TEXT
"At Valley Forge"
We stand today on ground hallowed by the unspeakable suffering
of as true a band of patriots as ever lived. We are assembled here
to pay tardy tribute to the deeds of the portion of the brave men
who made us free. The story of Valley Forge is one of the most
heroic and beyond all question the most pathetic chapter in the
history of the American army. It required more courage and
fortitude to freeze and starve in the [encampments here] during the
awful winter of 1777 and 1778, than it did to charge the British
regulars in the open field, or to assault them in the redoubts of
Yorktown. Here in the winter of discontent, our fortunes sank to
the lowest point. But from this place, Washington went forth
conquering, and to conquer, and to become the foremost man of all
the world.
By one of those strange accidents which puzzled even the
philosophers, one of the best and most appreciative histories of
the American Revolution ever written is by Sir George Otto
Trevelyan, an Englishman, the nephew and biographer of Lord
McCawlay. Describing Washington's encampment here he says: "That
little village, Valley Forge, clustered at the bottom of a deep
ravine, gave a name to what, as time goes on, did [aspire] to be
the most celebrated encampment in the world's history." His
prophecy has come true. It is the most famous encampment on the
surface of the globe.
It is said that republics are ungrateful, but by erecting this
magnificent memorial arch to Washington and his soldiers, the
Congress demonstrates to all the world that we hold in most
grateful recollection the men who suffered and died here one
hundred and thirty-nine years ago in order that our feeble, infant
republic might live. How amazingly she has grown -- God be
praised. Grown from a narrow strip along the Atlantic to
continental proportions. Grown from being the weakest among the
nations into the richest and most powerful. The free institutions
which have enabled us to grow into what we are, we owe to
Washington and the patriots of '76. The spirit which animated them
animates their descendants today wherever old glory floats. They
created this mighty republic. Our most solemn duty, our
profoundest pleasure, our highest ambition, is to serve it
faithfully and to transmit it unimpaired to our children and our
children's children to the remotest generations.
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