Once across the Susquehanna River southern Pennsylvania transitions to rolling hills covered in lush forest. Due to the proximity to Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., many of the most significant military events in US history have unfolded across this land, thus the title of this chapter of The Rust Belt, “The Winds of War.”
About a day’s march northwest of Philadelphia, General George Washington and the Revolutionary Army settled in to wait out the winter of 1777-1778 along the banks of the Schuylkill River. The British had occupied Philadelphia earlier that fall but the onset of winter, scant supplies and impassible roads had created a stalemate. Washington chose a small valley next to the village of Valley Forge, triangular in shape and easily defensible on all three sides due to low ridges bordering the southeast and southwest with the Schuylkill River on the north. This map from the National Park Service brochure shows the individual units positioned in the trees along the tops of the low ridges, stretching about two miles on a side. Washington’s headquarters were actually outside of the fortified triangle in the small valley created by Valley Creek and the site of the village of Valley Forge.
Again utilizing an excellent map from the brochure, the approximately 10 mile exploration of the national park is marked in blue. The entrance is on the far right and then I explored in a clockwise direction around the park.
Valley Forge
Just off the interstate, the visitor center is tucked away in the side of a hill.
Through dioramas and artifact displays the small museum sets the stage for the drive around the park.
Driving up the eastern ridge a reconstruction of General Muhlenburg’s encampment shows how the fortunate who were not living in tents survived the cold. 12,000 soldiers camped at Valley Forge in December of 1977, nearly two thousand lost their lives to disease and starvation before the camp disbanded in early June of 1778.
Near the peak of the triangle the National Memorial Arch stands in splendid isolation, completed in 1917 to honor those who served at Valley Forge. The arch was originally planned to be one of two entrances to the national park but the Congress at the time refused to fund both arches. Thus, only one was built and the entrance to the park was located at the eastern border.
Past the National Memorial Arch are the Pennsylvania Columns, completed in 1912 to honor the soldiers from Pennsylvania who were at Valley Forge. Valley Forge was actually a Pennsylvania state park until 1976 when the state gave the park as a gift to the nation as part of the national park system.
Our drive now takes us temporarily outside of the triangle and down the small valley created by Valley Creek to the site of Washington’s headquarters. Situated at the point where Valley Creek enters the Schuylkill, the small village of Valley Forge took its name from the iron forges that operated along Valley Creek. The creek drops 25 feet in one mile from the ridge to the valley floor, providing plenty of water power along with timber from the surrounding hills to run the forge, a sawmill and a grist mill. The complex was owned by John Potts and William DeWees.
The strategic location of Valley Forge led it to be one of the places where the rebels initially stored their supplies out of reach of the British. The strategy backfired and the British stormed Valley Forge and confiscated the supplies early in fall 1777. They then withdrew and Washington brought his troops into winter camp that December. A railroad track now separates the headquarters complex from the Schuylkill River, which can barely be seen flowing through the trees.
The parking lot sits above the clearing, the first building that comes into view is the railroad station, built in 1911 to serve visitors coming to tour the state park. The front of the station faced the train tracks with a graceful colonnade.
To my left is a reconstruction of the camp where an elite detachment of soldiers lived. They were charged with protecting Washington and his family who lived in the house across the clearing.
A two story stone house built in the 1750s close to the confluence of creek and river was at the time rented by Deborah Hewes, a relative of the Potts family, and she rented the house to the Washington’s for their use. Walking up to the house you can see the colonnade of the train station in the distance.
Sensitive to appearances and principle, Washington insisted on renting the house from Mrs. Hewes rather than seizing it for the government’s use. The army paid 100 pounds for the use of the house.
Much of this house is original. The front door opens into a hallway with a staircase leading up to the second floor. The handrail on the stair railing is original and visitors are encouraged to touch it just like George and Martha Washing would have done.
The remainder of the room consists of two large rooms. The room in the front housed Washington’s administrative staff, the room in the back was his private office. All furnishings are from the period but now original to the house, the woodwork and doors are original to the 1750s.
Upstairs were the family bedrooms, not open to the public. The one story room attached to the main house on the left was the kitchen, separated for safety reasons in case of fire. The kitchen is normally staged but due to recent rains all furnishings had been put away due to the potential for flooding.
After Washington left in June 1778 Mrs. Hewes returned to the house, which remained as a family home in the Potts family until 1878 when it was purchased by the Centennial and Memorial Association of Valley Forge. The state of Pennsylvania acquired the house and surrounding land in 1893 when it created Pennsylvania’s first state park at Valley Forge. Standing on the train station platform the view to the west is down towards Washington’s headquarters, to the east are the guard cabins.
Returning to the road we wind across the eastern ridge of the encampment. Here, in the trees, troops dug in to protect the camp from any potential attacks from the east. Sprinkled throughout the forest are monuments to various state units. This one memorializes the New Jersey Brigade of the Continental Army.
Along the way occasion cabin reconstructions edge the open valley that was enclosed by the east and west fortifications.
Rising majestically at the base of the triangle on the banks of the Schuylkill River is the Washington Memorial Chapel was built in 1903 as a tribute to George Washington and continues to serve the area as an active Episcopal parish.
Standing in front of the chapel the view south is into the heart of the army camp, the wooded ridges on either side sheltered nearly 12,000 Revolutionary Army soldiers during the brutal winter of 1777-1778 huddled in the open meadow.
Continuing west through southcentral Pennsylvania the land opens up into rolling hills, once covered with forested but long ago cleared by settlers who farmed the fertile land.
Traveling along Route 340 towards Lancaster we are in the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country, passing through villages with names like White Horse, Intercourse and Bird-in-Hand. Tourists share the road with the familiar Amish buggies.
The tidy farms are dotted with a rare sight these days, laundry blowing in the warm fall wind, evidence of the Amish disdain for modern machinery like clothes washers and dryers.
Enterprising locals capitalize on the Amish culture by providing horse-drawn bus tours of the countryside.
The area north of Lancaster, sheltered at the base of the Alleghany Mountains, is particularly conducive to raising dairy cows. The preponderance and quality of dairies in the area lead Milton Hershey to establish his famous Hershey Chocolate Factory just east of Harrisburg in 1905.
Hershey Chocolate World
Milton Hershey started his candy business by spending a four-year apprenticeship with a Lancaster candy maker and in 1883 he established the successful Lancaster Caramel Company. At the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair he saw German chocolate making equipment and bought the equipment for his Lancaster plant. Betting on the future of chocolate he sold the caramel business in 1900 for one million dollars, perfected a recipe for milk chocolate and five years later completed the construction of the world’s largest chocolate manufacturing plant in the rolling hills east of Harrisburg, PA. Near the factory he built a model company town and named it Hershey. The company built an amusement park near the town for the benefit of the workers which expanded over the years to become a premier tourist attraction. The tourist season is over and the amusement park closed, but the adjacent Hershey’s Chocolate World, a celebration of Hershey’s candy empire, is open and ready to scoop up the tourist dollars! Approaching the entrance one is drawn in with bright colors and visions of chocolate goodies. A trolley car is waiting to take tourists on a tour of the town.
Walking past the “Kissmobile” the amusement park entry plaza opens up down the hill, Chocolate World is to my right just out of the picture.
Standing on the plaza and looking back up the hill towards Chocolate World, in the forefront is a clever way of letting families know the size requirements of various amusement park rides. Child height is categorized by a Hershey’s candy, and a line on the pillar next to the candy shows how tall a child has to be to enter any ride labeled with that particular candy. Thus, the shortest child can only go on rides with the silver “kiss” label.
As I noted, the amusement park is closed but a look over the fence shows the twists and turns of rollercoasters as they wind around the various buildings.
Returning up the hill to Hershey’s Chocolate World I enter into the massive store and restaurant complex.
In the rear of the store hidden behind an unassuming entrance is a ride through the Hershey chocolate story. Clearly this place is usually packed during the season as the ability to manage long lines is evident, but on this day there aren’t many visitors so I walk right in past a wall detailing the history of Hershey chocolate and Milton Hershey.
At the bottom of an escalator one is ushered into a little car which travels on a track through the story of Hershey’s chocolate. A screen on the dash of my car gives bits of information throughout the ride.
A highlight of the beginning of the tour is a concert from a bevy of singing cows…
A wall graphic details the steps in the chocolate making and packaging process that we are about to experience.
The tour then proceeds through demonstrating the various steps in taking the cacao bean and winding up with packaged candy.
Cheerful music and singing accompanies the educational tour. Obviously targeted towards children, it was a happy little stop along the way! Of course, upon leaving the ride one is funneled back through the store before leaving the complex by walking again by the “Kissmobile.”
With that brief respite behind us, the road again takes us to the site of the ravages of war, this time about an hour south just outside the town bearing the storied name, “Gettysburg.”
Gettysburg National Military Park
The rolling hills bordering Gettysburg on the west and south were the site of one of the pivotal battles of the Civil War. Here, on July 1-3, 1863, somewhat by chance, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia met the Union Army of the Potomac in a three day battle of endurance and brutality. The Visitor Center mimics the colonial barns that dotted the area at the time.
Once inside the center a stunningly detailed explanation of the times and conditions surrounding the battle unfolds using actual artifacts, dioramas, and other visual aids. There is no way I can accurately portray all that is contained in what is a sobering and emotional walk through time. As I enter an 1861 Union flag hangs on the wall. The stars on the flag include the 11 states of the Confederacy. Throughout the war the federal government never recognized the right of the Southern states to secede from the union and their stars remained on all Union flags.
A particularly display contrasts the uniforms and possessions of each army. The difference in the quantity and quality between the two sides is obvious and striking.
A photograph from the time shows how Gettysburg appeared from the north. Gettysburg was an important crossroads. Due to its position ten roads and the railroad converged on the small village. The main battle occurred along the low rise on the right and in front of the hill in the distance.
The walk through history continues…
A Union officer’s coat used by Michael Duffy of the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry fronts a stunning display of the face of war. On the left are photographs of Confederate soldiers who fought in the battle and on the right are photographs of Union soldiers.
A 24 mile auto tour takes one around the battlefield. The excellent National Park Service brochure shows the general position of the opposing forces over the three days as the battle ebbed and flowed.
Day 1 started northwest of town. Today a cornfield covers the ground that was so fiercely fought over. McPherson Ridge is marked by monuments honoring individual units on the place that they fought.
Crowning the small hill at the north end is the Eternal Light Peace Memorial.
Standing in front of the Eternal Light monument the view south is down along McPherson Ridge while to the east is the town of Gettysburg.
By Day 2 of the battle the main reinforcements of Confederate General Lee and Union General Meade had arrived and were facing off against each other southwest of the village. Each side dug fortified a line of trees in on either side of a wide open series of fields and orchards. First I drive the western side of the battlefield along the lines of the Confederate Army of Virginia. Again the way is marked by memorials to individual units, some of which are quite elaborate. In between cannon face east towards the Union line across the field (some of which are still farmed today.)
Various private or state organizations have paid to erect these monuments, the National Park Service provides maintenance. Some are marked by a specific unit designation, others just by the state they represented.
Anchoring the southern end of the Confederate Army position is the monument to the state of Virginia, a statue of General Robert E. Lee and his horse, Traveler (currently undergoing maintenance.) The monument looks out across the field where the Confederate Pickett’s Last Charge took place.
Our path now turns east across the battle field to the Union lines. Monuments to Union units rise above the corn and trees.
Driving north along the Union position numerous monuments dot the landscape.
Completed in 1913 the Pennsylvania Monument is the largest monument on the battlefield.
From the deck of the monument expansive views of the battle field unfold. To the north are the more Union lines.
West in the line of trees bordering the fields are the Confederate lines.
Giving a sense of just how close the two opposing forces were, the statue of Robert E Lee can be seen to the center left.
The three day battle resulted in a huge number of casualties, roughly 10,000 men lay dead on the fields west and southwest of Gettysburg. The bodies were hastily buried but as weeks passed the weather eroded the quickly dug graves and bodies began to be exposed. Citizens of Gettysburg called for a solution and in October, 1863, a cemetery for dead soldiers was created just east of the battlefield on the small hill where the Union forces repelled Pickett’s charge. Only Union soldiers were buried in the cemetery, Confederate bodies were left on the battlefield until around ten years later when southern Confederate veterans’ societies retrieved bodies and relocated the remains in cemeteries in the South. Across the street from the cemetery a monument to the soldiers from Maryland stands in silent honor. I was a bit surprised to learn that the addition of monuments has continued to modern times, the Maryland monument was only created in 1994.
A dedication ceremony was held on November 19, 1863, with Massachusetts statesman Edward Everett as the main speaker. Everett spoke for two hours on the causes of the war and the events that led to the Battle of Gettysburg. At the conclusion of his speech, President Abraham Lincoln rose and spoke for only two minutes. His speech, one of the most memorable in United States history, honored the men who had fought at Gettysburg and cited their sacrifice as a cause to continue fighting for the preservation of the Union. This surprising fact (certainly new to me!) plays out in the layout of the cemetery. Just inside the side entrance is a memorial to President Lincoln, almost as an afterthought.
About 300 yards away near the top of the hill is the primary monument in the cemetery, the Soldiers’ National Monument. Walking towards the monument one passes the arcs of headstones in the grass. Unknown bodies are simply numbered, those who names were known are so noted.
A particularly emotional moment during my visit took place at the base of the Soldiers’ National Monument. Here, on the actual site of President Lincoln’s memorable speech, a class of elementary students gathered and recited the Gettysburg Address. Have to say it brought tears to my eyes…
A sober and thoughtful ending to my visit to Gettysburg National Military Park.
I continue to head east across southcentral Pennsylvania. The rolling hills and farmland are bordered by the looming Alleghany Front, the low ridge that denotes the beginning of the Alleghany Mountains.
Just as I experienced a few weeks earlier on my way east, crossing the Alleghany Mountains is an up and down roller coaster. A major difference between the north and south crossing is that crossing the south is not quite as rugged. Fall colors ripple across the forests as I cross a valley with another ridge looming in the distance.
I have not yet finished experiencing the “Winds of War” in southern Pennsylvania as I enter a region on the far side of the Alleghany’s known as the Laurel Highlands. Here the ridges are softer, the valleys not quite so deep.
Here, far from the teeming crowds, death came to Laurel Highlands on September 11, 2001.
Flight 93 National Memorial
September 11, 2001, was beautiful fall day across the Laurel Highlands with clear and sunny skies overhead. United Flight 93 left Newark, New Jersey, bound for San Francisco at 8:42am. During the first 46 minutes that Flight 93 was in the air al Qaeda terrorists commandeered three other flights, two of those hit the World Trade Center in New York City, the third crashed into the Pentagon. The fourth, Flight 93, was hijacked at 9:28am and quickly the terrorists turned the plane around, heading for Washington, D.C., most likely aiming for the US Capitol Building. Passengers on the plane learned of the other hijackings via cell phone, realized that their death was probably also intended, and chose to fight back. A struggle ensued on the plane and just before 10:00am the plane was seen flying erratically over southwestern Pennsylvania. At 10:03am the plane crashed upside-down at 563 miles per hour in a field. There were no survivors. All seven crew, four hijackers and 33 passengers perished.
The entrance to the memorial is marked by the 93 feet tall Tower of Voices, essentially a massive wind chime. The tower cross section is a “C” shape with a diameter of 15 feet. The interior of the tower holds 40 wind chimes, representing the 40 crew and passengers who lost their life in the plane crash. The wind was blowing on the day of my visit, somber tones rang out across the hill.
Three miles further into the hills the road crests the top of a small hill. The visitor center rises with a blank wall on the crest of the hill, an unseen viewing platform reaching out to the south. The façade facing the entrance is blank, at first glance the small restroom building seems to be the visitor center, but an opening in the blank wall at the end of the walkway beckons further on.
Once through the opening a plaza opens up with the entrance to the visitor center hidden behind a curtain of glass.
The visitor center displays tell in stark detail the events of that morning, embellished with the emotion of the event as seen by locals along with the memorializing of the crew and passengers.
Walking out onto the viewing platform one gets the same view as the families of the victims first got when they were first brought to the scene. The plane crashed into what is now the field of green grass in the distance. The force of the explosion and resulting fire were so great that there were no bodies recovered.
I zoom in with my camera on the field. The green grass behind the concrete barrier covers the extent of the debris field from the crash. Visitors are not allowed to walk on the grass behind the barrier, the gate in the wall was placed to allow immediate members of the victim’s families only to access the site. The boulder in the top right of the green field marks the point of impact.
All of this was viewed from the end of the visitor center viewing platform. I turn around and take a picture of the walkway back into the interior plaza of the center.
I then take the circular drive down to the memorial plaza by the debris field at the bottom of the field. At the entrance to the memorial path to my left is the debris field covered in grass, to my right is the view up the hill to the visitor center.
More information about the crash is displayed on stands at the entrance to the memorial walkway using pictures taken on that day.
We know about the struggle between the passengers and the hijackers because the cockpit voice recorder was recovered at the crash site.
As I leave the lower plaza and head back up the hill the minimalist design of the visitor center is particularly striking against the Pennsylvania sky.
My march through the fight for freedom over the last 200 plus years has been truly a meaningful experience.
Next Up: Middle America
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