Thomas and his brother William were married to Pott’s sisters.1197
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William was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.1195,1198
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Col. William Dewees, Jr., (spelled sometimes as “DeWeese”), was the co-owner of Valley Forge* at the time of the American Revolution.1196
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Dewees led in the procession of the day and commanded the bells to ring when the Declaration of Independence was officially announced in Philadelphia.1199
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A Col. William Dewees of Tredyffrin Township, Chester, PA is named as registering one slave in 1780.1200
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The land [known as Valley Forge] which later occupied the Continental Army during the winter of 1777-1778 was originally part of the "Manor of Mount Joy" which was seventy-eight hundred acres of land granted to Letitia Penn Aubrey and her husband William Aubrey by her father William Penn on October 24, 1701 for an annual rent of one beaver skin. They gradually sold off the property, selling the last 175 acres in 1730 to Daniel Walker, Stephen Evans, and Joseph Williams. This partnership soon became the "Mount Joy Forge," later becoming more commonly known as "Valley Forge." This was a complete ironworks: finery, chafery, bloomery, and a slitting mill. Pig iron was converted to billets; iron billets into bars; cast iron into wrought iron; and manufactured finished metal products. In the 1750's a sawmill was added and in 1757, the entire property was purchased by a prominent Quaker ironmaster, John Potts. He eventually added a gristmill** to the property several years later.

Potts, Hackley & Potts was the firm operating the forge by 1767 — consisting of Joseph and David Potts (John Potts' sons) and their cousin, Thomas Hackley. On May 10, 1768 the forge was conveyed solely to Joseph. Isaac Potts, another son, became owner of the gristmill by 1773, and soon after built his stone house along Valley Creek near the Schuylkill River. David Potts built a summer residence himself nearby — he lived in Philadelphia — but this house was acquired by William Dewees, his brother-in-law, and Isaac Potts and William Dewees entered into a partnership owning the forge.

The forge on Valley Creek was a source of military materials with the arrival of war, and despite his being a Quaker, Dewees became a colonel in the militia and he with Isaac Potts devoted a large part of the production from the forge for the war effort. The production of munitions from this location was cause for the British to make it a stop on their way to Philadelphia in 1777. On September 11, 1777, following the Battle of Brandywine, a contingent of British forces reached Valley Forge on September 18th. Reinforcements arrived on the 20th and that morning, they carried off the "rebel stores" and burned the forge and all the structures except the gristmill. (Which incidentally survived until 1843 when it was destroyed by fire.)

General Washington arrived at Valley Forge on December 19, 1777 with his troops. Other generals had found housing in various farms around the encampment area, and Washington found his own in the home of Isaac Potts, which he rented from its current tenant, Mrs. Deborah Hewes for a hundred pounds in Pennsylvania currency. Mrs. Hewes, whose first husband had been one of Isaac's brothers, moved in with the Dewees family.1194
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From 1771 Col. William Dewees, son of Sheriff William Dewees of Philadelphia, was associated with the Potts's, and in 1773 appears to have bought an interest.1201
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The winter of 1777 was fast approaching, and General George Washington needed to find winter quarters for his army. It was only that September that British General William Howe had marched into Philadelphia unopposed, hoping that capturing the seat of the revolutionary government would put an end to the “rebellion”.

Washington selected Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, situated 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia. It was close enough to keep British raiding parties away from interior Pennsylvania, yet far enough away to diminish the threat of surprise attacks. The Schuylkill River provided a line of defense to the north, and the high ground of Mount Joy and the adjoining elevated ground of Mount Misery combined to provide an easily defensible western flank. Defensive trenches were dug on the encampment perimeter, creating an Outer Line of Defense to the south and an Inner Line of Defense to the west.

The British never attacked, but the memory of that winter encampment is engraved in the memory of the nation nonetheless, thanks to the rebirth and rejuvenation of the Continental Army that occurred there. This rebirth happened in the face of deprivation, although such deprivation was not an unusual trial for soldiers in the Revolutionary Army. Soldiers received irregular supplies of bread and meat, some getting their only nourishment from firecake, a tasteless mixture of flour and water. Shortages of clothing caused severe hardship for a number of men, while other soldiers had a full uniform.

The well-equipped units patrolled, foraged, and defended the camp. Under the direction of military engineers, a city of 2,000-odd huts was built along planned military avenues. The troops constructed miles of trenches, five earthen forts, and a bridge over the Schuylkill River.

Although cold and hunger were ever-present hardships, the true scourge of the camp was disease. The most common killers were influenza, typhus, typhoid, and dysentery. Dedicated surgeons and nurses, a smallpox inoculation program, and camp sanitation regulations kept the death tolls in check, although nearly 2,000 men died at Valley Forge due to one cause or another.

At Valley Forge the army matured into a professional fighting force. The Continental Army was primed and ready to move on to the next level just as a charismatic former Prussian army officer, Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, arrived in February 1778. Steuben created a “model company” who in turn successively trained other personnel at Regimental and Brigade levels. He established standards for sanitation and camp layouts that remained standards a century and a half later. Perhaps Steuben’s biggest contribution to the American cause was training in the use of the bayonet. Throughout the early course of the war, Americans used the bayonet mostly as a cooking skewer or tool, and Steuben’s introduction of effective bayonet charges was to be a crucial factor in later battles.

Today’s Valley Forge National Historical Park is operated by the U.S. National Park Service.456
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See more about the history of Valley Forge in the notes of John Potts (d. abt 1768), also found in this database.1202
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Reference is made to the fact that Colonel Dewees after the war died penniless due to the fact that his property had been ravaged by the Bristish and American Armies. He fought for many years for compensation but was never compensated [before his death].1203
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“Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire, the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery.” ~~ George Washington at Valley Forge February 16, 1778 Engraved at the top of The National Memorial Arch at Valley Forge, PA.


*Valley Forge was an iron forge on Valley Creek, 22 miles northwest of Philadelphia in Schuylkill Township, Chester County Pennsylvania and the site of historical Valley, Forge, PA. It was the subject of many paintings including the famous “The Prayer at Valley Forge” painting by artist Arnold Friberg.1204

[See the Arnold Friberg painting “The Prayer at Valley Forge” in this subject’s Multimedia section.]

**A gristmill or grist mill is a building in which grain is ground into flour. In many countries these are referred to as corn mills or flour mills.