- Available Now October 9, 2008 Sellersville Theater,
Sellersville, Pennsylvania Moonalice poster by Chuck Sperry
According to Moonalice legend, the tribe played a little known
role in saving the Continental Army at Valley Forge in the
winter of 1777–78. Under the command of noted hemp farmer George
Washington, the Army made camp in Valley Forge with hopelessly
inadequate supplies and training. As a result, 2,000 soldiers
died of disease over the course of a normal Pennsylvania winter.
Yet somehow the Army emerged in the spring of 1778 as a first-
rate fighting force. How did that happen? History credits Baron
Freiderich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian offer who trained the
soldiers. What history doesn’t properly explain is how Steuben
did it. Fortunately, the Moonalice legend fills in the holes in
the story. Steuben was unusual for a European officer in that he
understood and worked directly with enlisted men. He understood
how to motivate them. He eschewed traditional methods, such as
the cat o’ nine tails a