I believe the only comparison between the Federal army's encampment in Stafford and the real Valley Forge is that they were both military encampments.
The Marquis de Lafayette said this about the Continental Army at Valley Forge: "The unfortunate soldiers were in want of everything; they had neither coats nor hats, nor shirts, nor shoes. Their feet and their legs froze until they were black, and it was often necessary to amputate them." The comparison is an insult.
The historical markers at the park should include the history of the invading army's successful effort to prevent the self-determination and freedom of the Southern states.
The markers should also include information about the Union army's success in reducing most of Fredericksburg to rubble in the middle of winter and making refugees of all the women, the children, the old, and the sick.
This was total war against all. The Rappahannock River is 184 miles long, but the Union army had to cross at Fredericksburg, where there were no Confederates present initially.
When they build a park in Chambersburg, Pa., for Confederate Brig. Gen. John McCausland and his men who burned the town to the ground, I will welcome the park to Stafford.
Ted Humphries
Stafford