Following the Drum: Women at the Valley Forge Encampment

By Nancy K. Loane

Book Overview

Friday, December 19, 1777, dawned cold and windy. Fourteen thousand Continental Army soldiers tramped from dawn to dusk along the rutted Pennsylvania roads from Gulph Mills to Valley Forge, the site of their winter encampment. The soldiers' arrival was followed by the army's wagons and hundreds of camp women. Following the Drum tells the story of the forgotten women who spent the winter of 1777-78 with the Continental Army at Valley Forge--from those on society's lowest rungs to ladies on the upper echelons.

Impoverished and clinging to the edge of survival, many camp women were soldiers' wives who worked as the army's washers, nurses, cooks, and seamstresses. Other women at the encampment were of higher status: they traveled with George Washington's entourage when the army headquarters shifted locations and served the general as valued cooks, laundresses, or housekeepers. There were also the ladies at Valley Forge who were not subject to the harsh conditions of camp life and came and went as they and their husbands, Washington's generals and military advisers, saw fit. Nancy K. Loane uses sources such as issued military orders, pension depositions after the war, soldiers' descriptions, and some of the women's own diary entries and letters to bring these women to life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1640123091
• ISBN13: 9781640123090
• Release Date: March 2020
• Publisher: Potomac Books, Incorporated
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Must Read for History Buffs.................

The reader is deeply rewarded by Dr. Loane's ten years of hard work. The uncovered facts dispel many of the fanciful assumptions most Americans have about this encampment. The insight into Martha Washington's dedication to her husband, the sheer number of people huddled up in this small community, and the local unpopularity of the revolutionary movement is particularly enlightening. Well written and a great reference.

Following the Drum: Women at the Valley Forge Encampment

Following the Drum: Women at the Valley Forge Encampment, by Nancy Loane, is a fact filled enjoyable read. Three aspects standout in this book: First, Her material is well researched with excellent notes; Second, She makes no embellishments to glorify her subjects - in fact, she includes an Appendix where she painstakingly exposes the myth surrounding Martha Washington; and Third, she helps us realizes these were different and difficult times. Travel, particularly in winter, was horrific; a class system clearly existed between the upper class (Officers and Ladies) and the `common sort'. Sickness and death were ever present even in the privileged class - the percentage of infant and child deaths during this period is startling and the pain unimaginable. This book provides an excellent reality check should we begin to romanticize life during the American Revolution.

Great Read!

I really enjoyed this book. It tells the story of Valley Forge from a different perspective. I bought 5 copies to give as gifts!

A Great Work of the Valley Forge Encampment

I consider this one of the great works on the Valley Forge Encampment of 1777-78. Nancy Loane brings to light the forgotten Patriots of the Revolution, the women who cooked, sewed, and even bore arms under fire. This work takes the reader beyond the Encampment of 1777-78 and doesn't leave one in wonder as to what happened to the likes of Lucy Knox and Caty Greene the remainder of the war and beyond. Martha Washington's roll is examined in detail and certain myths exposed. This is a must have for any student of the Revolutionary War, the Valley Forge Encampment or one interested in the truth of the roll of women in the struggle for American Independence.

Fascinating Reading, Well Written Work

BOOK REVIEW ON FOLLOWING THE DRUM When was the last time you turned to the back of a book to glean more information by reading a footnote? This well researched and extremely well documented work chronicling the lives of women who stayed at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary troop encampment of 1777-78. Few Americans know the pivotal significance that stay in the rural Pennsylvania countryside had to the Revolution's eventual outcome. The gathering of about 15,000 soldiers, created a community that was among the largest in all the colonies within months of its inception. All had to be fed and sheltered. There was no battle, but what happened there emboldened the patriots. Daily drills overseen by Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Augustus von Steuben, took the group of individuals to a trained military force. During that time, France signed on, pledging its moral, political and military expertise to the cause of independence. One its best military tacticians, Gen. Louis Le Beque de Presle Duportail became the chief engineer making that change possible. Women followed the troops throughout the war. Most remain nameless. Others, primarily officers wives are better known. They and some of their children were asked by their husbands to travel to encampments. The journeys were long, dangerous, requiring lengthy planning, often guards accompanied the troupe to insure its safe arrival. Some woman made the trip with anticipation; others did so out of a sense of duty, in response to their husband's request. It is the lives of these women, officers' spouses, that "Following the Drum" explores, among them Martha Washington, Lady Stirling, Lucy Knox and Catherine Greene. It's author, Nancy K. Loane, Ed. D., former seasonal ranger at Valley Forge National Historical Park, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Speaker, founding member of the American Revolution Roundtable of Philadelphia, and honorary life-time member of the Society of the Descendants of Washington's Army at Valley Forge, has researched primary sources, letters, journals and records in this work's writing. It's a fascinating book. Its ease in reading and accompanying pictures enhance the women's stories it portrays. If your interest is American history, women's issues, life in 18th century, or romance, [yes, these are love stories], you'll enjoy reading this book. I highly recommend it. Margaret Barno