How Washington Really Crossed the Delaware
As Leutze depicts it, Washington crossed the Delaware in the dawn’s early sunlight. That is inaccurate. The whole idea was to surprise the enemy. So the Patriots crossed the river around midnight on the night of December 25-26, 1776, not at the break of dawn. Sunlight, however, gives the painting a nice glimmer that adds to the drama. From an artistic perspective, its addition – even if inaccurate – was good. The actual crossing, as depicted above by Mort Kunstler, known for the historic accuracy of his work, was not as picturesque as Leutze’s depiction. Washington did not cross the Delaware standing at the prow of a rowboat. Had he done so, he probably would fallen in the river or swamped the boat. Instead, he and his men crossed in flat boats.
Rather than small boats that carried just a few men, the Patriots crossed in barge-like flat boats, packed with men, horses, and cannons. And they did not row across, but were pulled by wires strung across the river, helped along by men who pushed poles into the river bottom. Another dramatically brilliant but historically inaccurate bit about Leutze’s painting is the presence of mini icebergs on the river. In reality, the Delaware would have been cluttered with ice sheets. Even on a more secure flatboat, Washington would not have crossed in a heroic pose at the boat’s front, one leg dramatically placed in front of the other. Instead, he would have crossed in a more sensible manner, well balanced and probably grasping something like a well-secured cannon.