"The Midnight Retreat" Etching by Levon West, 1932

Presented is a 1932 etching of “The Midnight Retreat” by Levon West. The etching was issued as part of The Bicentennial Pageant of George Washington Portfolio, published by the George Washington Memorial Association, and is signed by Levon West in the lower right corner. The etching depicts General George Washington's retreat and crossing of the Delaware River on December 7, 1776. At the top, Washington and Colonel Glover, both on horseback, watch over the nighttime crossing from the dark shoreline as a third man holds a torch.  In the foreground, a boat full of soldiers push away from the banks, while another boat ferries a cannon. During the fall of 1776, British troops under General William Howe forced the Continental Army to evacuate Manhattan and to retreat southwest across New Jersey.  Numbering about 3,000 men, Washington’s army escaped across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania on the night of December 7.  Washington eventually relocated to the Keith House near McConkey’s Ferr