Total Miles Traveled: 176
Michael:
Perseverance wins wars. Perseverance and fortitude defeated the British. It wasn’t military strength, guile or skill. The United States exists because the 12,000 man Continental Army hunkered down for eight straight winters; proving that they were never going to quit. That’s the lesson I learned from Valley Forge.
Valley Forge resonates in our national psyche. It is our strength, our resolve, our determination to be independent. Why Valley Forge, I wondered, as I walked into the Visitor Center, a modern building consisting of two glass-covered 30-60-90 degree triangles rising out of the side of a hill, an earthier version of I.M. Pei’s triangles at the Louvre. These glass triangles, however, have a mural of George Washington and the troops on its sides. You enter into the visitor’s center at the base of the hill.
It took me a while to get my thoughts back together after the triangles. I came to my senses. OK, why Valley Forge in 1777? The War did not end until 1783. The museum did not help at all. The Revolutionary War timeline showed me eight other winter encampments throughout the northeast. Places like Morristown where there was greater hardship and worse weather. I also saw significant defeats of the British on the timeline. Saratoga, Cowpens, Yorktown, Fort Stanwix, Vincennes. I know of these places, though, more from planning this trip, not from my history classes or my own studies. They are not a symbol of the American Revolution. Valley Forge is.
Sadly, there were no Park Rangers at the museum to answer my question. A volunteer suggested Valley Forge’s legend is due to the fact that the soldiers were trained there. I was not convinced. Military training alone does not beget two centuries of legend.
The timeline brought up another question. Why did the British just up and leave Philadelphia in the summer after the Valley Forge encampment. On at least six museum displays, the British retreat was explained as only an occurrence. No explanation. The Park Pamphlet said the British left Philly because the French were coming. Another volunteer said the same thing. Again, I wasn’t convinced.
Next we went to see the 10-year old and dated Valley Forge film. I was initially struck and had great admiration and thanks for the soldiers’ steadfastness in the face of great hardship. But still, no answers. In fact I felt horrible about myself because I nearly dozed off during the film. I have no idea how some film makers can make extraordinarily significant and interesting places so boring. That, however, is a story for another time.
We left the visitor’s center to embark on the five mile driving tour with the rumor of Park Rangers at Washington’s Headquarters. Valley Forge National Historic Park (NHP) is large. 12,000 people encamped here. I immediately found it easy to understand why this encampment was chosen. The first stop on the driving tour is on deceptively high ground. One can see clearly in all directions. Relatively nice houses straight ahead, large office buildings to the left, the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the distance.
At this stop are recreated log-cabin huts. They failed to spark my imagination. Even though today is 35 degrees, similar to the weather Washington’s men experienced, I could not imagine their life. The next stop was the National Memorial Arch, dedicated in 1917 and refurbished to the tune of $1.5 million in the 1990’s by the Pennsylvania Freemasons.
The arch was dramatic, but not necessarily evocative either. There is a similar arch in Gettysburg National Military Park. My sister (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMY) went to school in Gettysburg and I have been there many times. Valley Forge NHP has a similar look to Gettysburg: sprawling, open lands strewn with monuments and farm houses. But Valley Forge NHP does not have the feel of Gettysburg. The evocation of ghosts, tragedy, heroism, and drama. Yes, people died at Valley Forge, some 2,000, but they did not die in battle, they died of disease and of hardship. This fact shouldn’t change things, but it does. By comparison, the grounds of Valley Forge NHP are boring. It’s a place where the people who live in the bordering houses run their dogs, jog and bicycle.
My appreciation, interest, and understanding of the NHP changed when we went into Washington Headquarters. The building itself is small. Two stories with five smallish rooms. The rooms have period furniture, and are decorated as they would have been in the six months of George Washington’s occupation. Yes, he was a man, a real live, rather tall man, not just a legend. And, as corny as it sounds, he slept in the bed upstairs with his wife, Martha, who joined him at Valley Forge, as did other wives of the upper ranking serviceman in the Army. He was here. As was Alexander Hamilton, every general of the Continental Army, countless diplomats, travelers, writers, businessmen and persons of the age. It is a powerful thought.
It is a notion that was emphasized by both the Park Ranger on duty and a helpful and knowledgeable volunteer named John Isaacson. Mr. Isaacson, dressed in period costume, explained that the Revolutionary War has always been his passion in life and that he has always been around Valley Forge NHP, long before the National Park Service took control of it in 1976 from the Pennsylvania State Park Service. Mr. Isaacson’s passion is clear and so very valuable. I knew that both he and the Ranger would be able to answer my questions.
Why Valley Forge? The Ranger started by saying that the name itself is commanding and suggestive in ways that Morristown, Middlebrook, Hudson Highlands and Pompton are not. Yes, it was a comparatively mild winter when Washington camped here, little snow, and an average temperature of 38 degrees. Unlike the harsh conditions in Morristown. But with the higher temperatures came different problems. There was a great deal of cold rain and the resultant mud. Mud in droves. Moving, on foot, horse, and wagon, was trying.
“People died. Don’t discount this fact”, the Ranger stressed. Their sacrifice did contribute to greater patriotic fervor. Mr. Isaacson added that the Continental Army had suffered a string of terrible defeats in 1777. Brandywine in September, Germantown in October, and shortly thereafter the British took the veritable capital and center of the fledgling nation, Philadelphia.
What happened next was miraculous and equal to the gravity we give to the name Valley Forge. The Continental Army did not quit. Philadelphia was taken, the army shattered, starving, and shoeless. And they did not stop fighting. They went to Valley Forge and kept going. Perseverance and fortitude.
The British must not have understood the Americans’ resolve. Here was the situation. The general American populace was ambivalent, the Army consisted mostly of the original conscripts, and they had just lost their largest city. But their reaction was to keep going. To endure another winter. As many winters, as many lives, and as much time as they had to until they were free of British occupation. The American tenacity of Valley Forge is well worthy of the romance and the legend.