Congress wanted the army to keep fighting, but
Washington insisted on a winter encampment. Nevertheless, as a concession to
the politicians, he looked for a place that would keep them close to the
British in Philadelphia. He chose a densely wooded place near the Schuylkill
River known as Valley Forge.
2 Martin was still beating out the cadence as his
regiment marched into the area in the middle of December. Lieutenant Colonel
Harney could hear Martin’s drum even when his own company’s drummers had fallen
silent. “I like that drummer’s enthusiasm,” he told one of his privates as they
too approached the place where they would camp.
3 The first order of business upon their arrival there
was to provide adequate shelter for the troops from the cold and wet of a
Pennsylvania winter. As a consequence, everyone was immediately transformed
into carpenters and construction laborers.
4 Even Martin temporarily set aside his fife and drum
and took up the axe and saw. In fact, when all was said and done, Martin was
sure that he had cut down more trees than any other man in his unit.
5 To be sure, the cabins that sprang up along the
avenues of the camp were crude and drafty, but they would keep out some of the
wind, snow and rain that everyone knew was on the way. “Fill in every one of
those cracks,” Selby ordered one of his men who had begun chinking between the
logs of the cabin he would share with Colonel John Patton and Major Hardy
Murphy.
6 “You may not want to seal it up too tight!” the
major shouted from the cabin next door. “I’m afraid no one here knows how to
build a chimney that will draw properly,” he explained. The remarks would prove
prophetic. Their very first fire in their new cabin almost smoked them out of
their cozy little home away from home.
7 Also, in the midst of the hard work and slim
rations, there was a little good news for Selby. There was a knock on his cabin
door, and he opened the door to find an out of breath lieutenant waiting on the
other side.
8 “General Washington wishes to inform you that your
brother, Lieutenant Jenethan Harney, has been released by the enemy as part of
an exchange of prisoners,” the young man managed to spit out. “Thank you and
thank General Washington!” Selby replied with a big smile.
9 “That’s good news,” Colonel Patton said as he
slapped Selby on the back. “Now, if we could just get something good to eat, we
could be really happy,” Major Murphy added.
10 “A little meat sure would be nice,” Martin grumbled
in another cabin a short distance from Selby’s. “I know that I’m tired of
firecake!” Sergeant Bullock agreed. “I’d give my left nut for a pair of shoes
and a decent blanket!” Private Robert Dennis added through chattering teeth. He
would be dead by March. Indeed, the American Army seemed to be short of almost
everything that winter.
11 Their suffering, however, was not limited to the
dearth of supplies. Frostbite and sickness plagued almost every cabin in the
encampment. Washington tried to improve the lot of his soldiers, but his
efforts often went unrewarded. He knew that it would be very hard to maintain
the morale of his army in the face of such deprivation and illness. The
foreboding grey sky that stood over the camp like a dome didn’t help matters
either.
12 Then, in late February, a ray of sunshine in the
likeness of a former Prussian Army officer appeared in camp. His name was
Friedrich von Steuben, and he was just what the American Army needed. Although
he spoke only a few words of English, he quickly set about the task of
instructing the soldiers and their officers in the martial arts as practiced by
professional armies in Europe.
13 At first, he introduced the drill to only a few
men. Nevertheless, by the time that spring arrived, the entire camp was
learning about his techniques and had already begun to employ many of them on a
daily basis.
14 Martin noticed the Baron busily training a small
group of musicians one day and was mesmerized by the spectacle before him. Von
Steuben was waving his arms and marching around the men while shouting commands
in French and German, along with an occasional expletive in English. Martin
understood some of the German words that he had heard as a child in his
parent’s home, and he certainly understood the expletives.
15 Von Steuben spotted Martin standing to the side
listening to what was being said and asked him if he understood German. “Yah,”
Martin answered without thinking. “I have tried to explain to my drummers and
fifers the importance of our music in conveying signals and orders to the other
soldiers,” Martin told him in broken German. The Baron was ecstatic.
16 He marched over to Martin and pulled him into the
circle of troops and included him in his instruction about the various signals.
“The General is used to alert the
soldiers that it is time to strike their tents and prepare to march,” he told
them. He went on to explain the use of The
Assembly, The March, The Reveille and The Tattoo. “Did you get all that?” he asked Martin in German.
“Yah,” Martin replied with a smile. “Good!” the Baron exclaimed in English as
he patted Martin’s shoulder.
17 “Imagine how much better our army will be when all
of our soldiers are able to recognize the signals!” Selby told Colonel Patton,
who was standing next to him watching the Baron train the men. “Yes, I believe
that the enemy is going to be surprised the next time we meet on the
battlefield,” the Colonel agreed.
18 The Commander-in-Chief was also pleased with the
results of the training that the Baron had instituted. “Now I can face them
with a real army,” Washington thought to himself as he observed from a
distance. In fact, many of the soldiers who had survived the hardships of the
winter began to allow themselves to imagine that this army, their army, might
actually defeat the British when the fighting resumed.
No comments:
Post a Comment