APP photo of a reenactment at Washington’s Crossing. 2014. It takes place on the Pennsylvania side.   LINK:      https://wp.me/pqmj2-COB

Editor’s Note:  Artist Jack Bredin has shown his work many times in our online gallery  (Blogfinger.net.)   Much of what he has exhibited here has been his marvelous scenes in Ocean Grove and in other New Jersey locations where he has lived.

If you are familiar with his work, Jack  usually has a story to tell.  You need to study the details of his paintings to discover important situations, ideas, and truths.  Jack is a historian, as some of you know, regarding  Ocean Grove. But he also knows a great deal about the area near Fort Lee  where the Cornwallis events occurred.

In this work,  “Cornwallis Headquarters” he presents a beautiful scene, but behind that is an American story that is little known but very important regarding events which occurred in New York and New Jersey during the Revolutionary War.

Here is Jack’s account of that time which inspired his latest painting:

British Gen. Charles Cornwallis

“CORNWALLIS HEADQUARTERS” by Jack Bredin.

Before the start of the American Revolution, “The Black Ledge Carney House,” now known as “Cornwallis Headquarters,” was a tavern frequented by local fishermen.

The tavern was located on the Jersey Shore in Alpine on the Hudson River, and yes, the Jersey Shore starts at the NY/NJ border in Alpine.

When signing “The Declaration of Independence,” our Founding Fathers pledged “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor,” as for sure they would all hang or be shot if the Revolution were not successful.

King George of England, after reading the “Declaration,” ordered General Cornwallis to quickly dispose of this “bit-of-bother.”

Cornwallis, upon arriving in New York Harbor, promptly burned  Fort Washington in Manhattan to the ground.

He then turned his sights on Fort Lee located atop the Palisades, across the Hudson River, where Washington’s Army had retreated.

This is when Thomas Paine wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

Cornwallis then crossed over the Hudson River and  took the “Carney Tavern” to use as his headquarters, while his army climbed the Palisades and then chased Washington’s “rag-tag-army” from Fort Lee, across the state, and across the Delaware River, to Valley Forge in Pennsylvania.

It was cold there, and there was little food.

Washington wrote from Valley Forge to Congress: “I keep requesting more troops and supplies, and we get nothing! ”

“IS ANYBODY THERE?”

It was bleak. The Revolution appeared to be over until Washington, in a brilliant move, crossed his “half-frozen army” back over the ice- packed Delaware River in the middle of winter to attack the British troops in a desperate battle in Trenton, just one week before most of his men were scheduled to be released from service to go home.

Cornwallis’ surprised army was defeated in Trenton, retreated back to Manhattan, boarded ships, and returned to England.

George Washington became our first President, and the United States of America became the best nation on Earth.

Cornwallis Headquarters is maintained as a historic site by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.

A song from that era:   “The Old Grey Goose is Dead.”