Dear Sir: GEORGE WASHINGTON TO GOVERNOR Valley Forge, 16 February, 1778 It is with great reluctance I trouble you on a subject which does not properly fall within your province; but it is a subject that occasions me more distress than I have felt since the commencement of the war; and which loudly demands the most zealous exertions of every person of weight and authority, who is interested in the success of our affairs; I mean the present dreadful situation of the army, for want of provision, and the miserable prospects before us, with respect to futurity. It is more alarming than you will probably conceive; for, to form a just 10 idea of it, it were necessary to be on the spot. For some days past, there has been little less than a famine in camp. A part of the army has been a week without any kind of flesh, and the rest three or four days. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the sol15 diery, that they have not been, ere this, excited by their suffering to a general mutiny and dispersion. Strong symptoms, however, of discontent have appeared in particular instances; and nothing but the most active efforts, everywhere, can long avert so shocking a catastrophe. 20 Our present sufferings are not all. There is no foundation laid for any adequate relief hereafter. All the magazines provided in the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Mary land, and all the immediate additional supplies they seem capable of affording, will not be sufficient to support the army more than a month longer, if so long. Very little has been done at the eastward, and as little to the southward; and whatever we have a right 5 to expect from those quarters must necessarily be very remote, and is, indeed, more precarious than could be wished. When the before-mentioned supplies are exhausted, what a terrible crisis must ensue, unless all the energy of the Continent shall be exerted to provide a timely remedy! I am etc. NOTES AND QUESTIONS Historical Note. This letter was addressed to George Clinton, governor of New York from 1777-1795. Washington appealed to Clinton because of the abilities and resources of New York and also because the governor's zeal as a patriot was well known. At the same time Washington addressed a similar letter to the inhabitants of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, urging the farmers to provide cattle for the use of the army. He assures them of a bountiful price as well as the knowledge that they have rendered most essential service to the illustrious cause of their country. Discussion. 1. Read in your history text what is said about the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge. 2. How do the methods of conserving food for the army in Washington's time compare with those of our own time? 3. How does Washington hope to avert a terrible crisis? 4. Pronounce the following: incomparable; catastrophe; adequate; precarious. fall within your province, 393, zealous exertions, 393, 5 2 Phrases with respect to futurity, 393, 8 incomparable patience, 393, 14 excited to mutiny and dispersion, 393, 15 symptoms of discontent, 393, 16 avert so shocking a catastrophe, 393, 18 adequate relief hereafter, 393, 21 the magazines provided, 393, 21 crisis must ensue, 394, 7 NOTES AND QUESTIONS For Biography, see page 41. Historical Note. General Francis Marion was a general of the Revolutionary period. He was a leader of a band of men who worried the victorious British troops in the Carolinas in 1780 and 1781 and assisted in driving Cornwallis north, where he surrendered at Yorktown in 1781. Marion and his men in their greenwood fortress remind us of Robin Hood and his merry men. Discussion. 1. Who is speaking in this poem? 2. What does the word "band" tell you about these men? 3. How do seamen know their way when on the ocean? 4. How do woodsmen know their way in the forest? 5. Read the lines that picture a southern forest. 6. What does the second stanza tell you of Marion's method of attack? 7. Notice in the third stanza how the men spend their leisure time. 8. When did these hours of release occur? 9. Why is the moon called friendly? 10. Which lines show their quickness of movement? 11. For whom are these men fighting? These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as |