Henry Knox (9 page)

Knox accompanied Washington and his staff on Sunday, February 11, as they rode beyond the Roxbury works and ventured up Boston Neck to get a glimpse of the enemy defenses. They dismounted and had walked about half a mile when they spotted a British officer riding hard in their direction. Cannon fire erupted from the British fortifications as the Americans raced back to their horses. No one was injured. Knox along with Washington and his men must have berated themselves for this reckless bit of daring. Had the commander in chief, his staff, and his top artillery commander been killed or captured, the damage to the American cause would have been catastrophic.

Washington felt tremendous pressure from Congress and many leaders around the country to order a strike at Boston. He also was desperate to attack and felt a golden opportunity was slipping away. Because of the small amount of powder on hand, he thought that an artillery bombardment would be ineffective and would destroy sections of the town without dislodging the British. Instead, he favored taking advantage of a strong track of ice that lay across the harbor between Dorchester Heights and Boston, where his soldiers could march into the city and avoid the fortifications and cannons at Boston neck. He believed they needed to strike quickly before the king's troops received reinforcements, which were expected any day, and estimated that he had a superior force of 8,797 men fit for duty and another 1,405 available against 5,000 British regulars in Boston. At a council of generals on Friday, February 16, Washington urged "that a stroke well-aimed at this critical juncture might put a final end to the war and restore peace and tranquility so much to be wished for.“
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But his generals disagreed and wanted to wait for powder for Knox's guns and additional militia troops from other states. Only half of the anticipated men promised by other colonies had arrived.

Washington wrote pleading letters to other colonies, such as Connecticut, that had not sent the amount of powder that had been pledged, along with an admonition to Congress to supply the deficiency of military supplies.
On February 18, Washington told Knox that Connecticut was sending 3,000 pounds of powder, which Henry said would provide his guns with enough ammunition to force the king's men from the city. The critical point of his plan was for the army to take Dorchester Heights, which overlooked Boston Harbor. His aim was to mount his big guns on the heights to attack the royal battleships. By February 26, while the army waited for the powder, preparations were underway for a major attack. Knox readied his guns to fire on the city from three sides: Roxbury from the south, Lechmere's Point from the north, and Cobble Hill from the west. On Saturday, March 2, Knox ordered his men to begin a cannonade of his hometown. Shells whistled into the town, panicking inhabitants. Soldiers and townspeople scrambled for any kind of cover. "The shots and shells were heard to make a great crashing in the town," the
Pennsylvania Journal
reported.
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The British opened fire from batteries at the neck and along the west side of Boston.

The American troops, meanwhile, watched from behind their entrenchments to see if the British would march out of Boston in an attempt to stop Knox's guns. The bombardment was a diversion, however; Knox planned to level a more serious blow. On Monday evening, March 4, as the cannons blazed uninterrupted, 2,000 men under the command of General John Thomas marched to Dorchester Heights. Under Knox's direction and with the help of 400 oxen, the heaviest guns from Ticonderoga were hauled up the hills and mounted in a position to strike at the city and the battleships in the harbor. Entrenchments were dug throughout the night, and by morning the guns were afforded secure spots from enemy fire. Washington wrote enthusiastically to Congress that this tactical victory was "equal to our most sanguine expectations." An American captain who slipped past the British posts to escape occupied Boston during the confusion of the attack reported that the "bombardment and cannonade caused much surprise in town as many of the soldiery said they never heard or thought we had mortars or shells.“
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The mission to Ticonderoga had been completely undetected by the British.

Knox's artillery corps continued to shell Boston on Tuesday, the missiles ripping through houses, sending chunks of brick and splintered wood flying. A British admiral spotted the new works on Dorchester Hills and immediately recognized the danger to the fleet and the royal army. He sent an urgent message to General William Howe, who had taken over command in Boston from Gage the previous October. Howe immediately ordered an attack on Dorchester Heights and sent men aboard marine transports to Castle William Island in preparation to launch the assault. But a furious wind sprang up and
continued through Wednesday, preventing the British from landing troops on the shores surrounding Dorchester. During that time, Knox continued to direct the mounting of additional cannons on the works, and Washington sent thousands of troops to support the position. When the wind died down, Howe realized "that I could promise myself little success by attacking them under such disadvantages; wherefore I judged it most advisable to prepare for the evacuation of the town.“
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The troops on Castle William returned to Boston to pack for the retreat. Many felt bitter about the order to move out; throughout the siege, their commanders had promised that reinforcements would arrive and that they would destroy the American army and conquer Massachusetts in the spring. Now, just days before help was to arrive, the regulars were forced to accept defeat. Knox's Ticonderoga mission provided the Americans with punishing firepower. The British battleships could no longer remain safely in the harbor.

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.“
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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.
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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.“
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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.

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.
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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.“
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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.
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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.“
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