At times I feel overwhelmed, which leads to being very scared. Here at Valley Forge it is terrifying and very bad. The war took place in 1777 through 1778. There were victories at Trenton and Princeton. However, at the time the congress did not want to trust George Washington. People have families that are dying due to the war. There was no meat, which is terrible because meat has a lot of protein. The soldiers didn’t know that they would basically be tortured for independence from Britain. Poor ventilation in the huts was a big issue as well. Smoke was on their eyes and skin all the time too. I have decided to not re-enlist for three reasons which are: the terrible conditions, the poor health of the soldiers, and a lot of people are dying. …show more content…
One condition is that there is no meat, soldiers would say, “NO MEAT! NO MEAT!” when they began to run out of food (Waldo, 151). Lack of meat is a bad condition because there would be a lack of protein, which helps you stay strong. The lack of strength in soldiers is not good at all because it is a huge disadvantage. “My skin and eyes are almost spoiled with continual smoke.” (Waldo, 151). This is bad because having your eyes with smoke hurts and would feel terrible after hours of it happening. Your skin might even hurt from it too. This could ruin your eyesight which is important if you need to aim for a war. It is tough to walk around all day because the other soldiers, and I don’t have shoes, so we are barefoot most of the time (Powell, 149). If people don’t have shoes how are they going to run as they should in war. There is freezing snow everywhere also. My commander has told me that through December to June 1,800 to 2,500 soldiers died (Busch, 147). I did not like it when I heard this. One of those soldiers could have been me, or in the future I could die too. This reason is causing me not to re-enlist because I am scared and fearing death itself. I will not re-enlist due to the terrible …show more content…
“Poor food-hard lodging-vomit half my time…” (Waldo, 151). This shows that people are sick. People would be vomiting a lot due to the sickness. “The army which has been surprisingly healthy, now begins to grow sick from the continued fatigues they have suffered this campaign” (Waldo, 151). This even says that people are getting very sick from the conditions. It is also flu season as well, so people are getting smallpox and other illnesses too. Today our commander announced that 2898 people are sick here at valley forge (Busch, 147). It is amazing how so many soldiers here at Valley Forge are still alive after getting sick, and living in these bad conditions. The bad conditions lead to sickness, then the sickness leads to death. Now it’s June and my commander has finally told us that 1800 to 2500 people have died due to sickness or bad conditions (Busch, 147). Once again people have died from bad health or the worse conditions. I do not want to be one of the dead soldiers. I would rather die on the battlefield rather than die from sickness. This is causing me to not re-enlist because if I stayed I would have a high chance of dying. Bad health is bad, but there is worse than the
Role of Government Directions The following question requires you to construct a coherent essay that integrates your interpretation of Documents A–H and your knowledge of the period referred to in the question. High scores will be earned only for essays that both cite key pieces of evidence from the documents and draw on outside knowledge of the period. 1. Analyze the extent to which western expansion affected the lives of Native Americans during the period 1860–90 and evaluate the role of the federal government in those effects. Use the documents and responses to each document to construct your response. Document A Santana, Chief of the Kiowas Source: Santana, Chief of the
Everywhere I go, I see dead soldiers littered all over the ground like blocks of ice. As a soldier in the Continental army, General George Washington has led us to set up a winter camp at Valley Forge, eighteen miles northwest of Philadelphia, where the British army had set up camp. I have made a decision that answers the question that haunts me: Will I quit or will I re - enlist? I have decided I will quit next month, when my nine month enlistment is over. To quit in this situation is to go home after serving as a soldier in Valley Forge and the vast number of deaths and illnesses.
Another reason I must re-enlist is the fact that my government deserves my loyalty. The Committee of Congress has stayed with us through much of the winter after arriving at Valley Forge a few weeks ago and has given us hope (Document B). That hope has sparked within us a new flood of encouragement and will power. When George Washington was talking to the 5 members of Congress, he expressed the fact that we brave soldiers need help in our battle with Britain (Document B). Even though it’s cold, and we have threadbare clothing that are merely rags, and the Congress members are all dressed in their finest, our spirit is still strong (Document B). Even Dr. Waldo stated that while tending to our sick soldiers, he was surprised by the magnitude of cheerful willingness to proceed with fighting for our cause (Document C). Dr. Waldo expected us to be down on our luck for having to withstand the poor food, fatigue, cold weather, crowded huts, and smoky air quality which was due to poor ventilation, but most soldiers were able to persevere through all of that hardship (Document C). The Committee of Congress makes me feel like someone is listening to our needs. The general supports us and the government cares about us, so I must support my government.
One of the reasons I wouldn't quit Valley Forge is because 50% of the people were sick but only 15% died. In document A it says “3989 (about 4000) out of 8000 were sick or unable to report for duty.” By February 1st, about 50% of soldiers were sick. But sickness is common around this time. For example, in our classroom about half of our students were sick. (Doc A) “1800 out of 12000 died”. 1800 out of 12000 soldiers may sound like a lot but it is actually only 15%. That's only 15% of all the soldiers dying. That's pretty good for being the “UnderDogs” in a war. This still gives you an 85% chance of living. So I would stay.
War is hell.That is a summary of my life right now.we have been spend a few months in the trenches which is not better than warfare.There is disease and death.There are dead bodies, human waste , and men who have not showered in months. In the trenches the air is so wet,and there is water at the bottom. There are many times where we are ankle deep in mud for weeks on end. Many of us have trench foot ,is a horrible condition where our feet become waterlogged and
The effects of the Cuban Revolution on women’s lives and gender relations in Cuba from 1959 to 1990 include that some say women have not reached equality yet with men, women gained more opportunities for themselves, economy and politics, and also how women still had responsibility for children and home, not men.
In December 1777 thousands are sick, at the encampment only 18 miles away from the enemy. The first two years on the revolution have been frightening for soldiers with their friends not reenlisting. The decision will come to me will I stay, or will I go. People are using many of these things to not reenlist, not proper cloths, huts are smoky and the last reason there's not enough protein to help get people healthy. I have decided to reenlist for three reasons which are: my pride and cause, needed people, and my attitude.
Document A shows that many soldiers had already gotten sick and died because of the sickness. There must have been a severe lack of medicine to heal the soldiers. Some of the diseases might not even have cures yet. And many of the diseases in the camp were highly contagious. If I had re-enlisted, I am pretty sure that I would have gotten sick and died from sickness myself. I would not be a good soldier at all, since what good is a sick soldier in a battle? I would be doing more harm than good. I would just be another soldier who would pass a sickness on to another soldier. If I even made it through the sickness, I would be so weak that I would surely lose to a British
This contributed to the high death rates of soldiers. Hypothermia was also a problem due to the lack of proper clothing in order to protect soldiers from the extremely cold conditions. In the painting from the National Archives (Document B), the soldiers that are shown, are sick and have torn clothing and no shoes.
Amongst almost 3 million Civil War soldiers, over 600,000 lost their lives defending their notions of freedom and liberty in America. Approximately two-thirds of these soldiers, nonetheless, died from disease rather than wounds received on the battlefield. Lack of efficient medicine and health care caused much more impacting damage, as well as scarce, not up-to-date resources, and social divisions between the soldiers. Typically, an average Civil War soldier could expect to face extreme hardships and difficulties in their wartime lifestyles, including bad weather, unprepared, inappropriate clothing, spreading infections, and tensions regarding race and gender. Across
As I walk to my 16 by 14 foot hut that I share with 12 other men, I hear a blood curdling scream and look behind me to see bloody footprints trailing behind me because I ,like many other men here, have no shoes, and farther behind that is a makeshift hospital, where surgeons are inside amputating a man’s leg because he got frostbite in the cold winter weather. One month from now, on March 1, I am going to be asked if I would like to leave this place. The place in question is Valley Forge a place 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia, where the British are comfortably quartered. It is the winter of 1777-1778 and the American Revolutionary War has just begun (Roden 141). So the big question is: will I re-enlist or not? Personally, I have decided not to re-enlist for the three reasons of that there are miserable conditions, other capable men that haven’t served yet, and we aren’t even fighting yet.
Noel F Busch created a chart on the estimates of illnesses and deaths at Valley Forge. (doc.A) According to Busch, there was 12,000 soldiers in December ,but around 3,000 soldiers got sick and 1,800 died. During that time you didn’t know if you had a good chance of staying alive due to the environment around you. This would make me stay because I have a 90% chance of getting sick and a 10% chance of dying ,so I would most likely get sick over dying at Valley Forge and I would rather take my chances than just giving up and leaving the other soldiers by themselves to fight the
Depression, unhappy feelings and mood, is the general feeling at Valley Forge. Winning the battle against Britain seemed extremely unlikely, if at all possible to the soldiers there at Valley Forge. Valley Forge is located approximately 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia, and consisted of little more than a few houses and a mill. This is where General George Washington decided to have the Continental army settle in for the winter. He thought of the location as a strategic place to watch the British army housed in Philadelphia.
I heard Dr. Albigence mumble under his breath, “eyes are almost spoil’d with continual smoke,” while he was operating on me. (Albigence 151 ) I felt disgusted that my own doctor barely see, and became fearful that he might amputate in the wrong spot and cut off my whole hand instead of one finger. More grumbling from Dr. Albigence was heard by one of my fellow soldiers. He said that the doctor vomited and asked if he was alright. Dr. Albigence replied, “I am sick...Vomit half my time.”(Albigence 151) The thought came to my mind, if the doctor dies we will have no medical attention, which could lead to death. Not too long ago I saw a list that notified us that from December to June an estimated 1,800 had died due to illnesses during encampment. (Busch 147) Despair dawned on me, I came to the realization that so many people died therefore I have an even higher chance of dying. I was strolling by the medical tent when I heard Dr. Albigence arguing with General Washington, “I can’t endure it” my surgeon said. (Albigence 151 ) A fear that our doctor might quit on us saddened me. Death and illness has caused me to not re-enlist because Dr. Albigence might die or quit which might cause me to die or get sick. With the high possibilities of death and illness, I would rather go home for a chance to
In addition to injuries caused in combat, diseases are also a postwar physical effect on soldiers. Some of the most common diseases reported from Civil War veterans were: cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and nervous diseases. We are informed that, “…while being wounded increased the incidence of developing signs of nervous disease by 64%, wounded soldiers were significantly less likely to develop signs of GI or cardiac disease alone.” They concluded that the damaging health effects seen in the Civil War are applicable to the health and well-being of soldiers fighting wars in the 21st century