Milford chronicle., 1956-01-06
DeIaUare Day Assembly
At Valley Forge
lcontInued trom hrsl 30


'sIt is almost unnecessary Tor US,
at this historic shrine, to recount
the sacrifices made by the gonti-
mental Army under General Wash
sngton Mr.. SnoWden declared.
IN this valley, now dedicated to
their memory the men Of the uni
ted colonies spent a long and sig
nificant winter.
1.-THE Revolution of course. was
not a local engagement in the sense
that only at Valley Forge was the
fame Of conflict burning, but 1t
was at Valley Forge that the spirit
Of the American Revolution burn
ed most brightly, the speaker con-
tinued.
Mr.. Snowden noted that a Del
awarean, Major John Patten, had
called attention to the sad plight
at valley Forge where provisions
were at an absolute minimum to
remain alive. Another DelaWarean,
Captain Allen AlcsLane, had kept
1.-The men at Valley Forge better fed
in 177S by "foraging the country
naked" in obedience to a decree BY
Nathaniel Greene.
''The distinction Of Valley Forge, "
Mr.. Snowden continued, "lies in
the fact that It was neither the
scene Of a victorious battle nor the
scene of heroic defeat. These hills
and woods did not echo to the
sound Of musKets fired in a crucial
military event: they echoed only
Ito the efforts of the Continental
Army as it fought to preserve its
unity, as lit acquired military skills
under men like Won Stueben and
as it summoned its moral courage
to endure .
Mr.. SnOwden said that at one
point it was believed that the Army
would have to dissolve and that all
would be lost. Although, he said;
''the pulse of independence which
had first beaten at Lexington and
Concord, flickered and ran low, it
would not die out. There is a large
similarity between the pulse Of in-
dependence as it beat at Valley
Forge and the pulse Of independ-
ence as it beat when the surprise
attack filled Pearl Harbor with
death and destruction on Decem-
ber z, 1871.
''The will to survive as free men,
the will to defend what we so loose
H ly call the American Way of Life
however, was not born on the decks
of the battleship Missouri or in a
schoOlroom at Rheims; nor was il
born at Yorktown or Saratoga. The
will to stand free, to stand in Gods
sight unfettered of bonds which
offend His Grace, is born in mans
soul, ana it becomes manifest in
4 the agony of a Vallege Forge OF
Pearl Flarbtlr."
Todsgy, Mr. Snowden declared
i the nalion for which these people
so readily gave their lives and for.
tunes stands as a towering giant
lin the defense Of democracy. The
United States is not only an "ars;
email" for the peoples Of the WoriC
who would be free, but a defenss
in d greater sense-''the sense thai
our people revere freedom, justic'
and Individual rights as inalienabl'
possessions of God-fearing people.
II Mr.. Snowden concluded by say
ling, "On this first day Of 1856 i
lis altogether appropriate that W
should, Iii this chapel. -apprais
tUns contribution of the men at Val
ley Forge to the freedom Of man
kind. It is fitting that we re-dedi
cate ourselves to the faith whic
preserved and sustained thei
. righteous cause. Their great monu
ment is our ability to say, We hav
kept the faith; it shall not be SUI
rendered; it shall not be cas-
aside.