A Winter Day At Valley Forge

Photo courtesy of Mark Austin.
The brave men under the command of General George Washington endured many hardships during their service in the Continental Army, but the most trying time of all must surely have been at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania where they suffered through the miserable winter of 1777-1778.

Washington's men stayed weak, hungry and cold the whole winter long, and the need to gather food and firewood while barefoot and nearly naked left several of them with severe frostbite that resulted in amputation. The frequent site of their bloody footprints in the snow prompted Washington to write the Continental Congress complaining about what he perceived as a lack of concern for the troops.

That cold, long winter at Valley Forge marked the low point of the war morale-wise, but the arrival of spring brought with it a new spirit of determination and perseverance. Valley Forge turned out to be the catapult that propelled the Americans to victory, thanks largely to Washington's establishment of a training regime that made the Continental Army a force to be reckoned with by the redcoats.

Before long France had entered the war on the side of the Americans, boosting their will to fight to record levels. New recruits joined Washington's men at an ever increasing rate allowing Washington to field an army that could hold its own and then some.

They say it's always darkest just before the dawn, and that saying certainly fits that fateful winter at Valley Forge. A new nation, indeed the greatest nation the planet has ever known arose from those bloody footprints left by men filled to the brim with courage, endurance and discipline.

About the photo: Photographer Mark Austin was spending the weekend near Valley Forge in order to take in a Philadelphia Eagles football game when it began snowing. Recognizing the opportunity to capture some great images in such a historic place, he rushed over to the park and started shooting - and the result is today's picture!

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