Valley Forge

We drove to Valley Forge on a cool partly-cloudy fall day.  The leaves had mostly fallen off the trees, but a few remained.  And the wind played with the leaves, blowing them hither and yon and dropping the temperature another fifteen degrees as it blew any warmth from our skin.  Our first stop was an Episcopalian Church on the Park grounds that serves as a memorial to United States soldiers from the Revolutionary War through the World Wars.  The church was immense.  It had a list of fallen soldiers from the Revolutionary War, listed by state, a bell used in the women's suffrage movement, and several gargoyles that seemed almost anti-Christian.



                                        Across the road, in a field, stood a miniature Washington Monument.

                                              Even the cat was cold!

                    This floor has two different types of stone, one that wears more than the other.

 

Behind the church was a small gift store, that was well stocked with 18th Century cannons slowly wearing away in the weather.  They come in many shapes and sizes.

                                            The leaves were chasing us.

                                                    The last vestiges of fall leaves.

Next we stopped where some of Washington's troops had spent the winter of 1777-1778.  Washington brought close to 6000 men, and told them to build their own shelters.  The sight reminded me of the television show "Survivor" where the contestants use what is available to build a shelter.  The weather that winter was cold and snowy and the troops had a shortage of food and clothing.  Approximately 2000 men died of disease during the encampment.  When they arrived, they had lost Philadelphia to the British, and by camping here they were near enough to keep an eye on the British Army, but far enough away to avoid a surprise attack.  During the winter months, the Continental Army was trained by Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Augustus von Steuben who converted the recruited farmers into a trained army.  He believed that he couldn't use the European methods of demanding obedience from the troops, but instead had to explain why he wanted them to do something because of the American independent thinking.

                      These beds remind me of the ones we saw in  the Dachau concentration camp.

        We were able to walk through the home that George Washington stayed in during the winter, and Martha Washington stayed in part of that time.  It was eerily moving to look into the rooms where Washington sat with his officers planning the strategies to defeat the British.  Washington rented the house rather than just occupy it, believing that government should not requisition property from its citizens without compensation.

                                                George and Martha's bed.

       I do not understand this covered bed, and there was no explanation.  Maybe the cover helps keep the heat in.

                                                Dining area.

                                                      Parlor/meeting room.

                                                       The other parlor/meeting room.

                                              Servant's quarters.

                                               Walkway between the house and kitchen.

Kitchen

                                                           I love the wavy glass in the windows.

The soldiers food and equipment supplies improved in March and April, 1778 and in May they left Valley Forge.  It is interesting that many of the local farmers preferred to sell their goods to the British because the British money was more stable that the Colony money which was not uniform from state to state.  Not everyone supported the movement for independence.  We Americans probably will never all agree on politics.

Gettysburg

Eastern Pennsylvania countryside.  While it is rural, you can always see many farms.  It does not feel very remote to someone from the Western US.

                                                                    

                                                          Susquehana River

                                             When you see Lincoln, you just have to kiss him!

                                                               Or stand around and talk with him.

We headed out to the Gettysburg National Park in a cheerful mood, ready for site-seeing.  We started in the visitor center where we first viewed a film about the battles that occurred over three days in July 1863.  We then saw a "cyclorama" which I had never heard of before.  It is a circular painting, 377 feet in diameter painted by Paul Philippoteaux in 1884.  The center provide lighting and sounds in the room of the painting so that different portions are highlighted at different times displaying the third day of battle in which the Union Army won. (They lost the other two days.)  It is very hard to take pictures of the cyclorama because it is in the dark most of the time and you are not allowed to use flash, but I highly recommend to anyone in the area that you cough up the few dollars to see it.  It is amazing!  I didn't realize that cycloramas were popular in Europe in the 1800s.


We looked in the gift shop for post cards for grandchildren, but didn't buy any because they all represented battles, guns or dead soldiers.  Not what you want to send to young children!  We ate in the park cafeteria.  I had peanut soup and a hardtackle cracker off the "available in gettysburg in 1863" menu.  The cracker was so hard you could break your teeth on it if you weren't careful, but I actually rather enjoyed it.  We looked for some in the gift store, but found $20 for a small box of crackers a little steep. 

                                              The battlefield sites are pretty and peaceful - now.

 We went through a museum that had many artifacts recovered from the battles and other Civil War items. I am struck by how small the uniforms seemed. Also, how technology of killing each other had progressed between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. By the Civil War, many soldiers had repeating riffles, and many bullets and cannon balls exploded rather than just being a solid ball hitting its target. Unfortunately, medicine had not progressed enough to stem the tide of infection and disease. Twice as many soldiers died after the battles as died in them. There were descriptions of doctors with piles of limbs around them as they performed numerous amputations with the same saws without washing the saws between patients.









        Looking down the cannon barrel.

                                               Hills and valleys played a big role in the battles.

                                                        Period costumes in Gettysburg.

                                                   Gettysburg houses.


I was stunned by the descriptions of cleanning up after the battles. I had never given any thought to what a battlefield would be like after the battle. Over 51,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after the battles. The retreating confederates went through Gettysburg, looting and destroying on their way. All the houses and surrounding buildings became hospital wards. It took the surrounding countryside over a year to recover while the residents dealt with decaying bodies, disease and continuous stench. The Gettysburg address was given by Lincoln at the dedication of a National Graveyard in November (4 months later) which was part of the clean-up effort.



States which had soldiers in the battle have all placed memorials to their soldiers.

 New York's Memorial

                                                Virginia's memorial.

Pennsylvania's memorial.

We took the self-guided driving tour around the battlefields which was very interesting after viewing the films and learning the different strategies of the armies and the events of all three days.  It is erie walking where so many died and at the same time viewing fall's beautiful colors in a peaceful looking valley.  While there were many other tourists stopping at the same stops we did, it was hauntingly quiet.  Everyone talks in whispers and looks like they have been somewhat traumatized by the visitor center films.  Maybe I am just projecting because I talked in whispers and was traumatized.  I don't understand war.  Why was it necessary then? Why is it necessary now?  Why can't we discuss our problems as long as it takes to reach a resolution?  We left Gettysburg feeling less like site-seers and more like we had experienced a horrific reality.