Sheilah Vance

I am finally able to catch my breath, recover from the flu, and post about the absolutely fabulous Gulph Mills Encampment (GME) Monument Rededication Ceremony that the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution (PSSR) held on Tuesday, December 16, on a very cold morning, at just below freezing temperatures, not unlike that that George Washington and his soldiers experienced there in 1777. Led by their president, Michael Whalen, the Pennsylvania Sons, who originally dedicated the monument in 1892 at the heart of the GME—by the Old Gulph Mill, in the defile called the Gulph, right down the street by the Hanging Rock, which in 1997 was entered in the National Register of Historic Places as a symbol of the GME–moved the monument from its off-the-beaten path location in Executive Estates Park. (See the PSSR article explaining the importance of the GME, the monument, and its rededication here.)

I was honored to speak for a few minutes about the importance of the Gulph Mills Encampment of 12/13 – 19, 1777–The Threshold to Valley Forge. We were joined by representatives of Valley Forge National Historical Park, Sunoco (which owns the land on which the monument was placed), the Upper Merion Township Historical Commission; the King of Prussia, Radnor, and Lower Merion Historical Societies; Upper Merion Area School District, Radnor Memorial Library, and Valley Forge Park Alliance.

I wrote all about the GME in my award-winning book, Threshold to Valley Forge: The Six Days of the Gulph Mills Encampment. I have been writing about the GME for the past 14 years since I first discovered more details about this often overlooked and minimized encampment. As I dug deeper and learned even more about the GME and all of the issues that occurred during those six days involving General George Washington, the soldiers and officers of the Continental Army, the Continental Congress, the Pennsylvania General Assembly and its residents, and even the United States’ most famous citizen, Ben Franklin, who was over in France trying to convince the French King Louis XVI to officially recognize the new United States and join them in the American Revolution, the outcome of which was very uncertain at this time. All of these actors were in constant communication with each other as they tried to chart a path forward to strengthen and rebuild the Continental Army, the new United States, and to achieve victory in the Revolutionary War.

I was honored to be asked to speak for a few minutes about the GME, which was a pivotal microcosm of the Revolutionary War. See this video of part of my remarks here.

The ceremony included a Sons’ Color Guard and Chaplin. Also speaking were Sharone Lewis, regional representative from Sunoco, who owns the land where the monument is now located. She was accompanied by the Sunoco franchisee who owns the gas station there that is a beloved fixture in the Gulph Mills community.

Everyone was so happy to see the monument, all cleaned up and power washed, back in the center of the Gulph Mills, at the base of Rebel Hill, where it belongs.

Please enjoy these pictures and videos. Please contact me at svanceauthor@gmail.com or see my book website, http://www.thresholdtovalleyforge.com.