The harsh winters at Valley Forge were a time when men were separated from the weak. Valley Forge was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was where George Washington built a camp for his soldiers to stay and train in the winter of 1777-1778. If I was a soldier at Valley Forge I would not have reenlisted once my term ended because poor conditions were too much to bare, the chance of catching an illness or dying was too high, and there was no support from the congressmen.
I would’ve left Valley Forge once my contract was up because of the awful conditions. For soldiers in the Continental Army, living quarters seemed a little tight for 12,000 soldiers at a small camp. Conditions for the soldiers were anything but pleasant. As seen in William H. Powell’s painting soldiers walked around in ripped clothing without shoes. Snow at Valley Forge made the lack of clothing a lot worse for the soldiers (Doc. B). As if ragged clothing wasn’t enough, the soldiers lived with sickening smells. According to Dr. Waldo [a doctor who lived with the soldiers] “I am sick-discontented...vomit half my time...smoak’d out my senses...”(Doc. C). For soldiers to live with little to no clothing, and no healthy air to breathe, they were bound to
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Throughout the destructive and bitter winters during the time span from December 1777-February 1778, many men at the Valley Forge Camp were catching an illness or dying. Studies from researchers at the University of Michigan show that over the course of 3 months almost 50% of the soldiers (3989 out of 8000) were sick, and 10% were dead by the time they were ready to fight again (Doc. A). If I was a soldier back then I wouldn’t want a 50% chance of catching an illness because medical issues weren’t as easily cured during that time period. Although only 10% resulted in death, out of 8000 soldiers that took a pretty significant toll on the Continental
To make matters worse they had to deal with smallpox more dangerously than that is Lice because they rarely bathed or washed themselves or had laundered clothing. Another horrible things that Martin and his soldiers had to deal with was typhus a potential killer disease characterized by usually high fevers and red sports on the skin. Typhus took the lives of most of the Valley Forge Martin was under the brigade command of General James M. Varnum but his actual commander was Colonial John Durkee of the 4th Connecticut regiment, since Varnum was elsewhere. Washington’s continentals fairly well- supplied with food, but in the months preceding a major reason for so much privation at Valley Forge. Martin’s statement about Washington’s main army was misleading about them residing in the White Plains as they crossed the Hudson River and established winter quarters in Middlebrooks, New
The conditions in Valley Forge were terrible like ¨ poor food, cold weather, some of them would vomit half their time.” They really need help because soldiers were just getting sicker. Dr waldo suffered during his time at Valley Forge but stayed loyal to the continental army. He was like inspiring when i read how he stayed through all the pain at Valley Forge and he didn't quit.
Goal: Have the general public understand why the army stayed at Valley Forge, and what the soldiers did here in order to survive the winter encampment.
Document C tells us that most soldiers, including Dr. Albigence Waldo, have, “Poor food-hard lodging-Cold Weather-fatigue-Nasty Cloaths-nasty Cookery-Vomit half my time-smoak’d out my senses.” This proves that conditions in Valley Forge were terrible. The soldiers dealt through these conditions all winter, without their families, only to continue to fight in war right after winter ends. As an overview, Document C consists of two diary entries by Dr. Albigence Waldo, who was a surgeon at Valley Forge. Waldo suffered much at Valley Forge, but stayed loyal to the Patriots and didn’t quit. For example, Document C states, “‘Heartily wish myself at home, my Skin and eyes are almost spoil’d with continual smoke.”..... “Dr. Waldo suffered during his winter at Valley Forge but stayed loyal to the Continental Army as he helped other surgeons care for sick soldiers.” This proves that despite the fact that conditions were terrible at Valley Forge, Waldo did not quit and continued to fight, which would eventually pay out in the long run. In fact, throughout the whole document it mentions that many soldiers did not have shoes (I mean they were fighting in a war, and it was the middle of winter!), proper warm clothing, good and plenty food, proper lodging, and much more. However, those soldiers did not give up, and continued to fight. Therefore, another reason I would not have quit Valley Forge is because the conditions in Valley Forge were terrible, but many brave soldiers continued to
Valley Forge, was the toughest obstacle the Continental Army had to face during the Revolutionary War. For about nine months in the cold winter, these soldiers stayed in this area for them to"... be close enough to Philadelphia to keep an eye on the British"(Background). By the end of the war, the colonists were victorious in gaining their independence. Regardless, I would abandon my position as a soldier at Valley Forge. My reasoning are due to the multiple hardship they endure such as living in a harsh environment, sickness that lead to death and lacked numerous resources.
At Valley Forge, the weather and conditions were terrible (Document C) so I could get sick and die, and in Document A it stated that 1800 - 2500 died just because of sickness, which means that most people have already gotten sick, including doctors like Dr Waldo (Doc C) so the doctors would not be able to help too much with your sickness. Because of all the sick soldiers(Doc C and A), I can infer that when we go into battle we'd be very weak and we'll have a very slim chance of
As I walked through the snow with aching, raw feet, the blood, making a trail behind me, I soon began to realize how Valley Forge and this whole war in it’s entirety was driving me to the point where I wanted to quit. It was the winter of 1777 and the American Army was forced to set up camp 18 miles outside of Philadelphia, we call it Valley Forge. The question that keeps popping up in my mind while I sit miserably in my hut is, am I going to re-enlist? I am not going to re-enlist for 3 reasons: death and illness, harsh conditions, and the lack of support and supplies. One of these causes that make me want to quit is the amount of men we were losing due to the illnesses that spread around camp.
According to Document A, there were 12,000 soldier in valley forge during December 1777. By February 1778 there were only 8,000 soldiers. From December to June 1,800 to 2,500 soldiers died. In December there were 2,898 soldiers sick and by February there were 3,989 soldiers sick. About 50% of soldiers were sick in February. They need help caring for the sick and dying. If I stayed I could help the sick and wounded instead of leaving all the fallen soldiers behind.
The 2nd Doc. A we had 12,000 men when we were at Valley Forge. But then the bad stuff came like frostbite, starvation, and smallpox. Fortunately Washington he was immune to those things at Valley Forge. But i could not say the same things about the army because of those things were the main problem and ten men died a day. After that we were only at 8,000 men, but the men still had their spirit within them. only 50% of the troops were sick which was critical but the other 50% wasn 't sick and i guess that 's good, Washington’s plan didn’t quietl...
From 1861 to 1865 our nation's deadliest conflict was being disputed. The American Civil War had more Americans die than in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War combined. ( Ballou) Approximately 600,000 soldiers and 100,000 civilians died. Of all these casualties, three-fourths died from wound infections or infectious diseases. ( Ballou) About 10 million soldiers became ill at some point during the civil war. A huge reason for this is because many men came from small towns and isolated farms. Individuals had never been exposed to disease. This resulted in millions of soldiers getting sick. ( Morris ) Of all the many different diseases that were going on duri...
Soldiers faced diseases like measles, small pox, malaria, pneumonia, camp itch, mumps, typhoid and dysentery. However, diarrhea killed more soldiers than any other illness. There were many reasons that diseases were so common for the causes of death for soldiers. Reasons include the fact that there were poor physicals before entering the army, ignorance of medical information, lack of camp hygiene, insects that carried disease, lack of clothing and shoes, troops were crowded and in close quarters and inadequate food and water.
Early this February the states surrounding the great lakes in the northeast were pounded by lake-effect snow storms. Some areas saw more than four feet of snow. These states are accustomed to lake-effect snow storms, but it has been some time since they last saw one of this magnitude. Some areas saw up to 140 inches in less than twelve days. The storm was accountable for 35 deaths. (msn.com 2007)
inside were dying from dying from illnesses and starvation. All of the problems, it’s just… too much, it’s hard to handle. The American soldiers just arrived at Valley Forge at were attempting to set up. They had very minimal food and were living poorly, they were all cold, discouraged, and about half were sick. All of these men from the Continental Army were at Valley Forge, some on the verge of death. If you were at Valley Forge, would you have abandoned the American Army in times of trouble? If I were a soldier at Valley Forge, I would have left because of all the illnesses that spread from the soldiers, Washington’s words
In the early years of the Civil War it became clear that disease would be the greatest killer. Twice as many Civil War soldiers died of disease then that were killed in combat. This was due to unsanitary and filthy conditions, untrained Medical personnel and poor medical examination of new soldier’s. One fact from the Civil War was 315,000 soldiers died from illnesses that included: 44,558 from diarrhea/dysentery, 10,063 from malaria, 34,833 from typhoid, 958 from typhus and 436 from yellow fever.
Being a soldier was a really tough life. In the end I hated doing the same thing day after day with no change in sight, I despised the leaders that didn 't take care of their subordinates, and most importantly, I couldn 't lead my soldiers from the front anymore. I 'll be the first one to say that joining the army was the best thing to happen to me. I have grown so much as a person and the lessons I learned are invaluable. In the end I realized the negative factors outweighed any possible benefit I might receive from continued service. It was time for me to