In the Valley

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

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NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

With the Democrats — and a share of the Republicans — feeling so gloomy about the war, we found ourselves thinking of 1777. That was the winter that nearly froze the nascent United States to death. The British had bled the states in the fall. By the time the Continental Army arrived at Valley Forge on December 19, 1777, the troops were reeling from double defeats. At the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, the Americans suffered the setback that forced them to surrender Philadelphia, at the time the national capital, to the Redcoats. An attempt to recapture the city failed less than a month later with Washington’s defeat at Germantown.

Despite pressure from the Continental Congress, Washington refused to make another try, sure that he would lose. Morale had stayed buoyant after the loss at Brandywine, but spirits began to sink after Germantown. Things would only get worse. By the time winter set in, the troops were dispirited. The supply chain was in disarray. The weather turned foul, the roads grew impassable, and the local farmers were unwilling to extend credit to supply Washington’s army (the Redcoats paid cash). Food grew scarce. Disease festered. As many as 3,000 died that winter in the Valley, more than we’ve lost in our three and a half years in Iraq.

Yet the defeatists, the summer soldiers — and there were many throughout the colonies — failed to carry the day. Ultimately what saved the young nation was the determination of Washington and his winter soldiers to stay the course. As winter turned into spring, Washington tapped a new man, Nathanael Greene, as the quartermaster, and Greene immediately set about improving roads and streamlining requisitioning. At the same time, Baron von Steuben arrived. Von Steuben implemented the first serious drill training program for the colonial army, single-handedly transforming the colonials into a modern fighting force.

We would not want to understate in any way the enormous sacrifices that have been made in Iraq. The current war is serious. But it is not as costly as our earlier struggles. In constant dollars, Vietnam, Korea, and World War II were all more expensive — and the cost is further diluted by America’s ever increasing population. The per capita cost of World War II for the 133 million Americans alive at the time was $24,262 in 2006 dollars. The per capita cost for the Korean conflict was $2,695 and for Vietnam, $2,621 — more than twice the per capita cost of Iraq.

Yet Americans face in the war on terror, of which Iraq is one battle, an existential threat as serious as that faced by Washington and his Continental Army at Valley Forge. It is our good fortune today that, thanks to advances in military technology and economic and population growth, we are able to meet that threat without having to contemplate the kind of sacrifices our forebears made during the Revolution, the Civil War, and even World War II. Washington’s supreme confidence and renewed vigor in prosecution of the war, his constant optimism, determination, loathing of retreat and surrender, they are what carried us through the Valley. We have no doubt that is what Americans are hungering for today.

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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