Day 7, Dec. 19, 1777 — Washington’s Army marches out of Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills and on to Valley Forge

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On December 19, 1777, at 10 a.m., George Washington and his Continental Army marched out of Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills, past the Hanging Rock, and on to Valley Forge.  As one historian wrote, “These grounds were the threshold to Valley Forge, and the story of that winter–a story of endurance, forbearance, and patriotism which will never grow old–had its beginnings here, at the six days encampment by the old Gulph Mill.” (see  “The Gulph Hills in the Annals of the Revolution”, by Samuel Gordon Smyth, of West Conshohocken, in an address before the Montgomery County Historical Society, at Ashbourne, Pa., October 6, 1900; address included in Historical Sketches of Montgomery County, Volume 3, Montgomery County Historical Society (1905)).

Captured in the writings of the time and iconic paintings, we know that the March to Valley Foge was largely characterized by hardship for Washington’s 11,000 soldiers. William Trego, painter of the iconic painting The March to Valley Forge, is said to have been inspired by this characterization of the march from author Washington Irving’s Life of Washington. “Sad and dreary was the march to Valley Forge, uncheered by the recollection of any recent triumph. . . Hungry and cold were the poor fellows who had so long been keeping the field . . . provisions were scant, clothing was worn out, and so badly were they off for shoes, that the footsteps of many might be tracked in blood.”

A soldier in Massachusetts’ Eight Regiment, Lt. Samuel Armstrong, wrote: “Friday ye 19th. The Sun Shone out this morning being the first time I had seen it for Seven days, which seem’d to put new Life into everything — We took the Remains of two Days Allowance of Beef,…and two fowls we had left, of these we made a broth upon which we Breakfasted with half a loaf of Bread we Begg’d and bought, of which we shoud have had made a tolerable Breakfast, if there had been Enough!! By ten Oclock we [had]to march to a place Call’d Valley Forge being about five or six miles — about Eleven Ock we Sit out, but did not arrive there ’till after Sun Sit. During this march we had noting to eat or nor to drink.”

While getting his army on the move, General Washington was prolific with is writings on December 19. He wrote three letters at that time. One thanked Virginia patriot Patrick Henry for sending nine wagonloads of supplies for the Virginia troops. Two letter regarded sending soldiers down to Delaware on word on British activity in the area as well as encouraging patriotic residents of that state to take up arms and support the cause. Those letters follow:

To PRESIDENT GEORGE READ Head Quarters, Gulf Mill, December 19, 1777.

Sir: I have received information, which I have great reason to believe is true, that the Enemy mean to establish a post at Wilmington, for the purpose of Countenancing the disaffected in the Delaware State, drawing supplies from that Country and the lower parts of Chester County, and securing a post upon Delaware River during the Winter. As the advantages resulting to the Enemy from such a position are most obvious, I have determined and shall accordingly, this day send off General Smallwood with a respectable Continental force to take post at Wilmington before them. If Genl. Howe thinks the place of that Importance to him, which I conceive it is, he will probably attempt to dispossess us of it; and, as the force, which I can at present spare, is not adequate to making it perfectly secure, I expect that you will call out as many Militia as you possibly can to rendezvous without loss of time at Wilmington, and put themselves under the Command of Genl. Smallwood. I shall hope that the people will turn out cheerfully, when they consider that they are called upon to remain within, and defend, their own state.

In a letter, which I had the honor of receiving from you some little time past, you express a wish that some mode may be fallen upon to procure the exchange of Govr. McKinley. As this Gentleman will be considered in the Civil line, I have not any prisoner of War proper to be proposed for him. The application would go more properly to Congress, who have a number of State Prisoners under their direction for some of whom Sir Win. Howe would probably exchange the Governor. I have the honor etc.

P.S. Let the Militia March to Wilmington by Companies, or even parts of Companies and form their Battalions there; Because if the Enemy move, it will be quickly.

To GOVERNOR PATRICK HENRY Camp 14 Miles from Philadelphia, December 19, 1777.

Sir: On Saturday Evening I was honored with your favor of the 6th. Instant, and am much obliged by your exertions for Cloathing the Virginia Troops. The Articles you send shall be applied to their use, agreeable to your wishes.37 It will be difficult for me to determine when the Troops are supplied, owing to their fluctuating and deficient state at present; However I believe there will be little reason to suspect that the quantities that may be procured, will much exceed the necessary demands. It will be a happy circumstance, and of great saving, if we should be able in future to Cloath our Army comfortably. Their sufferings hitherto have been great, and from our deficiencies in this instance, we have lost many men and have generally been deprived of a large proportion of our Force. I could wish you to transmit the price of all the Necessaries, you may send from time to time. This will be essential, and the omission upon former occasions of the like Nature in the Course of the War, has been the cause of much unneasiness and intricacy in adjusting Accounts.

I am persuaded that many desertions have proceeded from the cause you mention. The Officers were highly culpable in making such assurances. The Expedient you propose might, and I believe would bring in several, but I cannot consider myself authorised to adopt it.

The Letters for the Marquis were sent to his Quarters as soon as they were received. I shall present you to him according to your wishes. He is certainly amiable and highly worthy of Esteem.

I have nothing material to inform you of, Except that we are told by the Boston paper that a Ship has arrived from France at one of the eastern Ports, with Fifty pieces of Brass Artillery, 5000 Stand of Arms and other Stores. There are letters also which mention her arrival, but not the particular amount of the Stores. I have the honor etc.

P.S. I sent the Express on to Congress, which occasioned me to write by this Conveyance. I wrote you on the 13th Ulto. two Letters — one a private one. I am fearful and uneasy lest they should have miscarried, as you have not mentioned the Receipt of them.39

*To BRIGADIER GENERAL WILLIAM SMALLWOOD Gulph Mill, December 19, 1777.

Dr. Sir: With the Division lately commanded by Genl. Sullivan, you are to March immediately for Wilmington, and take Post there. You are not to delay a moment in putting the place in the best posture of defence, to do which, and for the security of it afterwards, I have written in urgent terms to the President of the Delaware State to give every aid he possibly can of Militia. I have also directed an Engineer to attend you for the purpose of constructing, and superintending the Works, and you will fix with the Quarter Master on the number of Tools necessary for the business; but do not let any neglect, or deficiency on his part, impede your operations, as you are hereby vested with full power to sieze and take (passing receipts) such articles as are wanted. The Commissary and Forage Master will receive directions respecting your Supplies, in their way; but I earnestly request that you will see that these Supplies are drawn from the Country between you and Philadelphia, as it will be depriving the Enemy of all chance of getting them; and in this point of view, becomes an object to us of importance.

I earnestly exhort you to keep both Officers and Men to their duty, and to avoid furloughs but in cases of absolute necessity. You will also use your utmost endeavours to collect all the straglers &ca. from both Brigades, and you are also to use your best endeavours to get the Men Cloathed in the most comfortable manner you can.

You will be particular in your observation of every thing passing on the River and will communicate every matter of Importance to, Dear Sir, etc.

……….

MY CLOSING THOUGHTS…

While the main army left Rebel Hill and the Gulph on December 19, both places remained outposts for soldiers who could warn the army in Valley Forge if the British decided to approach from Philadelphia.

Aaron Burr remained at a picket post at the base of Rebel Hill on Gulph Road during the Valley Forge encampment.  General Lord Sterling, was in charge of the Gulph Mills encampment, and he spent the winter on Rebel Hill at the home of John Rees.  And, Gulph Mills was also used as the site for many court martials while the army was at Valley Forge.

Rebel Hill’s role in the Revolutionary War was not over on December 19.  In May 1778, General Washington and a large force of troops returned to Rebel Hill to provide backup for General Marquis de Lafayette, who was engaged in battle with the British in Conshohocken at the Battle of Barren Hill.  When Lafayette’s forces retreated, they retreated to Rebel Hill and its surroundings.  Lafayette’s forces included a number of Oneida Indians who had joined Washington’s Army.  (No wonder my siblings and I found many arrownheads as we played in the Rebel Hill woods, and we found buckshot that was used in muskets at that time, too.)

Of course, Hanging Rock remains a natural landmark of the Gulph Mills/Rebel Hill encampment.  Hanging Rock jutted far out over Gulph Road, much farther than it does today.  As cars got more prevalent and needed more room, Hanging Rock became a transportation problem.  In 1924, the owner of the Rock, J. Aubrey Anderson, donated it to the Valley Forge Historical Society, which put a plaque on it noting that Washington and his army passed by it and that is marked the spot of the December 13 – 18 encampment.  Stairs were built so people could climb up to the top of the rock to picnic at the small park that was up there until the P & W line was completed.  All of us who lived in the area as children remember the school bus stopping every day at Hanging Rock until oncoming traffic stopped and the bus could swing out onto the other side of the road and around the rock.  In 1995, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation finally decided to cut down the size of the rock (s0me of it got knocked off in many truck accidents).  In 1997, the Hanging Rock, also called the Overhanging Rock, was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Hanging Rock

So, thus ends my daily diary of the role that my childhood home on Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills played in the Revolutionary War on December 13 through 19, 1777.   And, by Rebel Hill, I don’t mean just what we now as Rebel Hill today.  Rebel Hill Road extended over into what we now call Union Hill (Hillside Rd., DeHaven St., etc.) during the Revolutionary War.  Rebel Hill was one large and long hill until 1952, when the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation sliced through Rebel Hill to make way for the Schuylkill Expressway.

My Mom was right when she talked about George Washington and Rebel Hill.  I am proud of our history, and I hope that others are, too.  Tonight, at Valley Forge National Park, there was a program and reenactment commemorating Washington and his army’s march in to Valley Forge.  Maybe next year, finally, we can do a program and reenactment of Washington and his army’s march in to Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills.  Maybe at the community center on Rebel Hill?

It is this proud history that started me on my path to write my new novel, Becoming Valley Forge, released in December 2015 and available on Amazon. A description follows below.  

It is this proud history that I am turning into a non-fiction book, The Threshold to Valley Forge: The Gulph Mills Encampment, coming out Fall 2024, published by Brookline Books. More to come on that!

You can read about all the days of the Gulph Mills Encampment in my article in the Journal of the American Revolution, Valley Forge’s Threshold: The Encampment at Gulph Mills, https://allthingsliberty.com/2019/11/valley-forges-threshold-the-encampment-at-gulph-mills/

If you have any more stories about Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills or artifacts, please get in touch with me at sdvesq@gmail.com.

I hope you have enjoyed this look at an overlooked, yet so important, period in American history–the Gulph Mills Encampment of the Revolutionary War, December 12 – 19, 1777.

See you at a book signing next year!

Peace.

Becoming Valley Forge  by Sheilah Vance, ISBN: 0-9824945-9-2, $17.95, Trade Paperback, 565 pp; December 2015.

Becoming Valley Forge 9780982494592

This epic historical novel shows how the lives of ordinary men and women who lived in the shadow of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, were changed forever during The Philadelphia Campaign in mid-1777, when the Revolutionary War battles came to their doorsteps, leading them and their loved ones to Valley Forge from winter 1777 through summer 1778. James, a former slave, lives as a blacksmith on Rebel Hill in Gulph Mills, with his patriot friend, Daniel. Daniel is reluctant to volunteer for the army because he supports his mother and sister. James questions the sincerity of patriots who fight for freedom when so many African Americans are still slaves. But, the Continental Army’s occupation of Rebel Hill in early December uproots their plans. Orland Roberts, a Paoli farmer, leads a local patriot spy network with the help of his wife Teenie, daughter Betsey, and brother Norman, who owns a local tavern. As soon as they come of age, the Roberts’ boys–Fred and Allen–enlist in the Continental Army under the command of their neighbor, General Anthony Wayne, which puts them in the thick of The Philadelphia Campaign battles. The family outcast, Connie, who runs a brothel in Philadelphia that services many British officers during their occupation of the city, views the presence of both the redcoats and the patriots in the area as just another challenge that she has to conquer to survive, until a series of events causes her to put family ties above all else. Their paths converge, along with many other people’s, at Valley Forge, where General George Washington’s Continental Army, a young nation, and the fascinating characters in the book are forced to confront the reality and the aftermath of war, revolution, and freedom as they grow and become the meaning of Valley Forge.

 

Day 6, Dec. 18, 1777 — George Washington’s Army celebrates the new nation’s first Thanksgiving at Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills and prepares to set up camp at Valley Forge; the French King officially recognizes the new United States

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Historical marker in Gulph Mills recognizing it as the site of the nation’s First Thanksgiving.

On December 18, 1777, General George Washington’s army celebrated the first national Thanksgiving in Gulph Mills and on Rebel Hill.  The celebration caused a one day delay in the army’s march to Valley Forge, which General Washington had decided a day earlier, was to be where the army would make its winter quarters.

The purpose of the Thanksgiving, according to the November 1, 1777 proclamation of the Continental Congress, written by Massachusetts’ delegate Samuel Adams, was for “Solemn Thanksgiving and Praise” and  “to inspire our Commanders both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States the greatest of all human blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE…”

Reverend Israel Evans, chaplin to General Poor’s New Hampshire brigade, preached at least one of the Thanksgiving sermons.  The text of his sermon was printed by Lancaster, Pa. printer, Francis Bailey, who is credited with being the first printer to name, in print, Gen. Washington as “the Father of His Country.”   General Washington received a copy of this Thanksgiving sermon on March 12, 1778.  The next day, he wrote this thank you note to Mr. Evans:

To REVEREND ISRAEL EVANS

Head Qrs. Valley-forge, March 13, 1778.

Revd. Sir: Your favor of the 17th. Ulto., inclosing the discourse which you delivered on the 18th. of December; the day set a part for a general thanksgiving; to Genl. Poors Brigade, never came to my hands till yesterday.    I have read this performance with equal attention and pleasure, and at the same time that I admire, and feel the force of the reasoning which you have displayed through the whole, it is more especially incumbent upon me to thank you for the honorable, but partial mention you have made of my character; and to assure you, that it will ever be the first wish of my heart to aid your pious endeavours to inculcate a due sense of the dependance we ought to place in that all wise and powerful Being on whom alone our success depends; and moreover, to assure you, that with respect and regard, I am, etc.”

This first national Thanksgiving celebration was nothing like the Thanksgiving celebrations that we know today with abundant food and comfort.  The 11,000 soldiers in Washington’s Army still had very little food and very little comfort, although conditions had improved for some over the last few days.

Their diaries explain:

Dr. Algibence Waldo writes, “Universal Thanksgiving – a Roasted pig at Night. God be thanked for my health which I have pretty well recovered. How much better should I feel, were I assured my family were in health. But the same good Being who graciously preserves me, is able to preserve them and bring me to the ardently wish’d for enjoyment of them again.”

Jospeh Plumb Martin, a private from Massachusetts, wrote about the first Thanksgiving in his 1830 book, A Narrative of Some of the Adventures, Danger and Suffering of a Revolutionary Soldier, Interspersed with Anecdotes of Incidents that Occurred Within His Own Observation.  (His diaries have since been republished under the title, “Private Yankee Doodle”, i.e. as edited by George F. Scheer and published by Little, Brown, and Co., 1962.)

Martin writes, “While we lay here there was a Continental Thanksgiving ordered by Congress, and as the army had all the cause in the world to be particularly thankful, if not for being well off, at least that it was no worse, we were ordered to participate in it.  We had nothing to eat for two or three days previous, except what hte trees aof the fields and forests afforded us.  But we must now have what Congress said, a sumptuous Thanksgiving to close the year of high living we had now nearly even brought to a close.  Well, to add something extraordinary to our present stock of provisions, our contry, every mindful of its suffering army, opened her sympathizing heart so wide, upon this occasion, as to give us something to make the world stare.  And what do you think it was, dear reader?  Guess.  You cannot guess, be you as much of a Yankee as you will.  I will tell you; it gave each anevery man half a gill [note:  a gill is about four ounces] of rice and a tablespoonful of vinegar!!

After we had made sure of this extraordinary superabundant donation, we were ordered out to attend a meeting and hear a sermon delivered upon the happy occasion.  We accordingly went, fo we could not help it.  I heard a sermon, a ‘thanksgiving sermon’, what sort of one I do not know now, nor did I at the time I heard it.  I had something else to think upon.  My belly put me in remembrance of the fine Thanksgiving dinner I was to partake of when I could get it.  Well, we had got through the services of the day and had nothing to do but to return in good order to our tents and fare as we could.  As we returend to our camp, we passed by our commissary’s quarters.  All his stores, consisting of a barrel about two-thirds full of hocks of fresh beef, stood directl in our way, but there was a sentinel guarding even that.

However, one of my messmates purloined a piece of it, four or five pounds perhaps.  I was exceeding glad to see him take it; I thoguht it mught help to eke out our Thanksgiving supper, but alas!  How soon my expectations were blasted!  The sentinel saw him have it as soon as I did and obliged him to return it ot the barel again.  So I had nothing esle to do but to go home and meke out my supper as susual, upon a leg of nothing and no turnips.

The army was now not only starved but naked.  The greatest part were not only shirtless and barefoot, but destitute of all otehr clothing, especially blankets…I was to endure this inconvenience (moccassins made of cowhide) or to go barefoot, as hundredso f mycompanions had to, till they might be tracked by their blood upon the rough frozen ground.

The army continued at and near the Gulf for some days, after which we marched for teh Valley Forge in order to take up winter quarters.  We were now in a truly forlorn condition–no clothing, no provisions and as disheartned as need be.”

General Washington’s orders for that day largely focus on setting up the camp at Valley Forge, where the army will march to on December 19.  (The first part of his orders focus on military discipline–court martials.)  His is particularly focused on the procedure for “hutting”–building the huts where the army will spend the winter. His very specific orders follow, including an award of $12 for a soldier in each regiment who finishes his hut first, and an award of $100 for any officer or soldier who comes up with a covering for the huts that is cheaper and quicker made than boards, which are in short supply.

“GENERAL ORDERS Head Quarters, at the Gulph, December 18, 1777

The Major Generals and officers commanding divisions, are to appoint an active field officer in and for each of their respective brigades, to superintend the business of hurting, agreeably to the directions they shall receive; and in addition to these, the commanding officer of each regiment is to appoint an officer to oversee the building of huts for his own regiment; which officer is to take his orders from the field officer of the brigade he belongs to, who is to mark out the precise spot, that every hut, for officers and soldiers, is to be placed on, that uniformity and order may be observed.

An exact return of all the tools, now in the hands of every regiment, is to be made immediately to the Qr. Mr. General, who, with the Adjutant General, is to see that they, together with those in store, are duly and justly allotted to the regimental overseers of the work; who are to keep an account of the men’s names, into whose hands they are placed, that they may be accountable for them. The Superintendents and Overseers are to be exempt from all other duty, and will moreover be allowed for their trouble.

The Colonels, or commanding officers of regiments, with their Captains, are immediately to cause their men to be divided into squads of twelve, and see that each squad have their proportion of tools, and set about a hut for themselves: And as an encouragement to industry and art, the General promises to reward the party in each regiment, which finishes their hut in the quickest, and most workmanlike manner, with twelve dollars. And as there is reason to believe, that boards, for covering, may be found scarce and difficult to be got; He offers One hundred dollars to any officer or soldier, who in the opinion of three Gentlemen, he shall appoint as judges, shall substitute some other covering, that may be cheaper and quicker made, and will in every respect answer the end.

The Soldier’s huts are to be of the following dimensions, viz: fourteen by sixteen each, sides, ends and roofs made with logs, and the roof made tight with split slabs, or in some other way; the sides made tight with clay, fire-place made of wood and secured with clay on the inside eighteen inches thick, this fireplace to be in the rear of the hut; the door to be in the end next the street; the doors to be made of split oak-slabs, unless boards can be procured. Side-walls to be six and a half feet high. The officers huts to form a line in the rear of the troops, one hut to be allowed to each General Officer, one to the Staff of each brigade, one to the field officers of each regiment, one to the Staff of each regiment, one to the commissioned officers of two companies, and one to every twelve non-commissioned officers and soldiers.

AFTER ORDERS

The army and baggage are to march to morrow in the time and manner already directed in the orders of the 15th. instant, Genl. Sullivan’s division excepted, which is to remain on its present ground ’till further orders.”

Also on this day, the American Commissioners–Benjamin Franklin, Silas Diane, and Arthur Lee–wrote to the Continental Congress Committee on Foreign Affairs that on the 17th, M. Gerard, a Secretary to the French King Louis XVI, informed “us by order of the King, that after a long and full Consideration of our Affairs and Propositions in Council, it was decided and his Majesty was determined to acknowledge our Independence and make a Treaty with us of Amity and Commerce.” Huzzah! This action and this treaty, which would be finalized in May 1778, changed the course of the Revolutionary War. The French then openly provided money, soldiers, and supplies against their long-time arch enemy England.

Thanksgiving now over, it’s on to Day 7 and Valley Forge….

Day 5, Dec. 17, 1777 — Gen. Washington issues inspirational orders announcing the move to Valley Forge and prepares for nation’s first Thanksgiving celebration on Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills

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Generals George Washington, Marquis de Lafayette, and Nathaniel Green (Gilder Lehrman collection)

December 17, 1777 was a momentous day on Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills.

After weeks of debate, General Washington decided on Valley Forge as the site of the Continental Army’s winter quarters.  As hard as it is for us to believe today, armies at this time generally did not fight in the winter.  It was extremely difficult for all of the people and objects of war to move.  Armies went into winter quarters and prepared for the resumption of conflict in the spring.

Nothing that I could write about General Washington’s decision is more eloquent and moving than his General Orders for that day, which appear below in full text.

In those Orders, Washington mentions that the march to winter quarters will be delayed for a day so the Continental Army can celebrate the new nation’s first Thanksgiving.  The Continental Congress, on November 1, 1777, proclaimed that on December 18, 1777, the new nation would stop and give thanks to God for blessing the nation and the troops in their quest for independence and peace.  Again, that proclamation is eloquent, and the full text follows that of General Washington’s orders.

GENERAL ORDERS Head Quarters, at the Gulph, December 17, 1777.

The Commander-in-Chief with the highest satisfaction expresses his thanks to the officers and soldiers for the fortitude and patience with which they have sustained the fatigues of the Campaign. Altho’ in some instances we unfortunately failed, yet upon the whole Heaven hath smiled on our Arms and crowned them with signal success; and we may upon the best grounds conclude, that by a spirited continuance of the measures necessary for our defence we shall finally obtain the end of our Warfare, Independence, Liberty and Peace. These axe blessings worth contending for at every hazard. But we hazard nothing. The power of America alone, duly exerted, would have nothing to dread from the force of Britain. Yet we stand not wholly upon our ground. France yields us every aid we ask, and there are reasons to believe the period is not very distant, when she will take a more active part, by declaring war against the British Crown. Every motive therefore, irresistibly urges us, nay commands us, to a firm and manly perseverance in our opposition to our cruel oppressors, to slight difficulties, endure hardships, and contemn every danger. The General ardently wishes it were now in his power, to conduct the troops into the best winter quarters. But where are these to be found ? Should we retire to the interior parts of the State, we should find them crowded with virtuous citizens, who, sacrificing their all, have left Philadelphia, and fled thither for protection. To their distresses humanity forbids us to add. This is not all, we should leave a vast extent of fertile country to be despoiled and ravaged by the enemy, from which they would draw vast supplies, and where many of our firm friends would be exposed to all the miseries of the most insulting and wanton depredation. A train of evils might be enumerated, but these will suffice. These considerations make it indispensibly necessary for the army to take such a position, as will enable it most effectually to prevent distress and to give the most extensive security; and in that position we must make ourselves the best shelter in our power. With activity and diligence Huts may be erected that will be warm and dry. In these the troops will be compact, more secure against surprises than if in a divided state and at hand to protect the country. These cogent reasons have determined the General to take post in the neighbourhood of this camp; and influenced by them, he persuades himself, that the officers and soldiers, with one heart, and one mind, will resolve to surmount every difficulty, with a fortitude and patience, be coming their profession, and the sacred cause in which they are engaged. He himself will share in the hardship, and partake of every inconvenience.

To morrow being the day set apart by the Honorable Congress for public Thanksgiving and Praise; and duty calling us devoutely to express our grateful acknowledgements to God for the manifold blessings he has granted us. The General directs that the army remain in it’s present quarters, and that the Chaplains perform divine service with their several Corps and brigades. And earnestly exhorts, all officers and soldiers, whose absence is not indispensibly necessary, to attend with reverence the solemnities of the day.

THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS’ FIRST THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION

IN CONGRESS

November 1, 1777

FORASMUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of; And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence, but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defence and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased in so great a Measure to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops and to crown our Arms with most signal success:

It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive powers of these United States, to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for Solemn Thanksgiving and Praise; That with one Heart and one Voice the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favour, and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD, through the Merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole; to inspire our Commanders both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States the greatest of all human blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE; That it may please him to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People and the Labour of the Husbandman, that our Land may yet yield its Increase; To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand, and to prosper the Means of Religion for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom which consisteth “in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost.”

And it is further recommended, that servile Labour, and such Recreation as, though at other Times innocent, may be unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so solemn an Occasion.

Extract from the Minutes,

Charles Thomson, Secr.

On to Day 6, Thanksgiving Day….

Peace–

Sheilah

Day 4, Gulph Mills Encampment: 12/16/1777–Tents arrive, British Soldiers captured, and Washington’s aides-de-camp indicate winter quarters decided.

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Letter from George Washington’s aide-de-camp, John Fitzgerald, to Major John Clark, Jr., 12/16/1777, on the location of winter quarters for the Continental Army. [Library of Congress, George Washington Papers]

On this Day 4 of the Gulph Mills Encampment, tents finally arrived to shield the soldiers from the weather. Up to this point, they made lean-to’s from branches, leaves, and mud to sleep and to stay in. The Continental Army soldiers also captured some British soldiers during one of the several encounters that the pickets had with British soldiers out foraging or spying on the Continental Army.

Two other things of note happened this day, putting the encampment in context:

1) the Virginia General Assembly became the first state to adopt the Articles of Confederation to form the new government that the Continental Army was fighting for. The Continental Congress passed the Articles of Confederation on November 15, 1777 and sent it to each of the thirteen colonies to ratify.

2) It seems that today was the day that Washington decided that the Continental Army would go to Valley Forge for winter quarters. There were two other principal options on the table, basically–1) Wilmington or 2) further into Pennsylvania, like York, where the Continental Congress was now meeting, or Lancaster, where the Pennsylvania General Assembly was now meeting, after leaving Philadelphia when the British captured the city in September 1777. There’s great speculation as to the day that Washington made this decision. So many people assume that he had already made the decision when he moved the army out of Whitemarsh on December 10. But, then others say, if he had decided on Valley Forge then, why not just continue to move the army down Swede’s Ford on December 11 and 12, towards Valley Forge? Why move the army some ten miles in the other direction to Gulph Mills for six days? I’m with the latter group. If you know the area, it doesn’t make sense to take a detour into the heart of Gulph Mills when you could go straight to Valley Forge from Swede’s Ford. It’s not like the soldiers were really able to rest and regroup in Gulph Mills–it was cold, they didn’t have tents, they had little food, and so many of them were already sick.

George Washington’s aide-de-camp, John Fitzgerald, wrote to Major John Clark, Jr. on this date, “tomorrow we shall move four or five miles higher up and build for winter quarters.” [Library of Congress, George Washington Papers] Just the day before, aide-de-camp John Laurens wrote to his father Henry, the president of the Continental Congress, that Washington had not yet decided on the location for winter quarters, but he expected it would be some time that day.

Washington did not announce his decision to the army today. That comes tomorrow in some of the most inspirational writing that I have seen during this period.

But, you can read about today, Day 4, 12/16/1777, in my article, Valley Forge’s Threshold, in the Jounal of the American Revolution, https://allthingsliberty.com/2019/11/valley-forges-threshold-the-encampment-at-gulph-mills/, or via Day 4: Dec. 16, 1777 — Tents arrive and British soldiers captured at Gulph Mills.

Peace–

Sheilah

Day 3, Dec. 15, 1777 — The Continental Army settles down at Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills

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Strength Return showing soldiers at Gulph Mills, 12/15/1777; Brigadier General James Varnum’s Brigade

Perhaps the greatest highlight of my research on my new book, The Threshold to Valley Forge: The Gulph Mills Encampment, was the discovery of this document pictured above, which was the first original document that I found that actually showed soldiers at Gulph Mills. This document is the strength return from Brigadier General James Varnum, from Rhode Island, showing the number of his soldiers who actually were in Gulph Mills. I had never before seen a document where a Revolutionary War officer or soldier wrote the words–the Gulf, or Gulph Mills. When I saw this document at the Library of Congress, Manuscript Room, one day in September, I almost screamed–finally, there it is! This makes it all worthwhile. They were there, right in my back yard, and my Mom was right of the significance of our little hill.

All generals in the Continental Army had to submit returns about once a week to show the number of soldiers who were present, fit for duty, sick present, sick absent, on furlough, and deserted, by rank and office, from week to week so the Commanding Officer, George Washington, could assess the strength of his troops. Washington had some 16 – 20 generals who were to do this on December 15, 1777. But, I could only find one return, that of General Varnum! And, believe me, I’ve been looking everywhere. But, we know that General Varnum had 1092 soldiers in his regiments at Gulph Mills (he accounted for an additional 372 under the column of “Sick Absent”).

The top of the document says, “Weekly Return of Brigadier General Varnum’s Brigade.” And next, in the upper left hand corner, are the words I was looking for: “Gulph 15th Dec. 1777.” The next entry for the next week, December 22, at the bottom of the page is “Valley Forge Dec 22 1777.”

Of all the generals, I was thrilled to see that Gen. Varnum was at Gulph Mills. There’s no question that his Rhode Island regiment had African American soldiers in it, free and enslaved, right on our little hill. As an African American woman who lived in Gulph Mills, that makes me proud. Yet, it makes me sad that there were African American enslaved people in Gulph Mills on the various farms and plantations at the time of the Gulph Mills Encampment. Imagine how proud, and also perplexed, they must have felt to see the African American soldiers. Of course, there is that great dichotomy and hypocrisy of those who fought for the freedom of white people, yet still enslaved African Americans. I will address that, too, in my book.

You can read more about what happened at the Gulph Mills Encampment in the link to my previous blog post below, as well as in my article in the Journal of the American Revolution, https://allthingsliberty.com/2019/11/valley-forges-threshold-the-encampment-at-gulph-mills/.

Reblogged on WordPress.com.

Source: Day 3, Dec. 15, 1777 — The Continental Army settles down at Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills

On to Day 4…

Day 2, Dec. 14 — Hardship plagues the Continental Army at “the Gulph”

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Orderly Book, Brigadier Gen. John Glover; 12/14/1777 from “the Gulph”; Library of Congress, Manuscript Room

On December 14, 1777, the condition of the 11,000 members of the Continental Army at Gulph Mills and Rebel Hill was one of extreme hardship.  The soldier’s tents were not to arrive for two more days.  There was little, if any food.

Dr. Albigence Waldo, Surgeon General to the Continental Army and a member of a Connecticut Brigade wrote, “Prisoners and Deserters are continually coming in. The Army which has been surprisingly healthy hitherto, now begins to grow sickly from the continued fatigues they have suffered this Campaign. Yet they still show a spirit of Alacrity and Contentment not to be expected from so young Troops. I am sick and discontented–out of home–poor food–hard lodging–weather cold, fatigue–nasty clothes. What sweet felicities I have left at home — a charming wife — pretty children — good cooking all agreeable — all harmonious.  Nasty Cloaths – nasty Cookery – Vomit half my time – smoak’d out my senses – the Devil’s in’t – I can’t Endure it – Why are we sent here to starve and Freeze -Here all Confusion – smoke and Cold – hunger and filthyness – A pox on my bad luck. There comes a bowl of beef soup – full of burnt leaves and dirt, sickish enough to make a Hector spue – away with it Boys – I’ll live like the Chameleon upon Air. Poh! Poh! crys Patience within me – you talk like a fool. Your being sick Covers you mind with a Melancholic Gloom, which makes every thing about you appear gloomy.   See the poor Soldier, when in health – with what cheerfulness he meets his foes and encounters every hardship – if barefoot, he labours thro’ the Mud and Cold with a Song in his mouth extolling War and Washington – if his food be bad, he eats it notwithstanding with seeming content – blesses God for a good Stomach and Whistles it into digestion. But harkee!  Patience, a moment:  there comes a soldier — his worn out shoes, his legs nearly naked from the remains of an only pair of stockings.  His breeches not enough to cover his nakedness, his shirt hanging in strings, his hair dishelveled, his face meagre, his whole appearance pictures a person forsaken and discouraged.  He comes and cries with an air of wretchedness and despair: — ‘I am sick, my feet lame, my legs are sore, my body covered with a tormenting itch, my clothes are worn out, my constitution broken.  I fail fast and all the reward I shall get is — ‘Poor Will is dead!’  People who live at home in Luxury and Ease, quietly possessing their habitation, Enjoying their Wives and families in Peace; have but a very faint idea of the unpleasing sensations, and continual Anxiety the Man endures who is in Camp, and is the husband and parent of an agreeable family.  These same People are willing we should suffer every thing for their Benefit and advantage, and yet are the first to Condemn us for not doing more!!” [from Valley Forge, 1777-78, the Diary of Surgeon Albigence Waldo, of the Connecticut Line]

General Washington continues to issue orders to help get his troops settled.  And, he writes to the President of Congress about the army’s movement in to “the Gulph” and the army’s December 11 skirmishes with the British in Whitemarsh and the Gulph.

From General George Washington:

GENERAL ORDERS Head Quarters, at the Gulph, December 14, 1777

Parole Raritan. Countersigns Schuylkill, Delaware.

The regiments of horse are to draw provisions of any issuing Commissary, lying most convenient to them, upon proper returns therefor.

Such of the baggage as is not absolutely necessary for the troops, and all the Commissarys and others stores, are to remain on this side of the gulph.

To THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS

Head Quarters near the Gulph, December 14, 1777.

On Thursday morning we marched from our Old Encampment and intended to pass the Schuylkill at Madisons Ford [Matson’s Ford],where a Bridge had been laid across the River. When the first Division and a part of the Second had passed, they found a body of the Enemy, consisting, from the best accounts we have been able to obtain, of Four Thousand Men, under Lord Cornwallis possessing themselves of the Heights on both sides of the Road leading from the River and the defile called the Gulph, which I presume, are well known to some part of your Honble. Body. This unexpected Event obliged such of our Troops, as had crossed to repass and prevented our getting over till the succeeding night. This Manoeuvre on the part of the Enemy, was not in consequence of any information they had of our movement, but was designed to secure the pass whilst they were foraging in the Neighbouring Country; they were met in their advance, by General Potter with part of the Pennsylvania Militia, who behaved with bravery and gave them every possible opposition, till they were obliged to retreat from their superior numbers. Had we been an Hour sooner, or had had the least information of the measure, I am persuaded we should have given his Lordship a fortunate stroke or obliged him to have returned, without effecting his purpose, or drawn out all Genl Howe’s force to have supported him. Our first intelligence was that it was all out. He collected a good deal of Forage and returned to the City, the Night we passed the River. No discrimination marked his proceedings. All property, whether Friends or Foes that came in their way was seized and carried off.

[from Founders Online and the Library of Congress, George Washington Papers]

…

[For more information see my article, https://allthingsliberty.com/2019/11/valley-forges-threshold-the-encampment-at-gulph-mills/.]

On to Day 3…

Peace–

Sheilah

Day 1, Dec. 13, 1777 — Washington’s Army at Rebel Hill

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Rebel Hill and Gulph Mills

This blog post is in honor of the Gulph Mills Encampment–the six days in December that General George Washington and the Continental Army spent in my home, Rebel Hill in Gulph Mills, Pa., starting on this day in 1777.  I am commemorating that by posting a blog for each of the six days.  I first started writing about the Gulph Mills Encampent in my mini-ebook, Six Days in December: General George Washington’s and the Continental Army’s Encampment on Rebel Hill, December 13 – 19, 1777, which was a prequel to my novel, Becoming Valley Forge. Both are available on Amazon or on my author page at The Elevator Group, http://www.theelevatorgroup.com/id33.html.

Late in the evening of December 12, 1777, in a blinding snowstorm, George Washington and his hungry, tired, and barely-clothed army, spent from a December 11 encounter with the British when the Continental Army first tried to cross the Maston’s Ford, started the march from Swedes Ford, in Norristown, to a small farming and mill area called Gulph Mills, the center of which was about five miles away. “We are ordered to march over the river. It snows–I’m sick–eat nothing–no whiskey–no baggage–Lord-Lord-Lord–. Till sunrise crossing the river cold and uncomfortable,” wrote Dr. Albigence Waldo, surgeon to the First Connecticut Infantry Regiment of the Line. [See Albigence Waldo, “Valley Forge, 1777-1778. Diary of Surgeon Albigence Waldo, of the Connecticut Line,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (Philadelphia, PA: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1897), 21: 305, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20085750, accessed December 13, 2023.]

Washington’s army spent most of the day on the 13th marching into Gulph Mills from the wee hours of the morning. One soldier wrote, “…at 3 a.m. encamped near the Gulph where we remained without tents or blankets in the midst of a severe snow storm.” [James Mcmichael, “The Diary Of Lieutenant James Mcmichael, Of The Pennsylvania Line, 1776-1778,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History And Biography (Philadelphia, PA: Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1892) Xvi: 157.]

Apparently, Washington and many of his generals were the last groups to march in, after some 11,000 soldiers marched in during the day. It is recorded by parishioners that Washington, Lafayette, John Paul Jones, and other generals saw a light in the Old Swede’s Church on what is now River Road in Swedesburg, right next to the Schuylkill River and the natural route towards Gulph Mills from the Swede’s Ford, as they marched in to Gulph Mills. Washington and his party stopped in the church and saw a group of the many Swedish settlers in Gulph Mills in a St. Lucia Celebration service, which honors St. Lucia, marks the start of the Christmas season, and “is meant to bring hope and light during the darkest time of the year.” Children participate in a pageant where they carry lighted candles and wear them as a crown and bring food and sustenance to their parents. The congregation allowed Washington to speak at the service and, in the process, eight members of the congregation signed up for the Continental Army that day. After service, Washington and his generals continued down the River Road to where they were going to encamp in Gulph Mills. Old Swedes Church re-enacts this visit in a Patriot’s St. Lucia every year on December 13–7 pm this year. [For more information, see this article and video of photos of the celebration in 2010 at https://www.mainlinemedianews.com/2010/12/14/dec-15-video-old-swedes-celebrates-the-patriots-lucia/.]

Several historians believe that Washington was going to make Gulph Mills the Continental Army’s winter headquarters because if he had decided on Valley Forge, it would have been easier to march his tired army straight to Valley Forge, rather than detour them to Gulph Mills, some ten miles away. Some of the letters from members of the army bear that out. Soldier Timothy Pickering wrote, “the great difficulty is to fix a proper station for winter quarters. Nothing else prevents our going into them…it is a point not absolutely determined.”

Because of their elevation of about 400 feet, Rebel Hill and the hills of Gulph Mills, called the Conshohocken Hills, provided an advantageous view for miles around. Those hills were just about the highest in the area. The army could have easily seen the British advancing from Philadelphia to the east, where the British established winter headquarters. Also, Rebel Hill gave the army great access to the Schuylkill River, particularly the crossing points of Matson’s Ford and Swede’s Ford. Finally, Rebel Hill was friendly territory–it got its name because the people who lived there were rebels and patriots supporting the Continental Army. [M. Regina Stiteler Supplee, Gulph Mills and Rebel Hill, Bulletin of the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Norristown, PA, Oct. 1947, Vol. VI,No. 1, p. 17 – 23; https://hsmcpa.org/images/thebulletin/1947vol6no1.pdf; accessed December 13, 2023.]

In any event, General Washington had to get his army, which had no tents to shield them from the elements, settled. He issued these orders, his first from Gulph Mills, which he and others also called “the Gulph” or “the Gulf” or “Gulf Mills”.

GENERAL ORDERS December 13, 1777.

Head-Quarters, at the Gulph,

Parole Carlisle. Countersigns Potsgrove, White Marsh.

The officers are without delay to examine the arms and accoutrements of their men, and see that they are put in good order.

Provisions are to be drawn, and cooked for to morrow and next day. A gill of Whiskey is to be issued immediately to each officer, soldier, and waggoner.

The weather being likely to be fair, the tents are not to be pitched. But the axes in the waggons are to be sent for, without delay, that the men may make fires and hut themselves for the ensuing night in the most comfortable manner.

The army is to be ready to march precisely at four o’clock to morrow morning.

An officer from each regiment is to be sent forthwith to the encampment on the other side Schuylkill [author’s note–the encampment at Whitemarsh, which the army had just left], to search that and the houses for all stragglers, and bring them up to their corps. All the waggons not yet over are also to be sent for and got over as soon as possible.

Mr. Archibald Read is appointed paymaster to the 8th. Pennsylvania regiment, and is to be respected as such.

Photo of George Washington’s First General Order from “the Gulph,” Gen. Washington’s Headquarters, Dec. 13, 1777; Library of Congress, George Washington Papers, https://www.loc.gov/resource/mgw3g.002/?sp=320; accessed Dec. 13, 2023.

On to Day 2…

Read about the entire encampment in my article at https://allthingsliberty.com/2019/11/valley-forges-threshold-the-encampment-at-gulph-mills/.

Peace,

Sheilah

A tired Continental Army begins its delayed march in to Gulph Mills

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Gen. George Washington’s General Orders, Dec. 12, 1777 from Swede’s Ford, PA; source—Library of Congress, George Washington Papers.

After being interrruped on the 11th by some 3000 foraging British soldiers, General Washington and a tired, cold, and hungry Continental Army readied for another try to march into Gulph Mills. They started their day at the Swede’s Ford, at present day Norristown on the east side of the Schuylkill River and Bridgeport on the west side. Yet, the army stayed at Swede’s Ford for most of the day. Why?

South Carolina’s Colonel John Laurens, one of Gen. Washington’s Aides-de-Camp explains why in a December 23, 1777 letter that he wrote to his father, Henry Laurens, President of the Continental Congress at York, Pennsylvania, where the Congress fled to when the British invaded Philadelphia in September 1777.

“…I weep tears of blood when I say it—the want of provisions render’d it impossible to march. We did not march till the evening of that day.” (From The Army Correspondence of Colonel John Laurens, in the Years 1777-8, Now First Printed from Original Letters Addressed to His Father, Henry Laurens, President of Congress, with a Memoir; p. 96, accessed 12/12/2023 at https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/simms1/id/69939)

Washington and his generals had waged a continual and distressing effort to secure enough food, clothing, and other provisions for the Continental Army from the Continental Congress, the various state governments, and local merchants. Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, from Pennsylvania, even used his own funds to purchase clothing and provisions for the troops under his command, and he was in the process of asking the Pennsylvania legislature to reimburse him. (Spoiler alert—they did not.)

The army built another makeshift bridge across the Swedes Ford and started marching out late at night. General Washington’s General Orders for the day, pictured above, note that headquarters are at Swede’s Ford.

My new book, Threshold to Valley Forge: The Gulph Mills Encampment, examines the encampment from the perspective of the army and the Gulph Mills and Pennsylvania residents. But, it also puts into perspective the state of the nascent United States in the six days of the encampment, 12/13 – 12/19; the days leading up to it, and the role of Gulph Mills while the Army was encamped at Valley Forge.

I look at what was happening at that time regarding the forming of and growth of our country in the Continental Congress, which had just passed the Articles of Confederation in November, to form the mechanics of the government that the army was fighting for, and sent it to the states for adoption; the Pennsylvania legislature, which was dealing with a number of weighty matters while the British occupied the Pennsylvania capitol and largest city, Philadelphia, and the Continental Army depended on the support of the government and the people of Pennsylvania in so many ways, and abroad, with the work of Benjamin Franklin and the other American Commissioners in France trying to get the French King, Louis XVI, to formally recognize the new United States.

For more information of each day of the Gulph Mills Encampment, see my article on the Gulph Mills Encampment in the Journal of the American Revolution, Valley Forge’s Threshold: The Encampment at Gulph Mills – Journal of the American Revolution

So, check this space tomorrow for an account of when George Washington and his 11,000 soldiers slowly and finally made it across their makeshift bridges, into Gulph Mills, and what they encountered.

Peace,

Sheilah

The Battle of Matson’s Ford, 12/11/1777

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The Battle of Maston’s Ford described by Brig. Gen. James Potter of the Pennsylvania Militia, in a letter to Thomas Wharton, president of the Pennsylvania Council (General Assembly), 12/15/1777; from Pennsylvania Archives

Yes, the Battle of Matson’s Ford, December 11, 1777! I don’t recall ever being taught this while I was a student in Upper Merion School District, nor heard about this battle while I grew up in Gulph Mills, on Rebel Hill, which intersects Matson’s Ford Road, which starts where the old Matson’s Ford was located. The Ford was a low point in the Schuylkill River that allowed people to cross the river back in the day before there were major and well-built bridges.

But the Battle of Matson’s Ford occurred just as General George Washington had assembled the main body of the Continental Army, about 11,000 soldiers, to march from their encampment in Whitemarsh on the east side of the Schuylkill River to their encampment in Gulph Mills, on the west side of the Schuylkill River.

Brigadier General James Potter and about 1000 members of the Pennsylvania Militia were the first to leave the Whitemarsh Camp. Gen. Washington ordered them to create three pickets, or small groups to cover the distance between the Continental Army crossing at Matson’s Ford and the British stationed in the center of the city of Philadelphia and to alert the main army if any British advanced. Potter stationed militia troops at three points along the Schuylkill—Middle Ferry, in West Philadelphia near Market Street; at the Black Horse Inn at City Line and Lancaster Road, also in West Philadelphia/Lower Merion Township; and at Harriton House, in Lower Merion Township, the plantation of Charles Thompson, Secretary of the Continental Congress, which had moved to York, Pennsylvania after the British captured Philadelphia in September 1777.

The soldiers at Middle Ferry were surprised to see a mass of British soldiers marching towards them and the rest of the army. Unbeknownst to Potter and Washington, British General Lord Cornwallis was out leading a party of some 3000 British soldiers who were foraging—finding and taking food and supplies from local residents. A few militia soldiers then rode towards Potter, who had stationed himself at the third picket, at Harriton House. As the British started marching up the Lancaster Road and the Old Gulph Road, Potter’s militia engaged the British in battle. But, because they were vastly outnumbered, Potter’s militia hastily retreated from one picket and from one high hill to another, in danger and confusion, until they ended up back at Matson’s Ford.

At the same time, General John Sullivan had led two divisions of the Continental Army across the bridge of wagons that the army had strung together to use as a bridge across the Matson’s Ford. Before any more of the army could cross, Sullivan and his forces were surprised to see hundreds, maybe thousands, of British soldiers on the high Conshohocken Hills at Matson’s Ford, watching them cross. Sullivan panicked and, thinking that the entire British Army was out ready to battle with the entire Continental Army, called the soldiers to come back, destroying the wagon bridge behind them. Gen. Washington was called to survey the situation. He determined that the British soldiers looked like a large foraging party, not a party that was part of an attack. While some soldiers were sent out to watch the British soldiers’ movements, Washington ordered the rest of the army to march a few miles further down the east side of the Schuylkill to the Swede’s Ford, in present day Norristown/Bridgeport, to wait to cross the next day.

Potter recorded about 20 of his soldiers taken prisoner, 20 wounded, and five or six killed. He said that the British suffered worse. Potter felt that the militia could have done more to harm the British if General Sullivan had supported them in the battle instead of retreating back across the Matson’s Ford. Gen. Washington commended Potter for his actions and that of the militia that day. Several soldiers and their surviving families mention their injuries, deaths, and service in the Battle of Matson’s Ford in their applications for Revolutionary War Pensions.

The British soldiers who were foraging were apparently ruthless in their treatment of the Gulph Mills residents. More to come on that in my book, The Threshold to Valley Forge: The Gulph Mills Encampment, in fall 2024.

I include Potter’s December 15, 1777 remembrance of the battle in my article, Valley Forge’s Threshold: The Encampment at Gulph Mills – Journal of the American Revolution, in the Journal of the American Revolution.

Check back tomorrow for the march to Gulph Mills.

Best,

Sheilah Vance

The Continental Army plans its March into Gulph Mills, 12/10/1777

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We are just about to start my annual blogging about the Gulph Mills Encampment (GME) during the Revolutionary War, which occurred from December 13 to 19, 1777. I’ve been writing about the Gulph Mills Encampment since 2011, when I really discovered and started studying it, because it is a very much overlooked, yet very important period in our Nation’s history. My latest article, Valley Forge’s Threshold: The Encampment at Gulph Mills, the Journal of the American Revolution, is at http://allthingsliberty.com/2019/11/valley-forges-threshold-the-encampment-at-gulph-mills. I write about the unsettled state of the Continental Army and our new nation on the lead up to the Gulph Mills Encampment and then cover each day of the encampment individually. 

This year, I’m so excited because I am in the midst of writing a full-length, non-fiction book on the Gulph Mills Encampment called, The Threshold to Valley Forge: The Gulph Mills Encampment. It will be published by Brookline Books, a Pennsylvania-focused imprint of Casemate Books, a publisher of military history, in Fall 2024. 

In the process of writing that book, I’ve done a lot of research of primary documents related to the GME. I’ve been honored and fascinated to discover even more information about the importance of the GME. And, it has been thrilling to actually touch and hold documents that our soldiers, government officials, and every day citizens wrote during those important days in December 1777. 

So, this year, I am going to post some of those documents to give the reader an idea of what will be included in my new book and a greater understanding of the importance of the much-overlooked Gulph Mills Encampment. 

I’m starting with today, December 10, in 1777. The attached photo is of the Order of March of the Continental Army that was submitted to General Washington by General John Sullivan. The entire Continental Army of about 11,000 soldiers was to assemble at 4 o’clock on December 11 to cross the Matson’s Ford across the Schuylkill River and move from Whitemarsh, where the army had headquartered for about a month, on the eastern side of the river, into Gulph Mills, on the western side of the river. The first group that was to cross was the Pennsylvania Militia, which was under the command of Brigadier General James Potter.  

I hope you enjoy my writing up to December 19, which was the day the Continental Army left Gulph Mills and marched into Valley Forge. Check back here tomorrow for the Battle of Matson’s Ford. 

If you would like to contact me about any of this, please email me at svanceauthor@gmail.com. 

Best, 

Sheilah Vance