Making sacrifices for freedom

Mike, at The Deep Freeze, lives in Philadelphia.  Doing something called geocaching, he headed out of town and went for a treasure hunt in his neck of the words — the treasure being a moment where one touches history.  Here is what he found:

It was a modest grave site right along the side of the road. If you were in your car you would drive past it without thinking twice. Buried at this site are twenty-two soldiers from the Revolutionary War. There is a church across the street from this site that served as a hospital while the Continental Army was camped at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-1778. I probably stood there for fifteen minutes reflecting on these brave men. They died hundreds of miles from their homes with nobody to comfort them. Their families probably didn't know they had died for weeks. Yellow fever was rampant throughout the camp, so these men were probably infected and removed from the camp to isolate them from the army. They were probably cold and hungry. They weren't getting paid since the Continental Congress had no money. They were fighting for a belief. A dream that they would not live to see come to a realization. These were great men who should never be forgotten.

Mike writes more about his journey, and promises some pictures, so I urge you to link over and read the whole thing.  I think it's important that we get these reminders about the principles — and the bravery — that marked the beginning of our nation.