More info: After messing around with the image levels, the faded text shows as "Eternal Vigilance is the price of Liberty" (a quote which has been incorrectly attributed to numerous famous figures: https://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/eternal-vigilance-...)
I suspect it's meant to portray George Washington at Valley Forge (where he spent a winter with his army during the War of Independence). From Wikipedia:
"Valley Forge long occupied a prominent place in American storytelling and memory. The image of Valley Forge as a site of terrible suffering and unshakeable perseverance emerged years after the encampment ended." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_Forge)
The man in the foreground appears to be George Washington. There's some barely visible text in the space above the cannon ("Pri"; "Lib") but I can't make out the rest (I'd guess something about liberty).