Henry Knox (39 page)

Knox faced a variety of complicated decisions in choosing a design for the ships. Congress wanted ships to deal with the Barbary pirates, who used light, quick corsairs. America could not afford the large, expensive battleships used by England and France. Yet Knox believed that sooner or later U.S. Navy vessels needed to be equipped with enough firepower to compete with the warships of Europe.

Humphreys proposed an intermediate ship, a super-size frigate that would weigh more than 1,000 tons with a deck length of 175 feet and a keel as deep as 150 feet. He reasoned that because America could not compete with the massive scale of large European battleships, its navy should use better technology to produce a more compact yet sturdy, efficient fighter that would be both quick and powerful, with enough guns and speed to subdue corsairs and frigates and elude large battleships, also called ships of the line.

Battleships generally carried seventy-four guns on two decks with cannons that could discharge twenty-four- or thirty-two-pound shells. Frigates typically were smaller ships sent out as the eyes of the fleet to scout the waters ahead. They were ideal for poking into harbors and up rivers, and usually possessed a single deck of no more than thirty-eight guns, modest eighteen-pounders. Most frigates would be outgunned against a battleship.

The design was highly controversial, however. Other ship designers charged that Humphreys's idea would not work, that the frigate was much too large and that the hull would crack under the enormous strain of bearing 1,000 tons of wood, copper, and iron scantlings. They believed that the massive frame and exaggerated keel would cause structural weakness that would force the hull to distort under the weight of the heavy guns and extra deck. Some pointed to a common drawback inherent in the design of frigates: The guns sat high above the water to increase the distance of the firing range. This elevated the ship's center of gravity, making it unstable. Adding bigger and more numerous guns to a frigate would increase that instability, and several of Knox's advisors maintained that Humphreys's design should be made lighter and reduced in size to avoid disaster.

Although Knox harbored reservations about Humphrey's design, he was inclined to favor innovative technology. Humphreys believed that his frigates
could be strong enough if built from live oak and red cedar, materials that were difficult to obtain in Europe but available in the southern U.S. states.

Aside from establishing a navy, Knox believed that America needed to build a line of coastal defenses to prevent enemy warships from venturing into its harbors unopposed. On February 28, 1794, he submitted to Congress a detailed plan for federal installations along the eastern seaboard in sixteen port towns, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, and Savannah. He estimated the cost of building the forts at $76,000 and pegged the expense of 200 cannons for the project at $97,000, for a sum total of $173,000. Another $90,000 would be needed to pay the soldiers to garrison the posts.

To many in Congress, his plans seemed overly ambitious. The bill to fund the navy was finding heavy opposition in the House, where James Madison argued that the country could not afford a navy until it paid off its war debts. He suggested that the United States hire the Portuguese navy to fight its battles. Many anti-Federalist Republicans claimed that the navy would be a tool for Federalists like Knox who could use it to expand the federal government. A navy would also be a source of influence and patronage.

Jefferson had long argued that "a Navy will be [a] ruinously expensive, aristocratic institution, subversive of Democratic ideals, whose glory-hungry officers will drag the country into unwarranted adventures overseas.“
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Nevertheless, heeding the clamor to protect American shipping, the U.S. House finally gave its approval in a 50 to 39 vote on March 10, 1794 for "An act to provide a naval armament.“
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The Senate quickly approved, and Washington signed the measure into law on March 27. The appropriation that launched the United States Navy was a mere $688,888.

On April 15, Knox sent Washington his recommendation in favor of the Humphreys design, writing that the ships would "combine such qualities of strength, durability, swiftness of sailing and force, as to render them equal, if not superior, to any frigate belonging to any of the European powers.“
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Washington gave his approbation to begin work.

Knox established the first U.S. Navy yards. Each frigate would be built in a separate city. He initially leased shipyards and then transformed them into federal installations. Throughout the spring and summer, Knox held meetings at the War Department on Chestnut and Fifth in Philadelphia. He laid out detailed instructions for master builders, ship captains, and shipyard agents and going over plans and budgets with Humphreys that included every piece of wood, copper, or iron used in constructing the frigates. Teams of men were
sent to the islands off Georgia to cut the live oak necessary for construction to begin. It has been estimated that each of the six frigates required as many as 460 live oak trees.
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The controversial decision Knox made in choosing to build super frigates rather than more conventional warships demonstrated his far-reaching vision of the nation's future. In planning the frigate project, he considered not only the immediate need of dealing with the Barbary Pirates, as many in Congress myopically had, but he also looked to the long-term future of the navy and indeed the country. Just as Humphreys had promised, the oversize frigates, with their wider and longer hulls, extra guns, and reinforced live-oak frames, put the United States Navy on the cutting edge of the science of building and designing warships. This was the beginning of a long tradition of world-class innovation and leadership that would continue for centuries.

The six frigates that Knox helped plan—the
Constitution, United States, President, Congress, Chesapeake
, and
Constellation
—went on to perform legendary service. In the War of 1812,
Constitution
captured three British frigates,
Guerriere, Java
, and
Cyane
, along with the sloop
Levant
as well as many smaller vessels. She was nicknamed "Old Ironsides" after broadsides from
Guerriere
bounced off her twenty-two-inch-thick, live-oak-framed hull. Casualties aboard the original six frigates were much less than on comparable enemy ships.

Chesapeake
also became part of sea lore. She was commanded by Captain James Lawrence in the War of 1812. After suffering a mortal wound during a battle with the British cruiser
Shannon
, Lawrence cried out with his last few breaths the immortal words: "Don't give up the ship."

Both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who each had opposed a navy, would come to be thankful that Knox had championed the cause of a naval armament. Jefferson wrote to John Adams in 1822 that the six frigates "[c]ertainly raised our rank and character among nations.“
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Despite the launch of the navy, Knox became more and more dissatisfied with his role in the administration. Yet he felt he could not yet step down with much of the business of his department unfinished, including building a new corps of artillery, the frigates projects, and erecting the nation's fortifications. He also worked to oversee General Anthony Wayne's expedition against the Indians in the Ohio Territory to quell hostilities against settlers. "I cannot
leave my situation in this critical state of affairs," he wrote his friend Henry Jackson, who managed his estate, in a letter of May 10, 1794.
²⁹

He felt his influence with Washington waning as Hamilton's rose. Knox became embroiled in a struggle with the Treasury secretary over the power to buy supplies for War Department, a powerful source of political patronage. Hamilton thought that the Treasury Department should handle all contracts concerning the federal government. Unlike Hamilton, Knox harbored no political aspirations and did not need political patrons, but nevertheless felt that the secretary of the Treasury was trying to enlarge the influence of his department. This was the same charge that Jefferson had leveled against Hamilton so often in letters to Washington.

Knox's personal finances and interests needed urgent attention. Taxes were due on the Waldo patent, and work on his home in Thomaston, Maine, needed direction or contractors would have to suspend the project, and therefore increase its cost. He decided to ask Washington for a six-week leave of absence to return to Massachusetts and his Maine land to put his life in order. Washington agreed. But just as Knox began to pack for the trip home, the fledgling federal government again faced a critical test that demanded the use of the military. In 1791, Hamilton successfully spearheaded a federal excise tax on distilled spirits, which were used as a kind of currency in the far frontier regions of the country. The funds generated by the tax were the second most lucrative source of revenue for the federal government and helped pay for the War Department's expeditions against the Indians.

On the western side of the Alleghany Mountains in the Pennsylvania frontier, the Scotch-Irish pioneers found that because of the expense of transporting wheat and corn over the mountains, the only way to turn a profit on their grain was to convert it into whiskey. Several distillers claimed that the tax was an excessively heavy burden and tried to elude or intimidate federal revenue officers, which led to several instances of minor violence. "Revenuers" were tarred, feathered, beaten, and whipped. On August 1, 1794, however, the situation erupted into an open rebellion. Law officers tried to round up sixty tax evaders to bring them to trial in Philadelphia. A riot ensued as 6,000 settlers from around the region banded together at Braddock's field, muskets in hand, threatening any federal officer who ventured into Washington and Alleghany counties.

Many of the rebel settlers believed that the federal government had become as oppressive as the British before the Revolution and urged similar
tactics to defeat the tax measure. The chief tax collector's home was set ablaze in an act of vandalism reminiscent of a colonial protest during the 1765 Stamp Act controversy. A U.S. soldier was killed in Pennsylvania, and the rebels pledged to form their own government and secede from the union.

Washington thought that the U.S. government could not tolerate its laws to be trampled on and called out 12,900 militia troops from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia on August 7. He warned the insurgents to disband and return to their homes by September 1 or the militia would force them to do so. In a proclamation issuing the order, he told the country of his "most solemn conviction that the essential interests of the Union demand it; that the very existence of Government, and the fundamental principles of social order, are materially involved in the issue.“
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For nearly two decades, Knox had heeded every call to duty that his country had demanded. He had rushed to Washington's side at every summons, regardless of the costs to his family or private interests. But with his estate in need of urgent attention, Knox turned his focus away from his government duties and looked to his future. Despite Hamilton's grasping ambition, Knox went so far as to arrange for the Treasury secretary to take control of the War Department in his absence. Henry seemed to be anticipating leaving office and accepted even the risk of completely losing control of the department to Hamilton.

Washington gave Knox permission to begin his furlough, writing him on August 8 at 8
P.M.
: "I consent to your pursuing your plan, and wish you a good journey and a safe and speedy return.“
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Knox reached Boston a little more than a week later. His son Henry arrived to discuss his ongoing problems at school. As father and son came together, both became overcome with emotion. Recalling the moment, Knox wrote to Lucy, who had remained in Philadelphia, on August 17: "I had one of the most affecting moments of my life. I intended to talk to him seriously about his errors, but my soul was too full for utterance and we wept in each other's arms for a long space. He saw my agony and I hope he will be more regular in the future.“
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Knox stayed in Boston only a few days before venturing into the frontier wilderness to the site of his rising home in Thomaston. Along the way, he met with squatters who had taken up residence on his land. While he paid them for their work in clearing and cultivating the soil, he told them that they must vacate his property within the next year, when he planned to begin development.

When he arrived at his future home along the St. George River, he was pleased to see that the builders had laid out the outlines of the foundation and frame for the structure. He seemed to picture himself in repose with Lucy and envisioned lavish dinners surrounded by friends and distinguished guests. He met with the builder, Ebenezer Dunton, and detailed plans for dozens of guest rooms in the mansion that he was to call Montpelier. The ceilings in the parlors would be thirteen feet high, and eleven in the chambers. Guests would enter the home into an ornate oval room, enveloped on both sides by staircases. Knox ordered twenty-four fireplaces to be built in the home, and directed that trees be planted near the house and scenic landscaping planted.