Milford chronicle., 1958-01-10

DcldWdIc udQ just D0COIu6 d
f, state-before July 27, 1875 it was
known as Pennsylvania lower
countiesi :. but on that date, the
Assembly of the lower counties
threw off their allegiance to Penn
sylvania in the same way that their
immortal Caesar Rodney had just
few weeks before assured that the
colonies would throw off the Eng
| lish yoke.
Long a stepchild of the Com
| monwealth, travelling a different
course and developing a separate
regional culture, the lower coun-
ties could no longer submit to the
dictates of the northern politicians
who took their taxes and ignored
their needs. With the political logic
and realism that have always been
characteristic of our Delawareans,
the Assembly voted to sever its
connections with Pennsylvania and
the state of Delaware was born
Thus almost unknowingly, Della
ware established on firm GROUND
one of the principles for which the
Revolution was being fought-the
right of free people to freely de-
termine their form of government
(. and Pennsylvania, to its eter-
nal credit, accepted the verdict
without any attempt to retaliation
or suppression.
And so, the Delaware regiments
at Valley Forge had perhaps some
thing more to suffer for than did
nfr N n
concept of American nationality as
we know it today, was only dimly
held. Men considered themselves
first to be citizens of their own
state and only secondarily Ameri-
cans and the Delawareans
knew that their new, tiny state,
isolated, poor and defenseless
against the onslaught of their foe
needed more than any other the
strength of the Union. Their new
nation needed to be cherished care
fully and watched over constantly.
This they did interposilg
their worn bodies, their few wea-
pons and their shining spirits be-
tween their homes and the camp
of the foe.
The Tories of Delaware, made
bold by the disasters suffered by
the Continental troops, and aided
and supplied by the British from
Philadelphia, were burning patriot
homesteads and killing whoever
tried to stop them. Even worse,
regular British troops, stationed in
Chester, marched often to forage
and raid in New Castle County.
To stop these attacks, the 278
survivors of the once proud Del
aware Regiment of Colonel Haslett
marched out of Valley Forge one
cold February day of 1778. On
shoeless feet, with rags around
their bodies, they marched south
to interpose themselves between
their people and the foe!
After suffering through Novem-
ber and December and January
with their comrades all the trials
of Valley Forge, these Delaware
skeletons marched with needless
valor to what they knew was al
most certain death.
Their march has gone largely
unnoticed by the writer's of his
tories, but to me this march is one
of the supremely gallant gestures
of gallant timel
We all must think in these times
about the brave men of those other |
dark and trying times. They, too,
feared and doubted and were trou-
bled and alone yet they
went on sustained by the truth, the |
bright and shining truth, so ably |
voiced in later times by another
great American on another blood
soaked field-the truth that gov
ernment of the people, by the peo-
pie and for the people-shall not
parish from the earth.
AS long as we believe in it
work for 1t /. and be ready to die
for it . +. this shining truth that
sustained the men at Valley
Forge 4. will sustain us and
guide us through all our troubles
and fees to eventual victory and
certain peace!