Engraving Of Congress At Valley Forge

A small camp 18 miles north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the final resting ground for thousands of patriots, who valiantly fought for their countries independence. This camp, who took the lives of so many, is Valley Forge, a camp where soldiers have lived ever since the start of the Winter of 1777. General Washington had retreated from New York City in October to Pennsylvania, and then decided to set up camp in Valley Forge. There, they were tasked with building huts, which had to sleep 12 men on the floor. Here, they faced many problems, such as the harsh cold and soldiers deserting, running away from these bleak conditions. At Valley Forge, a soldier with common sense would have easily made the decision to leave the army due to a lack of food and clothes, the weather and poorly built huts, and due to illness.

In the engraving of “Committee of Congress at Valley Forge” by William Henry Powell, it clearly shows how some soldiers are without clothing, and how almost all of them have no shoes. Furthermore, a diary kept by Dr. Albigence Waldo states,”A general cry thro’ the Camp this Evening among the Soldiers, ‘No Meat! No Meat!’” In the engraving by William Henry Powell , it shows how the congressional committee was meeting with the troops, but what we can take away is that the soldiers were so poorly equipped, they didn’t even have a pair of shoes to wear, and to make matters worse, they weren’t even fully clothed. Additionally, the diary of Dr. Albigence Waldo, a surgeon at Valley Forge, depicts a clear image where the soldiers were faced with an absence of meat, which caused lots of discontent throughout the camp. If a soldier was faced with these conditions, it is almost guaranteed that he would want to leave for home in order to have a full meal. However, some other conditions would also contribute to the action of leaving from the