Henry Knox

by Mark Puls

  At eight o'clock on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, Knox watched a flotilla of small boats in the harbor loaded with soldiers heading for seventy-eight ships that appeared on the horizon. More than 8,900 soldiers and 1,100 loyalists left town to sail for Nova Scotia. Among the fleeing population was Henry's former teacher at the Boston Latin Grammar School, John Lovell. In recent years, Lovell and his patriot son had differed in their views on the Anglo-American conflict and had taught at separate ends of the one-room school, each proclaiming the justness of his side. His son had been imprisoned by the British during the occupation. Also among those leaving was Adino Paddock, who led Knox in the artillery company the Train and had remained a loyal Tory. Most disheartening for Lucy Knox was that her father, Thomas Flucker, who remained the royal secretary of Massachusetts, boarded a ship along with her mother and sisters, never to return to America.

  Shortly after the last of the British soldiers left, American troops marched in and took possession of Boston "in the name of the 13 United Colonies of North America.“40

  In large part due to Henry Knox, Washington could claim his first victory of the American Revolution and report "with the greatest pleasure" to Congress the liberation of Boston.41 No one played a more critical role in the triumph than Knox, who not only overcame remarkable obstacles in dragging the cannons from Ticonderoga to enable the success but also commanded the artillery corps that secured victory. The triumph remains one of the most significant military victories in U.S. history, for it boosted hopes for independence in that heady spring of 1776 at a time when provincial congresses were deciding whether to authorize their delegates to the Continental Congress to support a break with England; it quieted claims that the British military could not be defeated; and it came at a time when many delegates to the national Congress had not yet left for Philadelphia and were canvassing their constituents about their feelings toward independence. When he asked Virginians, Thomas Jefferson found that "I may safely say nine out of ten are for it.“42

  Without the victory at Boston, support for nationhood would have seemed a hollow cry based on unrealistic expectations. By forcing the British out of this stronghold, the Americans showed they could indeed fight against the world's most powerful army. The triumph gave them something to build their hopes on, and thoughts of defeat were pushed aside for the season. Henry Knox had not only played a leading role in liberating his hometown of Boston, but he had given the impetus for Americans to support liberating their land from British rule and push toward independence and nationhood.

  THREE

  RAGAMUFFINS

  Despite the victory, Henry Knox had little reason to celebrate. As he reentered Boston for the first time in almost a year, he surveyed the damage that British regulars and vandals had inflicted on his once-fashionable bookstore. Volumes were scattered around the floor, thrown open to the weather, damaged, water-soaked, and destroyed. The windows had been shattered, and glass lay upon the floor. His shelves were broken up. All his hard work to build the business had been wasted. He still owed a considerable sum on the store's stock to merchants in England, which despite the present circumstances he hoped to repay.

  While the homes and businesses of many of the patriot leaders in Boston had been vandalized, overall the town was in surprisingly good condition considering the military occupation and his incessant cannonading. The home of John Hancock, the president of the Continental Congress, suffered no damage to speak of. Fine portraits from masters such as Jonathan Singleton Copley still hung undisturbed on the walls of the mansion. Henry also found, as he had hoped, that the British had been forced to leave behind military supplies and their heavy guns. But many of the guns had been damaged, rendering them useless.

  Henry and Lucy heard that the British fleet in which the Fluckers traveled had not gone to Nova Scotia, where loyalists who had remained in Boston said the ships were headed. Instead the vessels were just five miles south of Boston in Nantasket Roads. Washington suspected the real British intention was to land in New York City. On Sunday, March 24, he sent six regiments racing there and ordered the rest of the army to prepare to follow. It soon became apparent, however, that the fleet had merely stopped to arrange its cargo and take on water for the trip to Nova Scotia, a point from which civilians could continue on to England. Henry spent the week arranging for the heavy guns to be loaded onto wagons and hiring drivers to transport the rest of the artillery while Lucy packed for the trip to New York.

  On Sunday, March 31, Knox received orders for the artillery to move out at dawn on Thursday and march with a regiment under the command of Brigadier General Joseph Spencer. Lucy, who expected to give birth any day, chose to accompany Henry. Knox was directed to follow the coast while his regiment headed for Norwich, Connecticut, on the way to New York. Washington was anxious about protecting the coasts, and he asked Knox to inspect the fortifications at New London and Colonel Richard Gridley to inspect those at Cape Ann. Congress shared his concerns and approved a resolution ordering the commander in chief to send engineers to secure New England harbors.1

  The first of 300 wagon teams assembled on Boston Common on Sunday, April 3, as soldiers strained to load cannon, musket balls, gunpowder, buckshot, shells, cannon cartridges, flints, fuses, and other munitions. Washington knew there was very little he could tell Knox about moving cannons. Instead of issuing his characteristic detailed orders, he simply penned to Henry: "Trusting in your zeal, diligence and ability, I remain confident of every exertion, in your power, for the public service.“2

  Leaving the train under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel David Mason, Knox and Lucy headed for Norwich, then proceeded to Fairfield. Lucy felt that the delivery of their child was imminent, and they quickly found lodgings. She gave birth to a daughter, whom they named Lucy. Knox could not afford to spend time lingering with his wife and newborn, however much he wanted to, and torn between his paternal and military duties, he left for Providence, Rhode Island. There he was met by several of the town's leaders, who appealed to him to help shore up the defenses in Newport and its harbor. Residents had recently driven away British ships that threatened the towns. Knox designed five batteries from which "the advantageous situation of the ground, must, when executed, render the harbor exceedingly secure," he wrote Washington on Sunday, April 21. He added that the harbor would be a safe rendezvous for the fledgling Continental Navy, and its lee side would protect vessels during even harsh storms.3

  Three days later, he was in New London scouting the topography around the harbor. He boarded the ship of Admiral Esek Hopkins, the commander in chief of the Continental Navy, who seven weeks earlier had led eight ships in the victorious capture of New Providence in Nassau of the Bahamas. The triumph netted substantial supplies and munitions for the army. Knox was surprised that Hopkins was not a dashing, heroic-looking figure but a kindly old man with pleasant manners. "Though antiquated in figure, he is shrewd and sensible," he wrote in a letter to Lucy. "I, whom you think not a little enthusiastic, should have taken him for an angel, only he swore now and then.“4

  Knox continued to New York City, where the army was hurriedly building fortifications. News had reached the troops that Howe and the British fleet had finally reached Halifax, and Washington expected him to return with fresh British regiments. Planning adequate fortifications for New York City, surrounded on all sides by water, was especially difficult. The British could land troops at almost any point or attack several spots at once. Knox's artillery guns were mounted at Governor's Island, Red Hook, and Paulus Hook, and he marked out the ground for an artillery park on Monday, April 29, to erect the camp and storehouses for his regiment.

  From New York's artillery company, Knox noticed a bright young captain by the name of Alexander Hamilton, who reported that he had sixty-nine men fit for duty.5 During Knox's days as a bookseller in March 1775, he had advertised in the Boston Gazette the sale of a tract written by Hamilton, entitled The Farmer Refuted, which argued for colonial rights. Knox was ple
ased to find that Hamilton's talents were not confined to literary efforts and that he possessed remarkable organizational skills. His company of gunners was among the most disciplined in Knox's regiment. Like Knox, Hamilton had been abandoned by his father and had gone to work in a shop at a very early age. Both had developed business and accounting skills, and despite their mercantile upbringings, each had hungered for martial glory and become ardent military students.

  Knox's time was spent organizing his regiment. He ferried back and forth to the various batteries around the city, directing platforms for cannons to be erected and guns to be moved into place to command the harbor and surrounding rivers. His artillerymen, along with their cannons, were posted with regiments throughout the army. Unlike most commanders, he had to take a view of the overall situation of defenses and troop dispositions just as the commander in chief was required to do. He placed the heaviest mortars in the batteries facing the sea and the light mortars near the fort encampments. He inventoried each battery to make sure the requisite amount of shot, rammers, spungets, and ladles were ready for battle. In assessing his corps, he found it had too few to man the 121 light and heavy cannons. His regiment had been reduced to 520 men, including 50 officers, and he needed 1,210.

  As the soldiers worked, they scanned the horizon of the Atlantic looking for any signs of Howe's ships. Picket guards were sent out in the mornings and evenings to watch for a surprise attack if the British landed somewhere along the coast, and men were ordered at night to "lay upon their arms and be ready to turn out at a minute's notice.“6 In the case of an attack or the sighting of British ships, Knox's men were to fire two cannons from Fort George, at the south end of Manhattan near his headquarters, and a flag would be hoisted at General Washington's headquarters at a house on Pearl Street. If the attack came at night, a light would be raised instead of a flag.

  In anticipation of the battle, the Continental Congress declared Friday, May 17, a day of "fasting, humiliation and prayer, humbly to supplicate the mercy of Almighty God, that it would please him to pardon all our manifold sins and transgressions, and to prosper the Arms of the United Colonies, and finally, establish the peace and freedom of America, upon a solid and lasting foundation.“7 Washington ordered the army to observe the declaration.

  Tensions ran high not only in anticipation of the British fleet but out of suspicions of disloyalty within the patriot army. Knox heard rumors that Tories and spies had infiltrated its ranks. To prevent sabotage, orders were issued to post sentries at all batteries armed with cannons as Knox saw fit, and for the guards to be doubled at night. Only generals and men assigned to the batteries were permitted on the cannon platforms "or to approach the cannon, or to meddle with the rammers, spungets, or any of the artillery stores placed there. The Officers of every guard are to see that their men are particularly alert in executing this order.“8

  Knox, who was just twenty-six years old, was building an artillery corps virtually from scratch. He seemed to be the sole man in the Continental Army with both the expertise and authority to oversee a myriad of details, ranging from recruiting men to the minutia of casting cannons. He continued to press for more troops to man the gun posts and for additional cannons to guard the coastline. Meanwhile, Robert Treat Paine, a Massachusetts delegate to the Continental Congress, wrote him that the government's order for the casting of forty mortars on April 13 was still delayed due to the uncertainty of the proper weights for the guns: "The opinion I have of your understanding and zeal in these matters induces me to write thus freely to you hoping you will with all convenient speed inform me of those matters and favor me with such further observations as you may think of service in the affair.“9

  A letter from John Adams, dated June 2, arrived from Philadelphia, thanking Knox for his advice on military books to be obtained from Europe. Adams thought that Congress should pay for American editions of these texts and agreed with Knox's advice to establish military academies "for the education of young gentlemen in every branch of the military art: because I am fully of your sentiment, that we ought to lay foundations, and begin institutions, in the present circumstances of this country, for promoting every art, manufacture and science which is necessary for the support of an independent state.“10 Knox was already preparing for American nationhood by advocating a military school that could produce its own highly trained officers.

  Adams wrote that the signs in Congress and across the continent seemed to be leaning toward independence. "The votes of the Congress and the proceedings of the colonies separately must before this time have convinced you, that this is the sense of America, with infinitely greater unanimity, than could have been credited by many people a few months ago.“11

  On Friday, June 14, Washington took Knox's advice to allocate more men to his artillery corps. Four men from every company in New York were to be assigned to Knox's command and report to him on Sunday. Knox and General Greene traveled to the northern tip of Manhattan to scout the terrain and plan fortifications overlooking the north Hudson. General Putnam wanted to build a fort at Kingsbridge to safeguard a possible retreat route. Knox and Greene disagreed and thought any defenses would be ineffectual unless a fort was built at Mount Washington, which overlooked both the Hudson and Harlem rivers. His excellency agreed and ordered Fort Washington to be built at the spot.

  Lucy arrived with their child and stayed at Henry's artillery headquarters, which was at a comfortable home at the foot of Broadway, overlooking New York Harbor. With preparations for a major battle ongoing, she became increasingly concerned about her husband's safety. After losing her family to England, she worried about possibly losing her husband as well, and seeing him every day eased some of her anxieties. Knox wanted her to return to a safer part of the country. He was concerned that the British fleet might arrive at any moment, and in the midst of an attack, his wife and child might not have time to flee. He also had other apprehensions. Several of the soldiers had been stricken with smallpox, and many were being inoculated. Also, despite the threats and discipline from Washington, men continued to fire off their muskets without concern over where the shots landed. Several men had been killed by friends. Lucy promised him to leave soon.

  The detection of a Tory plot on June 21 to assassinate Washington and his top commanders and then sabotage the American cannons exacerbated Lucy's worries. Gilbert Forbes, a gunsmith from Broadway, was arrested. After realizing he would be hanged, Forbes sought absolution and revealed that the plan was headed by one of Washington's guards, Thomas Hickey. The conspirators hoped to execute the scheme as the British launched their attack, and planned not only to kill the top commanders but to blow up the magazines and block the roads out of town. At a June 26 court-martial, Forbes said Hickey coaxed recruits by pointing out "the impossibility of this country standing against the power of Great Britain." News of the conspiracy led to immediate orders for the doubling of sentries at Knox's artillery park and its laboratory for making munitions. Knox undoubtedly was a prime target for assassination.

  A total of thirty-four men, including the Tory mayor of New York City, David Matthews, were implicated in the plot and arrested. The court-martial found Hickey guilty of crimes of "[s]edition and mutiny, and also of holding a treacherous correspondence with the enemy, for the most horrid and detestable purposes," and sentenced him to death. Two days later, on Friday, June 28, 20,000 people attended his hanging at Bowery Lane.12

  The following day, as Henry and Lucy were having a quiet breakfast and enjoying the view from a window overlooking the harbor, a fleet of British ships appeared in the distance with bright white sails billowing from a strong northwest wind, heading directly for the straits of the Hudson and East rivers. Knox was shocked. The enemy could be at his doorstep at the lower tip of Manhattan within a half hour. Alarm guns began to fire, and two cannons let out deafening roars calling the troops to battle stations. Soldiers raced to their posts. Lucy was overcome with distress not only for her own safety but for their child's. Henr
y, equally panic-stricken, masked his guilt over leaving Lucy by losing his temper. "Everything in the height of bustle; I not at liberty to attend her, as my country calls loudest. My God, may I never experience the like feelings again!" he wrote, describing the scene to his brother. "They were too much; but I found a way to disguise them, for I scolded like a fury at her for not having gone before.“13

  Rather than landing troops, however, Howe anchored off of Sandy Hook, and waited for the rest of the fleet to arrive to give him a total of 32,000 men.

  Lucy departed to stay with friends near Stamford and Fairfield. "Indeed the circumstances of our parting were extremely disagreeable," Knox wrote his brother.14 Within days, she was writing that she was very unhappy separated from him and wanted to return to New York City. But Henry discouraged her, reminding her of the danger and her recent flight.

  By midafternoon of June 29, more than 100 ships had arrived. Knox spent June 30 directing the completion of artillery batteries and having his men familiarize themselves with routes to their alarm posts that would protect them from enemy fire. Fifty ships came into New York Harbor and anchored off the Staten Island side on Tuesday, July 2. More than 10,000 British soldiers landed there unopposed and began to set up defenses opposite the troops under General Nathanael Greene. The remaining ships began to surround the island, and American troops at posts along its shores were forced to evacuate to Manhattan to avoid being cut off from the rest of Washington's men. But instead of pushing ahead, the British waited and held their ground.