Life — September 13, 1900 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Historic Bits—XIX This satirical illustration depicts a military scene captioned "While Washington was crossing the Delaware. A warning was sent to the Hessian Commander, but he was too busy to read it." The cartoon shows soldiers in Revolutionary War-era uniforms gathered around a table, apparently ignoring important military intelligence. The satire seems to mock the Hessian Commander's inattention to a critical warning message during Washington's famous Delaware crossing—a pivotal moment in American Revolutionary history. The humor lies in suggesting the enemy commander was negligently too preoccupied to read urgent battlefield communications, implying his carelessness contributed to the Americans' strategic advantage. It's a lighthearted jab at military incompetence during this significant historical event.