Inside the Vault: Washington's Crossing of the Delaware River

On January 6, 2022, our curators were joined by Dr. Phillip Hamilton to learn about George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River on December 25–26, 1776, and the Battle of Trenton. We discussed Washington’s orders to his troops and General Henry Knox’s first-hand account of the crossing and the battle.

Click here to download the slides from the presentation.

Featured Documents

• Spotlight on a Primary Source: Henry Knox’s Order of March to Trenton, 1776
• Henry Knox’s Order of March to Trenton, 1776
• Henry Knox to Lucy Knox, December 28, 1776
• Crossing the Delaware, 1851

Use the timestamps below to jump to the topics you want to view

• Who was Henry Knox?: 2:52–8:53
• Timeline of the Crossing of the Delaware River: 8:55–15:42
• Washington's Order of March to Trenton: 15:45–28:33
• Washington Crossing the Delaware: 52:25–57:27
• Henry Knox to Lucy Knox: 32:35–1:06:42

Additional Resources

• Essay: “The American Revolution, 1763–1783” by Pauline Maier
• Essay: “African Americans in the Revolutionary War” by Michael Lee Lanning
• Video: “Washington’s Crossing” by David Hackett Fischer
• Video: “Henry Knox’s orders for Washington’s crossing of the Delaware: Document in a Minute”