ABSTRACT

Adult literacy education as a government activity in the United States can be traced back to 1778 when General George Washington and troops were encamped at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War. Following the drastic winter at Valley Forge, when spring arrived, the health of men improved to the point that a hospital was turned into a camp school and illiterate troops were taught the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. The school continued to operate until the end of the Valley Forge encampment (Wildes, 1938, p. 257).