MAKE ITS SITE A PARK
THE STATE SHOULD OWN WASHINGTON’S CAMPING GROUND
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SACREDNESS OF THE SPOT
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The Legislature’s Tame Attempts at Acquiring the Land - In the Meantime the Old Redoubts and Woods are in Danger of Disappearing
It is strange that a spot so historic as Valley Forge should not have long since been dedicated as a monument to perpetrate some of the most trying periods of the battle for liberty in the New World. But with the exception of the old buildings, occupied by Washington as his headquarters, and a small portion of the property adjoining, which has been secured by the personal solicitation of a number of patriotic women, the Valley Forge camp is still in private hands. However, the fact that this property was not purchased years ago, as it ought to have been, should in no way serve as an excuse for the present Legislature of Pennsylvania in not performing now what is nothing more nor less a duty, the passage of the Bill now pending in the Legislature, providing for the purchase of the entire property (250 acres) by the State of for its conversion into a public park.
The tract which it is proposed to buy comprises the entire site occupied by George Washington and the Continental army during the eventful winter of 1777-78. It was in the very darkest days of the struggle of the infant colonies from American in dependance that Washington pitched his tents at Valley Forge, and the snows which beat upon his ragged and ill-fed army were symbolic enough of the disasters which had almost caused the hopes of the patriots to die out in despair. An appropriation of thirty thousand dollars is all that is needed for the acquirement of this land, and the surviving headquarters and everything as far as possible would be restored to its original condition.
In these latter days of the nineteenth century there are not so many reminders of the stirring days of the Revolution that we can afford to loose any one of them, for vandals and "improvers" have been hard at work during the century that has lapsed since the end of the war. Year after year the destruction of historical localities and buildings has been permitted to go on by the people of this country without protest, and this last winter much injury has been done to the encampment ground at Valley Forge. All during the winter the wood-choppers have been at work, and the growth of timber, which is largely responsible for the preservation of the earthworks, has been rapidly disappearing under the woodman's axe. If this destruction is permitted to go on no one should be surprised if the entrenchments and forts were soon destroyed.
If the people of the State were aware of the true facts of the case they would without doubt call a halt, as the day has at last arrived when they are waking up to the fact that a country or State without relics of the past is without interest and like a house upon tottering foundation. Thus to-day, from Erie to Greene and from Wayne to Chester county, there is but one voice State over, and that cries out: "Save Valley Forge!".
No one who has not visited Valley Forge has the slightest idea of the extent of the relics and reminders of the Revolution which still exist there, but are daily threatened with destruction. The earthworks, as they stand to-day, are six and eight feet in height and several miles in length, while the two old forts known as Fort Washington and Fort Huntingdon are still plainly marked out, as well as the headquarters of Lafayette, Knox, Wayne, and Washington. They should all be perpetually preserved by marking them appropriately by such monuments as the pride of Pennsylvania should dictate. The bill before the Legislature has been carefully prepared and it properly protects both the interests of the personal owners of the property and of the State.
The Governor is authorized to appoint ten commissioners of the proposed park. These commissioners should hold office for one year and serve without pay, as the member of the Gettysburg State Commission do. The value of the ground is to be ascertained by a jury of six disinterested freeholders, to be appointed by the Montgomery County Court. The price is to be approved by the county, so there will be no opportunity for the present property-holders to ask for anything more than a fair price. At the same time they are sure of getting the worth of their land.
The bill is about the only one before the Legislature that has aroused any interest whatever outside the State. The people of the whole country seem interested in the project and it has been favorably commended on all sides, besides being endorsed by such well known citizens of our State such as ex-Governor Beaver, General Hastings, Senators Quay and Cameron and such representative organizations as the Commercial Exchange and the Produce Exchange of Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Society of Cincinnati, the Netherlands Society, the Loyal Legion, the Union League, the Grand Army, Society of the War of 1812, the Carpenter's Company of Philadelphia, The Board of Trade, the Colonial Dames, the Sons of the Revolution, the Hibernian Society, and many similar patriotic and business organizations.
How could it be otherwise when to the true American the name of Valley Forge has always served as an inspiration and incentive to patriotic deeds. There, in the midst of frost and snow, disease and desolation, the handful of men which called itself the Continental Army, passed the most gloomy period of the war of independence. In the whole history of that war there is not the record of purer devotion, holier sincerity and pious self-sacrifice than was exhibited in the camp of Washington, and it has been well remarked by Lossing where 'if there is a spot on the face of our broad land whereon patriotism should delight to pile its highest and most venerated monuments, it should be in the bosom of that little, venerated vale on the banks of the Schuylkill.'
Valley Forge lies twenty-six miles outside Philadelphia. The sight-seer as he steps off the car, recognizes that the influence of modern progress has been little felt here, at least her influence for harm has been spared, and Valley Forge, almost alone of the historic places of America, remains in essentials the Valley Forge of Washington's day. The old forge itself, built in 1757, and destroyed by the British in 1777, from which the valley took its name, was burnt down a few years ago for a second time. Nearly all the other landmarks remain. Washington's Headquarters are in an excellent state of preservation. The spring, where tradition says Washington used to drink, trickles as of yore, through the under bush and down to the neighboring creek.
The special points of interest included in the track which it is proposed for the Legislature to secure are the ruins of the old forts and redoubts. The remains of Fort Washington, the eastern bulwark of the camp, are especially well preserved, the walls being about ten feet high. Fort Huntingdon is clearly marked out. The view from Fort Washington of the surrounding country is unsurpassed. For miles, to the southward, can be seen the smiling farmland of Montgomery county. It is said that on a clear night the elevated electrical lights of Gerard College in Philadelphia, although twenty miles distant, can be clearly seen. Both the headquarters of General Knox and Lafayette are still standing in a good state of preservation, being substantial stone houses. They are occupied respectively by Mrs. Mary Jones and Richard Peterson.
Valley Forge was occupied by the Continental troops for exactly six months - from Friday December 19, 1777 to Friday June 19, 1778. The camp was laid upon the plan of regular city and surrounded by entrenchments. Strategically, the place was well chosen. It was barren of shelter and comfort, to be sure, though a town would have offered both, no town was available. In Wilmington the army would be useless, in Trenton it would have been in constant danger. Reading and Lancaster were so far off that the choice of either would have left a large district open to the enemy.
At Valley Forge the army, while far enough from Philadelphia to be safe from surprises or attack, was close enough to protect the country lay between and would be a constant menace to the city, and the spot had its natural advantages, which the military genius of Washington was equal to turning to account. The banks of the Schuylkill which bend here to the eastward, were deep and precipitous, the Valley Creek cutting its way through a deep defile at right angles to the river, forming a natural boundary to the west. At the entrance to that defile was Mt. Joy, which threw out a spur that, running parallel to the river for about a mile, turned at length northward and met its banks. On one side this ridge enclosed a rolling tableland, on the other it slopped sharply to the valley. Along the crest of this ridge a line of entrenchments were thrown up and on the shoulder of Mount Joy a second line girdled the mountain and ran north to the river. A redoubt on the east side commanded the Valley road and on the other side other redoubts commanded approaches of the Schuylkill.
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The army arrived in Valley Forge in a roundabout way after the most disastrous battles of Brandywine and Germantown and after Washington had given up all hope of dislodging Lord Howe from Philadelphia. The whole number of soldiers in the field at the time of the establishment of this encampment was 11,098. Of this number 2,808 were unfit for duty by reason of destitution and illness. Weeks and months of terrible suffering were spent in the dreary huts which the men erected to shelter them. They were sadly in want of food, clothing, blankets and fuel. Disease added to the terrors of those of famine and cold, for small-pox was one of the dire visitors in the camp. Facilities for transportation were scarce, and such supplies that could be secured were carried on the backs of the men and hauled in improvised hand-carts. The winter we have just passed, though long and severe as it has been, does not compare to the rigorous reign of the Frost King in those memorable days, as history tells of its unprecedented severity.
By the latter part of December so disastrous had things become that Washington wrote to the President of Congress under the date of December 23: "I am now convinced beyond a doubt that unless a great capital change suddenly takes place in that line (the Commissary's department) this army must inevitably reduced to one or other of these three things - starve, dissolve or disperse, in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can."
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In the midst of this trying situation a strong combination was formed against Washington, which was, however, barren of issue. On the 27th of February Baron Steuben arrived at Valley Forge camp, and under authority of Congress was made Major General and Inspector of the Camp. He not only brought money and supplies, but entered upon his work with executive ability, and speedily converted the half-starving, worn and weary men into an effective army.
On the 4th of April Congress authorized Washington to call upon Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia for 5,000 men, and on the 10th May formal tidings were received at the camp of the alliance with France, and a little over a month later, on June 18 news was received that the British had abandoned Philadelphia. Immediately six brigades were in motion. The rest of the army prepared to follow on the morrow. The heat was now almost as intolerable as the cold had been a few months before, besides the weather was rainy and the roads bad, but by the 22nd the entire army had crossed the Delaware river into New Jersey, and on the 28th they gave battle at Monmouth to the retreating British army and won a signal victory.
This is but the briefest of brief accounts of the many historic deeds that go towards making Valley Forge sacred ground. Valley Forge was to the revolution that Gettysburg was to our civil war. True, no great battle was fought at Valley Forge, but it was the crucial test of the power of the colonists to maintain their war for independence, as Gettysburg was the crucial test of the power of the North to subdue the military power of rebellion, and both should be preserved as shrines for the worshipers of freedom from every State of the Union and from every country in the world.
The only successful effort that has ever been made towards the proper commemoration of the memoirs of Valley Forge was when the old house of Isaac Potts, which was used by Washington as his headquarters, was purchased in 1879, together with two and a half acres of land, by an association entitled the "Centennial and Memorial Association of Valley Forge," organized and incorporated for the purpose of preserving it as Washington's headquarters. Quite recently an additional acre and a half has been purchased immediately contiguous and pertaining to the headquarters.
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