Introducing the 2018 Washington Crossing Historic Park Challenge Coin!
The Henry Knox Challenge Coin can be purchased in the Visitor Center gift shop. Including tax, the cost is $17.76.
This year’s Challenge Coin features Henry Knox, a Revolutionary War general who helped to develop the Continental Army. He served as Chief Artillery Officer, General, and ultimately Secretary of War under President Washington.
As the chief of the Continental army’s artillery, Knox aimed to build “a well-regulated and numerous body of Artillery” that could transform his so-called “receptacle for ragamuffins” into a strong army.
Knox’s work with the army’s artillery arsenal helped to secure the crucial victories at the Battle of Trenton and Princeton in the winter of 1776-77.
After Knox’s role in the victory at Yorktown, General Washington noted to Congress that Knox’s “genius supplied the deficit of means.” He then promoted Knox to the rank of major general and finally commander.
“With respect to General Knox,” Washington once wrote, “there is no man in the United States with whom I have been in habits of greater intimacy; no one whom I have loved more sincerely, nor any for whom I have had a greater friendship.”
Every year between now and 2026—the 250th anniversary of the crossing of the Delaware River—Washington Crossing Historic Park will release a new challenge coin. The back of each year’s coin will feature a different officer in the Continental army, while the front features the crossing as depicted in Emanuel Leutze’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware” painting.
