Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/602

He received a good education in the schools of his native city, early exhibited a taste for military service, and at the age of eighteen was chosen an officer in a company of grenadiers, composed of the young men of Boston, which was distinguished for its good discipline. At twenty he began busi- ness as a bookseller. He took sides warmly with the colonies in their controversy with the mother country, and after the battles of Lex- ington and Con- cord abandoned his business and hastened to join the army that was assembled at Cam- bridge. He fought gallantlyin the bat- tle of Bunker Hill, and when after- ward Gen. Wash- ington joined the army, he had the rank of colonel. In laying siege to the city, Washington found himself em- ^Z/* barrassed by the

want of sufficient artillery, and

young Knox conceived the idea of obtaining a sup- ply from Lake George and the forts on the Canadian frontier. The peril and difficulty of transporting heavy guns that great distance through the woods, and part of the way over mere wood roads, were so great that his proposition was unfavorably received. But/after an interview with the enthusiastic young officer. Washington, who readily formed an esti- mate of the man, gave his consent, and Knox set out in November on his hazardous enterprise. He started on this month so as to be ready to move when snow covered the ground, as it was only then that heavy guns could be transported down the lakes and across the state. Setting out on horse- back with a squad of men, he reached Lake Cham- plain, where ice had formed, and by extraordinary efforts was able to return in December. He had gathered together 42 sleds, on which he loaded 13 brass and 26 iron cannon, 8 brass and 6 iron mortars, 2 iron howitzers, 2,300 pounds of lead, and a barrel of flints — 55 guns in all. The long pro- cession moved slowly, but at last it reached Boston, and as it passed into the American lines it was re- ceived with shouts by the troops. Knox was warmly complimented by Washington, and con- gress, as a reward for his services, made him brigadier-general of the artillery. The addition of 55 cannon was a great re-enforcement in those times, and Washington at once began preparations for a bombardment of the city, but circumstances caused him to change his plans, and the guns served a better purpose not long afterward on Dorchester heights. Prom this time Knox was the constant companion of Washington throughout the war and his warm personal friend and coun- sellor. Before the battle of Trenton he was sent by the general to cross the Delaware and march on the place. This he did before the stream became choked with ice. Halting where Washington with his army was struggling amid the floating ice and in the darkness, he stood on the shore, and with his voice indicated where the landing should be made. He then pushed his guns on through the blinding snow-storm, and they were soon thunder- ing by the camp of the astonished Hessians. He brought his young and beautiful wife to Valley Forge to cheer the encampment, and in the bat- tle of Monmouth, in the following summer, did good service. Though for so young and un- trained an officer he handled his guns with great skill and effect, vet once he made a serious mistake in judgment. In the surprise and flight of the British at Germantown about 200 of the enemy threw themselves into the Chew farm-house. As he came up to it he halted and began to unlimber his guns. Gen. Artemas Ward, seeing him halt, inquired his motive, and Knox replied, "It is a rule in war never to leave a fort in ycur rear." They sent off for Gen. Thomas Conway to decide the matter, but he could not be found. Knox held to his opinion, and the favorable moment was lost. He fought gallantly at Brandywine and James- town, and when the army was besieging Yorktown he visited with Washington the flag-ship of De Grasse, being the only American officer that ac- companied the commander-in-chief. In the siege of this place his artillery practice held its own beside that of the accomplished artillerists of France. Immediately after the surrender of Corn- wallis, congress, acting under the advice of Wash- ington, made him major-general, and he was appointed one of the commissioners to settle the terms of exchange of prisoners. He was after- ward quartered in New Windsor, N. Y., near Gen. Washington, the families of the two generals living on the most familiar terms. Knox accom- panied Washington to the " Old Temple," where the latter delivered his reply to the famous New- burg letters. When it was finished, as soon as Washington had disappeared through the door, Knox rose and moved a resolution of thanks to him, declaring that the army " returned his affection with all the strength of which the human heart is capable." He was one of the founders of the Society of the Cincinnati, and for years its chief secretary. He was deputed to receive the surrender of New York. When Washington bade farewell to his offi- cers in Fraunce's tavern, New York, Knox was the first to advance and receive his embrace, and wept on his neck. In 1785 he was appointed by congress to succeed Gen. Benjamin Lincoln as secretary of war, and he held the office for eleven years. The navy department was afterward attached to it, yet he discharged the duties of both with marked ability. The meagre salary he received not being sufficient to support his family, he resigned and removed to Maine, where his wife owned a tract of land. But he did not wholly retire from public life, and was frequently elected both to the legisla- ture and council of the state. In 1798, when war seemed probable with France, he was called to take his place in the army. But the threatened danger passing by, he returned to Thomaston. Maine. His death was caused by his accidentally swallow- ing a chicken-bone, which caused internal inflamma- tion. Knox was amiable, upright, and pure in his private life, and though ardent, impulsive, and en- thusiastic, he was yet sound in judgment and cool in action. See " Life and Correspondence of Henry Knox," by Francis S. Drake (Boston, 1874).— His wife, Lucy, b. in Boston, Mass., about 1754; d. in Thomaston. Me., in 1824, was the daughter of the secretary of the province of Massachusetts, whose name was Flucker. She was considered the belle of Massachusetts, and when she betrayed an at- tachment for a poor tradesman, who was moreover a Whig and an officer in the provincial militia, her parents were greatly incensed, and her father told her that she must choose between her family and her lover. The family left the country soon