Montpelier, Home of Gen. Knox, Thomaston, Maine Currently, The General Knox Museum
General Henry Knox; A Brief History
Knox was of Scots-Irish decent where his father was a ship's captain. After his father's death and at the age of 12, Knox clerked in a bookstore to support his mother. At 21, Knox opened his own bookshop, the London Book Store, in Boston. He concentrated on military subjects, like artillery. Henry married Lucy Flicker, the daughter of Boston Loyalists and both fled Boston in 1775.
Knox supported the American rebels, the Sons of Liberty, and was present at the Boston Massacre. In 1772, volunteered to Boston Grenadier Corps. Knox served under General Ward and was at the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. It was at this time, Knox met General George Washington. They became good friends and as the Siege of Boston, Knox suggested taking the cannons from Ft. Ticonderoga to reinforce the lines. Washington made Knox a colonel and charged Knox to bring the cannons to Boston. Using ox-drawn sleds, moving south along the west bank of the Hudson River from Ft. Ticonderoga to Albany, they crossed the Hudson and continued east through The Berkshires and finally onto Boston. The 300 mile trip took 56 days starting on Dec 5th, 1775 and they arrived on Jan. 24th, 1776. The Cannon Train contained 59 cannon and mortars and weighted in at 60 tons. They arrived in Cambridge, when Washington's army took the Heights of Dorchester and the cannons were place overlooking Boston. This treat to the British fleet in the harbor forced them to withdraw to Halifax on March 17th, 1776. The siege was lifted and Knox was again charged with construction and improvement of defenses in Connecticut & Rhode Island. During the Battle of Trenton, Colonel Knox was in charge of Washington's crossing of the Delaware River. Through ice and cold with John Glover's Marble Headers manning the boats, he got the attack force of men, horses and artillery across the river without loss. After the battle, he returned the same force, along with hundreds of prisoners, captured supplies and boats. Knox was promoted to brigadier general for this accomplishment.
After the battle of Yorktown, Knox was promoted to major general. In 1782 he was given command of the post at West Point, NY. and led the American forces into New York City as the British withdrew.
The Continental Congress made Knox Secretary of War under the Articles of Confederation on March 8th, 1785, on Sept. 12th, 1789, when he assumed the duties of the United States Secretary of War in Washington's first Cabinet. Knox under this assignment oversaw the creation of a regular Navy, Indian policy and a plan for a national militia.
Knox retired on Dec. 31st, 1794 and settled his family at Montpelier, in Thomaston, Maine. Here, he raised cattle, continued interests in ship building (Morse's Shipyard today is at end of Knox Street to Thomaston Harbor) and brick making. At that time Maine was part of Massachusetts. In 1806, Knox visited a friend in Union, Maine and swallowed a chicken bone which punctured his intestine. He died three days later of peritonitis on Oct. 25th, 1806 and was buried in Thomaston.
Fort Knox in Kentucky and Fort Knox in Maine are both named after Henry Knox. Knox Counties exist in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas as well as Knoxville, TN is named after the General. **
http://www.GeneralKnoxMuseum.org
** The content of this history was derived from Henry Knox: Self-made Man, Patriot and Entrepreneur. The Henry Knox Museum, Thomaston, Maine.
