Gone for Soldiers: Abraham Heath at Valley Forge

Two hundred and thirty-nine years ago this week (December 19, 1777) Abraham Heath (c.1740-c.1807),* a private in the Virginia line of the Continental Army, found himself in winter quarters** with the rest of Washington's Army in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

[Valley Forge—Washington & Lafayette, 1856. Engraving, 7½ x 10½ inches (image). Henry Bryan Hall (1808–1884), after Alonzo Chappel (1828–1887). Martin, Johnson & Co., Publisher.

Photo Credit: David Bishop Skillman Library, Lafayette College, Easton, PA]

During my ancestor's time at Valley Forge his commanding officer was General George Weedon. In the map below you can see the location of the 6th Virginia Regiment's encampment.

["Encampment at Valley Forge 1778" by George W. Boynton (engraving) - Sparkes, Jered "The Life of George Washington" Boston: Tappen & Dennet 1843"The Cooper Collections of American History" (uploader's private collection)Scanned by the uploader, Centpacrr..

Licensed under PD-US via Wikipedia htps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Encampment_at_Valley_Forge_1778.jpg#/media/File:Encampment_at_Valley_Forge_1778.jpg]

Abraham's term of service was over in February of 1778 and as far as we know he went home to his wife and family (including my direct ancestor, his daughter Sallie Heath Chappell) as soon as he was mustered out.


*My paternal fifth great grandfather--I wrote a series of posts about what we know of his military experiences from the records in 2015: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI
 .
**You can learn more about the huts built by the soldiers at Valley Forge here.



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