This is the painting every school child knows: George Washington leading his men December . 10, 1776, across the Delaware, by Emmanuel G. Leutze. It depicts the single most critical event in the nation's history. Washington's salvation of his army and with it the American cause, at Christmas time 1776. I have never seen Washington so determined as he is now, a soldier wrote in his diary of the general who inspired his shivering heroes when it looked as if the Revolution was going to collapse.(AP Photo)