River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-02-19

n ty-sixth anniversary of one of
the greatest crises in American
history. the encampment of the
Continental army during the terrible
winter of TITS. The hungry and for
Torn champions of a we'll nigh hopeless
cause. wasted by wounds, privation
and disease, finished their distressing
campaign of the year and traced their
weary way UP over the old Gulph and
Swedes' Ford roads to occupy cold.
bleak hill and sleep under frost and
snow without clothes or blankets at
Valley Forge
1t is said that in summer more pill
grims visit this historic spot every
week than Washington had in his
whole army then. but the real Valley
Forge is not seen in summer. To get
the proper focal color one should go
there in the dead of winter Under
the patronage of great common
wealth Valley Forge park of this age
presents an aspect of finely groomed
landscape gardening. with broad,
smooth highways leading to far and
fair vistas and with countless markers
bearing legends for the information of
the unhistoric wayfarer.
The very name of Valley Forge sug-
gests dreariness of soul. It's contem-
porary literature is somber with
wretchedness and misery. 1t must not
be imagined for one moment that the
ragged and barefoot army went there
and found those snug little ch1nked
and chimneyed log huts. such as are
now artistically spotted over the park,
waiting for them with cheerful fires
blazing on the hearths. They were
details that took weeks to work out
with ak and adj in the snow and sleet
Valley Forge lies but twenty-five or
twenty-three miles north of Phlladel-
phia on the west bank of the Schuyl-
kill river. 1t takes it's name from an
iron working plant established there
many years before the militant Amer
leans made it famous.
Almost the first object to attract the
attention of the visitor upon: disem
barking from the railway train is the
old pointed stone house of the miller,
Isaac Potts, the structure which all
America cherishes today as the head
quarters of Washington for the half
year the army was encamped upon the
hills to the south
In it he wrestled with problems that
would have appalled, ordinary men
Here be confronted and COMPOUNDED the
malign conspiracy of Conway: the mis-
cry and wretchednesS of his suffering
soldiers came home to him here, and
it was here that he displayed super
human strength and courage in keep
ing alive through the long winter the
feeble spark Of thing called the
American Revolution.
1t is amazing to contemplate the in
finite variety of matters that were put
up to the commander in chief. The
butchers who killed the beef brought
in by the foraging parties in the mid
die of January stung the soldiers by
extorting money for the ''plucks." The
general settled that by stating definite
ly how the pluck" should be issued.
The number of courts martial was
prodigious, and it seems the general
some of the forty-eight hours he work
ed every day. "Lashes well laid on
upon his bare back was the ordinary
punishment. and the stripes ranged in
number from 80 to as high as 5O0-if
a man wasted his ammunition by fir
ing his piece unnecessarily. 80 lashes:
desertion, 100 for that; stealing. 100
IT,
cashiered or dismissed from service.
A German officer attached to the
staff at Valley Forge, Frederick Will
liam Augustus Baron Won Steuben.
was appointed inspector general. This
is from one Of his accounts: 1.-The
arms at Valley Forge were in horri-
BILE condition-covered with rust. half
Of them without bayonets. many from
which a single shot could not be fired.
The pouches were quite as bad as the
arms. A great many of the men had
tin boxes instead of pouches. Others
had COW horns. and muskets, carbines,
fowling pieces and rifles were to be
seen in the same company. The de
scription of the dress is most easily
gwen. lie men WE'RE LITERALLY udhcu,
some Of them in the fullest extent of
the word The officers who had coats
had them of every color and make.
saw officers at a grand parade at Val
ley Forge mounting guard in sort of
dressing gown. made of an old blanket
or a wooden bed cover. With regard
to their military discipline ! may safe
" say no such thing existed So
much for the organization and it's
equipment
June 19. 177S. the army evacuated
Valley Forge and started in haste
after Sir Henry Clinton's 1000 Brit
ISL and his twelve mile supply train
When the clash came az Monmouth
on the 18th this wonderful weapon
fashioned by the Prussian drilmaster
on sthe dreary Pennsylvania hillside
proved it's worth nobly. and but for
the perfidy of that d potroor