John Gano was a Baptist minister, soldier, patriot, and Revolutionary War chaplain who allegedly baptized his friend, General George Washington. He was also notable for his bravery at the Battle of White Plains and crossing the Delaware River with General Washington. Gano later served as the first chaplain of the Kentucky Legislature in 1798. He was the founder of the Gano political family, which included several generations of politicians and military officers.
John Gano
George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River
George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, which occurred on the night of December 25–26, 1776 during the American Revolutionary War, was the first move in a complex and surprise military maneuver and attack organized by George Washington, the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, which culminated in their attack on Hessian forces garrisoned at Trenton. The Hessians were German mercenaries hired by the British.
Washington Crossing the Delaware, an 1851 portrait by Emanuel Leutze depicting Washington and Continental Army troops crossing the river prior to the Battle of Trenton on the morning of December 26, 1776
The cover of Thomas Paine's The American Crisis, published the week before Washington's covert crossing of the Delaware, infused a much-needed sense of optimism into Continental Army troops, who were beginning to doubt their ability to prevail militarily against the British Army, then the largest and most powerful army in the world. It also inspired delegates in the Second Continental Congress, who were troubled by recent Continental Army military defeats.
The Passage of the Delaware, an 1819 portrait depicting the crossing by Thomas Sully
Reenactors cross the Delaware in Durham boats on December 25, 2005
