The Retreat through the Jerseys
Date1898
Artist
Howard Pyle
(American illustrator, 1853–1911)
Illustration Citation"The Story of the Revolution," by Henry Cabot Lodge, in Scribner's Magazine, April 1898; reproduced in The Story of the Revolution, by Henry Cabot Lodge (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1898)
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions24 1/4 × 36 1/4 in. (61.6 × 92.1 cm)
frame: 29 1/4 × 41 1/4 in. (74.3 × 104.8 cm)
frame: 29 1/4 × 41 1/4 in. (74.3 × 104.8 cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, 1912
Object number1912-91
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextHarsh conditions plagued General George Washington's strategic retreat after defeat in New York. But his tactics ultimately allowed the Americans to overcome the enemy at the Battle of Trenton in 1776, turning the tide of the Revolution. Pyle draws attention to Washington with a red scarf. The general is riding Nelson,the chestnut horse with a white blaze that he favored on most of his military campaigns. It has been suggested that the rider at Washington's left (from our perspective) is Billy Lee, the enslaved man who accompanied him throughout the war as his personal attendant.
Pyle uses "The Jerseys" to indicate the colony's provinces of West and East Jersey, a distinction used during the Revolutionary period.
