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Valley Forge National Historical Parkkids marching in a join the continental army junior ranger program
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Valley Forge National Historical Park
Join the Continental Army
Kids drilling and training in the Join the Continental Army Junior Ranger Program
Valley Forge NHP
Children participating in the "Join the Continental Army" Junior Ranger Program

JOIN THE CONTINENTAL ARMY

Appropriate for boys and girls, ages 6-12

Participants will be mustered-in to the Continental Army by receiving enlistment papers and copies of Continental currency. How to stand and march like a soldier will then be covered. The recruits will be issued wooden dummy muskets to learn some of the different ways Washington's soldiers would have carried these. The process for loading and firing a musket will also be practiced. Most importantly, attendees will be encouraged to return for future programs to be held the first Saturday of each month October through April. This is the key to the program, as the topics covered will be different each time. Those who participated in the first programs will help to teach and train newcomers, just as Washington's veteran soldiers would have done. For additional information, e-mail us

Programs start at 11:00 am. Meet at the Welcome Center on the following dates:

October 4, 2008
November 1, 2008
December 6, 2008
January 3, 2009
February 7, 2009
March 7, 2009
April 4, 2009

Download the October 2008 Recruitment Poster

 
artillery firing demonstration
Valley Forge NHP
Park Rangers demonstrate the firing procedures of an artillery piece.

Watch the Artillery Firing Demonstration

Download this MPEG file and watch the artillery firing demonstration from the April 7, 2007 program.

Watch a Musket Firing Demonstration

Download this MPEG file to watch park rangers and volunteers demonstrate musket firing.

 


Watch one of the Sergeants from the Join the Army program demonstrate the musket drill

Download the MPEG file to watch the sergeant demonstrate the drill.

* Note these are large files and may take several minutes to load onto a computer *

 
 
Great Egret © Bill Moses  

Did You Know?
Valley Forge NHP is one of the largest open spaces in southeastern Pennsylvania with 3,500 acres containing habitats for hundreds of plants and animals including 200 species of birds.

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Last Updated: October 06, 2008 at 09:12 EST