 |
Portrait of Henry Knox. (National Archives)
|
Secretary of War Henry Knox
General Served after 1789 creation of the department
By Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Military.com Columnist
On August 7, 1789, the newborn U.S. Congress created the Department of War, appointing as its first Secretary of War the Revolutionary War artillery commander Gen. Henry Knox.
As tensions grew in the American colonies, Knox owned Boston's fashionable London Bookstore, where he read everything he could about the military in general and artillery in particular. A witness to the Boston Massacre, Knox embraced the movement for independence and fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill. In 1775, Gen. Washington assigned the 25-year-old self-taught gunner to command the Continental Army's artillery. Knox's first task: transport 59 cannon from Fort Ticonderoga, N.Y., to Dorchester Heights, Mass., nearly 300 miles.
It took 80 yoke of oxen dragging 42 sleds to move the cannon, which weighed nearly 60 tons. The three-month ordeal ended on Mar. 4, 1776, when 2,000 men and 400 oxen hauled the cannon up the heights. "The rebels have done more in one night than my whole army would have done in a month. It must've been the work of at least 12,000 men," said a British general. Intimidated, the British withdrew on Mar. 17. Boston was a free city, and Henry Knox was made a brigadier general.
Knox went on to participate in many major battles of the Revolutionary War, including the siege of Yorktown. Knox received his second star in 1781, and a year later, command of the fortress at West Point, N.Y.
Knox became a federal servant in 1785 -- Secretary of War to the Continental Congress -- then became a member of President Washington's first Cabinet and third in line for the presidency.
Have a suggestion for a Military Legend? Write to militarylegends@military.com.
Discuss this issue in Military.com's Military History forum...
Links:
|
