Valley Forge
miércoles, 16 de marzo de 2011
Valley Forge was the crucial point of the Revolutionary War. It was here that the Continental army fought in Valley Forge desperately against the cold and hunger during a harsh winter in December 1777. The Continental Army arrived at Valley Forge on December 19, 1777, after a tough campaign of battles with the British. The future promised them only more desperation and starvation. Some couldn't take the cold and hunger any longer. To protect from snow storms and low temperatures soldiers began making more than a thousand huts of wood to provide shelter. Disease debilitated them and death came in. Typhus, typhoid, dysentery, and pneumonia killed 2,000 men that had been sent from camp to hospitals established in the surrounding countryside during the winter of 1777-1778. The Marquis de Lafayette wrote: "The unfortunate soldiers were in want of everything; they had neither coats nor hats, nor shirts, nor shoes. Their feet and their legs froze until they were black, and it was often necessary to amputate them." George Washington was the commander of the army. In December 23, 1777, he reported to the Continental Congress that nearly 1/3 of the 10,000 soldiers had neither coats nor shoes and that his army will disperse or dissolve. Women, relatives of enlisted men, alleviated some of the suffering by providing valuable services such as laundry and nursing that the army desperately needed. Long marches had destroyed the men's shoes. Blankets were scarce. General Washington also was having a tough time getting support from Congress. In March, General Nathanael Greene was appointed head of the dismal Commissary Department and food and supplies started to come in. By April, Baron von Steuben, a German voluntary began to transform and improve the troops into a fighting force. This sacrifices and perseverance of the Continental Army is a great example of how adversity during extraordinary times can be imposed with courage. Washington, his men had won a decisive victory; a victory not of weapons but of will. Most important, it was at Valley Forge that a vigorous, strategy training regime transformed amateur troops into a confident 18th century military organization capable of beating the Red Coats in battle.
0 comentarios: