About this episode
This episode explores the realities of Valley Forge during the winter of 1777–1778, challenging the traditional narrative of suffering and highlighting military operations and foraging efforts.
Most of us learned the same story: During the winter at Valley Forge, George Washington's army suffered and endured. Ragged soldiers huddled together in frozen huts and gnawed on shoe leather for food. But what if that story is mostly myth? Military historian Ricardo Herrera, author of Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778, reveals what was really happening during the winter of 1777–1778. Valley Forge wasn't a place of frozen inactivity, it was a hub of military operations. The army's survival depended not on virtue and willpower alone, but on the armed foraging columns Washington sent into the Pennsylvania countryside to seize food, horses, and supplies from the civilians he was fighting to protect. Rick’s Website | Book |Show Notes: https://www.benfranklinsworld.com/348 RECOMMENDED NEXT EPISODES🎧 Episode 158: The Revolutionaries' Army🎧 Episode 189: The Little Ice Age🎧 Episode 301: Innoculation to Vaccination, Part 1🎧 Episode 302: Innoculation to Vaccination, Part 2🎧 Episode 332: Occupied Philadelphia🎧 Episode 333: Occupied YorktownSUPPORT OUR WORK🎁 Make a Donation to Ben Franklin’s WorldREQUEST A TOPIC📨 Topic Request Form📫…
People in this episode
Host: Liz Covart
Guest: Ricardo Herrera
Topics covered
- Valley Forge
- American Revolution
- Military History
- George Washington
- Survival Strategies
Keywords
- Valley Forge
- George Washington
- Ricardo Herrera
- American Revolution
- military operations
- foraging
- historical myths
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778
Places: Valley Forge
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