Preview

If you were a soldier at Valley Forge would you have Quit?

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1078 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
If you were a soldier at Valley Forge would you have Quit?
Valley Forge Its 11 at night, I’m sitting here by the window talking to the moon, everyone is sleeping. It is a dark cold night. I can’t see anything but darkness. I can’t feel my legs. Every time I mutter a word I can feel as my lips crack and a drop of blood leaks out. In the smoke surrounding me from our fire I can make out a beautiful woman caressing her belly. She appears to be about 7 months pregnant. It’s my wife. This is the last memory I have of her. By this time my child should be about 9 months old. Wow, how time flies by. I can’t believe I have missed her first words, her first smile, her first steps. What I wouldn’t give to go back home and be able to hug my baby girl, lay her down at night, and let her know that daddy is here to protect her. I would give away the 30 years of my life just to get 10 precious minutes with her. All of the soldiers here at Valley Forge are trying to decide whether they should stay or go back home, myself included. You can hear soldiers crying out “Give me liberty or give me death!!” all throughout the cabins. I have heard many reasons why I should re-enlist such as commitment, freedom, and loyalty. Yet, I do not know if I can endure the rest of the winter here at Valley Forge. The weather is horrible, the amount of people getting sick is getting out of hand, and we don’t have supplies. I need to see my family. Therefore, I have decided that going home will be the best choice for me. This winter is the worst I have ever witnessed. We have set up fires in our huts in an attempt to stay warm and avoid freezing to death, but it has not worked out so well. In fact it might have actually made the situation slightly worse. Since the cabins do not have good ventilation all the smoke from the fire stays inside, making it hard for us to even breathe. (Document C) It is freezing outside. The weather, more often than not, stays below zero! Many soldiers have been losing their limbs due to frostbite. (Document B) I rather be at

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    One aspect of this is the inadequate clothing the troops had. One fifth of them had no shoes, and going barefoot in the dead of winter would not have been any fun. (Doc. F) All their other clothes were tattered and did not compensate for the cold temperatures in any way. (Doc. C) The quality of the food and the air inside the cabins was lousy as well. The very little food that could be obtained at Valley Forge was undoubtedly contaminated from all the diseases. The sad excuse for a ventilation system inside the soldiers’ cabins was poor and insufficient, and this probably didn’t help the health issues that close to half of the men already had. (Doc. C) Walking away from the American army did mean that I would only lessen the chances that I would get what I joined the military to find. But between the frostbite-inducing lack of proper clothing, shortage of safe-to-eat food, and smoke inhalation, there would have been enough dangers to make me think twice before…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Imagine you’re freezing and starving, your friends are all sick and dying, and on top of all that, you’re in the middle of a war. In the winter of 1777 and 1778, this was how George Washington and his troops lived. They spent a long winter in blistering cold weather and lived in poorly built huts. We had no shoes, food, or supplies in general. If you were in this situation and you had served your enlistment time, would you re-enlist and go back to these conditions? I personally did not re-enlist because there were harsh conditions, people were getting sick and dying, and we had no support or supplies from congress.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine being a soldier in Valley Forge, having to live in 12 man huts for six months in the middle of a blizzard, some of your fellow soldiers are becoming ill, others are deserting and your nine months are nearly over. Would you re-enlist and stay at Valley Forge or would you leave and go home to your family and aging mother?…

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Valley Forge Dbq Report

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages

    according to the chart of illnesses and deaths (Doc A), only about 50% of the group has passed away. This means that there is a chance that if I stay, I will not die. Even if I do die, I will die known as the brave Patriot who stayed at Valley Forge throughout all the ups and downs. Here at Valley Forge, we have doctors and medical attention loyal to us. An example would be from the diary of Dr. Albigence Waldo (Doc C). Dr. Waldo is one of the hard working doctors we have, even though he also is going through rough times, he is still helping keep our fellow mates alive. In this diary entry, he wrote that we were still happy. This is a true statement, we always laugh and have fun here at Valley Forge. I know that if I ever left Valley Forge I would feel bad for giving up on our freedom. The nights we were read The American Crisis by Thomas Paine (Doc D) really got me thinking about the “Sunshine soldier and the summer Patriot,” the soldiers who left Valley Forge, the soldiers who betrayed us all, the soldiers who I thought were my friends. “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly,” T-Paine wrote, in my opinion his message for this saying was to stay and fight. As a result, I will stay at Valley Forge, we have a chance of living, medical attention, and I will never feel guilty for betraying my…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine a harsh, snowy December and the people around you are sick, hungry and cold. Some men are also dead. All of you are fighting for the thing that's going to make America independent. Most of the soldiers her are done with their nine month enlistment and it’s my turn to decide whether to re-enlist or not. I would not abandon Valley Forge because the Committee of Congress gives me hope, the healthy men have to stay and fight and we are not a nation of summer soldiers.…

    • 505 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    You're sitting in your frigid wooden hut, you’re stomach grumbling, and you’re eyes and mouth filled with thick, black smoke. This is when you realize that you will have the chance to quit very, very soon. But the question is, will you quit or will you re-enlist? To me this is a very simple decision. This decision is to either leave George Washington’s worn out army and go back to your beautiful wife and darling children or to endure another, awful, cruel, horrible year of a war life. I know what I would choose and I will give evidence on why this is the best answer for a soldier that is sick of Valley Forge in every way possible.…

    • 541 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Reenlisting Dbq

    • 112 Words
    • 1 Page

    The first reason as to why i am not reenlisting is because of death and illness.So many soldiers are becoming more and more ill every day.There are about 8,000 men here at Valley Forge and about half of those men are sick (doc A). Also about 1,800 to 2,500 men are dying due to these illnesses(doc A). I know that there is a very high chance for me to get incredibly ill from my fellow soldiers. Furthermore, if i do end up getting ill i could potentially die. Because of death and illness i am not going to be reenlisting because i know that i could possibly get sick and pass away.…

    • 112 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dbq Valley Forge

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The conditions in Valley Forge was bad because there are a lot of sick people, but not a lot of them were dying. Throughout December 23, 1777 only 2,898 soldiers were ill and in February 1, 1778 there was 3,989 soldiers were ill. (Doc A) Which is about 50% considering the fact that 4,000 soldiers died by the beginning of February and it would leave them 8,000 soldiers left. Now, the sickness only killed 1,800 out of 12,000 soldiers (bottom and top of Doc. A) and it can mean that only 15% of the soldiers were dying and 85% were alive, so I would stay because I have a larger chance of living than dying.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Philadelphia, the winter of 1777, the situation was harsh and rough. General George Washington wanted a place where he could keep an eye on the British, and he decided to go with Valley Forge. Valley Forge was the turning point for the Revolutionary War. It was a place that men were starving to death, dying from sickness and diseases, and dying from being shot. George Washington decided to make a camp at Valley Forge with his troops and soldiers. He had a lot of dying, but kept going on to fight for our country, but the question is, would I have quit? I would re-enlist, but I don’t want to risk my life fighting for my country. I have decided to not re-enlist for three reasons which are death, diseases and sickness, and because George Washington has better stuff.…

    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I am a “boot” adjusting to my new life in kilo company, and corporal has recently returned from a nasty deployment in iraq. He says that he is my father and that he knows what’s best. he kicks sand at me while i am timed to see how fast i can pick up all the yellow cigarette butts he dumped on the floor to “fix” my attention to detail and remind me of my ignorance, as he yells, “you are going to war soon, and I won’t be there to babysit you!” During the deployment workups in the states, we spent weeks patrolling, looking for something that we knew wasn’t real. Digging into defensive positions and waiting the night out for an enemy we knew would never come. Spending rainy nights in muddy holes, fearing what our leaders might do to us if we fell asleep. Firing machine guns, shooting rifles and launching grenades at little green targets…. All of it was just training ops.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Valley Forge

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Due to the number of sickness and death in the camp I realize that I need to keep fighting. It is February 1, 1778 and about one-half of Washington’s army are sick (Doc A) During the winter, between 1800 and 2500 have died as a result of illness. (Doc A). Many soldiers also have ripped clothing and no shoes. (Doc 3). I could have reconsidered as to being part of the army because my parents need a lot of help on the burden for the farm and to say the truth the numbers of death are sky high. Also the conditions for the army seem to worsen year by year. Yet I chose to reenlist because helping my team can help me.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I looked back on my time in Fort Benning, Georgia after attending basic training. I realized I felt as though I hadn’t worked one day while in basic training. I hunger for more knowledge and getting a taste of the active duty lifestyle. I have grown accustom to the life style the Active Army has to offer. I feel the pressure of this crumbling economy have taken a toll on my family and me after being back in the civilian world.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Many military families may have their own “deployment diary”, as some may know, this can be a bit challenging for families. This article gives many challenging situations with being a military wife and trying to raise two young children while the husband is deployed. The couple have been together for ten years. During the full ten years the husband has always been in the military. While enjoying having friends and family around, her five year old daughter ask if she could look at pictures while sitting on her lap. While doing so, she reacts and cries out loud “I miss my dad!” Her grandfather and uncle attempts to console her, but it only upsets her more of the fact that they are not her father, whom she is crying for. While the mother succeed…

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Freedom, independence, security, and safety must be fought for and protected on a daily basis. Our military is made up of the valiant people who sacrifice their own health, education, and life and are devoted to something greater than themselves, the United States of America. When veteran’s talk to others about their past experiences, it helps teach us about America’s past and how we should have a hope for our future. Former and current servicemen continue to live by “sacrifice over self,” which is a strong message that has bound our veterans together for years. Because of our military’s sacrifices to the United States of America, we have freedom and liberation today and a greater faith for the future.…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The feeling that was going through me was that of anticipation. The call from the Red Cross telling me that my beautiful, pregnant wife wants me to come home to see our baby be born. At this moment I was in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama still in my training for the army. At first Red Cross would not send the message to me because, my wife had to be either “dying or having complications with the birth,” as the Red Cross told me. When I had finally gotten the message my heart starting pounding as like the beat of an African Tribe’s drum, with the highs and lows and the fast thudding of my heart banging the walls of my chest. I waited outside the Sergeant on duty to pick me up and take me to the airport. He arrived in what used to be a snow white van but because of the dust and dirt it looked more like a leopard’s print. Inside the van reeked of sweaty soldiers, rotten food and gasoline. It was cramped and my knees were tightly pressed against the back of the driver’s seat.…

    • 718 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays