Experience the American dream with today’s Patriots of the Past interview. I’m your host, John Gillespie.
It’s December 29, 1777. I’m at Yankee headquarters with a very concerned General Washington.
JG: “General, why do you look so pensive and preoccupied?”
GW: “John, I have men confined to hospitals and in farmers’ homes because of frostbite. We have another 3,000 men in camp who are unfit for duty because they’re barefoot and lack proper clothing. God help us. It’s going to be a dismal Christmas.”
That December at Valley Forge was barren, blizzardy, and bleak, but the troops stayed the course and survived that winter to win the war for freedom.
Read the full text of George Washington’s Circular to the States, written December 29, 1777, where he addresses the needs of the troops at Valley Forge.
John and Jan Gillespie are the founders of the Rawhide Boys’ Ranch; they have fostered 351 teenagers and wrote the book Our 351 Sons; they have also assisted numerous churches in developing youth programs and expanding their total church ministries. After running for U.S. Senate, John founded 1776 American Dream, which exists to demonstrate the vision of our founding fathers and help our generation of youth passionately embrace those values.
