tradition has placed "Steuben's Kitchen" in this grove. It is Isaid that when the Baron entered the American service he was accompanied by a very expert chef. Upon reaching Valley Forge the great general was assigned to one of these huts. The next morning, in order to prepare for his master's breakfast, the chef asked to be shown the kitchen in which his labors were to be performed. He was taken to a spot under the trees where an iron pot was suspended from sticks above a fireplace of stones. When he was assured that this was the kitchen, he promptly took leave of his master to return to a less barbarous mode of life than that offered at Valley Forge. Be this as it may, his master remained to do noble service in the cause of human liberty. By his skill and perseverance order was brought out of chaos, discipline was established, a uniform system of tactics was adopted, and a mass of untrained men made into that splendid army which thwarted the treachery of Lee at Monmouth and there and elsewhere won those victories which culminated at Yorktown. Only those who know what he did for the cause of Liberty can appreciate the debt of honor which the American people owe to Frederick William Augustus Henry Ferdinand von Steuben, aide-de-camp to Frederick the Great, who voluntarily placed at the disposal of Congress his great gifts and his wide experience.

Whether Major-General Nathanael Greene occupied a hut, as his biographer states, or the residence of Isaac Walker, as Mr. Wm. John Campbell declares, I am unable to determine. If he did occupy a hut it was here. In a letter to his brother he says: "We are all going into log-huts-a sweet life after a most fatiguing campaign." Mrs. Greene came to camp in January and helped to dispel the gloom of the dreary winter. Knowing some French and being a woman of bright parts and a gay manner she attracted to her husband's quarters Lafayette and the other foreign officers, including Steuben, Duponceau, de Kalb, Fleury, Duplessis, and the gallant Pulaski. Often Washington and his wife were the guests of honor.

In one of his letters General Greene says: "Colonel Greene and all his officers are coming home to recruit a negro regiment. Will they succeed or not?" This movement had been sug

gested by General Varnum, and in it Col. John Laurens took the keenest interest. The movement was entirely successful. The slaves who enlisted received their freedom, and their bravery and heroic service during the war proved the wisdom of General -Varnum's plan. Their owners were compensated for the loss of their service.

In March, Greene, who commanded the division consisting of Muhlenberg's and Weedon's brigades, was made Quartermaster-General, but retained his right to command in the field. The good results from this appointment were set forth a few months later by Washington in a letter to the President of Congress.

Gen. Alexander MacDougall was another officer to make his winter home in one of these huts. His patriotism had been tried by twenty-three weeks of imprisonment before it was tested here, that being the penalty which the New York Assembly imposed upon him for his address, "A Son of Liberty

to the Betrayed Inhabitants of the Colony," published when the Assembly failed to protest against the usurpations of the Crown. As his imprisonment took place before the famous shot at Lexington he is sometimes called "the first martyr to the patriot cause." He became colonel of the first New York regiment, and was later made a brigadier. Two months before the army came to Valley Forge he was made a major-general.

A Soldier's Grave.- Among those who occupied these huts was Lieut. John Waterman, whose death is announced in this characteristic soldier's letter:

"Dear Sir:

"CAMP VALLEY FORGE, Apl. 24th, 1778.

"Captain Tew and myself arrived safe to post the 22d instant, found the encampment in perfect tranquility and the enemy peaceable in their quarters. Am sorry to inform you that yesterday died of a short illness that worthy gentleman John Waterman Esqr. Commissary of our brigade. "Humble servant

"WILLIAM ALLEN.

"N. B.-Have returned your bill to Capt. Olney, as it would

not pass in Pennsylvania.

"THEODORE FOSTER, ESQ."

So frequent had been the deaths in camp, three thousand dying in six months, that a few days before Lieutenant Waterman's death the following order had been issued:

"The Funeral honours at the Interment of officers, are for the future, to be confined to a solemn procession of officers and Soldiers, in Numbers suitable to the Rank of the Deceas'd, with revers'd arms. Fireing on these occasions is to be abolish'd in Camp."

If we follow that silent procession across the road, and down the path to the monument we will find where his comrades laid his body. Some one erected the rough stone and cut on it the initials, "J. W., 1778," thus making it the only marked grave at Valley Forge.

which

The Waterman Monument.-The monument rises above it is the most conspicuous landmark at Valley Forge. It is an imposing granite shaft, fifty feet high, erected by the Daughters of the Revolution in memory of the martyrs of Valley Forge. It stands on a piece of ground thirty by thirty-three feet square, with an approach from the road ten feet wide and three hundred and sixty-one feet long, given by Mr. I Heston Todd. Mr. Todd later deeded to the Society additional ground on which are placed the historic cannon loaned by the Girard Estate.

The obelisk rests upon a base ten feet square, raised upon a plinth with three gradations. On the face of the plinth is the following inscription:

TO THE SOLDIERS OF WASHINGTON'S ARMY

WHO SLEEP AT VALLEY FORGE, 1777-1778.

ERECTED BY THE

DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION.

Set in the base is a large bas-relief in bronze representing the Valley Forge encampment. Above this is a bronze seal of the Society. The Colonial flag is carved on the obelisk.

The dedication took place on October 19, 1901. Mr. Todd made the presentation of the deed, and addresses were made by the Hon. William A. Stone, Governor of Pennsylvania; the Hon. Boies Penrose, Mr. Peter Boyd and Miss Adaline Wheelock Sterling, President-General of the Daughters of the Revolution. As Governor Stone unveiled the shaft he said: "On behalf of the Daughters of the Revolution I dedicate this monument to the heroic dead of Valley Forge."

On the south side of the plinth is another inscription, as follows:

NEAR THIS SPOT LIES LIEUTENANT JOHN WATERMAN.
DIED APRIL 23, 1778,

WHOSE GRAVE ALONE OF ALL HIS COMRADES WAS MARKED.