THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Many
of us have ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War. Whether they
were
with General Washington at Valley Forge or at Cowpens or King's
Mountain or any
of the other notable battlegrounds of our War for Independence, they
were there
to lay down their very lives as the price for freedom.
Let
us take a little time to recall Christmas, 1777, during that war…
Christmas in
wartime is especially difficult, and so it was at Valley Forge,
Pennsylvania in
1777.
"These
are the times that try men's souls," wrote Thomas Paine in his
well-circulated
pamphlet entitled "The American Crisis." His opening line became the
pivotal description of the Continental Army that fought against great
odds to
win freedom.
Indeed,
Valley Forge stands as a monument in time attesting to the trying times
General
George Washington and the Continental Army faced.
Was
there any hope for the struggling nation against the British? Was the
dream of
freedom to be lost amidst the cold, illness, death and deprivation of
harsh
winter? The Continental Congress had been forced to flee Philadelphia
under
British occupation. Little hope remained for support or supplies to
feed the
starving troops.
There
they were, twelve thousand tattered troops with their General, George
Washington, encamped at Valley Forge. Despite the bitter cold and the
seemingly
insurmountable odds of disease, starvation and lack of provisions, from
this
lowest point of the Revolution, the troops were trained and drilled
into
fighting form. A miracle was taking place as men shuddered in the
fields of Valley
Forge.
Dr.
Albigence Waldo was one of the doctors ministering to the troops at
Valley
Forge. His diary gives us insight into both the pathos and glimmers of
hope of
that Christmas, 1777: "Universal thanksgiving! A roasted pig last
night!
God be thanked for my health, which I have pretty well recovered. How
much
better should I feel, were I assured my family were in health. But the
same
good Being who preserves me is able to preserve them and bring me to
the
ardently wish'd for enjoyment of them again." (*Dec. 18th, p.88)
On
December 25 Dr. Waldo wrote: "We are still in tents."
Of
General Washington, Dr. Waldo stated: "He has always acted wisely…His
conduct when closely scrutinized is uncensurable. Were his inferior
generals as
skillfull as himself—we should have the grandest choir of officers ever
God
made." (*p. 89)
General
Washington from his cold tent began a letter to the President of the
Continental Congress, tendering his resignation, citing "abandonment to
starvation and neglect."
In
the midst of his writing, General Washington heard sounds coming from
the
field. Was it a mutiny, as one of his officers had predicted? He braved
the
falling snow and bitter wind, going from platoon to platoon where fires
glowed,
embers sputtering and hissing against the snow. Pots on the fires at
each
location gave off strange odors of whatever provender the soldiers had
found of
wild game to flavor their gruel.
At
each location he was met with shouts of "Long live the United States!
Hail
to our Chief! May Liberty prevail!"
At
one stop General Washington asked, "Have you not suffered enough?"
The
lieutenant in charge responded, "Having come this far, we can but go
the
rest of the distance. With you to lead us, we can't lose!"
Washington
and his aide made their way back to the General's tent. When they
arrived, they
found garlands of holly and cedar twined around the marquee that
identified the
headquarters tent, and draped above the tent-flap door. General
Washington took
the letter he had started to Congress. He burned it at the fire his
aides had
built outside his tent. "May God relieve your sufferings, if the
Congress
will not. And a good Christmas to you!" he said.
I
am not sure of the timing, but I like to think that it was at this
point that
General Washington fell to his knees and prayed at Valley Forge.
He
spent the remainder of that winter encouraging and training his troops.
By
June, 1778, they were ready for an advance against the British.
Christmas,
1777, bleak, comfortless and cold as it was, became a time for building
hope.
*[Source
material found
in Colbert, David, ed., Eyewitness to America . (New York: Pantheon,
1977).
"Winter at Valley Forge" by Dr. Albigence Waldo, p. 87-90.]
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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