Crossing of the Delaware

December 25

What is now known as Washington Crossing State Park is the site of the historic event that took place on Christmas night in 1776, when General George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River just before the Battle of Trenton. Washington's Crossing of the Delaware is reenacted on December 25 each year, beginning at Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania (formerly McKonkey's Ferry), and ending on the opposite bank at Washington Crossing, New Jersey.
St. John Terrell, an actor and producer, inaugurated this observance in 1953; he played the part of George Washington himself for a number of years. The costumed actors who cross the river in a specially made Durham boat, similar to those originally used by Washington and his men, try to reproduce the scene exactly as it is depicted in the well-known painting by Emanual Leutze: Vermont's Green Mountain Boys sit in the bow, Gloucester fishermen from Massachusetts man the oars, and General Washington stands with one foot on the gunwale. The actor who portrays Lieutenant James Monroe carries the 13-star flag seen in the painting—an anachronism, since the flag had not been adopted in 1776.

CONTACTS:
Washington Crossing State Park
355 Washington Crossing-Pennington Rd.
Titusville, NJ 08560
609-737-0623
www.state.nj.us

SOURCES:
AmerBkDays-2000, p. 856

Crossing of the Delaware

Washington’s beleaguered army attacks Trenton; famous event in American history (1776). [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 138]

See: America

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References in periodicals archive

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