12/19/2025
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On December 19, 1777, George Washington’s army marched into Valley Forge, where they would overwinter and rejuvenate.
The winter turned out to be one of misery for the 12,000 soldiers encamped at Valley Forge located on the Schuylkill River about 25 miles west of Philadelphia where the British army was settled for the winter.
Valley Forge was named after a local Quaker forge which was located in an area protected by the river and some creeks and was high enough to allow a view of the surrounding area.
About a fourth of the 12,000 may have died from sickness and disease. Food and clothing were in short supply, to say the least. Soldiers stayed in makeshift log huts with sheets for doors. The winter was one of the harshest.
This statue of General George Washington in prayer, sculpted by Donald De Lue, is located on the campus of Freedoms Foundation, which is on ground that was once part of Washington’s Valley Forge encampment. The founding chairman of Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, said this of the situation faced at Valley Forge in December 1777 and into the winter of 1778...
“The freedom of the American people here experienced its greatest danger of extinction, here met its sternest challenge. Here also it fell heir to its finest example of courage and selflessness, of faith and conviction, of leadership and character.”
