Group+5a

I am a Colonial Soldier at Valley Forge. I am writing to my family what it is like here.

Dear Family, The weather is very cold. There are harsh winds and the snow falling out of control. I sleep on the cold frozen ground. I shiver fiercly of a night longing for a blanket to warm me. We sleep in the freezing cold snow until we are able to build a shelter. Clothes are limited. We have clothes they just aren't very warm. We have very little food and are running out quickly. I wake up at 7:30A.M. and eat breakfast. We eat firecakes, a very gross and tastless mixture of flour and water. But it's the best thing that we have so I can't complain. I would rather eat that then starve to death. Our uniforms aren't very warmat all. Especially in this cold weather. They are thin shirts with pants and long socks. Our shoes are slowly fading. There are some holes in my shoes and that is not good for me because my feet freeze in the winter snow. We use cannons and guns as weapons. We put muskets and gun powder in our guns and cannons. We sometimes use bow and arrows if we have to. The guns are loud and hurt my ears sometimes. We make our muskets whenever we have time to but we have to have metal to make them. We melt the metal and then use a spoon-like thing that forms the shape of the musket. We don't have much training nor very good trianing compared to Great Britain's army. But we do wake up early in the morning, around 7:30ish, and we learn how to shoot our guns and cannons better. Captain George Washington says that he sees us improving more and more, little by little every day. We also get taught how to some-what blend in with the things around us. Although we don't blend in completly, it is a little bit harder for Britain's army to see us which makes attacks agianst them a little bit easier.I have been in three major battles so far. Those being the attack at Quebec which was an unfortunate loss. We were quickly defeated. Everyone was very sad and disappionted but we moved on to the next battle. Our next major battle in which I took part of was the Battle of Trenton. It was a very fortunate victory for us. We had taken more than 900 prisoners! This was actually a pretty easy defeat because the Hessians had celabrated Christmas the night before and they were sleeping in that morning. So we decided to attack when they would least expect it, that morning. They never saw us coming! Our next major battle was Saratoga. We started our journey towards Saratoga taking out all of the British armies in our way. Then we split up. Half of us were under the power of General Horatio Gates and the other half with Major General Benedict Arnold. Then, we enclosed on Britain's army forcing them to surrender. This battle has caused the French to join us! This is going to make a major impact on our battles. The living conditions here at Valley Forge is not easy. Although we are not fighting a battle against Great Britain, we are, however, fighting a battle. We are fighting the battle of life. It is freezing cold here and the snow is deep. We have had a few deaths so far because of people getting sick fro the weather. We have people with pneumonia and we aren't able to catch in time unfortunatly. As we are trying to survive, we are also trying to get ready for up-coming battles. I know that some people at home are probably wondering why I am fighting in these battles and you may be wondering too. But i will tell you right now, I am fighting for our family and other families freedom. We do not deserve this. We should be ale to be our own country if we want. This is ridiculous and is truly out of hand. Taxes are getting out of control. People are being put to death for treason. It is time that this stops. I am sure that their are other people who are thinking the same thing. If we want to trade with other countries, then let us have that right. We are no longer making as much money as we would like to. There are people losing jobs because of this terrible war such as our friend John. He was a dock worker but lossed his job because they have closed down the Boston Harbor. So there are currently zero ships coming in to trade and there is not a place to fish or trade back. We don't even have the right to vote on these things! With this being said I say //"No taxation without representation//!!" and "//Give me liberty or give me death!!!!!"// Truly Yours, Jasmyn