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Washington Crossing The Delaware
by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze
Washington
Crossing the Delaware is an 1851 oil-on-canvas painting by
Emanuel Leutze. It commemorates Washington's crossing of the
Delaware on December 25, 1776, during the American Revolutionary
War, the first move in a surprise attack against the Hessian forces
at Trenton, New Jersey in the Battle of Trenton. The painting
depicts Washington standing proud with his officers around him. The
men work hard to push past ice while trying to ignore the cold.
There seems to be a Heavenly glow around them, protecting them from
the elements and from the British and the Hessians.
As of 2004, the original Washington Crossing the Delaware
painting is part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
On Christmas Day 1776
the troops, a small army of 2,400 men led by General George
Washington, assembled at McKonkey's Ferry, Pennsylvania on their way
to attack a Hessian Garrison of 1,500 in Trenton, New Jersey and
were given the password for the day, "Victory or Death." All of the
men were gathered at the point of embarkment by 3:00 PM and the
loading of the boats began at nightfall. Washington and a party of
Virginia troops crossed over first to secure a landing site. The
original plan called for the entire army to be disembarked on the
New Jersey side of the Delaware by midnight, but it was not until
3:00 AM on December 26 that the army completed the crossing and it
took another hour to get the troops organized for an attack. A hail
and sleet storm had broken out early in the crossing, winds were
strong and the river was full of ice flows that had been moving
downstream for several days. The treacherous weather conditions
stopped General Eqing from even attempting his crossing. Colonel
Cadwalader crossed a significant portion of his men to New Jersey,
but when he found that he could not get his artillery across the
river he recalled his men from New Jersey. When he received word
about Washington's victory, he crossed his men over again but
retreated when he found out that Washington had not stayed in New
Jersey.
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