Six feet tall and weighing over pounds, he was a giant of his time with calm gray eyes, keen intellect, and a round face that perpetually beamed with good humor. Henry Knox : jovial, gregarious, quick of wit, fat and very active. Of Scottish heritage, a distant uncle organized the Presbyterian church in that country.
Uprooted, the family was forced to abandon its homeland and went to Ireland. William Knox emigrated with John Morehead and helped establish The Church of the Presbyterian Strangers in Boston, which was basically a grimmer sect of Congregationalists. William went bankrupt and left Boston in , traveling to St.
Eustatius in the West Indies where he hoped to regain his fortune through trade. He died in from unknown causes, leaving twelve year old Henry, the eldest, to support the family. Two left for the sea, never to return, leaving a younger brother William, who later joined Henry in the Continental Army. The position began a lifelong passion for reading for young Henry.
During that time, Henry was greatly influenced by Nicholas Bowes. He became a father figure to the young impressionable youth and would instill in him a deep moral sense of duty and attachment to the Protestant work ethic of New England.
As a boy, Henry was genial, bright and obliging. Though fat early on, he took pride in his name, Knox, which means hill in Gaelic and sometimes stout. One Pope night , Henry led the chief float in a procession, and one of the wheels fell off. Incredibly strong, Knox lifted and held the axle while urging his gang to continue the procession. He was just 21 years old. Interestingly, whenever Knox advertised his shop in the Gazette, his name was always much larger than the title of the store.
Over the next several years, he grew into a strong youth, standing over six feet tall and weighing around pounds. As a young man, Knox possessed an inquisitive mind and developed a great interest in military affairs, especially in the uses of artillery. His enthusiasm compelled him to enlist in a local artillery company at the age of eighteen. At age twenty-one, Knox successfully opened his own bookstore specializing in military subjects. The shop quickly became a favorite destination for British officers posted in Boston.
In , Knox joined a new militia unit, the Boston Grenadier Corps. His leadership abilities, combined with his eager appetite for studying military science and engineering, won him the recognition of his superiors. Knox was granted the rank of first lieutenant, placing him second in command of the unit. Following the outbreak of the American Revolution, he volunteered to serve with colonial forces and participated in the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, His in-laws fled the city after it fell to American forces in Knox served with Massachusetts forces in the state's Army of Observation during the opening days of the Siege of Boston.
He soon came to the attention of army commander General George Washington , who was inspecting fortifications designed by Knox near Roxbury. Washington was impressed, and the two men developed a friendly relationship. As the army desperately needed artillery, the commanding general consulted Knox for advice in November Knox proposed a plan to transport the cannon captured at Fort Ticonderoga in New York to the siege lines around Boston.
Washington was on board with the plan. After making Knox a colonel in the Continental Army, the general immediately sent him north, as winter was rapidly approaching.
At Ticonderoga, Knox initially had difficulty acquiring sufficient men in the lightly populated Berkshire Mountains.
He finally assembled what he dubbed the "noble train of artillery. It was a difficult trek, and several guns fell through the ice and had to be recovered. In Albany, the guns were transferred to ox-drawn sleds and pulled across Massachusetts. The mile journey took Knox and his men 56 days to complete in the bitter winter weather.
In Boston, Washington ordered the guns to be placed atop Dorchester Heights, overlooking the city and harbor. Rather than face bombardment, the British forces, led by General Sir William Howe , evacuated the city on March 17, Following the victory at Boston, Knox was sent to oversee the construction of fortifications in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
When he returned to the Continental Army, he became Washington's chief of artillery. As Washington devised his daring Christmas attack on Trenton , Knox was given the key role of overseeing the army's crossing of the Delaware River. With the assistance of Colonel John Glover, Knox succeeded in moving the attack force across the river in a timely fashion.
He also directed the American withdrawal on December For his service at Trenton, Knox was promoted to brigadier general. In early January, he saw further action at Assunpink Creek and Princeton before the army moved to winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey. Taking advantage of this break from campaigning, Knox returned to Massachusetts with the goal of improving weapons production.
Henry was the oldest son still at home after his father died, so at the age of 12, when they were tight on finances, he left school and started working at a bookstore as a clerk. He and the owner of the store Nicholas Bowes became very close and Nicholas became a father figure to the young boy.
Through his teenage years, he became caught up in some street gangs in Boston, and as a result, learned how to fight very well. When he was 18, he became interested in a military career, and he joined a local artillery group called The Train. At age 20, he witnessed the Boston Massacre on March 5, Later, he testified at the trials of the soldiers. Henry Knox steel engraving with signature, by Alonzo Chappel Public domain image. Still very interested in military, Knox studied all of the books on war he had in his shop, and he frequently questioned any militia that came into his shop.
As a co-founder, he was given the position of second-in-command over the little group.
0コメント