Henry Knox and the Noble Train of Artillery

Henry Knox by Gilbert Stuart
(Source)

Instructions to Colonel Henry Knox

Cambr[idge] Nov. 16 1775

You are immediately to examine into the state of the Artillery of this army & take an account of the Cannon, Mortars, Shels, Lead & ammunition that are wanting; When you have done that, you are to proceed in the most expeditious manner to New York; There apply to the president of the provincial Congress, and learn of him, whether Col. Reed did any thing, or left any orders—respecting these things, & Get him to procure such of them as can possibly be had there. The president if he can, will have them immediately sent hither; If he cannot, you must put them in a proper Channel for being Transported to this Camp with dispatch before you leave New York. After you have procured as many of these Necessaries as you can there, you must go to Major General Schuyler & Get the remainder from Ticonderoga, Crown point, or St Johns—If it should be necessary, from Quebec, if in our hands—the want of them is so great, that no trouble or expence must be spared to obtain them—I have wrote to General Schuyler, he will give every necessary assistance, that they may be had & forwarded to this place with the utmost dispatch—I have given you a Warrant to the paymaster General of the Continental army, for a Thousand Dollars, to defray the expence attending your Journey, & procuring these Articles, an Account of which you are to keep & render upon your return. Given under my Hand at Head Quarters at Cambridge this 16 day of November Annoque Domini 1775

Go: Washington

Endeavour to procure what Flints you can. (Source)

The Berkshire Mountains as seen from the New York border,
Henry Knox would recognize this view.
(Source)

In the winter of 1775-76, Henry Knox, formerly a bookseller in the town of Boston, was sent by General George Washington to Fort Ticonderoga at the southern end of Lake Champlain. The fort had been seized in May of 1775 by Colonels Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, yes, that Benedict Arnold.

While the fort was in disrepair and had been weakly garrisoned, the American colonists discovered there a store of cannon, powder, and flint. Something desperately needed by the forces surrounding the town of Boston, garrisoned by the British Army under General William Howe.

General Howe was content to remain in Boston, he had been at the Battle of Bunker Hill (more properly Breed's Hill) and had witnessed the Pyrrhic victory gained by the red coated British troops that day.

As Lieutenant Colonel James Abercrombie, late of His Majesty's 22nd Regiment of Foot, lay dying of his wound* some few days after leading the grenadier battalion in an assault upon the hill, said...

"a few such Victories would Ruin the army."

Not wishing to assault the entrenched colonials again, the British waited.

General Washington knew of the guns at Ticonderoga, so he sent Colonel Knox and some men to fetch them. (Technically a civilian when sent to get the guns, Knox had actually been granted a colonel's commission by the Second Continental Congress in November. He was unaware of that at the time. Then, sometimes now as well, the wheels of government move slowly.)

It was a hard journey which you can read about here, Wikipedia I know, but the description is concise and fairly accurate. I have traveled through the Berkshires in the winter, fortunately in a car, not on foot dragging cannon through the forests, and those are ancient hills, said to be amongst the oldest mountains on the planet. Heavily forested and prone to a lot of snow in the winter. (That I've witnessed!)

I cannot imagine moving through those woods and hills in the dead of winter. Somehow Colonel Knox and his men did it. New England tradition has it that one morning the British awoke in Boston to see fortifications looming over them from Dorchester Heights, stocked with the cannon that Knox and his troops dragged, mostly by sleigh, all the way from Ticonderoga. Not long afterward, the British Army and their Tory friends sailed away from Boston.

Never to return.

While the reality is rather less romantic (and you can read all about it in Derek Beck's excellent book, The War Before Independence: 1775-1776) it is one of the tales I heard growing up in Vermont.

And as a rather stout, bookish fellow myself, Henry Knox has always been one of my personal heroes as well as being a hero of the American Revolution.

(Source)

That's a long way to move cannon in the winter, or any season for that matter.

And in reality, they used horses mostly, though most paintings show oxen!)

One last thing, looking for some fascinating reading? Check out the Founders Online, it's where I found General Washington's letter to Colonel Knox. Lot's of great material there, I fear I may wander in and never come out! (Well except to write a blog post every now and again...)




* Said wound being inflicted by an American soldier of African descent, Salem Poor.