Valley Forge

In the winter of 1777 and 1778, George Washington commanded 12,000 soldiers to fight against the British at Valley Forge. Valley Forge, 18 miles outside of Philadelphia, American soldiers are having the worst times of their lives. The British have taken American land and have started taxing the Americans on almost everything.

The Americans are angry with the British and have started the Revolutionary War. Even though the Patriots are struggling, they should not have quit because they are fighting for independance, their country, help was on the way, and the soldiers had a five out of six chance of living. First, the soldiers shouldn’t have quit because the Americans wanted independence and they were fighting for their country. The Patriots who were at Valley Forge were strong and not “Sunshine Soldiers” or “Summertime Patriots” (D).The British were taxing the Americans on everything, so the Americans decided to do something and get their country back to themselves. Again, the Patriots shouldn’t have quit because if they wanted independence, they had to fight for it.

Next, congressmen from Philadelphia were on the way to help the Continental Army. The committee of five congressmen stayed several weeks at Valley Forge and helped get more food and clothing for the Patriots (B). Later, news came that the French were coming to support the Patriots. The challenged Americans were getting support from the Continental Congress and later the French, so that may have encouraged some of the soldiers to stay at Valley Forge. Lastly, the soldiers at Valley Forge shouldn’t have quit because only one person died out of every six.

At the camp, one person died out of every six because of sickness or hypothermia. A total of four thousand people died at Valley Forge from December of 1777 to February 1778 (B).Even though the Patriot camp was full of conflicts and many people were sick and dying, some strong soldiers pulled through the cold and sickness at Valley Forge. Despite the fact that the soldiers at Valley Forge were sick and dying, they were fighting for their country, the French were coming to help, and five out of every six people lived, the soldiers should not have quit at Valley Forge. With these three reasons, this lead to America winning the war against the British.