Museum The 10 Crucial Days

This virtual tour travels back in time to the colonial days where General George Washington and his army take on British and Hessian soldiers. 

It's December 1776 and the tides are turning. Colonials desperately attempt to break free from the tyrant King James III. During ten crucial days, General G. Washington swiftly advances on both British and Hessian troops from Trenton, New Jersey to Princeton, NJ. 

It was truly “the times that try men’s souls,” as Thomas Paine told colonists who supported independence. Throughout the summer and fall of 1776 General George Washington and the Continental Army had been repeatedly beaten by British and Hessian forces. Having lost five battles and thousands of men, Washington’s battered army was driven out of New York and across New Jersey. Its size was diminished by casualties, sickness, desertions, and expiring enlistments. Many people, British and Americans alike, believed this ill-fated revolution was coming to an end. Washington retreated across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. Washington Crossing Park holds annual reenactments in December commemorating the courage of Washington’s valiant troops and the sacrifices they made for the freedoms we Americans now enjoy.

Crossing the Delaware

Primary Sources