Читать книгу And Then They Prayed - Barry Loudermilk - Страница 7

General George Washington (1777)

“And I will bring the third part through the fire, And will refine them as silver is refined, And will try them as gold is tried: They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people:”

Zechariah 13:9

The winter of 1777 was perhaps the harshest and coldest winter the eleven thousand soldiers serving under George Washington had ever experienced. Following a devastating defeat, encountered while attempting to stop the British from taking America’s prize city of Philadelphia, General George Washington needed a place to make winter camp. Scouts were sent to search the countryside near Philadelphia for a suitable location. Finally, in December, the scouts returned to inform Washington of an acceptable site only eighteen miles northwest of Philadelphia, a forested area between Valley Creek and the Schuylkill River. In a strategic sense, the site was easily defendable and the forests would provide fuel for heat and wood for shelter; however, it would not provide their most needed resource; food. Even though there were a few farms in the area, the wheat and barley fields had either been burned by the British to keep them out of the hands of the Continental Army, or stripped clean by British patrols.

On December 19, Washington mounted his horse and led his army through a bitterly cold ice storm, to their new winter dwelling at Valley Forge. As they walked, Washington saw that very few of his soldiers had shoes that totally covered their feet, some only wore rags wrapped around their feet, and others marched barefoot through the snow and ice. Washington sorrowfully watched as his men fought the frigid temperatures and driving wind to keep moving. Ice and snow pelted their nearly naked bodies; but, as Washington noted, through all their suffering, they never murmured a complaint about their conditions. Washington, in describing their condition, stated, “No history…can furnish an instance of an army’s suffering such uncommon hardships as ours has done, and bearing them with the same patience and fortitude. To see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lie on, without shoes (for the want of which their marches might be traced by the blood from their feet).”

Initially, all eleven thousand men were forced to lived in tents; but very soon after their arrival at Valley Forge, Washington ordered all able bodied men to begin constructing cabins. These cabins, which Washington had designed himself, measured fourteen feet by sixteen feet and each would house twelve men. Since the Continental Army was comprised of many farmers, trappers and experienced woodsmen, they were able to devise structures that could be built without nails, which was important since nails were a luxury the Continental Army could not acquire. Amazingly, within a month, the Army had constructed over seven hundred of these small shelters. Now they would have some protection from the heavy snow fall and, with a crude fireplace in each dwelling, they would have a little warmth.

Washington’s staff had selected a nearby farm, the home of a Quaker named Isaac Potts, to serve as the General’s headquarters. However, against the wishes of his physician and staff officers, Washington remained in his leaky cold tent, refusing to move into the house until every last soldier had access to warm quarters. His staff tried to convince him that, should he become ill or die from influenza or one of the many other illnesses that were prevalent in the camp, the fight for independence would surely die with him. But Washington insisted that his own conditions would not improve until those of his men improved. Finally, to the relief of his officers and aides, the last cabin was completed and the General moved into the Potts’ home.

Conditions at Valley Forge were desperate. Rations were low and meals consisted of barely enough nutrition to keep a healthy man alive. Disease and illness were rampant throughout the camp. Influenza, small pox, typhus, starvation, and exposure to the extreme winter conditions, were taking the lives of about twelve men per day. The camp was a despairing and deadly place, but Washington refused to be isolated from his Army. Early each morning, the General would mount his horse and make his rounds among the camp. Washington’s visits were not to inspect the neatness of the barracks or to file his men into ranks for lengthy speeches on their duties. The General was visiting and encouraging his men out of pure compassion. Washington’s physician, Doctor Thacher, said, “…his Excellency the Commander in Chief…manifested a fatherly concern and fellow-feeling for their sufferings and made every exertion in his power to remedy the evil and to administer the much desired relief.”

In February, conditions worsened as the camp was down to its last twenty-five barrels of flour, and the winter weather conditions went from bad to extreme. Around this time a Congressional Committee, sent to inspect the condition of the Army, arrived. Their report to Congress of “feet and legs froze till they became black, and it was often necessary to amputate them,” told a chilling but true story of life at Valley Forge. But through all their suffering, as Washington so often commented, his men never really complained. Washington reported that men would wander around the camp with such torn rags for clothes that they covered very little of their bodies, but there was little he could do other than grieve for his men. Washington wrote, “I am…convinced beyond a doubt that unless some great and capital change suddenly takes place…this Army must inevitably be reduced to one or other of these three things: starve, dissolve, or disperse…”

Washington realized that without an immediate and drastic change, the dream of independence would die with his Army at Valley Forge. The compassionate General Washington saw his men suffering and dying, and he must have also envisioned the widowed brides and orphaned children that would inevitably result from this war. As history has so often shown, there is no question that he was willing to sacrifice his own life for “the cause,” but what about his men? Would he be able to lead his men into future battles knowing that some, after surviving the suffering of Valley Forge, would inevitably die on the battlefield? After all, he was fighting against the mightiest Army on the face of the Earth with what many called a “rag-tag rabble.”

Since the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord, this “rag-tag” Army had been outnumbered, out-supplied, outgunned, and out soldiered by the British. Washington knew that he, his men, and his country were in a most desperate situation. He also knew that the decisions he would have to make very soon would determine whether the war for independence could continue.

Men of lesser countenance would have folded under such conditions; but men of strong character and moral principle, such as Washington, believe in cause, not circumstance. Washington’s noble cause was freedom and he was dedicated to the fight for liberty. He believed that God, through acts of Divine providence, had often times intervened on behalf of himself and the Continental Army. Strange events that favored the Continental Army had been witnessed and recorded by both British and Americans. Storms that seemingly appeared from nowhere, stopping enemy attacks, and strange fogs that blinded the British, allowing the Americans to escape entrapments, were just some of the miraculous events that had already taken place. Washington truly believed that God was lending aid to their cause, and he often prayed for God’s Divine protection and guidance.

Washington preferred to pray alone in the solitude of the forests, and he was often seen riding out into the wooded areas of Valley Forge for private devotions. It was on one such occasion that Isaac Potts, the Quaker in whose home Washington made his headquarters, encountered Washington one evening during his prayers. Mr. Potts was returning home through the forest when he heard a voice at a distance. Struck by curiosity, Potts decided to investigate. As he drew closer, the voice became more prominent, and it had a serious and seeking tone to it. Isaac Potts approached the voice rather quietly, as not to disturb the source. Upon further inspection, he saw the figure of a man whose features he immediately recognized as the Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. Potts observed General Washington “knelt on the cold ground in prayer,” and as he later expressed, Washington “was interceding for his men, his cause, and his beloved country.”

Potts, a pacifist, held the belief that a soldier could not also be a Christian; therefore, he was quite amazed at the scene before him. He remained quietly hidden until the General had finished his devotions and retired. Potts, returning to his home, threw himself into a chair beside of his wife. “Heigh! Isaac!” said his wife tenderly, “thee seems agitated; what’s the matter?” “Indeed, my dear,” he answered, “if I appear agitated ‘tis no more than what I am. I have seen this day what I shall never forget. Till now I have thought that a Christian and a soldier were characters incompatible; but if George Washington be not a man of God, I am mistaken, and still more shall I be disappointed if God does not through him perform some great thing for this country. I heard him pray, Hannah, out in the woods today, and the Lord will surely hear his prayer. He will, Hannah; thee may rest assured He will.”

God indeed answered Washington’s prayers, and through Washington’s inspired leadership, changes that would alter the course of the war, and inevitably the entire world, began to occur.

Washington realized that the most immediate danger his Army faced was their depleted morale. He believed that this was as detrimental to the survival of his men as the sickness, starvation, and weather conditions. Again, Washington responded caringly to the needs of his men by calling for Christian church services to be held in the camp. In his order to the chaplains to establish services, Washington stated, “To the distinguished character of a patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of a Christian.” One of the ministers of a nearby church commented on his observance of Washington’s attempt to improve the men’s spirits, by stating, “His Excellency General Washington rode around among his Army yesterday and admonished each and every one to fear God, to put away the wickedness that has set in and become so general, and to practice the Christian virtues.” The men responded to his call, and soon the spiritual and emotional condition of the camp began to improve.

This sudden change in morale had an effect on every aspect of life in Valley Forge. A miraculous transition occurred which some historians have termed, “the other Valley Forge.” Although there was still little food, in fact some men were near starvation at this point and sickness and disease were still rampant, men’s attitudes took a positive turn. Men began to laugh at their own misfortunes and joke about their nakedness. On one occasion, a group of young officers hosted a dinner to which no one with a whole pair of breeches (pants) was admitted. Slowly, by facing their desperate condition together, the Continental Army was being forged into solid hardened force. Men were forming bonds of loyalty with one another, and a sense of deep dedication to their General, who had suffered with them.

History now shows that the suffering at Valley Forge was, in reality, another act of providence. While the Americans were building their physical strength by building cabins and fighting off sickness and disease, the British were busy entertaining at social gatherings. While the Americans were foraging the forests for food, the British were attending banquets and balls. While young American patriots, with barely enough clothing to cover their bodies, were drawing water from a frozen river, the British were drinking fine wine and conversing around fireplaces. And while the Americans were attending church services in the damp cold, and praying for God to intervene on their behalf, the British were celebrating their victories over Washington and his rag-tag Army.

Historians point to Valley Forge as the turning point for the Americans in the Revolutionary War. It was through this trying time that that the American Army was forged by these harsh conditions into a formidable fighting force. They were now stronger, wiser and more dedicated to the cause of liberty. Washington wrote that, “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

The Continental Army, as history would record, became unstoppable in the remaining years of the Revolutionary War. Although they were greatly outnumbered, and continued to lose many more battles than they would win, the resolve they gained from that terrible winter would not allow them to give up, nor give in. Quite simply, the Continental Army would eventually win this war through perseverance. General Green explained the new American strategy this way, “We fight, get beat, rise and fight again.” On virtually every front, the British became frustrated by this Army that could not be defeated.

God’s providence would intervene again and again before the British would finally surrender and sail back to England. Washington would pray many more prayers for his men, his cause, and his beloved country. But because of his prayers at Valley Forge, the situation, which could have ended our war for independence, actually became the beginning of the end for the British Army.