I've read several histories of Washington and/or the Revolution, including "Washington's Crossing" by David Hackett Fischer - a very good book and surprisingly easy to read - and "1776" by David McCullough, which covers the Battle of Trenton in detail. This film - despite some revisionism - is an excellent portrayal of the crossing and the Battle of Trenton.  Jeff Daniels does a surprisingly good job of characterizing Washington's demeanor, patriotism and dedication to the "Glorious Cause", as most revolutionists of the time called our American Revolution. After all Daniels is not new to portraying historical military figures, having portrayed Joshua Chamberlain in "Gettysburg" and "Gods and Generals". In fact the acting by the entire cast is uniformly good throughout. Despite his dedication and patriotism, Washington had surprisingly little military experience before taking command and had to learn as the revolution evolved. Trenton was his first real battlefield success. Washington came very close to losing his army; and we came very close to losing the Revolution in 1776. It was mostly due to Washington's determination and daring that we were able to continue fighting instead of going down to an inglorious defeat. This movie does a good job of telling that story...it is an excellent film and an excellent history lesson. I think General Washington would have smiled and nodded in agreement after watching this.