Henry Knox, born in Boston in 1750, lost his father at an early age.
His mother’s income being a slender one, and his devotion to her being
very great, he soon felt the need of personal exertion, and before
attaining his majority, had established himself as a bookseller.
Having a natural fondness for military tactics, he joined a company
of grenadiers, and thus when the smouldering fire of dissatisfaction
against taxation without representation burst into the flames of the
Revolution, Knox had gained practical knowledge of warlike manœuvres.
His father-in-law was a pronounced Tory; but his wife, sharing his
own sentiments, helped him to escape from Boston that he might join
the army. Appreciating our need of artillery, and knowing that no
cannon were to be had except those in the old forts along the Canadian
frontier, he volunteered to bring this ordnance to Washington’s camp at
Cambridge, and accomplished this difficult and hazardous undertaking
with such skill and courage that Washington rewarded him with the
command of the artillery. This branch of the Continental service
being attached to the main body of the army, Knox was in every battle
where Washington fought, and never failed to exhibit the judgment,
perseverance, and bravery that gained him success in the Canada
expedition. On the 27th of December, 1776, Congress appointed him
brigadier-general. At the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, he was
wounded in his left hand. For his distinguished services at the siege
of Yorktown in 1781, Congress appointed him major-general on the 22d
of March, 1782. He was one of the three commissioners intrusted with
the adjustment of the terms of peace. On the 25th of November, 1783, he
received as Washington’s deputy the surrender of the city of New York;
and his military career ended with the command of West Point. When the
Continental army was about to be disbanded, he conceived the idea of
forming a society of his old and dearly loved companions-in-arms. This
was the origin of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which Knox was
first vice-president.
At the close of 1783, Knox retired to his home in Maine, but in 1784,
Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, appointed him Secretary
of War, which office he held until, in 1795, Washington reluctantly
accepted his resignation. It was during the time he was at the head of
the War Department, and by his advice, that the United States Marine
Service was organized. Retiring once more to his home in Maine, he
dispensed the most princely hospitality, it being no unusual thing for
him to entertain a hundred guests daily. When events threatened a war
with France, and President Adams thought best to form an army, Knox was
again appointed major-general. He died suddenly at his residence in
Thomaston, Maine, in 1806.