Pulling sixty tons of cannons in the dead of winter in 1775. That is what he did. With oxen and sleds and men with ropes and chains. It was the equivalent of 28 SUVS. He pulled the cannon 300 miles over frozen lakes, rivers, and mountains. In snow, ice, hail, freezing temperatures, thawing temperatures with the danger that Indians, the British, or the weather would stop he and his men who had become the hope of the American Revolution. So how did a twenty five year old Boston Bookseller become the man who would give the Americans their first victory over the British?It is a serendipitous tale.
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George Washington is laying siege to Boston but he has no artillery. It is the winter of 1775 and the forty three year old General is just taking over after running a plantation for fifteen years. He has no idea how to get the British out besides a frontal assault and for this he has not the men or the gunpowder. Enter Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen who have taken Fort Ticonderoga with 60 tons of cannons within its walls. This fort is 300 miles away with frozen lakes, rivers, and mountains separating Boston from the artillery Washington desperately needs to dislodge the British. He meets a fat young man on a road while inspecting fortifications who will change history.
Henry Knox tells the general he will get the cannons. He has just left Boston with his wife and abandoned his bookstore to the British. He has read everything there is to know about artillery and while he has no actual experience he has certainly read about transporting cannons and so Washington gives him his orders. Bring back the cannons from Fort Ticonderoga. Knox sets off in November and will not return until late January. The incredible feat of bringing these cannon back from Fort Ticonderoga over sixty agonizing days in the winter of f 1775 is the story of
Henry Knox's Noble Train
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George Washington is laying siege to Boston but he has no artillery. It is the winter of 1775 and the forty three year old General is just taking over after running a plantation for fifteen years. He has no idea how to get the British out besides a frontal assault and for this he has not the men or the gunpowder. Enter Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen who have taken Fort Ticonderoga with 60 tons of cannons within its walls. This fort is 300 miles away with frozen lakes, rivers, and mountains separating Boston from the artillery Washington desperately needs to dislodge the British. He meets a fat young man on a road while inspecting fortifications who will change history.
Henry Knox tells the general he will get the cannons. He has just left Boston with his wife and abandoned his bookstore to the British. He has read everything there is to know about artillery and while he has no actual experience he has certainly read about transporting cannons and so Washington gives him his orders. Bring back the cannons from Fort Ticonderoga. Knox sets off in November and will not return until late January. The incredible feat of bringing these cannon back from Fort Ticonderoga over sixty agonizing days in the winter of f 1775 is the story of
Henry Knox's Noble Train
