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This seven-foot-long panoramic watercolor includes the only known eyewitness depiction of George Washington’s headquarters tent during the Revolutionary War. Continental Army engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the Frenchman who later designed the street plan of Washington, DC, painted this watercolor in the fall of 1782. Washington’s tent is shown on the left side, perched on a hill overlooking the Continental Army’s encampment at Verplanck’s Point, New York, which took place from the end of August to mid-October 1782. A French Army officer who visited the camp recalled, “I noticed on a little hill which overlooked the camp… the quarters of General Washington.” 

Artwork Details

  • Panoramic View of Verplanck’s Point
    Painted by Pierre Charles L’Enfant
    Verplanck’s Point, New York
    September-October 1782
    Watercolor, Ink, Graphite, Paper
    Museum of the American Revolution, Gift of the Landenberger Family Foundation
    2017.12.01

Image 091120 16x9 Lenfant Watercolor Washington Tent Crop Among His Troops Detail Shot 16  Courtesy Of Moar
General Washington's tent, depicted on the left side of L'Enfant's watercolor.

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A zoomed in section of Verplanck's Point featuring General Washington’s tent perched on a hill overlooking the encampment

Explore rare paintings of the Continental Army at West Point and Verplanck's Point, including the only known wartime image of George Washington's tent.

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A zoomed in section of Verplanck's Point featuring General Washington’s tent perched on a hill overlooking the encampment
 

Among His Troops: Washington's War Tent in a Newly Discovered Watercolor

January 13 - February 19, 2018
Learn more about the Museum's 2018 special exhibit, Among His Troops, highlighted by the only known wartime depiction of George Washington's headquarters tent.
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Image 082720 George Washington Tent Collection
 

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General George Washington's original sleeping and office tent from the Revolutionary War.
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This rare eyewitness Revolutionary War sketch depicts pen and ink drawings of the Continental Army's North Carolina Brigade and female camp followers marching through Philadelphia in August 1777.
 

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