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Dorothea Graham Jensen
a book bubble about
A Buss from Lafayette
Teens
Author Insight
The Lo Carb/Lo Cal Valley Forge Diet
I once had a huge argument with a guide at Valley Forge about whether the Continentals went hungry the winter of 1777-8. He more or less spouted info like this bit from the New England HIstorical Society article, "Seven Fun Continental Army Facts."Every day they were also supposed to receive a pound of bread, a pound of beef and/or pork, a pint of milk, a gill of peas or beans and six ounces of butter. One day a week they had salt fish instead of meat and a pint of vinegar to ward off scurvy." I believe that the misguided guide never read about how the reality of food supplies seldom matched the official ration, as discussed in the NEHS article: "That, at least, was what they got in theory. In practice, the food had often turned rancid. Soldiers frequently went without bread or meat. Even more frequently, they lacked vinegar and vegetables." Apparently some of the problem developed when unscrupulous wagoners drained off the brine which preserved meat in order to lighten their load. Needless to say, this meant the meat went bad.
Book Excerpt
A Buss from Lafayette
He endured the hardships and cold at Valley Forge during that long, hard winter. It must have been doubly hard on a highborn Frenchman used to the luxuries of life. But I never heard him complain.”
“Were you at Valley Forge that winter, sir?” Joss asked.
“Indeed, my boy. Those who tell of hardships there do not exaggerate by one jot. Over twenty-five hundred men died of exposure and starvation. Hundreds of horses perished there, too.”
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