The harsh winters at Valley Forge were a time when men were separated from the weak. Valley Forge was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was where George Washington built a camp for his soldiers to stay and train in the winter of 1777-1778. If I was a soldier at Valley Forge I would not have reenlisted once my term ended because poor conditions were too much to bare, the chance of catching an illness or dying was too high, and there was no support from the congressmen.
I would’ve left Valley Forge once my contract was up because of the awful conditions. For soldiers in the Continental Army, living quarters seemed a little tight for 12,000 soldiers at a small camp. Conditions for the soldiers were anything but pleasant. As seen in William H. Powell’s painting soldiers walked around in ripped clothing without shoes. Snow at Valley Forge made the lack of clothing a lot worse for the soldiers (Doc. B). As if ragged clothing wasn’t enough, the soldiers lived with sickening smells. According to Dr. Waldo [a doctor who lived with the soldiers] “I am sick-discontented...vomit half my time...smoak’d out my senses...”(Doc. C). For soldiers to live with little to no clothing, and no healthy air to breathe, they were bound to
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get sick. Living in the cold, and no ventilation would make me count the days until my contract was up. The chance of catching an illness, or dying was too prominent for me to stay at Valley Forge.
Throughout the destructive and bitter winters during the time span from December 1777-February 1778, many men at the Valley Forge Camp were catching an illness or dying. Studies from researchers at the University of Michigan show that over the course of 3 months almost 50% of the soldiers (3989 out of 8000) were sick, and 10% were dead by the time they were ready to fight again (Doc. A). If I was a soldier back then I wouldn’t want a 50% chance of catching an illness because medical issues weren’t as easily cured during that time period. Although only 10% resulted in death, out of 8000 soldiers that took a pretty significant toll on the Continental
Army. I would not have reenlisted myself into the Continental Army because of the lack of support from the Congressmen. Shaking and quivering in the harsh winters at Valley Forge were weak and desperate soldiers. Soldiers who received nothing from the Congressmen except for a letter from Thomas Paine. A band of soldiers were leaving at the time, and I would be ready to go with them. Thomas Paine wrote about how those would be the toughest times the soldiers would ever go through, and we’ll value our freedom more if we fight for it, “these are the times that try men’s souls...the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph”(Doc. D). The words of Thomas Paine would mean nothing to me considering it still took Congress a long time to do anything about their issues. Thomas Paine can write whatever he wants, but words are words with no action being taken or incentive to stay. According to the researchers at the University of Michigan, most of the soldiers were starting to pack their bags and head off. In December of 1777 there were 12,000 soldiers, and in February of 1778, only 8,000 remained (Doc. A). While some fell to death and disease not all stayed long enough to risk it. I would have left with my fellow soldiers to protect myself with that being my first priority. As depicted in the painting by William Henry Powell the Congressmen were portrayed as overweight (Doc. C). While Congressmen are clearly being overfed, soldiers are in huts in the middle of the winter with no support from their communities. If being a summer soldier meant my life wouldn’t be put at as great of a risk I would’ve left as well. After my contract expired with the Continental Army, I without a doubt would have left the Army. The conditions in the living quarters were too poor, the risk of catching an illness was too high, and with little to no support from Congress, nothing would’ve come easily. While other soldiers stay to prove their not a summer soldier and that they’ll always be there. I would value my health way more than the potential freedom.
To make matters worse they had to deal with smallpox more dangerously than that is Lice because they rarely bathed or washed themselves or had laundered clothing. Another horrible things that Martin and his soldiers had to deal with was typhus a potential killer disease characterized by usually high fevers and red sports on the skin. Typhus took the lives of most of the Valley Forge Martin was under the brigade command of General James M. Varnum but his actual commander was Colonial John Durkee of the 4th Connecticut regiment, since Varnum was elsewhere. Washington’s continentals fairly well- supplied with food, but in the months preceding a major reason for so much privation at Valley Forge. Martin’s statement about Washington’s main army was misleading about them residing in the White Plains as they crossed the Hudson River and established winter quarters in Middlebrooks, New
In the winter of 1777 and 1778 George Washington and the Continental Army had a rough time at Valley Forge. Valley Forge was 18 miles outside of Philadelphia . Some of the soldiers left because all they did was work it was cold and they had bad clothing like worn out shoes and they were getting sick but not all left some stayed loyal and times got even harder but they were so devoted to stay and fight for their freedom. So I would not have quit because…..
Goal: Have the general public understand why the army stayed at Valley Forge, and what the soldiers did here in order to survive the winter encampment.
Document C tells us that most soldiers, including Dr. Albigence Waldo, have, “Poor food-hard lodging-Cold Weather-fatigue-Nasty Cloaths-nasty Cookery-Vomit half my time-smoak’d out my senses.” This proves that conditions in Valley Forge were terrible. The soldiers dealt through these conditions all winter, without their families, only to continue to fight in war right after winter ends. As an overview, Document C consists of two diary entries by Dr. Albigence Waldo, who was a surgeon at Valley Forge. Waldo suffered much at Valley Forge, but stayed loyal to the Patriots and didn’t quit.
Valley Forge, was the toughest obstacle the Continental Army had to face during the Revolutionary War. For about nine months in the cold winter, these soldiers stayed in this area for them to"... be close enough to Philadelphia to keep an eye on the British"(Background). By the end of the war, the colonists were victorious in gaining their independence. Regardless, I would abandon my position as a soldier at Valley Forge. My reasoning are due to the multiple hardship they endure such as living in a harsh environment, sickness that lead to death and lacked numerous resources.
The conditions and environment of valley forge were horrifying. There was very poor ventilation, and Dr Waldo even claimed that it "smoak'd out his senses" (Doc C.) With the poor ventilation, I could easily get majorly sick and die from it. The clothing the soldiers wore, were all ripped and faded (Doc C.) With those clothing, I would get frostbite or get sick and die. You'd think that the soldiers would get energy by eating rich, luscious, food, but instead, they had "cakes" which were just flour and water. (Doc C) Though in Document C it says "Yet they still show a spirit of Alacrity" I would still leave because I wouldn't be able to deal with all the harsh conditions, and to top it all off they had to live in tiny huts, 12 people each.
One of these causes that make me want to quit is the amount of men we were losing due to the illnesses that spread around camp. In Document A, the table shows that in February there were 8000 total men and about half of those soldiers died. This evidence proves to show the numbers behind all the deaths we have had and how they got so sick to the point of death. If I had chosen to stay for 1 month longer until my enlistment is up, I would’ve been exposing myself to all the illnesses longer than I already have. The risk to stay is too great to even think about.
I walk into Valley Forge. Winter 1777-78. As I walk in, an overwhelming feeling of emotions comes over me. Sadness, anger, hope, unwillingness, and happiness. I walk in a little bit further and I am greeted with many huts. These huts have no windows and only one door. I decide to peek into one of them and see 12 men inside. The huts are hard to see in because smoke has filled them. From another direction there is many men talking. I walk towards the noise and am surprised to see men sitting around a campfire eating small amounts of food. The men are talking about various things. Some are talking about their family, how they are excited that their duty is almost over, and some of the strong willed patriots who are willing to fight for their country are talking about how they are going to stay longer than they were sent to. As I keep wandering around the camp I find myself at an area with many men. These men are different than the men at the campfire. These men were the unlucky soldiers who had gotten sick. There is a soldier who is crying over another soldiers still body. Again I hear talking but this time it’s about how they need help caring for the sick and the soldiers that want to leave shouldn’t leave so they can help the sick. I shake off what I just witnessed and made the tough decision of staying. I would stay because they would need my help,
These times are not the best, but the spirit within us troops is still intact and helps us push forward so we may take what we deserve, what we need, the most precious thing to man desires ...Freedom. 1777-1778 Valley Forge was horrific and deadly, the conditions were dreadful, I can’t imagine someone who can live with these conditions. I want to reenlist because I have spirit, I want to serve for my country, and I want freedom from the Britishes filthy hands.Why did general Washington go to valley forge and have us camp there? I mean it’s killing us, but the real question is, should I stay or should I go now?
From 1861 to 1865 our nation's deadliest conflict was being disputed. The American Civil War had more Americans die than in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War combined. ( Ballou) Approximately 600,000 soldiers and 100,000 civilians died. Of all these casualties, three-fourths died from wound infections or infectious diseases. ( Ballou) About 10 million soldiers became ill at some point during the civil war. A huge reason for this is because many men came from small towns and isolated farms. Individuals had never been exposed to disease. This resulted in millions of soldiers getting sick. ( Morris ) Of all the many different diseases that were going on duri...
Soldiers faced diseases like measles, small pox, malaria, pneumonia, camp itch, mumps, typhoid and dysentery. However, diarrhea killed more soldiers than any other illness. There were many reasons that diseases were so common for the causes of death for soldiers. Reasons include the fact that there were poor physicals before entering the army, ignorance of medical information, lack of camp hygiene, insects that carried disease, lack of clothing and shoes, troops were crowded and in close quarters and inadequate food and water.
Early this February the states surrounding the great lakes in the northeast were pounded by lake-effect snow storms. Some areas saw more than four feet of snow. These states are accustomed to lake-effect snow storms, but it has been some time since they last saw one of this magnitude. Some areas saw up to 140 inches in less than twelve days. The storm was accountable for 35 deaths. (msn.com 2007)
The final reason I would have abandoned Valley Forge was because of the lack of food and poor living quality. When the soldier arrived at Valley Forge, they didn’t have a lot of resources because not a lot of people were supporting them. Therefore, they were all given very little food so they could ration it all out and were forced to live in small huts, according to Document C. I would have rather go home to my family and live in at least moderate comfort than have to fight and live extremely poorly. In conclusion, I would have abandoned Valley Forge because of all the spreading illnesses, Washington’s “discouraging” words at Valley Forge, and the lack of food and a nice living quality.
In the early years of the Civil War it became clear that disease would be the greatest killer. Twice as many Civil War soldiers died of disease then that were killed in combat. This was due to unsanitary and filthy conditions, untrained Medical personnel and poor medical examination of new soldier’s. One fact from the Civil War was 315,000 soldiers died from illnesses that included: 44,558 from diarrhea/dysentery, 10,063 from malaria, 34,833 from typhoid, 958 from typhus and 436 from yellow fever.
Being a soldier was a really tough life. In the end I hated doing the same thing day after day with no change in sight, I despised the leaders that didn 't take care of their subordinates, and most importantly, I couldn 't lead my soldiers from the front anymore. I 'll be the first one to say that joining the army was the best thing to happen to me. I have grown so much as a person and the lessons I learned are invaluable. In the end I realized the negative factors outweighed any possible benefit I might receive from continued service. It was time for me to