The Winter at Valley Forge

As mentioned before, the co-op that we are a part of has been studying the 18th century. Last week the students were able to experience a little of what Valley Forge was like for General George Washington and his men during the winter of 1777-1778.The students were encouraged to dress for the time period. Here Captain Kennedy is pictured with her friend, Brooke (Molly Pitcher?).

Several stations were set up for the new recruits to visit to help them truly experience Valley Forge. Here the students learned that many of the soldiers did not have shoes to wear. It was a harsh winter and they had to walk through the snow with bare, and often bloody feet. Thankfully none of these soldiers' hands and feet turned black from frostbite like those in the Continental Army!

Only a slim few were seemingly unaffected by the harsh winter.

After walking through the snow, they wrapped their feet in bandages, and headed off to the next station.
They learned about the scarcity of food and even got a taste of what stick and leaf soup might have been like.

I wish I had zoomed back a bit. Here they are around the camp fire and there is a boot in one of the cast iron kettles.


How many steps were there to load a musket? Here the students learned what had to be done before a shot could be fired.

Watch the clip to view the soldiers in training.

I am amazed at the way in which these ladies use their talents to bless the children. I know that the students will not soon forget Valley Forge and what the brave soldiers faced as they fought for liberty and freedom from Great Britian.

Okay, this last little clip is not from the Valley Forge experience. Later in the day the younger students made drums and marched to the beat of Yankee Doodle.

Did you know that the song was originally sung by the British soldiers to make fun of the Colonists? But the Americans liked the song. By the end of the war, they were singing it, too. After the final battle at Yorktown, Virginia, when the British were defeated, the American soldiers sang Yankee Doodle when they made the British Soldiers march past them and give up their guns.

I'm just very sorry that I was trying to sing along with the drummers as I recorded this clip. Unfortunately, you hear more of my tone-deaf notes than the sweet sounds from the children.