Valley Forge
Today was a hot and humid day with a temperature of 97F. Not the best day to go and wander a huge area set aside to remember Valley Forge, but the only day we have so …. Sunscreen on and map in hand we drove through the rambling countryside of Pennsylvania. No road is straight and without the help of out GPS (Julia) we would never have found anywhere. Being so humid the countryside is so lush and green – I love this area.
We always thought Valley Forge was where George Washington’s army fought the British. This is incorrect! Valley Forge was the winter encampment for the Continental Army (American’s) which was overseen by General George Washington. Even though the winter was hard he did the best he could for the troops and spent a lot of time training them so that when they next met the British in Trent, New Jersey they actually pushed them back. The Revolutionary War was fought between 1775 and 1783 and it occurred because the American colonies were sick of paying taxes and homage to the King of England (included the Boston tea party). They wanted independence from the English. After this war, the congress appointed General George Washington as the first President of the United States. Valley Forge was a turning point in the morale of the troops under the leadership of Washington. No war was actually fought at Valley Forge, but they went through a hard winter there and actually built huts rather than live in tents.
Hope all of this makes sense as we have been learning so much American History! It is wonderful and the children are really getting into the history. The RV park has a wonderful pool so that was the place to be when we got back home. More and more yet tomorrow as we head into Lancaster County with the Amish.
God Bless, Anne