Washington Crossing In Images Of America
On the night of December 25, 1776, George Washington with his small army crossed the Delaware River from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to launch a surprise attack on a group of Hessian mercenaries at Trenton, nine miles away. It was an audacious move and a turning point in the Revolutionary War. The crossing of the Delaware has become an iconic moment in American history and rightly so. It has been the subject of many books and is celebrated in American culture in numerous ways.
This new book in the Images of America Series, "Washington Crossing" (2022) by Robert Sands and Patricia Millen is meant, in the words of the authors, "to honor the 1776 crossing of the Delaware River by Gen. George Washington and his army and the parks that mark its place in history." This short photographic history does not purport to give a full account of this momentous event. Rather it discusses Washington's crossing in the context of the state parks established by both Pennsylvania and New Jersey to commemorate the crossing and it shows the impact of the commemoration on the lives of local people and others. This short book ties a great national event into the lives of people in their communities.
The book begins with a brief chapter giving an overview of Washington's crossing of the Delaware. The focus then shifts to the parks commemorating the crossing. Pennsylvania established the Washington Crossing State Park in 1917 while New Jersey established its Washington Crossing State Park on the other side of the River five years earlier in 1912. Sands and Millen describe the establishment of each park and the many individuals and groups that played leading roles in each state. They describe the varied features that each park has come to offer, such as nature trails, concerts, flower gardens, and picnicking, that the parks have come to provide and how each park has become a community gathering place as well as a destination for tourists. Canals, bridges and railroads came to be important in the years following the Crossing and they are shown in the book as well, with their impact on the parks. The two parks are administered separately by their respective states and I was curious about how and when they co-ordinated their efforts.
The central chapter of the book leaves the parks momentarily to discuss Emmanuel Leutze's famous 1851 painting "Washington Crossing the Delaware" which has come to symbolize the Crossing. The painting's history is closely intertwined with the parks, as it was held by the New Jersey park for several years. The famous painting formed the basis for a sculpture from Bedford, Indiana, which graces the Pennsylvania Park and for a beautiful full-size copy painted by artist Robert Williams. The focus of the book again is on the impact of Leutze's painting on community life.
The final sections of the book discuss commemorative events at the parks, particularly the annual Christmas re-enactment of the Crossing together with a discussion of the bridges and canals that connected the two states together beginning in the early 19th Century. The final chapter offers a brief look at the many ways the Crossing is reflected in American culture, from songs and books to coins and films and much more. It offers a fond look at many local people who devoted their lives to service to the parks.
I am writing this review as we approach Thanksgiving, 2022. It is a difficult time for our country. Washington's bold move for freedom in crossing the Delaware and the commemoration of the crossing through the efforts of the local communities reminded me of the precious nature of American life.
