Valley Forge Dbq Analysis

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“THESE are the times that try men’s souls,” said Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, 1776. What Pane meant by his statement is that those who care about their freedom and being loyal to their cause will stick with the war effort, while those who are craven and would rather be slaves than free men will run away from the war. Valley Forge was the winter encampment of George Washington’s troops in 1777, about 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia. If you were a soldier in George Washington’s camp at Valley Forge, would you have quit after your enlistment was over? At Valley Forge soldiers met diseases, food shortages, and death quite frequently. These hardships caused large amount of people to quit, or give up on their task of fighting to win …show more content…

As displayed in an engraving by William Henry Powell in 1866 (Doc B) Washington cares about his soldiers. Washington tells the members of Congress that his soldiers, although tired and in dire need of aid still have high morales. George Washington understands his soldier’s needs and seeks to help them survive and give them some relief in the times of desperate need. This care and concern for his soldiers shows that George Washington will lead well in battle. I can put my trust into Washington who seeks to take action for the good of the people, and in this case his soldiers. Although illness and death records (Doc A) reveal that illness rates were high and death counts were substantial, the deaths were fairly low. In December of 1777 there were about 12,000 soldiers at Valley Forge and after enlistments expired, about 8,000 soldiers remained in February of 1778. Between December and June, there were between 1,800 and 2,500 deaths due to illness in Valley Forge. This means that only about 25-40% of soldiers died due to illness at Valley Forge. Although still a large amount, the death rate at Valley Forge is relatively sound. With the knowledge that I would have had a reasonable chance at surviving the winter illnesses at Valley Forge as well as George Washington’s great leadership skills, I’d want to

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