Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-10-24
A VALLEY FORGE MONUMENT
The First Erected for That
Historic Place.
1T WAS UNVEILED SATURDAY
Blythe Daughters of the Ameri.
can Revolution.
II Has Been Erected Over tho One Marked
Grave-Failure of other Efforts to Sc
cure a Monument-Traoes OF the Battle
field still Seen. ~


has been source of patriotio in
spiraticn for nearly o century and a
quarter, the first successful movement
to eroot monument on these hills in
memory OF the sufferings OF Washing
toms army during the winter of 1T77-
7S 10 Just about to accomplish it's pur-
pose. On October 10th, the l20th
anniversary OF the British surrender at
Yorktown, the National Society Of the
Daughters of the Revolution unveiled
the shaft which it has ereoted near the
Iolitary MARIE grave OH the old camp
Eround. President Roosevelt and his
Cabinet, representatives of the army
and navy, and the governors of the ID
original States have been invited to the
dedication.
Many Revolutionary remains exist at
Valley Forge, hut mcst of them are in
accessible to the thousands of visitors
who go there every year. Thickets
almost impenetrable cover earthwoTks
and forts; few adequate roads are laid
out, and no markers are erected. The
Washington headquarters is the one
feature which does not disHppoint. The
old house. which IS near the railroad
station, has been in the hands OF the
Valley forge Memorial Association
eince 1878. 1t contains an interesting
Revolutionary museum, an intelligent
saretaker is employed and the house
and grounds are kept In neat and
attractive condition.
After much Roading the pennsyl-
wanna Legislature in 1893 appropriated
S25, 900 for the purchase of land at
Valley Forge which was to constitute q
State PARK. Two years later an ad-
ditional Appropriation of Sl0,00 was
made. and the Park Commission with
this money acquired about 220 acres OF
woods and farmland, including the
principal part of the camp ground.
Being unable to secure additional funds
for improvements, the commission g
work halted, aAd the States land was
neglected. At The session Of the Legls-
lature this year, the PARK Com nc lesion
again asked for money to continue the
work. An appropriation of S73, 600 was
desired, Of which $l3, 600 was required
to pay the commission q debts.
When the bill was finally passed it
allowed the commission $l3, 200, but
when it came before Gov. Stone, he
made further reduction of So, 800. As
the commission has a floating debt of
1913, 600, there IL one great field for
speculation concerning what can be
accomplished with 7,.400 In the work
sf establishing State park.
Because of the lack of SUCCESS attend
ing Pennsylvania plans, representa-
,tives OF several patriotic societies have
formed an organization having for its
object the establishment Of a national
park at Valley Forge. A bill was intro
duced in Congress last winter appro-
priating 100000 to carry out the
project, but it failed to receive favor.
sble consideration.
These are but two instances from
among many failures that have followed
various endeavols to perpetuate in SUBJ
stantial form the memory of the months
that Washington and his men srent on
these rugged hillsides Ono proposition
contemplated the erection of memorial
church, but work ceased when the
cornerstone had been laid At another
time the Legislature of Rhode Island
appropriated $4,000 to mark the
ground occupied by the troops of that
State, but no site could be secured on
suitable terms.
The work of the Daughters of tho
Revolution began about year ago
when l. Heston Todd presented to the
only marked grave of a Revolutionary
soldier at Valley Forge. The rough
stone at this grave bears the letters
-. W." and the date "lT78.'' 1t was
only recently that research among
Revolutionary archives revealed the
fact that the soldier buried here was
Major John Waterman, Commissary of
the Rhode Island Brigade, who died
April 23d, ITS. The fact that among
the hundreds of men who persisted at
Valley Forge his was the only grave at
which any kind of inscription was
attempted, is an Indication that he was
held IN high esteem by his associates.
The grave, although in the midst of
@ titled field, has been carefully pre-
served, the farmer guiding his plough
around it, and the relic hunter being
kept at arms length by means of a
wire screen.
Having obtained this tract the
Daughters of the Revolution decided TO
rear a suitable nonumeut in memory
of the Rhode Island soldier. The com
mIttee, of which Mrs. Alexander M.
Ferris is chairman, collected So, 900
from the societies ia New York, Mas
sachusetts, New Jersey ard Penn
sylvania, and with this sum an obelisk
of Barre granite, adorned with bronze
, panels, has been secured. The foupda.
tion stone was laid on September 25th,
when brief exercises were held, in
which the President General, Miss
Alkaline W. Sterling, and other national
officers Of the society took part.
The Waterman grave is about mile
and a half from the Washington head
quarters, but near it are many of the
principal points OF interest connected
with the enoampment. The site of the
Rrmy's chief hospital was on an adj
jacent plateau overlooking the Schuyl.
kill River. There il, tradition that
coo men who died IN the hospital we're
buried in field here. A few years
ago, in an endeavor to verify the
I tradition, trench was dug diagoually
aoross the field. No bones or yestiges
OF clothing we're found, but at inter
walls of foot there was mixture of
I soil and clay which was believed to b ,
Proof that grave had been made
there. The absence of any evidence of
personal apparel is explained by the
fact that owing to the scarcity of cloth
ing and blankets in the camp 1T was
necessary to bury the dead with almost
no protection from the surrounding
Garth.
In another field in the immediate
neighborhood is the stump OF an oak
tree. Under this tree it is said Wash
ington pitched his tent when the army
1 arrived on December 10Th, 1777, aud
here he remained for nearly month
while he supervised the erection of the
huts for the soldiers. From his tent
here, on december 23d, when his
utmost efforts to relieve the distress of
the army seemed Intellectual, he wrote |: