Forge

Realizing that the only rations they’ll receive is one bag of course-ground flour, Sylvanus, being an older and more veteran member of their unit, sets to the task of making firecake. He sends the younger troops to fetch creek water, mixes it with the flour, and “bakes” the paste on hot stones. It’s with these meager rations that Curzon and his unit are expected to work.

Caleb explains General Washington’s orders for the construction of their basecamp “huts.” With few tools, the soldiers are to chop down trees, drag the logs back to camp, plane and level them, and then pile them atop one another, forming rudimentary houses. The work is dangerous and exhausting, but they take to it with focus as their hut will be the only protection from the oncoming winter weather.

It goes like this for the remaining chapters of Part 1, with Curzon narrating not only his experience, but the larger story of the Valley Forge camp’s creation: from the slow labor of chopping wood to the digging of latrines. As they toil, a young soldier named Benjamin Edwards entertains them with mythological tales. Edwards is pleasant, educated, and sincere – hailing from a higher class, he’d intended to attend university in Europe, but the outbreak of the Revolution led to a terrible row between himself and his father.