Semiquincentennial

On the road to independence we find ourselves in the winter of 1775-1776 and the patriot cause has ground to a halt. The Continental Army had surrounded and laid siege to Boston but lacked the heavy artillery necessary to drive the the British garrison from the town.

Enter Henry Knox, a Boston bookseller and aspiring artillery officer who proposed a daring solution.  Knox would lead a force north; to march 300 miles to Fort Ticonderoga in New York.  From there he would disassemble and pack cannon, powder and shot and return across 300 miles of rivers, swamps and frozen wilderness to Boston; bringing the weapons of deliverance to Washington's army.  

Knox lacked any formal military training; nevertheless, he had proven himself the previous May when he, Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen ambushed the small British garrison at the fort, capturing it intact, including its artillery.  Washington approved the plan and sent newly-commissioned colonel Knox on his mission in late November.

Arriving at the fort, Knox did not delay.  Within 24 hours he selected 59 pieces of artillery, including brass and iron mortars, howitzers and cannon, each ranging in weight from 100 lbs. to 5,000 lbs.  That was the easy part.  Now he had to figure out how he would bring this enormous weight of firepower 300 miles back to Boston in the dead of winter.  It would prove to be a logistical challenge like no other: a feat of endurance, ingenuity and sheer determination.  Knox's expedition is often referred to as the Noble Train of Artillery. 

Image Credit: Tom Lovell (American, 1909-1997), The Noble Train of Artillery, 1946

Knox packed everything on wooden sledges pulled by teams of oxen.  While the frozen ground and ice made travel easier than wagons on muddy roads nothing was straightforward or without enormous challenges.  

The return route wound south along Lake George, across the Hudson River and east through the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.  Conditions were brutal and took a toll on men and beasts.  

December 16, 2025 Reenactors

Sleds broke through the ice dumping cannon into lakes and rivers that had to be recovered.  Steep hills were a challenge to surmount and a more formidable challenge to descend as the drovers struggled mightily to keep both teams and cargo from cascading out of control. 

   

Against all odds, and in just over two months, the artillery arrived in late January 1776.  

On March 4 - 5, under the cover of darkness, Washington's troops positioned the Ticonderoga artillery behind earthworks on the Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston Harbor.  When British General William Howe woke the morning of the 5th he arose to the sight of his army and fleet now withing range of cannon positioned on the high ground. 

Faced with assaulting fortified positions or evacuating, on March 17 British troops including their Loyalist followers sailed out of Boston Harbor without a fight. 

Henry Knox's audacious plan became one of the most celebrated logistical feats of the American Revolution.  Knox commanded the Continental Army's artillery for the duration of hostilities and later served as Washington's Secretary of War.  

Notably, Knox had never received any formal military training.  He owned and ran one of the best-stocked bookshops in Boston:  the London Book Store.  Knox regularly placed orders to London on behalf of occupying British troops.  And when British military technical manuals arrived Knox made a point of putting them aside, reading them and taking copious notes.  In particular anything and everything to do with the Royal Artillery.  Only after he was finished with his studies did he deliver the order to its British soldier.

Henry Knox's London Book Store on the corner, left.

When the Ticonderoga guns were emplaced on Dorchester Heights and trained on British forces Knox organized the construction of fortifications, fields of overlapping fire and prepared for siege warfare.  He supervised and drilled the gun crews on powder load, shot size and fuse timing.  He taught the mathematics of trajectory, range and elevation and drilled the crews in the discipline of loading, firing and safety.

At the time America had no formal military academies - Knox was entirely self-taught.  He turned imperial knowledge against the empire itself; essentially beating the British at their own game.  A home-schooled artilleryman and military commander.

National Museum of the United States Army

Fun Facts: Knoxville, Tennessee, the state's first capital, was founded in 1786 and named for Knox while he was Secretary of War.  Fort Knox, Kentucky was established in 1918; named for Henry Knox and his role as Washington's chief of artillery and the first Secretary of War.  Eight states are home to counties named after Knox.

This ends the short series on the Semiquincentennial as our trip to Boston essentially ended with the end to the Continental Army's siege of Boston.  I had high hopes for a post featuring Old Ironsides; alas, the USS Constitution was closed to the public as it is undergoing extensive refitting likely in preparation for being under sail during next year's festivities.

Thanks for reading.