Washington on His Ragged Army: “men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lay on, without shoes… marching through frost and snow…”
Valley forge April 21st 1778 Dr Sir On saturday evening1 I had the pleasure to receive your favor of the 16th Inst. I thank you very much for your obliging tender of a friendly intercourse between us; and you may rest assured, that I embrace it with chearfulness, and shall write you freely, as often as Leisure will permit, of such points as appear to me material ...
General Washington and his Troops arrive at Valley Forge
The images are heartrending, dramatic and so powerful that they are embedded in the nation's historical consciousness: Bloody footprints in the snow left by bootless men. Near naked soldiers wrapped in thin blankets huddled around a smoky fire of green wood. The plaintive chant from the starving: "We want meat! We want meat!" These are the indelible images of suffering and endurance associated with Valley Forge ...
Thomas Paine: “THOSE who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, …undergo the fatigues of supporting it”
THOSE who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it. The event of yesterday was one of those kind of alarms which is just sufficient to rouse us to duty, without being of consequence enough to depress our fortitude. It is not a field of a few acres of ground, but a cause, that we are defending, and ...
John Adams: “Posterity! You Will Never Know, How Much it Cost the Present Generation, to Preserve Your Freedom! I Hope You Will Make a Good Use of It.”
Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, Saturday Evening 26 April 1777 I have been lately more remiss, than usual in Writing to you. There has been a great Dearth of News. Nothing from England, nothing from France, Spain, or any other Part of Europe, nothing from the West Indies. Nothing from Howe, and his Banditti, nothing from General Washington. There are various Conjectures that Lord How ...
George Washington Inspires a Tired and Defeated Army to Continue the Fight for Liberty
George Washington faced a grim moment January 1, 1777. All enlistments for the Continental Army had expired on that date and all of the army, or at least what was left of it, was free to go home. This would not just cripple the Revolution, but probably end it. He gathered his troops together, the drum roll began, and the general asked all those willing to ...
Thomas Paine publishes “The American Crisis”: “These Are the Times That Try Men’s Souls… Tyranny, Like Hell, is Not Easily Conquered”
The days of December 1776 were some of America’s darkest times. Thomas Paine epically captured the moment in “The American Crisis.” “These are the times that try men’s souls,” Paine wrote. “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, ...
Delegates sign the Declaration of Independence
Members of Congress affixed their signatures to an enlarged copy of the Declaration of Independence a month after Congress had approved the declaration of independence from Britain. Fifty-six congressional delegates in total signed the document, including some who were not present at the vote approving the declaration. The delegates signed by state from North to South, beginning with Josiah Bartlett of New Hampshire and ending with ...
Samuel Adams Advocates American Independence
Samuel Adams, one of the most ardent of the Founding Fathers in his desire for independence from England, delivered this speech to a numerous audience at the State House in Philadelphia on August 1, 1776. Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, also served as Delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774 and was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1794. Abridged. Our forefathers, 'tis ...
GW: “The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavour so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier…”
When the Declaration of Independence was written, a copy was rushed out to Washington, who was fortifying New York City. He had it read to his troops, then ordered chaplains placed in each regiment, stating July 9, 1776: “The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavour so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier, defending the dearest Rights and Liberties ...
The Liberty Bell is Rung in Philadelphia and the People Gathered to Hear the Reading of the Declaration of Independence
The Liberty Bell got its name from being rung July 8, 1776, to call the citizens of Philadelphia together to hear the Declaration of Independence read out loud for the first time. The Liberty Bell, weighing over 2,000 pounds, was cast in England in August of 1752. The Pennsylvania Assembly ordered it to commemorate the 50th anniversary of William Penn founding the colony in 1701 and ...
