A Patriotic Thought for President's Day by Tanner

On December 19, 1777 the Continental Army filed dejectedly into the encampment known as Valley Forge. Among the nearly twelve-thousand men was my 6th Great Grandfather John Glass, a non-commissioned officer. As a member of the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment he had voluntarily enlisted as soon as the war broke out and already had fought in the Siege of Boston, in defense of Canada, the battle of Lake Champlain, Trenton and Princeton and Saratoga. They were tired, hungry and fatigued to the point of uselessness. Of the 459 men assigned to the 2nd Massachusetts when they entered Valley Forge only 297 were considered fit for duty.

From December of 1777 to June of 1778 my Grandfather endured the sickness that raged throughout the camp and the cold. The conditions were described by Continental Congress member Gouverneur Morris as “An army of skeletons appear[ing] before our eyes naked, starved, sick and discouraged.” Such was the plight of my grandfather and the entire Continental Army; one which John Glass and many others had volunteered willingly to endure because the goal in sight, freedom, was much too sweet to abandon.

It was in the same spirit that John’s grandson, Rufus Porter Glass voluntarily enlisted in the Army of the Potomac to preserve the union, where he fought in Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg before enduring even more horrendous conditions than those at Valley Forge while imprisoned at Andersonville. And it is the same selflessness that drew me to the Boy Scouts of America. I cannot claim to have endured any hardship, but I can claim to have given myself over to the improving of my community and my family through volunteering my time; often over five hours a week. On June 9, 1778 Washington and his army left Valley Forge, took Philadelphia and caused the British to retreat at the battle of Monmouth. With renewed vigor they had emerged from their trial a new army, still in pursuit of Independence and Self-Rule for their Nation.