“Washington Crossing the Delaware”

Christmas Eve 1776, Washington and his army crossed the cold Delaware River in

order to attack the un-expecting Hessians on December 26th. For the most part, the victory was

Washington’s. In a strategic perspective, this attack has little significance; still, it gave hope

to colonists of the time who doubted the capability of the Continental army. In 1851, this

moment in history was painted by Emanuel Leutze. 85 years later, 1936, David Shulman wrote

the poem “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” Both are great representations of Washington

and the Continental army crossing the Delaware River fighting for his colonies.

Although Emanuel Leutze’s painting and David Shulman’s poem “Washing Crossing …show more content…
Some men in Leutze’s painting are even using

tools to push themselves away and around from the ice. Although ice and cold is only a small

detail, it demonstrates the difficulty, determination, hard work, and risk that the men of

Washington’s army took to cross the Delaware and fight (Leutze “Washington Crossing the

Delaware”). Also, both works of art displayed the determined crew rowing. Men rowing in the

painting is one of the first details in the foreground of the painting that catches the eye as well as

one of the last details the that can be seen in the background (“Washington Crossing the
Delaware”). Shulman emphasizes this detail when he writes, “He saw his ragged continentals

row. Ah, he stands – sailor crew went going. And so this general watches rowing” (Shulman

lines 8-10). Of course this is an obvious and important detail that one would think would or

could not be left out of the painting, but in the poem, it again displays the hardship and

determination of the