Event
2018 Prelude to Valley Forge
Fee:
Free.Dates & Times
Date:
Time:
Duration:
Type of Event
Description
Colonel Ogden’s 1st New Jersey Regiment
Prelude to Valley Forge Living History Program
Saturday, December 15, 2018
Would you like to see what a typical day looked like during the Valley Forge Encampment? Come out to watch the men and women of Col. Ogden’s 1st New Jersey Regiment recreate camp activities on Saturday, December 15, 2018 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Camp activities include cooking, cleaning, sewing, company exercises, and musket demonstrations. At the end of the day, there will be a commemoration service for the fallen of the 1st New Jersey Regiment of the Continental Army.
This free program will begin at the National Memorial Arch (Tour Stop #3) at 10:00 am and will continue throughout the day at the Muhlenberg Brigade Huts (Stop #2). The program is free to the public. For questions about how to get to Valley Forge National Historical Park or to the Muhlenberg Brigade Huts, please call the Visitor Center Desk at 610-783-1099. For more information about the 1st New Jersey, visit their website at http://www.1nj.org.
Please be advised this event is not the Annual March-In of the Continental Army Commemoration scheduled for December 19, 2018. For more information about the March In event, follow this link.
Schedule of Events
9:30 am - 10:00 am: Arrival at Valley Forge
Gather at the National Memorial Arch (Tour Stop #3) with the 1st NJ to join their one mile march to the Muhlenberg Brigade Huts. Visitors are encouraged to park at the Muhlenberg Brigade (Tour Stop #2), and walk along the Joseph Plumb Martin trail to the National Memorial Arch (approximately one mile). Any visitor unable to complete the one mile walk may park their vehicle at the National Memorial Arch to observe the opening events.
10:00 am: March to Muhlenberg Brigade
Join the regiment and park rangers in a one mile march from the National Memorial Arch to the Muhlenberg Brigade Huts. Along the way the rangers will share quotes from the Revolutionary War, describing the conditions of the Continental Army in the days prior to their arrival at Valley Forge.
10:15 am: Reading of General Orders
Following the march to the Muhlenberg Brigade, orders will be read aloud relative to hut building and construction tools will be distributed. Shortly thereafter, sentries will be posted on the camp perimeter (to be relieved at intervals throughout the day).
10:30 am: Construction of Temporary Shelters (Tents and Wigwams)
11:45 am: Camp Cooking Demonstration with Preparation of Rations
Following cooking demonstrations, the regiment will take their dinner (the mid-day meal.)
1:00 pm: Fife and Drum: A Medley of Martial Music
1:15 pm: Sizing and Forming a Company of Infantry
The regiment will demonstrate The Manual Exercise as Ordered by His Majesty in the Year 1764. The demonstration will include marching, maneuvering, and firings.
2:00 – 3:00 pm: Camp Life Activities
Soldiers and camp followers will demonstrate some of the everyday activities of encampment life such as laundry, cooking, sewing, and drill.
3:15 pm: Commemoration of the Encampment
To wrap up the day, watch the 1st NJ perform an 18th century military ceremony to commemorate the sacrifice of the men and women of the original Valley Forge Encampment.
Reservation or Registration: No
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