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Upper Merion Township near Valley Forge in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
 

“Crowded and Very Sickly”

 
 
“Crowded and Very Sickly” Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, March 20, 2010
1. “Crowded and Very Sickly” Marker
Inscription.
Putrid fever, the itch, diarrhea, dysentery and rheumatism were some of the afflictions suffered by the Continental troops. At Valley Forge the Hospital Department inoculated two to three thousand against smallpox. Medicine, food, blankets and even straw for bedding were in short supply.

All kinds of “Dirt and Filth” were ordered burned or buried. General Orders in May requested mud plaster removed, huts made as airy as possible, and “the Powder of a Musquet Cartridge burnt in each hut daily to purify the Air.

As filth and offal accumulated in and around the huts, the number of sick increased. Washington continually issued orders to clean up the huts.

. . . the smell was in some places intolerable, owing to the want of Necessaries or the Neglect of them . . .

June 10 the Army moved from huts to tents.

At camp, brigade hospitals treated the less seriously ill and those recovering from the small-pox inoculation. When the sick overflowed these “flying hospitals,” meeting houses and barns within a few miles of camp were pressed into service.

The seriously ill were moved to general hospitals at Yellow Springs, Bethlehem, Lititz, Reading and Ephrata.
 
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Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: War, US Revolutionary. A significant historical month for this entry is June 1700.
 
Location. 40° 6.052′ N, 75° 26.875′ W. Marker is near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in Montgomery County. It is in Upper Merion Township. Marker is on Historic Trace Road south of North Inner Line Drive, on the right when traveling south. Marker is in Valley Forge National Historical Park, on the historic trace near the von Steuben statue. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: King of Prussia PA 19406, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Huntington’s Brigade (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); a different marker also named Huntington’s Brigade (about 300 feet away); A Pointed Defense (about 700 feet away); The Grand Parade (approx. 0.2 miles away); Innerline Defense (approx. 0.2 miles away); Training for Victory (approx. 0.2 miles away); Major General Friedrich Wilhelm Baron von Steuben (approx. 0.2 miles away); Varnum’s Quarters (approx. 0.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Valley Forge.
 
More about this marker. The background of the marker features a picture of a nurse tending to sick patients. A map showing the location of Valley Forge and the flying hospitals appears on the marker’s
Marker in Valley Forge image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, March 20, 2010
2. Marker in Valley Forge
right side.
 
Also see . . .  Valley Forge National Historical Park. National Park Service website. (Submitted on March 22, 2010, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey.) 
 
Marker on the Historic Trace Road image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Bill Coughlin, March 20, 2010
3. Marker on the Historic Trace Road
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on February 7, 2023. It was originally submitted on March 22, 2010, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey. This page has been viewed 834 times since then and 19 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3. submitted on March 22, 2010, by Bill Coughlin of Woodland Park, New Jersey.

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Mar. 19, 2024