foot. the city Of huts went up, till over
d thousand Of them stretched away over
the surrounding hills. Into these the
''sons of liberty crept and lay down in
the straw.
What passed there for the next three