Letter From Valley Forge

Dear Dad,
Hows it going up there in Massachusetts? Its very cold here, and we don't have a lot of supplies. We got moved today into another cabin, our old one was starting to fall apart. There is about 5 inches of snow on the ground and most of our shoes do nothing to stop the cold from seeping through. 3 of my buddies have died in this past week, two of typhus and one of starvation. Its too bad, they were good soldiers. The food here is scarce, and all that is left are firecakes. Hopefully when spring comes supplies will be available and we can actually get some food into us.

General Washington is keeping our spirits high, he is always telling us we are going to make it and that if we stay we will get a bonus. Its very nice to have someone to look up to here. Washington also started training us himself, he lets us go back and train the rest of the soldiers, so all can receive hands on training. We also just got a new drillmaster, Ludolf Stueben. He even makes the officers drill with us. He's very funny, when we do something wrong he curses at us in broken English.

I can't wait for spring, we're finally going to get to fight, this running has taken a toll on everybody. General Washington has lost a very large amount of men on the trail to here. It has been very discouraging to walk and see our fallen soldiers lying beside the road. By spring we will be back to the normal fighting. Is brother going to sign up with me this summer? We can both fight back the British and finally come home. Hope all is well with mom and the rest of the family. I must go now, we are about to begin drilling with the bayonets.

Sincerely,
Nicolas R.