The Real Valley Forge

Posted Monday, November 14, 2011, at 2:58 PM

I heard that some of the children of Liberalism in the Occupy crowd were calling their protests a "Valley Forge moment". Further evidence of the real fruits of our public education system. I would love to dive into a rant here, instead, I will use the words of Henry Armitt Brown, in his oratory regarding Valley Forge, delivered June 19th 1878.

Let his words be a stinking rebuke.

"The struggle now had become one of endurance, and while liberty and independence seemed as far off as ever, men began to appreciate the tremendous cost at which they were to be purchased."

"The wind is cold and piercing on the old Gulf Road, and the snow-flakes have begun to fall. Who is that toils up yonder hill, his footsteps stained with blood? His bare feet peep through his worn out shoes, his legs nearly naked from the tattered remains of an only pair of stockings, his breeches not enough to cover his nakedness, his shirt hanging in strings, his hair dishevelled, his face was thin, his look hungry, his whole appearance that of a man forsaken and neglected."

"On his shoulder he carries a rusty gun, and the hand that grasps the stock is blue with cold. His comrade is no better off, nor he who follows, for both a barefoot, and the ruts of the rough country road are deep and frozen hard. A fourth comes into view, and still another. A dozen are in sight. Twenty have reached the ridge and there are more to come."

"Are these soldiers that huddle together and bow their heads as they face he biting wind?"

"...Cold shall share their habitations and Hunger enter in and be their constant guest; Disease shall infest their huts by day and Famine stand guard with them through the night; Frost shall lock their camp with icy fetters and the snows cover it as with a garment; the storms of winter shall be pitiless, - but all in vain. Danger shall not frighten nor temptation have power to seduce them. Doubt shall not shake their love of country nor suffering overcome their fortitude. The power of evil shall not prevail against them, for they are the Continental Army, and these are the hills of Valley Forge!"

"Without a organized quartermaster's department the men could not be clothed and fed. At first mismanaged, this department became neglected. The warnings of Washington were disregarded, his appeals in vain. The troops began to want clothing soon after Brandy wine. By November it was evident that they must keep the field without blankets, overcoats, or tents. At Whitemarsh, they lay, half clad, on frozen ground. By the middle of December they were in want of the necessaries of life."

"Theirs was a perfect sacrifice, and the debt you owe them you can never pay. What would they say if here today? Your lines have fallen in a happier time. The boundaries of your Union stretch from sea to sea. You enjoy all the blessings which Providence can bestow, - a peace we never knew, a wealth we never hoped for, a power of which we never dreamed. We laid the foundations of your happiness in a time of trouble, in days of sorrow and perplexity, of doubt, distress, and danger, of cold and hunger, of suffering and want."

"We built it up by virtue, by courage, by self sacrifice, by unfailing patriotism, by unceasing vigilance. By those things alone did we win your liberties."

____

Mr. Brown's oratory is long and in depth, as it should be about Valley Forge. If you'd like to see an interesting version of this oratory and comments, here is a link:

http://www.archive.org/stream/orationatvalleyf01brow/orationatvalleyf01brow_djvu...

So my friends, do you think any of these occupy punks and punkettes have a freakin' clue as to the real Valley Forge?