The Red Cloud chief., 1904-06-24
VALLEY FORGE
TO BE



II the shades of the great departed
ever revisit the scenes OF their earth.
~ struggles. then the bleak heights of
Valley Forge must have witnessed n
Joyful gathering of illustrious ghosts
lateS. for at last Il seems assured
that the historic camp ground, to the
extent OF 1000 acres. is to be pre-.
served forever as a national park.
II is intended to restore the sacred
spot to the condition II was In at the
time of the heroic -self.sacrlice of the
revolutionary army. The entrench-
monts are to be cleared Of the century
and a quarter accumulation of rubbish
that almost obliterates their lines.
When the committee In charge III
arrangements has thus secured ne
historic ground for the people, each
state whose sons suffered and died at
Valley Forge for the independence Of
the nation will be invited to mark tho
particular spot where Its own regi
ment of patriots camped In the dread.
fui winter succeeding Washington's
repulse by Howe at Germantown.
To the tourists who toll up the hill
to the intrcnchmonts of Valley Forge.
after a visit to the quaint little house
In which Washington made his head.
quarters. the most astonishing thing
about the encampment IL that a GEN..
tury and a quarter OF effort by the ele.
ments has failed to make any impress,
sion on the solid earthworks.
The rifle pits are filled with dead
leaves, trees have grown on the hills
that were once cleared of timber in
order to give the sharpshooters a view
of the points in danger of attack, and
some of the advanced posts are dis
tinguishable only because OF the signs
describing them; but the lines Of tho
trenches are plainly discernible.
Fort Huntington, with It's fringe OF
tall trees. stands grim as ever IN tho
foreground as one looks down from
an angle of the entertainments. and IL
requires very little imagination to see
the mouths OF the cannon pointing out
of the embrasures and the CLEAN of
the sentry's bayonet as he parades be-
hind the wall. From this same angle
the valley stretches In peaceful beau
ty, two or three ol~d-fashioned houses
, are the only structures I'm sight, and
] the white column erected by the
Daughters of the Revolution to the
l dead who lie buried all around Ia The
1 most conspicuous mark on the pas
tOral landscape.
! Except for the presence of the rail-
road at the DOT of the hills on which
!, are the entertainments, and the tele-
n graph poles lining the white stretches
of highway, Valley Forge seems just
as 1t is pictured in the stirring days vi
! the revolution. " y
The roadway up which the tourists
J. toll, every other person armed with a
camera. is a roughly made path that
has probably received very little at.
r tention since the time of the camp.
! Trees that have fallen or been cut
j down since Washington wintered al
Valley Forge are strewn around the
. ground: the stones that were brought
q to the lines to strengthen the d~efences
5 remain just as they we're placed by pa.
triot hands.
I Take a map OF Valley Forge en-.
! campment made in W~ashington's time,
and every point can be traced, every
fort located and the position of each
headquarters defined. In fact, the
work OF restoring Valley Forge 10 lis
original condition will not be so diff
cult as may seem at first sight, so per-
fectly preserved are all the lines of the
encampment.
Should it be decided, as seems like,
ly, TO rebuild the huts In rows, Just as
they stood during the winter of SUI.
fering, IL will not be hard to arrange
the camp in the form assumed when
the colonial troops settled down "a
await the coming OF spring. II the
various states represented In Wash,
ington's army at Valley Forge unite
to rebuild the camp, each state under,
taking to restore that portion in which
its W soldiers lived, there will be
no trouble in pointing out the exact
spot in which We're qu~artered the par
ticular shoeless and shivering patriots
who claimed that state as their birth
place.
1t is an open question in which partic
ular shape the camp will be restored
Some wan IL to be a military post
Others would like to. see 1t an exac,
reproduction OF the original encamp
ment. These are questions that car
be threshed out in the future, The
fact that Valley Forge is to be religi
ously guarded from vandal hands ant
} remain forever the property of the ma
tion Is sufficient cause for congrstIn
tior at present.