The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-03-11
AT VALLEY FORGE.
sufferings of the soldiers-St. Pat
rick's Day-Oaths of Allegiance and
Maine Officers Who Signed Them.


something to an American more than
simply the name Of little valley IN the
SchuylkiIl river near Philadelphia. Val.
lev Forge means suffering, patience and
constancy.
Fortunate ia he who can trace his an
cestry to those men who sat half starved
and shivering around those scanty camp
fires at Valley Forge. He knows then
why ON the Fourth of July and Washing
ton IS birthday his hlood tingles IN his
veins, and why as boy he tried to MAKE
the loudest noise OF any hoy in the neigh
borhood. 1t Is the same old blood
warmed up by the thou ghts OF patriots
and patriotism.
Those soldiers were mostly young men,
but young OIL old, they were the h1gnest
type of manhood, as they were men who
were suffering for the good of others.
They must have been conscious that they
were right, and that some time their pos
terity would applaud them for their de-
votion to the cause of liberty. NO mon
could hold their courage and hope other
wise. situated as they were. They not
only were needy but they were among
class of miserable Tories who were
willing they should starve while they
sold the products of their farms to the
enemy at Philadelphia for British gold.
Those farmers were thrifty men, but
their descendants are not forming pa
triotic societies to cherish their memo
ries 1t Is our turn now.
The encampment at Valley Forge pre-
sented spectacle which has no parallel
IN history. When the army went into
camp there were over eleven thousand
men and then over twenty. eight hun
dred were unit for duty. All agreed that
the only thing TO be done was to go into
winter quarters, as they were situated,
and Valley Forge was selected as the
best place for the encampment. 1t was
the gloomiest winter of that long and
tedious war of our independence, and it
was a time when those only with the
stoutest hearts saw hope for the Ameri :
cans cause.
The army went into camp December
10, I777, and by February l, four thou
sand were relieved from duty for want
of clothing. Captain Richard Mayberry' S
company, from this town and vicinity.
at one time, had but two pairs of shoes
in the whole company, and they we're SO
scantily clothed that they were Obliged
to sit all night long by the camp fires to
keep from freezing. Thele were but few
horses in camp and the soldiers were
forced to yoke themselves to vehicles
of their own construction, and haul
their fire wood a mile to camp. Their
sufferings have never bean overdrawn.
A soldier in the camp wrote January
first "Twenty-six in one York regiment
have besn three weeks without shirt,
one quarter of our ,nen are barefoot, with
out blankets or breeches, now lying I'M
covered in the field"
Col. Benjamin Jumper wrote letter.
January %, IT'S, from the camp, from
the original Of which this is Copied
and said. 81 wish 1t were in my power
to picture the extreme sufferings OF the
poor unhappy soldiers for want of cloth
ing, etc. 1 am sure it would nova a
heart Of STEEL l can't but think if the
friends and relations of the sufferers
knew their distress soma method would
be found to relieve them. am sure that
neither distance nor any obstacle can
cohesive, while alive, should prevent
me from relieving a friend OF mine. l
am worn out in giving reimbursement to
the soldiers that they will soon be relieved
and should scarcely be believed If was
to declare that clothing was actually ar
rived. Would most humbiy entreAt that
some method may be come into to relieve
MS or would wish to leave the service
and not be spectator to such oompli-
Gated distresses. 1t has always been
said that the army could be tracked by
the blood on the snow from the shoeiess
feet of the suffering soldiers.
Lieut.. Daniel Lunt, came home here on
furlough in the early part OF that win
ter. When he was to return to the ar
my, an appeal was made to the people
of Falmouth for "shoes, stockings,
shirts or cash. for the relief Of the
suffering soldiers at Valley Forge, to
he taken to them by Lieut.. Lunt. Our
ancestors at Old Falmouth were then
about as moor as they could be, but no
doubt they divided their little with their
gallant sons. 1t was just llRe bnoln.
Valley Forge was q long way off In
those DAYS. It took over two weeks and
proba bly, nearly three, to get there, by
the quickest land route, from Falmouth.
The way the soldiers would march it took
no doubt a month. Now psrson can
get 90 that camp ground within twenty
four hours. Those were days OF small
things.
the camp and reported on their return
that "Nothing could surpass their suffer
ing except the patience and fortitude
with which 1t was endured by ths faith
full part of the army
The log huts were twelve BY fourteen
feet and lodged twelve men each, and
often the soldiers had no straw to lie
A surgeon in the camp wrote the fol-
lowing lines, descriptive of his habita-
tion, to a friend:
"My hum BILE hut demands right
To have its matter, birth and site
Described firstl OF pondereus logs
Whose bulk disdains the windS and fogs.
The sides and ends are fitly raised
And py dove-tai each corners bYac'd;
Atbwart the roof, young saplings lie
Which fire and smoke has now made dry,
Next straw wraps DER the tender pole
Nart earth then splints 0'erlay the