Valley Forge National Historical Park: Earn your Junior Ranger Parody Badge
Who is this statesman? Hint: Everybody thinks he cut down a cherry tree and when his father accused him, he is roundly revered for admitting to it. Like much of elementary grade school history, this story seemed a bit off to every second grader forced to read. But second graders are discouraged from questioning history.
Seriously, the obvious first thought is: Would his father really have believed him if he lied about it? I mean, the tale is often accompanied by an illustration of a boy holding an axe.
If you toured the Valley Forge interpretive center, you will have learned that young George did not in fact cut down a cherry tree. That was a lie. In polite company, call it a myth. This statue is proclaimed by his family to be a close likeness, so I’ve included it here to give you the best chance of recognizing the Father of Our Nation and make it one step closer to earning your Junior Ranger badge.
The interpretive center fills in a bit of detail helping you better understand why these soldiers, barefoot, bloody, starving and sick embraced nationalism and didn’t disappear into the woods or organize a mutiny. Well, they were seemingly too exhausted to stage a mutiny. And maybe too tired to slip into the woods and evade capture. They believed that George was trying to help them get food and clothes. And he gave them a raison d’étre, helping them to remember always that their cause was just, noble and heroic.
Even in these ghastly conditions, some were accompanied by their wives and children. Perhaps they’d had their homes burned down by Redcoats, leaving them no place to stay and Pa or Bro were going off to war. With their menfolk conscripted, and no neighbors around able to give more than what was being taken from them by their own side’s marauding soldiers (you will find that the War was not popular among everyone), what else could they do but tag along and then live in the muddy sea of smelly pestilence and disease known to them now as home?
Bonus question:
You may have visited the stone home of the Quaker (near the Grand Parade) compelled to house and feed the military. (Maybe you’ve seen the Quaker bumper sticker: War is not the answer. They are not into it.)
Was the Third Amendment to the US Constitution forbidding the quartering of soldiers in private homes during peacetime passed as a response to civilians finding their presence overbearing and were simply afraid they would just stay and take over their lives and homes even after the War was over?
Twelve thousand soldiers and hundreds of groupies lived at Valley Forge. Is it true that they had to move the barracks across the river when the campsite became too foul to continue inhaling?
Is Mars a possibility for human life if the National Park Service continues to allow too many fossil-fuel generated vehicles and motors into our protected places and we have totally trashed Earth?
The National Parc de la Maurice in Quebec forbids music and motors as disruptive to the wildlife living there. Is the position of Director of the National Park Service of the United States a political appointment?
 This face of horror is next to a eulogy praising the valiant dead for their sacrifice to create a free country for generations to come. A country free from England. An odd outlook in the first place, wasn’t it? The spreading of the British Empire. Ownership not only of land that was not theirs, but of entire nations of people? Did George and Martha Washington own slaves, Junior Ranger? Write a poem or paragraph describing their hypocrisy within the context of the Revolutionary War and how you think it was reconciled. By allowing their kitchen cook buy her freedom after many years? What was Mease’s disease and how many soldiers did it kill? Hundreds! It was death from lack of linen from which to wash away vermin devouring the already evacuated-from-starving soldiers. They didn’t even have scraps to help them because they didn’t have clothes to rip scraps from. Their clothes were worn through from marching and the weather. The blame for lack of clothing was placed squarely upon the man who was assigned to make sure they were well-clothed. The British had thick warm wool coats, hats, gloves, and even high leather boots for sloshing through the cold mud. This is the apparel a thoughtful clothier provides for the troops. General James Mease did not fulfill his mission, whether it was due to lack of coordination and support from a divided Congress which had mostly fled when Philadelphia and York were captured or whether he was just an ineffectual or lazy fellow. Find out what you can about what went so horribly wrong here and design an exhibit for the interpretive center with your findings. Where was the seat of the US government at the time of the Revolutionary War? Yes, all of your guesses are correct. It was a moving target and was located at different times in Baltimore, York, Philadelphia and Lancaster. Some members just hid out at home. What is the percentage of governments over time that have been comprised not mainly of circumspect, visionary statesman, but rather comprised mainly of corrupt, self-serving politicians? Alas, Valley Forge offers us up a few heroes. The cherry tree myth symbolizes the respect the soldiers had for Washington and in the context of the story woven there, you can believe it. If you are reading this and wondering whether you should try and earn your Junior Ranger pin at Valley Forge, I can assure you that it’s worth the visit for that alone. He doesn’t come off as the charlatan some men claimed to be charismatic do, he does seem like somebody you’d name a holiday for. Another interesting insight was the observation of the war hero brought in to train soldiers, Baron de Steuben. He had trained Prussian, Austrian and French soldiers. They simply did as he commanded. But Americans would not simply follow his orders because he was barking them. He had to explain to them why they had to do as he said before they would comply. Sound familiar? Just makes you feel proud to be an American. In 1779, Baron de Steuben’s war regulations were published in “The Blue Book.” Is it still used today’s and does it also contain automobile valuations? What is vermin? How many frozen limbs were amputated with rusty saws? Each toe and finger counts as one. So do appendages like noses and ears. In their largely unheeded pleas to Congress for provisions and assistance, how many times was the descriptor “putrid” used to describe living conditions? |
What did wealthy men do who were conscripted to fight? Did they (a) send one of their slaves in their stead or (b) pay a nominal fee to a desperately poor man so he could keep his family from starving? (Whichever you answer, you are right!) Draw a picture of the transaction you chose. |
Do you think the following approach by Catholics, the penance which absolves guilt… is analogous? It is, after all, sacrificing another to pay your own dues.
Here’s the context. As futile as it may actually turn out, many people aspire to be better versions of themselves, or to do something meaningful toward making the world a better place. Alan Ginsburg summed up the feeling succinctly. “America, you make me want to be a saint.”
The Irish don’t have this critic in their heads driving them onward and they are a much happier and carefree tribe. The Na Gael answer to dispensing with such discomfort is to nip it in the bud. They pay any dues which may come due through their activities by steering at least one of their many children into the priesthood or convent. In short, they simply delegate a Family recipient to accept and transmute the transgressions one easily can easily fall into when living under a rather strict God’s rules.
Nah. Never mind. It’s not analogous. I should give up trying to read a unified theory into everything. The world is only holographic when the stars align. Legislation can of course make certain matters align and it did in the case of the national parks. Albeit loosely, but that’s the nature of the beast.
Hmmmm. If there is a unified theory about the national parks, where would one find it and what would it be? Well, as you may know already, its mission statement is to “preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.” Think of three national parks you have visited and choose one aspect in which the national park service has fulfilled its mission within their respective contexts (parks).
Be creative. Veer off course, but stay on the path and leave no trace.
Who won the French and Indian War (1754-1763) and why did it matter? Hint: It has something to with how the Marquis de Lafayette was finally able to sway the French government to see the importance of stopping Britain.
Or was that Benjamin Franklin? Did Benjamin Franklin regularly swim in the Schuylkill River with nineteen naked ladies in the dead of winter? You may have learned this when you earned your Independence National Historic Park (Liberty Bell) pin.
Drills were practiced in a cleared area known as the Grand Parade. A small sign there mentions that the field was also used for celebrations and executions. Why throughout history have executions been popular public spectacles? Answer with either a limerick or a haiku.
And finally Junior Ranger, how many of the 227 species of birds known to habit Valley Forge National Historical Park did you hear today? And how many squirrels did you see?