Valley Forge, 2020

November 14th, 2020, Valley Forge, PA

After living over 18 years in the area, I must confess it was my first visit to the Historic Park: Valley Forge is the symbol of suffering, courage, and perseverance. It is sometimes called the birthplace of the American army because, after living in precarious conditions during the winter 1777-1778, by June of 1778, the weary troops emerged with a rejuvenated spirit and confidence as a well-trained fighting force.

The encampment demographics is a faithful representation of what this great country is: It had a high percentage of racial and ethnic diversity, since Washington's army comprised individuals from all 13 states. About 30% of Continental soldiers at Valley Forge did not speak English as their first language. Many soldiers and commanders hailed from German-speaking communities, as with Pennsylvania-born Brigadier General Peter Muhlemberg. Still others spoke Scottish or Irish-Gaelic and a few descended from French-speaking Huguenot and Dutch-speaking communities in New York. Local residents sometimes conversed in Welsch. Several senior officers in the Continental Army originally came from France, Prussia, Poland,Ireland and Hungary.

Nearly 10% of Washington's effective force consisted of African American troops but there is no statistics about the total number of African American and Native men because they served the Continental Army as drovers, waggoneers, and laborers.

I was impressed with the place and its importance in history when I saw this young father walking with his children, who between games and laughter and according to their age, spoke to them about the place. Wonderful, isn’t it?