Sheilah Vance

On this day in 1778, some 2000 soldiers, including some 50 Oneida Indians, engaged in the Battle of Barren Hill, on and around the grounds of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Lafayette Hill, Plymouth Whitemarsh, PA.  This battle is one of the climactic final chapters in my novel, Becoming Valley Forge, and a climactic event of and the only true battle fought during the Valley Forge encampment.

General George Washington commanded  Gen. Marquis de Lafayette to lead this group of 2000 soldiers and head towards Philadelphia to see whether the British were planning to evacuate Philadelphia or even attack the Continental Army at Valley Forge now that winter had ended and both armies would be leaving their winter quarters–the Continental Army’s being Valley Forge and the British’s being Philadelphia and what was then its suburb, Germantown.  Once the troops reached Barren Hill, about 500 soldiers, including some 50 Oneida…