Philadelphia American Revolution Conference

These pictures are from our day at Valley Forge.

This is one of the park rangers.  He demonstrated the weapons and tools that a soldier in the Continental Army would have used at Valley Forge.  Something I found interesting was that one of the big difficulties the soldiers had at Valley Forge was a lack of tools.  So, for example, 12 soldiers would be responsible for building a hut but there was probably only one axe available for them.  The result was that one soldier would have to work cutting down trees while his buddies basically stood around with nothing to do.  The point is that even though George Washington had plenty of manpower available at Valley Forge, building the encampment took much longer than it should because of inefficiency and a lack of resources.

This house served as George Washington's headquarters during the winter at Valley Forge.  The house was owned by a man named Isaac Potts, a local business man who operated a gristmill.  Washington rented the house from Potts and stayed there with his command staff and servants, including enslaved Africans.  Martha Washington joined the General at the Potts house for part of the Army's winter at Valley Forge.

This is a reproduction of Washington's personal flag.  It has a blue background and 13 white stars.  The flag was carried by Washington's personal bodyguards, known as the "Life Guards".

The following pictures show the interior of the Potts house.  It has been restored to how it probably looked during the winter at Valley Forge.

These are reproductions of some of the huts found at Valley Forge.  These huts are where the Life Guards would have stayed.  They are really close to Washington's headquarters.

These are all reproductions of huts used by the soldiers at Valley Forge.  The huts sit atop high ground overlooking the Schuylkill (shu-coal) River and provided the Continental Army with an easily defensible position while allowing General Washington to keep a close watch on the British army in Philadelphia.

This is the remains of an oven at Valley Forge.  A German baker named Christopher Ludwick came to Valley Forge and promised Washington that he could provide 135 pounds of bread for every 100 pounds of flour he was given.  Ludwick was true to his word and was able to bake 12,000 loaves of bread a day.  For his efforts, Washington named Ludwick "Baker General of the Continental Army".

This is our group at Valley Forge.