If you cannot get access to the West Wing of the White House, go across to Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan. There, on the second floor in the American Gallery hangs the same painting of George Washington, his face dramatically illuminated by the rising sun, standing tall in command of a rowboat bound towards New Jersey, in one of the most dramatic feats of the Revolutionary War – an act that breathed new life into a moribund colonial resistance and quite possibly saved the independence of the United States.

On this day, December 25, in 1776, General George Washington began his crossing over the Delaware river to surprise the Hessian garrison and give the United States a much needed victory in the Revolutionary War.

Washington’s march was a bold gamble. Ferrying 2,400 men plus artillery and horses was no easy feat under regular conditions, and he had to attempt it under the cover of darkness in increasingly inclement weather. But it paid off: the Hessians were caught by surprise and quickly overwhelmed. Washington’s army suffered almost no casualties. He retreated back across the Delaware, captured prisoners and supplies in tow, having broken the British aura of invincibility.