December 25 in American History
On a freezing Christmas night, George Washington ferried 2,400 men across the ice-choked Delaware River for a surprise dawn attack on the Hessian garrison at Trenton. The Revolution had been collapsing; this desperate, brilliant gamble revived it. The famous painting hangs in the Met, but the real crossing was colder, darker, and braver.
In 1776: Washington crosses the Delaware. On a freezing Christmas night, George Washington ferried 2,400 men across the ice-choked Delaware River for a surprise dawn attack on the Hessian garrison at Trenton.
On a freezing Christmas night, George Washington ferried 2,400 men across the ice-choked Delaware River for a surprise dawn attack on the Hessian garrison at Trenton. The Revolution had been collapsing; this desperate, brilliant gamble revived it. The famous painting hangs in the Met, but the real crossing was colder, darker, and braver.
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