George Washington Crosses The Trenton Essay

On December 25th, 1776 George Washington crossed the Delaware River into Trenton. Trenton was where Hessians, German mercenaries, had set up base. Since it was Christmas the Germans did not expect the Americans to attack them, which is what made Washington’s plan so brilliant. Washington had to cross the Delaware river in order to get to Trenton. In the painting Washington Crosses the Delaware the painter, Emanuel Leutze, portrays a better image of the event than the poem Washington “Crosses the Delaware”, written by David Shulman, does. In the painting by Leutze the viewer can see the image of Washington crossing the Delaware and all of the obstacles they (Washington and his crew) had to deal with. The painting also allows the viewer to see more than just Washington and his crew on their ship; in the distance there are many more rows of ships with men and horses. There is also a shoreline in the painting which shows that they are crossing a river or small body of water instead of an ocean. Furthermore, in the painting the water is full of ice chunks which members of the ship had to

Shulman mainly focused on how the crew saw the event and how the crew was affected. An example of how Shulman described the event and how it affected the crew would be in line seven and eight “When star general’s action wish’d “GO!”, He saw his ragged continentals row”. This is showing that the crew was affected by Washington’s demands because the crew is growing tired from rowing across the river. The previous line also paints a mental image of Washington standing tall and ordering his crew to pursue forward while the crew rows away relentlessly. Another example of how the crew was affected would be in line 12, “A wet crew gain Hessian stronghold.”. This line paints a mental image of a wet crew that has just captured an enemy fort, which is not something portrayed in the