FACT #1 One of the most famous American paintings shows the Continental Army crossing the Delaware River. It was painted in 1851 and was named, “Washington Crossing the Delaware”.
It was painted by Emanuel Leutze and he went to great lengths to make it as accurate as possible.FACT #2 One soldier who crossed lived long enough to be photographed. Conrad Heyer was close to or over 100 years old when his picture was taken. He also had the earliest birthdate of anyone ever photographed.FACT #3 The army brought a plethora of artillery across the river. Crossing that much artillery across an icy river was really hard. They brought 18 cannons, and some weighed almost 1750 pounds.FACT #4 Washington was really far behind on schedule, so he almost cancelled the attack.
His men were tired, poorly bathed, and had to walk miles through dank snow.FACT #5 Crossing the river was bad because of cold weather, but there was also a blizzard. The storm had freezing rain, snow, and heavy winds. This made the crossing miserable for everyone in the Continental Army. FACT #6 Large number of experienced watermen from New England and Philadelphia areas guided the boats across the river.
Most of them were from New England. FACT #7 The Continental Army used cargo boats, or durham boats, and ferries to transport its men across the Delaware. The vessels were forty to sixty feet long, made to transport iron ore and bulk goods down rivers. These types of boats were neither comfortable, nor dry. FACT #8 Washington was planning on crossing the Delaware River in order to do a surprise attack on Hessian soldiers at Trenton, New Jersey.
FACT #9 The crossing of the Delaware included three different river crossings, but only one got across. There were 1200 soldiers in the militia, and they surprised Garrison at dawn.FACT #10 Washington crossed the river so his army could attack the hessians at Trenton. He was trying to surprise them, and the British had 1400 hessian soldiers.Additional information (optional):
