Summary Of His Excellency: George Washington At Valley Forge

Sankalpa Pahari
Professor Donald Charlton
FIQWS
10/13/2015

George Washington at Valley Forge
In his “His Excellency: George Washington,” Joseph J Ellis argues that the winter at Valley Forge was one of the most crucial events during the war for independence. After the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, General George Washington marched his weak and defeated soldiers to Valley Forge. However, the freezing weather of Valley Forge during winter bedeviled the soldiers and General Washington. The soldiers also faced a shortage of daily necessities such as food, clothing, and medicine. According to Ellis, all of the challenges Washington and his soldiers faced during their march to Valley Forge contributed to it being one of Washington’s
toughest challenges.
Ellis described Valley Forge as miserable. Soldiers died of starvation, illness, and exposure. Washington himself described the condition by saying that the shoeless soldiers were tracking the blood on the snow. He added to see the men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lie on, without shoes was the mark of patience and obedience. (112)
Ellis tries to explain the messy situation Washington and his soldiers experienced. The numbers of soldiers were decreasing due to the horrendous conditions. There was grumbling among the soldiers due to lack of food. Although some soldiers were able to bear the harsh conditions, many others died along with the horses. The only two words that were heard were illness and exposure. The air was filled with the smell of decaying corpse horses. The troops fell apart and it was a really big problem for General Washington to unite the soldiers. After the encampment, in order to manage the chaos, Washington wrote a letter to Henry Laurens, president of the continental congress, stating that unless some great capital changes take place, the army will not stop suffering from starvation. However, as support for the war declined, it became difficult to collect funds and as the continental congress lacked the authority to supply either money or men, the only option left for Washington was to be an inspirational leader, motivating his soldiers to carry on.
The unattractive but irrefutable fact that the war for independence was won through the lessons General Washington learned as the war went on and struggling on a day-by-day basis, not from books.
General Washington understood that the winter at Valley Forge transformed the war for “independence” into a war for “nationhood”. (112)
While Ellis argues that the winter encampment at Valley Forge completely transformed the attitude of the soldier’s towards the war, he further asserts that Washington was an inspirational leader who experienced horrendous hardships alongside his soldiers. The fact that the leader of a new nation remained with his soldiers even in miserable condition led soldiers to view Washington as an idol. Although I agree with Ellis, I can further argue that George Washington cared and valued the people he led. He shared every moment of hardship and struggle with his soldiers. Washington gave his utmost to the Continental Army as he believed that the war for independence was more important than anything else. He always marched with the motto “war before me”. The only thing he could envision in the future was winning the war and gaining independence. Although he lost more battles than he won, he always learned from defeat and marched with the winning strategy that led to the victories at the Battle of Trenton in 1776, and the Battle of Yorktown in
1781.
I would further argue that along with his intelligence and problem solving skills, his appearance also made him a prominent leader. His height, strength, energy, and physical coordination were natural qualities that made him an eminent personality. At Valley Forge he was prepared to kill the soldiers if they fail to do their duty. Personally, that decision by Washington inspired me because he gave his army the fear of death in order to fight for their independence. One of the reasons that soldiers might step back from the war was their fear of dying in the battlefield. However, Washington’s threat that he would kill any soldier who fails to do their duty left the soldier with no choice but to fight the British. This threat of death eventually helped Washington to get out of the chaos of the crisis in Valley Forge and led the Continental Army to victory in the war for independence over British.

Bibliography
Ellis, Joseph J. “His Excellency: George Washington.” 112. Print.