Too Dry for ‘Washington’ on Delaware

WASHINGTON CROSSING, Pa. —  George Washington and his men had to cross the Delaware over a steel bridge during the Christmas Day reenactment because the water was too low to row to the opposite shore.

Months of dry weather, which have led to a drought warning for the entire Delaware River area, reduced the water level by several feet.

Where Washington crossed 30 miles north of Philadelphia in 1776, the low water has exposed gravel bars, rocks and stumps that have not seen the surface in a century.

“The boats weigh 6,000 pounds apiece, and the river’s at the lowest that anyone can ever remember in over 100 years, so there’s just no possibility,” said K. Ward Vinson, 69, who was portraying Washington for the first time after 27 years as a boat man.

“You can’t even get a toy boat in there right now,” said Vinson, who admitted to being disappointed, since this is his first and last chance to play Washington making the crossing.

The park plans to offer a different person each year the chance to play the “father of his country.”

The bridge has been used twice before, when the river was frozen, but this is the first cancellation because of drought.

“It is a little disappointing,” said boat crew member Joe Becton, 46, part of the first African American contingent in the event’s history.

On Christmas 1776, the troops began the quarter-mile crossing at 6 p.m. and did not finish until 3 a.m. because of the weather, ferrying 2,400 soldiers, 200 horses, and 18 cannons across and marching eight freezing miles downstream to surprise Hessian mercenaries celebrating Christmas at Trenton, N.J.

Two Americans froze to death on the march, but none died in the battle, which cost the Germans 30 casualties and netted Washington 1,000 prisoners and six cannons.

The victory electrified the struggling nation and Europe, and Congress promptly declared Washington absolute commander.