WGN Chicago Radio Interview on The Noble Train Expedition

Once again I sat down with  Rick Kogan of WGN Chicago Radio to discuss my latest book, Henry Knox's Noble Train. Enjoy the interview!

WGN INTERVIEW ON HENRY KNOX"S NOBLE TRAIN

Henry Knoxs Noble Train

william hazelgrove

Pulling a 5000 Pound Cannon Across the Frozen Hudson River in 1775

They began slowly, hearing long groans punctuated by cracks in the ice. John Becker Sr. didn’t want to lose the oxen and kept his eyes on the thick corded rope that he would slash with the axe. He would have only seconds to separate the yoke of oxen from the heavy weight of a sinking cannon. The worst scenario was that the cannon would plunge through, cracks rippling outward, sending men, sleds, and animals under. The best case should the ice break was that they would lose only the cannon. Extra ropes had been tied around the neck of the cannon with an eye toward retrieval.

The wind blasted across the desolate river with the far pines frosted white. The oxen made their way, hooves clicking on the ice. Becker pulled back, calling out whoa! to the oxen, slowing them further. Knox had dismounted and guided his horse, staring ahead and then behind. The other men stood by their sleds on the near side of the river, watching to see if disaster would strike and their expedition would fall into the icy water below. Along with the Indians, the Tories, and the British, the ice was another foe that could obliterate the entire train.

Silent now in the middle of the frozen river. The creak of the ropes, the slide of shoes on thin snow. The grunt of heavy animals. Knox felt his heartbeat with every step. The far side of the Hudson drew closer and Knox turned, staring at the light grooves the sled left in the ice. Seven inches of ice must be beneath the oxen and the rails of the sled; other than a groan and an occasional heart-stopping rifle crack of shifting ice, the river seemed to be holding their weight. Knox felt the stiff wind pick at his scarf. His eyes watered. He led his horse off the ice and watched the oxen find their footing in the snow with the teamster following. Knox breathed out in relief. The worst had not happened.

Henry Knox's Noble Train

The Twenty Five Year Old Boston Bookseller who Saved the American Revolution

Henry Knox was a twenty five year old bookseller who dragged 60 tons of cannons or 120,000 pounds or 28 SUVs over frozen lakes, rivers, and mountains in 1775 and changed the course of the American Revolution. How did this happen? The Americans had surrounded Boston where the British were holed up after the battle of Bunker Hill. Classic siege. In comes a new general fresh off his plantation where he had been drinking bourbon hunting foxes and having a great time off his wife's fortune. He then comes to inherit the motley American army with no idea how to dislodge the British from Boston.

George Washington knows one thing and that is that he cannot get the British out of the city unless he has  artillery. Enter Henry Knox. A twenty five year old Boston bookseller with fabulous dreams but no real military experience at all. Washington takes him on and makes him a Colonel and puts him in charge of the artillery of which there is none. Knox set his eyes on Fort Ticonderoga 300 miles away were 59 cannons are lying dormant in the snow and with Washington's support decides to bring them back to Boston.

How he does this is the stuff of legend, 90 oxen and 42 sleds are his heavy trucks of the day. But mostly it is brute strength, grit, endurance and a belief in his Noble Train that sustains him over three months in the worst winter of the century. He finally gets the cannons to Washington who shells the British from Dorchester Heights and forcing them from the city. It is the first victory of the American Revolution and all because a Boston Bookseller believed he could do something everyone else thought was impossible. It is an American story.

How Did a Boston Bookseller Drag 28 SUV's over Frozen Lakes, Rivers, and Mountains in 1775?

The answer is he didn't. He dragged 60 tons of cannons or 120,000 pounds or 28 SUVs over frozen lakes, rivers, and mountains in 1775 and changed the course of the American Revolution. How did this happen? The Americans had surrounded Boston where the British were holed up after the battle of Bunker Hill. Classic siege. In comes a new general fresh off his plantation where he had been drinking bourbon hunting foxes and having a great time off his wife's fortune. He then comes to inherit the motley American army with no idea how to dislodge the British from Boston.

George Washington knows one thing and that is that he cannot get the British out of the city unless he has  artillery. Enter Henry Knox. A twenty five year old Boston bookseller with fabulous dreams but no real military experience at all. Washington takes him on and makes him a Colonel and puts him in charge of the artillery of which there is none. Knox set his eyes on Fort Ticonderoga 300 miles away were 59 cannons are lying dormant in the snow and with Washington's support decides to bring them back to Boston.

How he does this is the stuff of legend, 90 oxen and 42 sleds are his heavy trucks of the day. But mostly it is brute strength, grit, endurance and a belief in his Noble Train that sustains him over three months in the worst winter of the century. He finally gets the cannons to Washington who shells the British from Dorchester Heights and forcing them from the city. It is the first victory of the American Revolution and all because a Boston Bookseller believed he could do something everyone else thought was impossible. It is an American story.

Henry Knox's Noble Train

Publishing A Book During A Pandemic

Herny Knox's Noble Train  will be out May 12, 2020. It is my fifteenth book. I have published in almost every situation imaginable. I have published during wars (First Iraq War) during horrible downturns in the economy (2008 recession/depression/) I struggled for years to get my first novel published and was handed the proverbial 250 rejection letters before finally a small publisher took a chance. Since then I have had good advances, lived the literary dream, movie deals, bad deals, lawsuits, triumphs, crushing defeats, and comebacks.. I have had to start over many times in the last thirty years since graduating college and deciding to become a full time writer. But I have never, ever published a book during a once in a century Pandemic.

It is like publishing into a void. Its not that the normal promotion hustle until you drop of modern publishing is hard enough...this...this is like publishing a book in a ghost town. It's not that I have stopped working, I work at home of course, it's just everybody else has and so I might as well be yelling into the night. All the pop-sickle stands are closed. Everyone has gone home. My publisher has gone on a three week furlough. The libraries where I give one hundred paid speeches a year are all closed. The trades are all working from home (PW Booklist, Kirkus) and I have yet to see a review. Only my agent has stayed at her post and so we are like the last of the Mahicans, two warriors not sure what battle to fight.

What makes this different is that the great Ferris wheel of publishing which is vast has for the moment just stopped and everyone is just waiting. Think of a party where you are the last guest and you are walking among the empty champagne bottles and picked over food. My editor let me know the books were in the warehouse last week and I should be getting my advanced copies. This is a good thing. At least the book will come out. But the question is then what? Barnes and Nobles is for the most part closed. The independent bookstores are closed. Amazon is still chugging along but busy with getting the nation toilet paper and hand sanitizer.

So I have to say publishing a book during a Pandemic is different. Maybe this is how authors felt when the Nazis marched into France. A sort of...now what? But it's your job. And so in a way I am back to where I started with my first book when no one knew or cared who I was. So I have a book that has just been published. I have a book and I better get to work selling it any way I can. I have always thought the authors job is also to sell so I have begun doing lots of Zoom presentations. I have always done lots of social media but it was always in support of larger efforts. Now it is back to square one. A brick at a time. More Social media. More zooming. Zoom might just be the ventilator of publishing for authors until the mighty Ferris wheel starts again. Just keep it all going...at least until a vaccine or a therapy. 

Hamilton was the Tom Hanks of his time; People Stopped Shaking Hands 230 Years Before with Yellow Fever

We have been down this road before. America had a yellow fever epidemic in the early years of the republic. In Philadelphia the city was besieged with victims belching up black vomit. Like Coronovirus the disease was foreign born coming from the West Indies. A wet spring in Philadelphia gave way to a hot summer that produced a bumper crop of mosquitoes spreading the disease. Philadelphians began practicing social distancing by walking in the streets and staying away from crowds. People stopped shaking hands and covered their noses with cloths dipped in vinegar and chewed on garlic. Twenty thousand people fled the city with barely enough government employees left to run the country (Philadelphia was the Washington of our time)

Then the rock star of government Alexander Hamilton along with his wife came down with the disease. The treatment he received was standard. Alexander and his wife went to a cottage and there a Dr. Rush began administering his yellow fever medicine. First he bled his patients. Then he emptied the Hamilton's bowels four times and for good measure induced vomiting. This regiment was given three times in one day. The Hamiltons could barely move. Finally the Hamiltons began to recover but then their real adventure began.

They were blocked from entering the city. People didn't believe they had been cured. The opposition party said the opposite that Hamilton was faking it. Then when they let them in the city they wouldn't allow his carriage or belongings thinking they were carrying the yellow fever. Eventually the epidemic subsided and people returned to the city. Life returned to normal. 

The Expedition That Saved America

Henry Knox was a a twenty five year old bookseller with no military experience. George Washington had just taken over the American Army at Boston and had no artillery to force the British out of the city. The two meet outside of Boston on a road and Washington is immediately taken with the fatuous heavyset young man who had just fled Boston with his wife. He soon makes Knox the head of his artillery. Washington had a habit of promoting young men with little experience based on his feeling of future potential. Knox is really the head of nothing as George Washington has no cannons.

But 300 miles away is Fort Ticonderoga which the Americans had captured along with 60 tons of cannons. Knox immediately proposes he goes and drags the cannon back to the army outside of Boston to use on the British. He heads off with his brother and a small contingent of soldiers in November 1775 in the dead of winter to retrieve the cannons. This begins a two month journey over frozen lakes, rivers, and mountains using oxen and sleds to bring back the cannons to Washington. The trip is fraught with cannons plunging though the ice, blizzards, breakdowns, frozen men and beasts, and a mutiny by the men in the Berkshire mountains that almost derails the expedition .

Finally on January 27 1776 Knox returns with the cannons which Washington loses no time in putting up on Dorchester Heights to shell the British in Boston and also the British ships in the harbor. General Howe can scarcely believe the Americans were able to haul the cannons up to the cliffs of Dorchester in one night and abandons Boston, giving the Americans their first victory.

Five Things You Didn't Know About the First Victory of the American Revolution

The first victory of the American Revolution was over the British at Boston. George Washington had just taken command of the  American Army in June of 1775 and had just met a young bookseller named Henry Knox. Here are Five Things you Probably Didn't know.

1. George Washington had been running his plantation for fifteen years and had no experience on how to run a siege against Boston or how to run a large army. In fact he lamented taking command an complained about the stupidity of the troops. He wrote that if he had known the condition of the army he would have never taken command.

2. Henry Knox was a twenty five year old bookseller who had no military experience at all. George Washington made him a Colonel of the Artillery and sent him 300 miles in the middle of winter to retrieve 60 tons of cannons because they had no artillery to force the British out of Boston. Nobody thought Knox was capable of getting the 120,000 pounds of cannons that is the equivalent of 28 SUVS back to Boston.

3. Knox used oxen and sleds to transport the cannons.When he crossed Lake George a cannon fell through the ice and had to retrieved. He then crossed the Hudson river where a 5000 pound cannon went through the ice and it took the the whole town of Albany to pull it back to the surface. When he crossed the Berkshire mountains the men refused to go no further. It took Knox three hours of pleading with the men to get them to continue. It took two months to bring the cannon back.

4. Washington put Knox'x cannons up on Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston in one night and when the British woke up they found themselves under bombardment. General Howe tried to attack but a freak snowstorm drove him back and he opted to leave Boston, giving the Americans their first victory.

5. Henry Knox's journey of pulling the cannons to Washington in 1775 is referred to as the Noble Train because Henry Knox wrote Washington a letter from the wilderness stating he was bringing to him "his noble train of artillery."

Henry Knox Noble Train

Henry Knox's Noble Train or How did a Boston Bookseller Save the American Revolution?

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