This is an authorized facsimile
of the original book,
and was produced in 1975 by microfilm-xerography
by Xerox University Microfilms,
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.

ipenvy\no$)
A SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION
MAJOR-GENERAL IN THE CONTINENTAL ARMY, WASHINGTON'S
CHIEF OF ARTILLERY, FIRST SECRETARY OF WAR
UNDER THE CONSTITUTION. FOUNDER OF
THE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI K1 +

BY
NOAH BROOKS i
Author of "Abraham Lincoln, and the Downfall of Amoricaa Slavery"
"Washington in Lincoln's Time," etc.

ILLUSTRATED

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK & LONDON
3be ItnlcfcerbocUer pxces
1900

KIM ft 8-7

MAJOR-QENERAL HENRY KNOX.
FROM THE PAINTING BY GILBERT STUART, IN. THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON.

Hmerican flDen of Eneras

Ov Tti\yf ov5e o!5<ia ovM <rroai outM A TsV
u^riixwi' koctjuos at v6\«i% *iaiv% dAA* ctV6pef
avrotf «i5ot<« 0app«tF. AlUOS AWSTtlDIS (iCt-IM A.O.).
NEITHER WALLS, THEATRES, PORCHES, NOR SENSE
LESS EQUIPAGE, MAKE STATES, BUT MEN WHO ARE ABLE
TO RELY UPON THEMSELVES. TRANS. Bf ARTHUR WILLIAMS AUSTIN.

HENRY KNOX

Copyright, igoo
BY
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

VtK tmlcfterbocfecr prces, Hew SPorfe

Reproduced by
DUOPAGE PROCESS
in the
U.S. of America

Micro Photo Division
Bell & Howell Company
Cleveland, Ohio 44112

DP 13906

To
THE SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI
WHOSE. ENDURING PATRIOTIC INFLUENCE AND BENEFICENCE
JUSTIFY THE WISDOM OF ITS ORIGINATORS
THIS MEMORIAL OF ONE OF ITS MOST ILLUSTRIOUS FOUNDERS -
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

PREFACE

HE author of this volume" has drawn
his materials from a considerable
number of sources; but his principal
storehouse has been the Knox Man
uscripts, now ?n the possession of the
New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston.
This Valuable collection, comprising nearly twelve
thousand letters and other documents, has been
mounted on sheets of durable paper and bound up
in fifty-five massive folio volumes; its preservation,
after years of exposure to the vandalism of autograph-
hunters and to divers vicissitudes, is due to the lov
ing care and thoughtfulness of a grandson of General
Knox, the late Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher,
U. S. N. The papers were for a time in the custody
of Mr. Charles S. Davies, of Portland, Maine, who
began a memoir of Knox, but whose failing health
interrupted his work before it was well begun. In
like manner, Mr. Joseph Willard, of Boston, began
but did not finish a similar work, in the preparation
of which he was to have used these papers. Finally,
a brief biography of Knox was prepared by Mr.
Francis S. Drake for the Memorials of the Masst-\

vl Preface
chu setts Society of tfu Cincinnati, the Knox papers
being the foundation of the book, of which only
three hundred copies were printed. Besides these
papers and Mr. Drake's work, the author is indebted .
to the documents collected by Mr. Davies, afore
mentioned, and now in the possession of Mr. David
G. Haskins, Jr., of Cambridge, Mass. The Davies
papers are in the custody of the New England His
toric Genealogical Society, by the courtesy of Mr.
Haskins, a grandson of their zealous collector.
Eaton's History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South
Thomaston, Maine, Thacher's Military Journal, and
the collections of sundry historical societies of Maine
and Massachusetts have also been of great use in the
preparation of the book.
The establishment of Montpelier, as Knox's
family seat was called, in the township of Thomas-
ton, Maine, was an event of importance in the his
tory of that region. To this day the counties of
Knox, Lincoln, and Waldo perpetuate the memories
that cluster around the name of the illustrious
soldier, who, as Washington's Chief of Artillery and
his trusted friend and companion, achieved fame
and added lustre to the titles which he bore. As
the family of the author was allied to that of Knox,
tales and traditions of Knox's greatness, of the
state which he maintained at Montpelier, and of the
generous public spirit which he manifested in his
Maine home formed a part of the author's earliest
recollections. To gather up the main facts in
Knox's life and energetic public service has there
fore been a labour of love; and the author ventures

Preface

Vll

the hope that this labour will serve its purpose and
give to his fellow-countrymen a tolerably clear
picture of the personality and the career of General
Henry Knox.
Castine, Maine, October, 1899. •

CONTENTS CHAPTER I fag
THE SCHOOLING OF A SOLDIER .• . .*' I
Henry Knox, a Boston tradesman — Descended -from the
Knoxes of the North of Ireland — Migration of his father's
family to Boston — Adventures of his boyhood — The "Bos-
ton Massacre '' — Brewing of the storm — Knox opens a
bookstore — Curiosities of the time and trade — The port
of Boston closed to commerce — Knox's invoices of books
imported — His bookstore pillaged — His enlistment in a
train-band — Formation of militia companies — Early love
passages — He marries a daughter of a Tory house — An
Epithalamium. CHAPTER II
THE BREAKING OF THE STORM . . . I
Lord Percy's excursion from Boston — Battle of Lexington
— Knox volunteers — He meets Washington at Cambridge
— Lack of trained engineers — John Adams's friendship for
Knox — A glimpse of the American volunteer officers—
Knox's adventurous journey to Fort Ticonderoga and his
return with artillery — Entertaining letters en route — Dor
chester Heights fortified — The British driven out of Bos
ton — Poetic tribute to Knox's feat.

CHAPTER III
MILITARY OPERATIONS AROUND NEW YORK . . 4
Doings of " The Sons of Liberty "—Knox plans defences
for the coast of Connecticut — A pen picture of Admiral
ix

x Contents PAGE
Hopkins — Washington's generals at New York — The bat
tle of Long Island— Flight of Mrs. Knox— An embassy
from Lord Howe to "George Washington, Esq." — De
pression in the American ranks — Trial of a torpedo boat-
Evacuation of New York— Fall of Fort Washington-
Greene's sorrow — The fight transferred to New Jersey.

CHAPTER IV
THE FIGHT FOR THE JERSEYS . . . .75
A British proclamation of amnesty — The famous American
crossing of the Delaware — Trenton, Princeton, and Mor-
ristown — Knox's plans for an arsenal and military school —
Arrival of French volunteer officers — Knox threatened
with being superseded — Protest of American officers —
Ducoudray provided for — The plague of deserters and
" bounty-jumpers." CHAPTER V
THE CONTEST MOVES SOUTHWARD . . . .96
Howe sails for Philadelphia — Washington follows — The
battle of the Brandywine — Battle of Germantown — News
of Burgoyne's surrender cheers the American camp —
Valley Forge — The " Conway cabal " — Washington's com
posure: — Darkest days. CHAPTER VI
IN THE DARKEST DAYS OF THE WAR . . . Il6
Military operations wait on diplomacy — Another British
proposal for terms of peace — Howe's evacuation of Phila-~
delphia — The Americans take possession of the city —
Battle of Monmouth — Arrival of D'Estaing's fleet — Knox's
privateering ventures — Charges against Benedict Arnold
— Celebration of the French alliance — Knox's family

Contents xi
MCI
bereaved by death — Arrival of Rochambeau — Treason of
Arnold and execution of Andre* — Mutiny of the Pennsyl
vania line — Rochambeau's march to the Hudson from
Connecticut. CHAPTER VII
THE BRITISH SURRENDER AT YORKTOWN . , I46
Washington's grand strategy — Knox's artillery brought
into action — His letters home — Junction of American and '
French forces — Elation of the people along the line of
march — The enemy beleaguered in Yorktown — Final sur
render and capitulation of Cornwallis and his arniy.
CHAPTER VIII
THE END OF THE WAR  163
Preliminary Treaty of Peace signed — Irritating delay of
the British — Fruitless negotiation for exchange of prison-
ers — Knox appointed to command of West Point — Dissen
sions and discontent in the army — The famous " Newburgh
addresses'* — Knox as a peacemaker — He organises the
Society of the Cincinnati — Unfriendly criticisms of the
Order — Knox in command of the army — Final departure
of the British from New York — Knox heads the column
taking possession of the city— Washington's farewell.
CHAPTER IX
A TRYING INTERREGNUM . . . . . l8o
Knox's plans for the maintenance of the army — Corre
spondence between Washington and Knox on this subject
— Congress appoints Knox Secretary of War — Shays's re
bellion — Proposals for a new Federal Constitution by
Knox — His plan for a general government — Ratification
.. of the new Constitution — Knox's care of General Greene's
son — The lad sent to Lafayette.

xii Contents
CHAPTER X page
IN' Washington's first administration . .211
Knox's plan for a national militia — Popular fears of a
standing army — Treaties with Indian tribes — Friction be
tween the Executive and Legislative Departments — Secre
tary Knox's brief speech in the Senate— His 'ife in New
York — He retires from office — Personal characteristics of
General and Mrs. Knox. CHAPTER XI
THE RETURN OF CINCINNATUS . . . .232
Knox fixes his place of residence in Maine — His plans for
vast undertakings — Troubles • with squatters — Financial
embarrassments — War with France imminent — Knox mor
tified by being placed below Hamilton and Pinckney in
military rank — He fills sundry civil offices.
CHAPTER XII
A BUSY LIFE ENDED  255
Death by an untoward accident — A military funeral —
General expressions of grief — His last will end testament
— His munificence and public spirit — Estimate of his
character.

ILLUSTRATIONS

MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY KNOX . . FrontispitCt
From the painting by Gilbert Stuart, in the Mu
seum of Fine Arts, Boston.
BIRTHPLACE OF HENRY KNOX, BOSTON, MASS.
Redrawn from an old print.
THE BOSTON MASSACRE 
From the painting by Alonzo Chappel.
ARRIVAL OF KNOX WITH ARTILLERY . ' .
From a design by F. O. C. Darley.
FACSIMILE OF AUTOGRAPH OF HENRY KNOX .

STATUE OF ISRAEL PUTNAM 
J. Q. A. Ward, Sculptor.
THE JUMEL MANSION, WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NEW
YORK 

ALEXANDER HAMILTON
MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN SULLIVAN .
MAJOR-GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER
From a painting by Col. John Trumbull.
JOHN ADAMS 
AARON BURR 

1218
3"

54
6062

XIV

Illustrations

PAGE
STATUE OF NATHAN HALE  70
By Frederick Macmonnies.
MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES LEE .... 76
From an English engraving published in 1776.
WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, POMPTON, N. J. . 78
BATTLE OF PRINCETON  DEATH OF MERCER . . 84
From the painting by Col. John Trumbull.
MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY KNOX ' . , -92
From the study for the original painting by Gil
bert Stuart.
THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE .... 104
From a French print, 1781.
THE CHEW HOUSE, GERMANTOWN, PA. . . . 108
WASHINGTON AT MONMOUTH .... I24
From a design by F. O. C. Darley.
B'-.NEDICT ARNOLD CARRIED IN EFFIGY . . . I36
THE CAPTURE OF ANDRfi  1 38.
From a print in the possession of Dr. Coutant.
COUNT DE GRASSE  144
WEST POINT AT THE TIME OF THE REVOLUTION . 158
Redrawn from Barber's " Historical Collection."
MAJOR-GENERAL NATHANAEL GREENE . . . 162
From the painting by Col. John Trumbull.
HEADQUARTERS OF MAJOR-GENERAL KNOX AT VAIL's
GATE, NEWBURGH, N. Y.° .... 174
1 Reproduced with permission from the original painting in the possession of
Mrs. C. W. Stimpson.
5 Reproduced with permission from King Washington, by Adelaide Skeel and.
William H. Brearley.

Illustrations

Washington's farewell to his officers .
From the painting by Alonzo Chappel.
MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY KNOX '
From the painting by Edward Savage.
"MONTPELIER," THE HOME OF GENERAL KNOX,
THOMASTON, MAINE ' . ....
MAJOR-GENERAL BENJAMIN LINCOLN
THE GRAVE OF HENRY KNOX AT THOMASTON, MAINE
THOMAS FLUCKER ......
From the painting by John Singleton Copley, in
the art collection in Bowdoin College.
1 Reproduced from Drake's Life and Correspondence of Henry Knox.
* From an oil painting in possession of Win. A. Walker.

XV
fXck 178
212

2J2
238
256 260

GENERAL HENRY KNOX

CHAPTER I
THE SCHOOLING OF A SOLDIER

1W.1JWB
"t'K.X'MOC.lCX

T is not easy to understand why a
figure so commanding and a charac
ter so exalted as the figure and char
acter of General Henry Knox should
have been so inconspicuous in the
written history of the Republic. Even a cursory
examination of the record of the times in which
Knox lived and wrought will disclose his energetic
personality, his pre-eminent abilities, his lofty
patriotism, and his winning manners. Above all,
one who won and held the affection and esteem
of Washington, as Knox did, could have been no
common man.
As Washington's grand character was perfected,
if not evolved, by the wonderful events of the first
great crisis in the affairs of the American people, so,
in the storm and stress that accompanied the birth
of the Republic, the person of Henry Knox, noble

2 Henry Knox
and majestic, was gradually detached from the less
distinguished of his fellow-men, and he became, by
the force of his nature, one of the foremost of that
glorious company of military heroes whose genius
and prowess guided the American people from a
condition of colonial dependence to one of national
sovereignty. The hour struck, and the man
emerged from obscurity to eminence. The young
tradesman, devoting his abundant energies to the
service of his country, and sacrificing ease, comfort,
and the prospects of affluence, was transformed into
a soldier well versed in the art of war, familiar with
camps, a master of strategy. His merits in these
pursuits, so unexpectedly opened before him, were
very great. As a slight reward, he gradually rose
to the highest military rank then known in the
American army establishment. He began his public
career as a modest militiaman; he ended as a major-
general and as the chief officer of the departments
of the Army and the Navy of the United States.
At this distance of time, the career of such a man,
so filled with activity, so closely connected with the
history of his country, and so brilliant in the rapid
and picturesque development of a famous and lov
able personality, may well furnish a fascinating sub
ject for the pen of the biographer and the study of
any who admire manly generosity and singleness of
purpose in a good cause. The life of Henry Knox
may be commended to future generations of Ameri
can citizens as one not only worthy of imitation but
also endued with a certain atmosphere of romance
which allures and gratifies the student.

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BIRTHPLACE OF HENRY KNOX, BOSTON, MASS.

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The Schooling of a Soldier 3
The name 'of Knox* has been made forever
famous by the stern reformer who bore it in tl e
stormy times of Henry VIII. , Elizabeth, and Mary
Queen of Scots. John Knox, the reformer, was a
native of the district of East Lothian, Scotland, and
the family of Henry Knox originated, so far as the
family records have been traced, in the adjacent
Lowlands. During the early part of the eighteenth
century, the migration of many Scotch Presbyteri
ans to the north of Ireland resulted in the estab
lishment of a colony whose descendants are known
in England and America as the Scotch-Irish. Later
in the century, considerable numbers of these crossed
the seas and settled in various portions of the New
England States. During the revolutionary struggle
these people were identified with the cause of human
liberty, into which they threw themselves with devo
tion; and their descendants have unto this day
proved the sturdy worthiness of the stock from'
which they sprang.
* One of the Knox family, residing on the family estate, County
Tyrone, north of Ireland, was raised to the peerage by George II.,
first as Baron, Lord Wells, and subsequently as Lord Viscount
Nothland. This personage, after the American Revolution was
over and the independence of United States acknowledged, court
eously offered to General Henry Knox the family coat-of-arms, his
lordship thinking that the distinguished American had ample right
to armorial bearings. Knox declined the offer, saying that he was
"not certain that he was entitled to be regarded a cadet of a dis
tinguished house." He preferred to bear no cognisance but his
own. His daughter, Mrs. Thatcher, says: "It was his pride to
prefer the position which he acquired in his own proper sphere and
become, so far as Providence should please, the head of his own
house."

4 Henry Knox
A party of these desirable emigrants, under the
spiritual leadership of the Rev. John Morehead,
landed at Boston in 1729. They founded a re
ligious society in Bury Street, and it is a curious
historical fact that the first two names on the baptis
mal records of the parish are the characteristic ones
of Knox and Campbell. These two families were
destined to be united ; for William Knox was mar
ried at Boston, in February, 1735 (old style), to
Mary, daughter of Robert Campbell. William
Knox was a shipmaster, and, for a time at least,
was in comfortable circumstances, owning as he did
some wharf property and the house in which his
children were born, a two-story wooden building
with a gambrel roof, situated on Sea Street, near
the foot of Summer Street and opposite the head of
Drake's Wharf. Henry was the seventh of ten
sons, and was born July 25, 1750. Only four of
these ten boys arrived at the years of maturity ; of
these the two elder, John and Benjamin, went to
sea, but never returned home, and their ultimate
fate is unknown. William, the youngest of the
family, was born in 1756, and was subsequently as
sociated with his more distinguished brother in
various ways until his death, which took place in
1797. The father of the family was overtaken by
financial misfortune about the time of the birth of
his youngest son; he was obliged to sell his house
on Sea Street, and he soon after went to St. Eusta-
tius, in the West Indies, where he died in 1762, aged
fifty years. His widow survived him nine years.dying
in Boston, December 14, 1771, aged fifty-three years.

The Schooling of a Soldier 5
Henry Knox appears to have been a stalwart
youngster, fond of manly sports, devoted to his
mother's welfare, active in affairs that engaged the
attention of the neighbourhood in which he lived,
and yet withal addicted to the study of books as
well as of men and business. Left fatherless just as
he was about to be graduated from the Boston
grammar-school, young Knox found himself, with
his brother William, then only six years old, the
sole support and stay of his mother. Leaving
school, he took a place in the book-store of Messrs.
Wharton & Bowes, in Cornhill, doubtless. consider
ing himself very fortunate in being able to secure
any kind of employment in those troublous times;
for discontent and dissatisfaction with the Imperial
Government was beginning to seethe in the colonies,
and signs of political disturbance were multiplying
in the land.
But, although apprenticed to a master who re
quired strict attention to business, young Knox con
trived to acquire a considerable stock of knowledge
while in the employment of the booksellers' firm.
Surrounded by useful books, he dipped into them
with the eagerness of an active and inquisitive mind.
He deeply studied the pages of Plutarch, became
well versed in the history of famous generals and
warriors, and not only made himself tolerably
familiar with the classics as he found them trans
lated into English, but he learned to speak and
write the French language, an accomplishment
which he found very useful in his after-life.
But the young student was no milksop. We find

& Henry Knox
him an active figure in the pastimes and diversions
of his day and generation. An entertaining incident
is related to show his stalwart strength and his spirit.
Boston, then a small town, was divided into two
rival factions — the Northenders and the South-
enders, the rivalry and the division being more
especially apparent among the boys of the respective
localities. The young Bostonians followed the ex
ample of their English progenitors in the celebra
tion of Guy Fawkes Day, the 5th of November,
their manner of celebration being known as Pope's
Night. Effigies of the Pope and the Devil were
borne through the streets on wheeled platforms, or
floats, saluted with derisive shouts and burning gun
powder. When the procession had paraded to the
satisfaction of the mock celebrants, the effigies were
committed. to the flames of a bonfire with prodigious
acclaim. As a matter of course, the rivalry of the
North End and the South End made it necessary
that there should be two pageants of this kind ; and
also, as a matter of course, the two processions finally
encountered each other on some neutral ground mid
way between the two sections of the town. On one
occasion, a broken wheel disabled the vehicle on
which the effigies of Knox's party were borne, and,
rather than submit to the disgrace of withdrawing
this feature of their celebration, Knox put his
shoulder under the load and so carried it through
the night until the rival procession was met with,
when the customary pitched battle was precipitated
and the show ended in the capture of one party's
paraphernalia by its rival faction. It was character-

The Schooling of a Soldier 7
istic of Knox that he early learned to put his
shoulder to the wheel of any enterprise in which his
abundant zeal was enlisted.
Knox was twenty years old and not yet " out of
his time" of service when the sanguinary affray
known in history as the Boston Massacre took place.
The citizens of Boston had been greatly irritated by
the establishment of an armed garrison in their city.
Altercations between the soldiery and the people
were frequent, and the spirit of bitterness that pre
vailed might be compared to a fire that smouldered
beneath the surface, ready to break out on the
slightest provocation. A squabble had taken place
on the night of March 5, 1770, near the barracks in
which the British soldiers were quartered, in the
heart of the city. A sentry had been set upon by
a citizen, and other soldiers, rallying to the support
of their comrade, armed themselves with any weapon
that came handy (shovels and tongs, it is said);
sufficient excuse for the gathering of a mob was
evident, and a vast concourse of excited people soon
assembled. An attack was made upon a sentry in
front of the custom-house on King Street (now State
Street), and a squad of six men was sent to the re
lief of the beleaguered soldier. This action still
further inflamed the mob, who assailed the soldiers
with such epithets as ' ' lobster-backs ' ' and ' ' bloody-
backs," and the red-coated infantrymen were de
risively invited to fire. Captain Preston, who
commanded the post, was absent from the barracks,
but was sent for in haste, and when he arrived upon
the ground he took six more men with him to the

8 Henry Knox
support of the soldiers who were on duty in front of
the custom-house.
At this juncture, young Knox, who had been
visiting friends in Charlestown and was now on his
way home, came upon the scene. He exerted his
powerful influence in favour of peace and attempted
to restrain the crowd from rushing upon the soldiers.
When Captain Preston appeared, Knox passionately
seized him by the coat and implored him " for God's
sake " not to fire upon the people but to take his
men back into the barracks, urging that the officer's
life must answer for any life that might be taken in
the event of an armed conflict. Every intelligent
man knew perfectly well that, according to English
law, the soldiers must not fire unless an order to
that effect had first been issued by a civil officer to
their commanding officer. While the agitated Pres
ton listened to the remonstrances of Knox, fully
aware of the justice of the young man's position, a
soldier was struck with a club in the hands of a citk^
zen. Enraged by the blow, the soldier levelled his
piece and fired without orders. This was the signal
for random firing by the other soldiers, and the mob
fled in wild disorder. As a result of the volley,
three men were killed instantly, two others were
mortally wounded, and six men were less severely
wounded. The Boston Massacre passed into history.
The ultimate result of this affray was the removal
of the British troops from the city, and the post
ponement of the final conflict for at least five years.
But these were years of uneasiness and uncertainty
in the American colonies, years in which the already

J—J-

. _—

  - ._. .

¦¦ \i-%Ja*Jut«i!Vj

oI-

The Schooling of a Soldier 9
exasperated feelings of the people were still further
exacerbated by offensive displays of the power and
authority of the Crown. Undismayed by the stormy
aspect of the political sky, however, Knox, having
attained his majority, resolved to go into business
on his own account. His modest establishment re-'
ceived the somewhat pretentious name of The Lon-
don Book-Store, and its opening was announced in
Edes & Gill's Gazette, July 29, 1 77 1, in the follow-
ing terms:
"This day is opened a new London Book-Store by Henry Knox,
opposite Williams' Court, in Cornhill, Boston, who has just im-
ported in the last ships from London a large and very elegant
assortment of the most modern books in all branches of Literature,
Arts, and Sciences (catalogues of which will be published soon), and
to be sold as cheap as can be bought at any place in town. Also a
complete assortment of stationery."
Among the papers of Knox are the original in-
voices of goods shipped from London to him during
the few years that intervened between his opening
his book-store and his departure to join himself to
the patriot army. Some of these are curiously in
teresting as indications of the sort of literary pabu
lum which was served out to our forefathers. For
example, an invoice dated at London, October 12,
1 77 1, sets forth the fact that there has been shipped
that day " on board the Pasti, Capt. Isaac Cazneau,
for Boston, in New England, by Tho's Longman,
Bookseller in London, Three Trunks of Merchandize
on the account and risque of Mr. Henry Knox,
Merchant in Boston." The total amount of the bill
is £196 17*. \^d. The books appear to be chiefly

io Henry Knox
devoted to law, medicine, and politics, with a plenti
ful sprinkling of works on divinity; and the polemic
disposition of the New Englanders of that age is
evinced in the items of printed sermons ordered by
the young bookseller in Boston.
His invoice contains twelve copies of Dodd's Ser-
vions to Young Men, an item which is balanced by
four copies of The Fool of Quality, four of The Lon
don Songster, one of Smollett's Quixote, one of The
Vicar of Wakefield, two of Grandison, one of Vol
taire's Lewis the XVth, and twenty-five copies of
Armstrong's (Economy of Love. Twelve Bibles
figure in this unique list, and the considerable item
of one hundred and twenty copies of Salmon's
Grammar would suggest that young Knox had'
secured a contract to furnish books for a public
school. A later invoice contains fifty copies each
of Pamela, Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones, Clarissa,
and Grandison, items that clearly indicate the char
acter of the fiction read by the staid people of New
England in those days.
Knox added stationery to his stock of books, and
in an invoice from Wright & Gill, of London, dated
February 17, 1772, the total amount of which was
£656 19s. Sd., we find German flutes, bread-baskets,
telescopes, " protractors," dividers, paper hangings,
" moguls," and standishes. On the back of this
¦Trrvoice is the following endorsement : ' Messrs.
Wright & Gill rely upon Mr. Knox's punctual Re
mittances, and he may be assured of being served
on the best of terms." It is worthy of note that
the titles Fool of Quality and Baxter's Saint's Rest

The Schooling of a Soldier n
appear in nearly every one of the invoices shipped
from London to Knox and his successor. The
works of Philip Doddridge also appear to have been
greatly in demand in New England about that time.
Another illustration of the literary taste of the
times is found in a letter addressed to Henry Knox
by Henry Sherburne, who, writing from Ports
mouth, N. H., November 4, 1773, asks to know the
prices of " such books of the story-telling sort " as
he may have for sale, the prices being fixed to meet
the requirements of " any person who buys 20 vols.,
12 mos." Mr. Sherburne warns Mr. Knox that he
has been already offered some books at very reason
able rates. His list includes
" 1 Batchelor of Sahmanca, I Anacreon, I Dickey Gotham and Doll
Clod, 1 Tristram Shandy, I Peregrine Pickle, I Collection of Stories
— 2 vols., 1 Collection of Dodsley's Letters, printed about the end of
the last century, in which are Rochester's Letters to his friend,
Henry Saville."
The primitive commerce in books was to some
extent reinforced by exchanges among the dealers
in such wares doing business in American towns.
Thus we find James Rivington writing from New
York, March 17, 1774, offering Knox a bargain.
After asking Knox to get Paul Revere's prices for
engraving certain plates, Rivington says: " I am
printing many little Children's Books & send you a
specimen of Rob'n Crusoe with your name in the
title. These I will send you cheaper than you can
import them."
But the time was coming when such pleasing
fictions as Rob'n Crusoe and Peregrine Pickle should

12 Henry Knox
not wholly interest the American colonists. It is
instructive to note the gradual change in public
sentiment and thought, as the times wore on, to more
exciting themes. Men's minds were directed to the
study of politics, and the invoices and advertise
ments of Knox and others showed that the rights
and privileges of Parliament, the duties of citizens,
English law,. and the prerogatives of the King en
grossed the attention of readers.
One can readily imagine that Knox's London
book-store, stocked as we know it to have been
with the best books then extant, and with many
elegant trifles of the day, such as could be included
in the very elastic category of " stationery," was
likely to become popular with " the quality " of the
good old town of Boston. Harrison Gray Otis,
who knew Knox with some degree of intimacy, said
of his establishment: " It was a store of great
display and attraction for young and old, and a
fashionable morning lounge." And General Henry
Burbeck, one of Knox's contemporaries, said:
' Knox's store was a great resort for the British
officers and Tory ladies, who were the ton at that
period." One of the frequent customers of the handsome
and gallant-looking young bookseller was Miss Lucy
Flucker, a bright and lively member of the fashion
able Tory circles of Boston. Her father, Thomas
Flucker, who is described as " a high-toned loyalist
of great family pretensions," was the royal secretary
of the province, and, as a matter of consequence, a
personage of high social dignity. Mr. Otis says

(,. ft I

~£

, ••

ARRIVAL OF KNOX WITH ARTILLERY.
FROM A DEMON By F. O. C. DARUr.

>ceui
2*
¦S !
X °
I- o
5 *
x £
Si

< o
> £

The Schooling of a Soldier 13
that Miss Lucy " was distinguished as a young lady
of high intellectual endowments, very fond of books,
especially of the books sold by Knox, to whose
shelves she had frequent recourse, and on whose
premises was kindled, as the story went, ' the guilt
less flame ' which was destined to burn on the
hymeneal altar, ' despite of father arid mother and
all of my kin.' " The Fluckers were of a French
Huguenot family who came to America from
England. Knox found time to indulge in outdoor sports
with moderation, notwithstanding his busy life as
bookseller, stationer, and bookbinder, for he added
this latter branch of industry to his already crowded
store and shop. In the summer of 1773, while gun
ning on Noddle's Island, now occupied by East
Boston, he lost the third and fourth fingers of his
left hand by the bursting of his fowling-piece. He
was afterwards wont to conceal the maiming of his
hand by the skilful winding of a silk handkerchief
around the member. Gilbert Stuart, when he
painted the half-length portrait of Knox which is
now the property of the city of Boston, artfully
placed the left hand of his sitter on a piece of
artillery in such a position as to hide the loss of
the two fingers.
When Knox remitted to the surgeons who dressed
and cared for his wounded hand the generous sum
which he thought should recompense them (three
guineas to one and five guineas to another), he could
not refrain from expressing his gratitude in the
somewhat stilted language of the day.

H Henry Knox
" Sir," he wrote, " the mariner, when the danger is past, looks
back with pleasure and surprize on the quicksands and rocks which
he has escaped, and if perchance it was owing to the skillfulness of
the pilot or great activity of some brother seaman on board, the
first ebullitions of his gratitude are violent, but afterwards settle to
a firm respect and esteem for the means of his existence. So, Sin
gratitude obliges me to tender you my most sincere thanks for the
attention and care you took of me in a late unlucky accident" — with
more to the same purport.
Political troubles thickened in the devoted country
that was so soon to become the theatre of a long
and exhausting war. Governor Hutchinson, wearied
and disgusted with the popular opposition to his
administration, resigned his office and went to Eng
land ; he was succeeded by General Thomas Gage,
whose attitude was that of a military, rather than a
civil, functionary. The attempt to force upon the
colonies the importation of cargoes of tea on which
high duties were to be paid for the benefit of the
British East India Company, still further exaspei-
ated the people and hastened the crisis that was
blackly advancing upon the sullen belligerents.
Knox, writing to his London correspondents,
Wright & Gill, under date of May 30, 1774, said:
" If the act to block up this harbour should con
tinue in force any length of time, it must deeply
affect every person in Trade here, and consequently
their Correspondents on your side of the water.
But it is expected the British merchants will see
their own interest so clearly as to induce them to
exert their whole influence in order to get so unjust
and cruel an edict repealed." This appeal to the
evident interest of the British business men, as we

The Schooling of a Soldier 15
know, was ine'ffective, although others than Knox
addressed themselves to their business correspond
ents in London.
James Rivington, the well-known Tory printer,
bookseller, and newspaper editor, of New York,
was one of Knox's correspondents, and that worthy
sent Knox, in July, 1774, a consignment of five
chests of the hated and proscribed Chinese tea.
Knox declined the commission, and the consign
ment was subsequently turned over to another per
son. Writing to Rivington about this time, Knox,
after closing the business portion of his letter, adds
a postscript in which he says :
" I forgot my politics — or rather, I have none to communicate at
present. Things seem to be pretty much at a stand, since I wrote
you. The troops encamped on the common keep up a most excel
lent discipline, and seem cautious that no affray begins on their
part. The Citizens, taught by experience to be quiet, are equally
cautious to avoid 'any disturbance. The Non-Consumption agree
ment or the solemn league and covenant has made a very rapid
progress since the Governor's proclamation forbidding it ; by the
last accounts I have been able to collect, it will be general through
out this Province, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. The New
Acts for regulating this Government will, I perfectly believe, make
great difficulties. The people are in no disposition to receive an
act pregnant with so great evils. What mode of Opposition will be
adopted, I do not know ; but it is the general opinion that it will be
opposed ; hence the key to the formidable force collecting here."
By the enactment into law of the obnoxious Boston
Port Bill, the Home Government had endeavoured
to close the port of Boston against all commerce ex
cept that directly licensed by the imperial author
ities. The colonists promptly answered this by

16 Henry Knox
entering into a solemn league and covenant to ab
stain from the consumption of all goods imported
from England. This action on the part of ^the
colonists, of course, immediately affected the busi
ness of Knox. Accordingly, in a letter from him
to his London correspondent, Thomas Longman,
bookseller, in November, 1774, the harassed Boston-
ian writes :
" Sir, — I have received yours, per Capt. Callahan, and the books
in good order, also the Magazines to August inclusive. I am sorry
it is not in my power to make you remittance per this opportunity,
but shall do it very soon. This whole Continent have entered into
a General non-Importation agreement until the late acts of Parlia
ment respecting this Government, &c, are repealed, which will pre
vent my sending orders for any Books until this most desirable end
is accomplished. I cannot but hope every person who is concerned
in American trade will most strenuously exert themselves in their
respective stations for what so nearly concerns themselves. 1 h'd
the fairest prospect of entirely balancing our account this fall, but
the almost total stagnation of Trade in consequence of the Boston
Port Bill has been the sole means of preventing it, and now the non-
consumption agreement will stop that small circulation of Business
left by the Boston Port Bill — I mean the internal business of the
province. It must be the wish of every good man that these un
happy differences between Great Britain and the Colonics be speedily
and finally adjusted ; the influence that the unlucky and unhappy
mood of the Politicks of the times has upon trade, is my only excuse
for writing concerning them. The Magazines and tne new publica
tions concerning the American dispute are the only things which I,
desire you to send at present, which I wish you to pack together well
wrapped in brown paper as usual."
Knox's first bill for books purchased of Longman'
amounted to ^340, and the total amount of his
purchases from that house, up to the close of 1772
(four months less than two years), was £2066. The

The Schooling of a Soldier 1 7
political troubles alluded to in the foregoing Jetter
caused such a falling-off in Knox's orders that Long
man's sales on American account may be said to
have almost entirely ceased. It was in vain that Eng
lish merchants sought to modify the severity of the
imperial treatment of the American colonies, hoping
that such an amelioration would redound to their
own advantage. The British Government was irre
trievably committed to the fatal policy of force and
oppression. Meanwhile in the colonies there was
by no means an undivided front presented by those
who, although they had not begun to see clearly
even a hope of independence, were resolved upon
opposition to British rule. It was an age of pam
phleteering; the press, both in this country and in
England, constantly threw off thousands of broad
sides and pamphlets — satiric, argumentative, humor
ous, and ponderously logical, and all designed to aid
the cause of the long-suffering colonists, or that of
the British loyalists. James Rivington, although
fully aware of the fact that Knox had thrown him
self with ardour into the struggle of the colonists for
some concession of their rights, wrote to the book
seller, under date of December I, 1774, offering to
send him copies of the Tory pamphlets for sale;
but, as if reflecting that Knox's patriotic impulses
might interfere with his commercial instincts, he
said :
"My reasons for not troubling you with these very warm, high-
seasoned pamphlets is that your very numerous friends of the patriot
interest may be greatly disgusted at your distributing them; but
if you are not so very nice, as I supposed, from the state of your

IO _ Henry Knox
interest, &c, and are willing to have these sort of articles, I will
secure them for you from time to time. Pray explain yourself on
this head directly, for I mean to show every expression of my at
tention to you." v
It is to be regretted that Knox's answer to this in
sidious proposition has not been preserved ; it was
undoubtedly as " high-seasoned " as any of Riving-
ton's Tory pamphlets.
While we are on the topic of Knox's business
affairs, we may as well anticipate the final downfall
of his bookselling establishment. After Knox had
left Boston to enter the patriot army, his business
was conducted by his younger brother, William.
But as the war cloud deepened, Boston was occupied
by British troops and the civil rule was displaced by
martial law ; complete license was allowed the sol
diers and the Tories in their treatment of the pro
perty of the recalcitrant colonists. Among others,
the absent Knox was a sufferer from the violence of
those who were for the time holding rule in the city.
His store was plundered and pillaged, and his stock
ruined. Long after the war was over and the inde
pendence of the States had been acknowledged,
Knox made a payment on his account with Long
man, the amount paid being n,ooo guilders, or
about £1000. This did not square the account,
however, and, owing to grave financial embarrass
ments that overtook him late in his life, the book
seller-general left a portion of that debt unpaid when
sudden death cut short all his plans. In his letter
enclosing a draft for the last payment made by Knox
to Longman, dated December 15, 1793, he wrote:

„J%Z

/ :¦

S r-t '* ''' y &rs

6i^0l€^6'AM'-'

to

FACSIMILE OF AUTOGRAPH OF HENRY KNOX.

The Schooling of a Soldier 19
" It is but justfce to myself to say that, while I experience the
strongest sensations of gratitude for your forbearance and .liberality,
it is with extreme inconvenience that I pay so heavy an arrear for
property destroyed by events which I could no more control than I
could the great operations of nature, nor am I more responsible for
them : I mean the war. In paying you, I feel inclination and duty
blended together. Had my pecuniary situation admitted the
measure, you should long ago have received the amount due."
The patriot who resented the war brought on to
subject the colonies to imperial rule was yet sensi
tive to obligations due a British subject, although
the property represented by those obligations had
been destroyed in the British interest.
One dangerous feature of the times was the activ
ity of the colonial militia. In the piping times of
peace the British Government had encouraged a
martial spirit among the colonists. Several com
panies of militia had been organised in Boston. The
earliest of these was " The Ancient and Honourable
Artillery Company," organised in 1638. Next in
order of age came the Cadets, organised about 1754,
and composed of young men belonging to the higher
circles of Boston society. The Cadets were popularly
known as " The Governor's Guards," as they acted
as escort to that functionary on all occasions of cere
mony. Knox, at the age of eighteen, had joined
the artillery company, commonly known as " Thel
Train." This organisation was largely composed
of men from the South End, and, in contradis
tinction to the Cadets, its members were chiefly
drawn from the ranks of mechanics and shop
keepers. The artillery was commanded by Major
Adino Paddock, a chair-maker, whose shop was on

20 Henry Knox
Common (now Tremont) Street, opposite Boston
Common. Paddock was a useful and efficient drill-
master, and his company received valuable instruc
tion from the officers of a company of British artillery,
which, having entered Boston en route for Quebec
too late to finish the journey in the winter of 1766,
remained in quarters at Castle William, Boston
Harbour, until the following May. Unwittingly,
the British officers were schooling the militiamen
whom they were afterwards to meet on the field of
battle; for a majority of the officers of Paddock's
command were afterwards enrolled in the patriot
army, and served under Knox, Gridley, and Crane.
Paddock's company had three fine brass pieces,
3-pounders, that were probably those mentioned in
the chronicles of the time as having been brought
over from England on the brigantine Abigail, about
the date of the formation of " The Train." These
guns were cast in England from two old cannon sent
over for that purpose by the General Court of Mas
sachusetts. They bore the arms of the province, and
were spoken of as "new pieces" when, on the
King's Birthday, in 1768, they were fired in a royal
salute during a parade in King Street. At the final
breaking out of the War of the Revolution, these
guns were stored in a gun-house on West Street.
The building and a public schoolhouse were sur
rounded by a high fence and, after the times grew
more and more stormy, a sentry was stationed at
the door of the gun-house. General Gage had ex
pressed his intention of seizing all the arms of the
militia of Boston, and had actually begun to seize

The Schooling of a Soldier 21
the military stores and weapons of the people of the
province. It was suspected that Paddock, who was
a Tory, was more than willing to surrender the brass
pieces of his company; accordingly, six bold young
patriots, one of whom was the schoolmaster, Abra
ham Holbrook, took advantage of the temporary
absence of the sentinel at the gun-house to remove
the guns from their carriages and hide them in the
schoolhouse, whence they were subsequently taken
in the night and conveyed to the American lines.
They were in actual service during the entire war,
and, while General Henry Knox was Secretary
of War, he had two of the pieces, then dubbed
" Hancock" and " Adams," suitably inscribed to
Indicate their pedigree. In the course of time, the
guns were taken to the chamber at the top of the
monument on Bunker Hill, where they remain unto
this day.
A further contribution to the history of the artil
lery company in which Knox received his first les
sons in gun practice may be found in the records of
the Committee of Safety, which, in February, 1 775,
instructed Dr. Joseph Warren, who was subse
quently killed at the battle of Bunker Hill, to as
certain how many of Paddock's men " could be
depended upon to form an artillery company when
the Constitutional Army of the Province should take
the field, and that without loss of time." The
answer to Warren's inquiry is not a matter of record,
but the rosters of the Army of the Revolution dis
close the names of a large majority of Paddock's
militiamen. As for Paddock, that worthy artillery-

22 Henry Knox
man stayed in Boston, an active Tory, until its
evacuation by the royal troops, when he sailed with
them to Halifax. He was afterwards rewarded by
an appointment as Inspector of Artillery Stores,
with the rank of Captain, in the British Army.
Meanwhile, an offshoot from Paddock's company
was formed in 1772 by the organisation of another
militia troop, known as the " Boston Grenadier
Corps," commanded by Captain Joseph Peirce.
Knox, who was now twenty-two years old, was one
of the founders of the new organisation, and was
second in command to Peirce. The uniform of the
corps was unusually handsome, and the bearing of its
ranks on parade was the subject of universal praise.
Even the British officers were warm in praise of the
corps, the members of which were from five feet and
ten inches to six feet in height. We may be sure
that Knox, the second in command, who was of
lofty stature, and who, according to the local chron
icle of the time, was " a splendid figure in uniform,"
attracted the admiring glances of many a fair maiden
besides those of Miss Lucy Flucker, who is reported
as having been more than ever enamoured of the
handsome and gallant young bookseller when she
beheld him clad in the glorious panoply of Mars, his
wounded hand " handsomely bound with a scarf,
which, of course, excited the sympathy of the
ladies." Even in the midst of alarms, the love-making of
the pair went bravely on, notwithstanding the oppos
ition of the aristocratic Tory family of Miss Lucy.
Knox was an acknowledged " rebel " ; he had cast

The Schooling of a Soldier 23
in his fortunes with a cause which the Fluckers felt
to be doomed to certain loss and defeat ; the young
swain was a tradesman, and an alliance with one of
plebeian origin and seditious inclinations was clearly
to be regarded as not only obnoxious to the family
but fraught with misery to the young lady. She
was told that there could be but one issue to the
impending conflict; the rebellious colonies would
be overwhelmed by the vast power of the Imperial
Government; and she would be eating the bitter
bread of poverty while her wiser sisters would be
riding in their coaches. It was all in vain. Miss
Lucy, now eighteen years of age, had a will of her
own, and, although soundly rated by her parents,
continued to maintain to Knox the tender relation
of promised bride. It is evident that this was a
" love match," and both parties thereto maintained
toward each other the most loving and affectionate
relations during their subsequent life. We shall see
that, even up to the time when old age might be
supposed to dim the flame of man's ardour, Knox
habitually addressed his wife in terms which suggest
the devoted lover rather than the busy man of affairs,
the well-ripened husband and father.
It would appear that the pair were so determined
in their resolve to wed that an elopement would have
taken place if the parents of Lucy had not finally
been induced to yield their reluctant consent to the
union which they conscientiously thought to be
likely to turn put an unfortunate one for their
daughter. At one time, correspondence by letter
between the youthful swain and his inamorata was

24 Henry Knox
made so difficult that the young lovers were obliged
to resort to the undutiful device of a secret corre
spondence. In one of his notes, dated Monday
evening, March 7, 1774, Knox wrote:
"I wish the medium of our correspondence settled, in order to
which I must endeavour to see you, when we will settle it. What
news? Have you spoken to your father, or he to you, upon the
subject? What appearance has this (to us) grand affair at your
house at present ? Do you go to the ball to-morrow evening ? I am
in a state of anxiety heretofore unknown. My only consolation is
in you, and in order that it should be well grounded, permit me to
beg two things of you with the greatest ardency : never distrust my
affection for you without the most rational and convincing proof —
if you do not hear from me in a reasonable time, do not lay it to my
want of love, but want of opportunity ; and do not, in consequence
of such distrust, omit writing to me as often as possible. . . .
Don't distrust the sincerity of your Fidelio."
Knox, imbued with the high-flown sentiment of the
time, addresses his love as " Speria."
The inevitable sequel to all this courting (the age-
yellowed missives of which survive — pathetic and
tender evidence of the ardour of the lovers, long
since turned to dust) may be found in the following
announcement in Edes & Gill's Gazette of June 20,
1774: "Last Thursday (the 16th) was married, by the Rev. Dr. Caner,
Mr. Henry Knox of this town, to Miss Lucy Flucker, second
daughter to the Hon. Thomas Flucker, Esq., Secretary of the
Province." After a common custom of the times, a friendly
poetaster composed these epithalamic lines to ac
company the formal announcement of the marriage:

The Schooling of a Soldier 25
" Blest tho' she is with ev'ry human grace,
The mien engaging, and bewitching face,
Yet still an higher beauty is her care,
Virtue, the charm that most adorns the fair ;
This does new graces to her air inspire,
Gives to her lips their bloom, her eyes their fire ;
This o'er her cheek with brighter tincture shows
The lily's brightness and the blushing rose.
O may each bliss the lovely pair surround.
And each wing'd hour with new delights be crown'd !
Long may they those exalted pleasures prove
That spring from worth, from constancy and love."
The young pair at once began housekeeping,
watched, doubtless, by the curious eyes of the
bride's famity, who were certain that poverty and
disaster were in store for one who had so rashly
ventured upon the uncertain sea of matrimony with
a rebel and a tradesman. Lucy Flucker's only
brother was a lieutenant in the British Army, and,
while he was serving the cause of the King, his
newly made brother-in-law was zealously studying
the art of war and schooling himself for the service
into which he was so soon to enter. Large promises
were held out to young Knox to induce him to take
a commission in the royal cause; he was regarded
as too desirable a man to be lost from the military
service of the King. The British officer who had
observed with admiration the evolutions of the artil
lery company of which Knox was second in com
mand, and had said that a country which produced
such "boy soldiers" as he could not readily be
brought under subjection, only gave voice to the
sentiment that pervaded the ranks of the determined

26

Henry Knox

colonists. Knox was one of many well-equipped
young men who waited for the signal to spring to
the defence of the country's rights and serve in the
field the cause of civil liberty. In due time the
hour struck. The soldier was ready when the signal
sounded.

CHAPTER II

THE BREAKING OF THE STORM
i 775- I 776
NOX'S business in Boston was in a
fairly prosperous condition, notwith
standing the stormy aspect of the
times. Although the sales of books
fell off greatly in amount and import
ance, the profits of the- stationery, printing, and
binding departments of his trade must have been
considerable. He was almost without a competitor
in these lines of business. Paul Revere, the North
End coppersmith and engraver, was one of a com-
mittee of young mechanics who cautiously patrolled
the streets by night to watch and report to the
patriots outside of the city all suspicious movements
of the Royal Government and troops. Knox, as a
well-known-sympathiser with the rebellious colonists,
was kept under surveillance, and was forbidden to
leave Boston. Although there is no record of the
fact, it is certain that he was actively engaged with
others in watching the enemy and communicating
with friends in the region roundabout; Cambridge,

28 Henry Knox [1775-
Lexington, and Concord being then centres of
rebel ' ' activity.
As the tension between the colonists and the royal
authorities was increased, the towns collected their
stores of powder, lead, and musketry. To intimid
ate the country and exercise his little army, Govern
or-General Gage sent out from Boston to Jamaica
Plain, a village about four miles from Boston, five
regiments of troops under the command of Lord
Percy (afterwards Duke of Northumberland), the
route selected being purposely circuitous, and cover
ing about ten miles. It was expected that these
troops would attack the magazines of the Massachu
setts villages, and lively anticipations of fighting in
earnest were entertained by the patriots both inside
and outside of Boston. But the military diversion,
for such it proved to be, came to an end without any
collision of arms. Dr. Joseph Warren, of the Com
mittee of Safety, sagely reported of Percy's expedi
tion that it marched without baggage or artillery.
" But," he adds, " had they attempted to destroy
any magazines, or to abuse the people, not a man
of them would have returned to Boston." The
storm was ready to break. The lines were drawn
closer and yet closer. For a time, the exodus from
Boston of persons who identified themselves with
the patriot cause had been rather encouraged than
forbidden; only men who, like Knox, might add
real value to the gathering force of the malcontents
in the rural districts, were detained by special or
ders. Now, however, the Tories complained that
the flight of " rebels " had become so formidable in

1776] The Breaking of the Storm 29
numbers that there was danger that none but loyal
ists and the royal troops would be left in the town,
and the destruction of the place would be attempted
by the host outside. A positive prohibition of all
migration from the town was accordingly issued by
the Governor-General.
Percy's expedition of observation was undertaken
on the 30th of March, 1775. On the 1 8th of April,
Gage sent a force of eight hundred men to seize and
destroy the military stores collected at Concord and
Worcester. The order was to be executed with
secrecy and celerity, the expedition setting forth in
the night. How the surrounding country was
warned of the approach of the redcoats has been
celebrated in song and story. Paul Revere's mid
night ride to rouse the people, as described in
Longfellow's immortal lyric, was undertaken from
Charlestown, in obedience to the signal of two lan
terns swung in the belfry of the old North Church,
one light being agreed as notice that the British had
set forth by land, and two lights indicating that the
route was by water. John Hancock and John
Adams were housed in Lexington, and when Paul
Revere, waking the captains of minute-men on his
way, had told them of the impending crisis, he rode
on to Concord to notify the patriots there as
sembled. Falling in with Dr. Prescott, who was
destined to play an important part in the military
drama then opening, Revere swept on his way. He
was surrounded by a party of British officers, taken
prisoner, and carried back to Lexington, where he
arrived only a little while before the column of

3° Henry Knox [1775-
troops whose approach he had signalled came upon
the scene. Prescott escaped and rode on, accom
panied by William Dawes, to rouse .he countryside,
which was speedily in arms. At last " the shot
heard round the world " was fired. The long, long
struggle was begun.
The march of the minute-men began that night,
and before the 20th of the month arrived, the towns
of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and
New Hampshire had concentrated at Cambridge a
little army of resolute and determined men. On
the 19th of April, just one year after his marriage,
Knox, unable longer to tarry in Boston inactive
while his brother patriots were in arms and eager for
the fray, secretly left the town, accompanied by his
wife. His departure was undertaken in the night,
special interdiction on his movements having been
laid by Gage. Generous offers had been made to
him to induce him to take service in the royal forces.
But, turning his back upon all such blandishments,
he made his way directly to the colonial headquart
ers at Cambridge. The sword which he had worn
in the militia service went with the young pair, cun
ningly secreted in the quilted lining of Mrs. Knox's
cloak. With this weapon aione was the young
soldier to carve out his fortunes. For better or for
worse, he was now with the defenders of the patriot
cause. Pv.epairing to the headquarters of General Artemas
Ward, who was then in command of the " rebel "
troops about Boston, Knox offered his services as
a volunteer, declining any special commission.

r776] The Breaking of the Storm 31
Virtually, the siege of Boston now began, and Knox,
whose studies in military science and engineering
were now made available for the good cause, planned
and superintended a line of fortifications round the
town. But, while the movements which finally cul
minated in the battle of Bunker Hill were in pro
gress, he was occupied in reconnoitring services in
the vicinity of Charlestown. It was upon his reports
that the orders of General Ward were subsequently
issued. After the battle of Bunker Hill, hostilities
having now begun in earnest, Mrs. Knox was taken
to Worcester, the better to escape the perils and
dangers of a residence near the scene of hostile
action around Boston. It was at this time that
Knox's talents as an engineer and artillerist were
called into active requisition. Skilled engineers
were greatly in demand in the patriot army, and
Knox, who appears never to have ceased his study
of the military science most requisite to his pur
poses and the needs of his country, was clearly the
master spirit in the execution of the formidable
works that now began to surround the beleaguered
town of Boston. The most important of these was
a fort on Roxbury Neck, known as Roxbury Fort,
commanding the sole land exit from the besieged
town. Even while the smoke of the battle of Bunker
Hill was rising on that hot 17th of June, 1775, the
Continental Congress, assembled in Philadelphia,
unwitting of the tremendous events that were hap
pening in the North, appointed George Washington,
of Virginia, to be General and Commander-in-chief

3 2 Henry Knox [ms-
of the armies raised for the maintenance and defence
of American liberty. At the same time, Artemas
Ward, of Massachusetts, was appointed to be first
Major-General under Washington; Horatio Gates,
of Virginia, was appointed Washington's Adjutant-
General, with the rank of Brigadier-General; and
Charles Lee, an English half-pay officer, was made
second Major-General. Before the month ended,
the list of general officers was filled out by the ap
pointment of Philip Schuyler and Israel Putnam to
be Major-Generals, and Seth Pomeroy, Richard
Montgomery, David Wooster, William Heath,
Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan, and
Nathanael Greene as Brigadier-Generals.
Knox still remained in the volunteer service — a
volunteer in the very strictest sense of the word,
desiring and seeking no commission. Immediately
after his arrival at Cambridge, where he took com
mand of the army, Washington made an inspection
of the works erected about the beleaguered town of
Boston, and extracts from Knox's letters, written
at that time, indicate the admiration with which
the new commander viewed the fortifications in the.
construction of which Knox had so important a
share. Writing to his wife under date of " Rox
bury (Lemuel Child's), Thursday morning, 6 o'clock,
July 6, 1775," Knox says:
"Yesterday, as I was going to Cambridge, I met the generals,
[Washington and Lee] who begged me to return to Roxbury again,
which I did. When they had viewed the works, they expressed the
greatest pleasure and surprise at their situation and apparent utility,
to say nothing of the plan, which did not escape their praise."

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STATUE OF ISRAEL PUTNAM.
J. Q. A. WARD, SCULPTOR.

me] The Breaking of the Storm 33
In a later le'tter, Knox expresses his pleasure at
beholding the " ease and dignity " with which
Washington filled his exalted station as Commander-
in-chief; and he incidentally mentions that he has
an important appointment to keep with the General.
Writing under date of July nth, Knox refers to a
foray which " our people " had lately made upon
Boston Neck; and he adds that the British regulars
were in such a state of trepidation that it was likely
that seven hundred and fifty men could have then
taken full possession of the town. He adds: " The
new generals are of infinite service in the army.
They have to reduce order from almost perfect
chaos. I think they are in a fair way of doing it.
Our army still ' affect to hold the army besieged ' ;
and will effectually continue to do so." The phrase
" affect to hold the army besieged," in this note, is
a quotation from an angry proclamation issued by
General Gage, June 12, 1775, which caused much
merriment in the American camp.
Writing to his brother William, who still remained
in Boston, September 25, 1775, Knox says:
"Last Friday, Lucy [Mrs. Knox] dined at General Washington's.
Last Saturday, let it be remembered to the honour and skill of the
British troops, they fired 104 cannon-shot at our works, at not a
greater distance than half pointblank shot, — and did what? Why,
scratched a man's face with the splinters of a rail-fence ! I have
had the pleasure of dodging these heretofore engines of terror with
great success ; nor am I afraid they will hit me, unless directed by
the hand of Providence."
Writing to Governor Trumbull, of Connecticut,
November 2, 1775, Washington complains of the

34 Henry Knox 1x77s-
lack of trained officers in the engineer corps, and
says: " Most of the works thrown up for the de:
fence of our several encampments have been planned
by a few of the principal officers of the army, as
sisted by Mr. Knox, a gentleman of Worcester."
And on the 8th of the same month, the Commander-
in-chief wrote to the President of the Continental
Congress, as follows:
"The council of officers are unanimously of opinion that the
command of the artillery should no longer continue in Colonel
Gridley ; and, knowing no person better qualified to supply his
place, or whose appointment will give more general satisfaction, I
have taken the liberty of recommending Henry Knox to the con
sideration of Congress."
Richard Gridley, formerly a captain in the Pad
dock artillery organisation, was a veteran of the
French and Indian war, but was now, by reason of
age and infirmities, incapacitated for further active
service. Next in rank to Gridley was David Mason,
who offered to serve as lieutenant-colonel of Wash
ington's artillery if Henry Knox might be commis
sioned colonel. A number of active arid meritorious
officers in the artillery generously united with Mason !
in urging the appointment of Knox as colonel. He
was accordingly appointed, and his commission,
dated November 17, 1775, reached him some time
later, when he had returned from an arduous expedi
tion to Fort Ticonderoga.
In these later days of strict military discipline and
schooling, it seems singular that a man who had
never had the advantages of a military education
should have been selected for the trying post of

1776] The Breaking of the Storm 35
chief of the artillery of the army. The Boston
bookseller suddenly became, not only a colonel,
but the head of an arm of the service requiring the
most thorough and practical knowledge of military
science. The wisdom of Washington's appoint
ments was justified by the after-experience of the
men whom he selected for important positions. In
the case of Knox, it may be said, his appointment
proved to be one of profound wisdom.
The force under Knox's immediate command,
however, was not very large. According to a return
made in November, 1776, his regiment consisted of
twelve companies with 635 men on the rolls. The
field officers were Henry Knox, Colonel; William
Burbeck, first Lieutenant-Colonel ; David Mason,
second Lieutenant -Colonel ; John Crane, first
Major; John Lamb, second Major. All these,
made subsequently, gave a good account of them-
selves. John Adams, who had known Knox in Boston as
a young man who had attracted his attention by
' his pleasing manners and inquisitive turn of
mind," was so gratified by Knox's determination
to take an active part in the war as a commissioned
officer, that he wrote to him from Philadelphia,
under date of November n, 1775, as follows:
" I had the pleasure of a letter from you a few days ago, and was
rejoiced to learn that you have at last determined to take a more
important share than you have done hitherto in the conduct of our
military matters. I have been impressed with an opinion of your
knowledge and abilities in the military way for several years, and
of late have endeavoured, both at camp, at Watertown, and at

36 Henry Knox [ws-
Philadelphia, by mentioning your name and character, to make you
more known, and consequently in a better way for promotion.
" It was a sincere opinion of your merit and qualifications which
prompted me to act this part, and therefore I am very happy to be
able to inform you that I believe you will very soon be provided for
according to your wishes ; at least, you may depend upon this, that
nothing in my power shall be wanting to effect it. It is of vast
importance, my dear sir, that I should be minutely informed of
everything which passes at the camp while I hold a place in the
great Council of America ; and therefore I must beg the favour of
you to write me as often as you can by safe conveyances. I want to
know the name, rank, and character of every officer in the army ;
but more especially of every officer who is best acquainted with the
theory and practice of fortification and gunnery. What is compre
hended within the term of Engineer? and whether it includes skill
both in fortifications and gunnery ; and what skilful engineers have
you in the army ; and whether any of them, and who, have seen
service, and when and where ?
"I want to know if there is a complete set of books upon the
military art in all its branches in the library of Harvard College,
and what books are the best upon those subjects."
This interesting letter from Adams marks the be
ginning of a long and intimate friendship and corre
spondence between the two patriots. In later years,
as we shall see, John Adams reposed in the discre
tion of Knox the most complete and unwavering con
fidence; and his confidence was united to an esteem
that never once halted during the trying times of
the Revolution and the formative period that suc
ceeded the armed struggle. From this period, too,
dates the lifelong and affectionate friendship that
bound together Knox and Washington. We should
bear in mind that although Washington, the Vir
ginian aristocrat, had at once been taken into the af
fection of the people of New England, the traditions

1776] The Breaking of the Storm 37
of the social caste to which he had belonged were
not likely to incline him unquestioningly to in
timacy with one who, like Knox, had been born and
bred a tradesman, no matter what his military merit
might promise- for him. But the fact remains his
torical that Henry Knox won the affection of Wash-
ington as no other man (if we may possibly exclude
Alexander Hamilton) ever did. The letters that
passed between Washington and Knox, from this
time forth, breathe a spirit of sincere devotion that
is not common among men. If " the cold heart of
Washington," of which some historians make men
tion, had no warm place for any others, it is certain
that the two patriots to whom allusion has just been
made were very dear to the Commander-in-chief.
There must have been something fine and grand in
the character of Henry Knox that inspired so ex
alted an admiration and so deep an affection as that
in which Washington held Knox.
Just here we may anticipate the chronology of
our story to quote a pleasant passage from a letter
written by Miss Dorothy Dudley, at Cambridge,
April 19, 1776, to her friend Miss Esther Living
stone. Describing in her piquant way the military
celebrities then assembled in Cambridge, the writer
says of Gen. Nathanael Greene * :
" He is rather a large man, with a face indicating fire and firmness,
tempered by the innate goodness which looks out of his clear, quiet
eyes. General Harry Knox is his most intimate and trusted friend.
The two were almost constantly together in the days when both
* From Cambridge in 1776, compiled by D. G. Haskins, Jr., and
others.

33 Henry Knox fi77s-
were studying the art of war, and Mr. Knox kept a book-store on
Cornhill. He, like his friend, is the soul of honour, and possessed .
of a manly heart brimming with benevolence."
The siege of Boston had now (November, 1775)
begun in earnest. But the need of siege-guns was
severely felt by the patriot army, and men began
to cast about in their minds for some means to pro
cure guns of sufficient weight and range to throw
shot into the beleaguered town. The fertile and
inventive mind of Knox conceived the daring enter
prise of sending to Fort Ticonderoga, on Lake
Champlain, not far from the Canadian frontier, to
drag thence the supply of ordnance captured by
Ethan Allen and then lying there unused. Knox's
plan was submitted to Washington, who, after care
ful- scrutiny, gave his approval to the difficult and
hazardous undertaking. Cannon must be had or
the siege would be indefinitely prolonged, if not
ultimately abandoned. Knox's plan was to make
the journey to Fort Ticonderoga while the snow and
ice combined to render streams passable and roads
feasible for sleds and sleighs. In open water, he
urged, boats could be employed, and the total ex
pense of the expedition on which so much depended,
and which could be successfully carried out, need
not be more than one thousand dollars. This sum
was fixed as the limit of immediate and needful ex
penditure; but in one of Knox's account-books we
find this brief and comprehensive entry: " For ex
penditures in a journey from the camp round Boston
to New York, Albany, and Ticonderoga, and from
thence, with 55 pieces of iron and brass ordnance, 1

1776] The Breaking of the Storm 39
barrel of flints, and 23 boxes of lead, back to camp
(including expenses of self, brother, and servant),
,£520. 15. 8£." In his final instructions to Knox,
Washington said that the want of cannon was so
great that " no trouble or expense must be spared^
to obtain them."
Knox was accompanied on his long and difficult
journey by his brother William, then about nineteen
years old. The lad, who had been left in charge of
his brother's business in Boston, had made his
escape to the insurgent lines, the shop and stock in
trade of the bookseller on Cornhill having been
looted by the British and Tory residents. He was
to return to the wreck sooner than he probably
thought. Gen. Philip Schuyler, of New York, had been in
structed by Washington to render to Knox every
possible assistance in his expedition to Ticonderoga;
and when Knox, after securing sundry small stores
of ordnance in the city of New York, wrote to his
wife that he was thankful to leave so " expensive "
a city, he rrtade his way to Albany, where Schuyler
was then living. From New York Knox wrote to
Washington recommending that an establishment
for the casting of brass and iron cannon be fixed
there, " where it could be expeditiously and cheaply
done." He reached Albany December 1, and was
cheered on his way by General Schuyler, who rend
ered great assistance then and afterwards in the
way of securing transportation. The winter was
severe, the roads unbroken, and the snows deep.
Oxen in large numbers were necessary for the hauling

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4° Henry Knox [1775-
of the cannon and these animals were secured at
considerable trouble in the thinly inhabited regions
through which Knox travelled.
He reached Ticonderoga on the 5th of December,
and, at once collecting the coveted ordnance, began
his homeward journey. His inventory of the arms
shows that he took away eight brass mortars, six
iron mortars, one howitzer, thirteen brass can
non, thirty iron cannon, a barrel of flints, and a
quantity of lead. The heaviest of the artillery were
brass 18- and 24-pounders, and iron -12- and 18-
pounders; truly a noble acquisition for the expect
ant besiegers of Boston. A letter from Knox to
Washington, dated at Fort George, December 17th,
gives us a vivid picture of some of the difficulties
encountered on the homeward trip. He says:
"I returned to this place on the 15th, and brought with me the
cannon, it being nearly the time I computed it would take us to
transport them here. It is not easy to conceive the difficulties we
have had in transporting them across the lake, owing to the advanced
season of the year and contrary winds ; but the danger is now past.
Three days ago it was very uncertain whether we should have gotten
them until next spring, but now, please God, they must go. I have
had made 42 exceeding strong sleds, and have provided 80 yoke of
oxen to drag them as far as Springfield, where I shall get fresh cattle
to carry them to camp. The route will be from here to Kinderhook
[New York], from thence to Great Barrington [Mass.], and down to
Springfield. I have sent for the sleds and teams to come here, and
expect to move them to Saratoga on Wednesday or Thursday next,
trusting that between this and then we shall have a fine fall of snow,
which will enable us to proceed farther, and make the carriage easy.
If that shall be the case, I hope in sixteen or seventeen days' time
to be able to present to your Excellency a noble train of artillery."
One of the difficulties encountered on the way to

1776] The Breaking of the Storm 41
Albany from Fort Ticonderoga was the necessity of
ferrying the heavy cannon across pieces of open
water. This was accomplished by means of " gon
dolas," as the flat-bottomed scows then in use were
called. The modern " gundalow " of the New
England coast is the scow that has derived its name
from the sweep-propelled craft of Venice. Knox's
hindrances are further hinted at in a letter which he
wrote to Washington from Albany, January 5, 1776,
as follows:
" I was in hopes that we should have been able to have the cannon
at Cambridge by this time. The want of snow detained us for some
days, and now a cruel thaw hinders from crossing the Hudson River,
which we are obliged to do four times from Lake George to this
town. ' The first severe night will make the ice sufficiently strong;
till that happens, the cannon and mortars must remain where they
are. These inevitable delays pain me exceedingly, as my mind is
fully sensible of the importance of the greatest expedition in this
case." The route of this novel expedition, it will be
seen, lay over the Green Mountains and the wild
passes of that range and down through the hill
country of New England, by " roads that never
bore a cannon before and have never borne one
since." On his way up to Ticonderoga from A1-'
bany, Knox passed a stormy night sleeping on the
floor of a rude log-cabin which served as a wayside
inn for chance travellers through that sparsely popu
lated region. His bedfellow was Lieut. John Andre,
who had been taken prisoner by Gen. Richard
Montgomery at St. John's, and was now on his way
to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to await an exchange.

42 Henry Knox [1775-
It was a strange chance that brought together these
two men under the same blankets in a remote cabin
in the wilderness. Years later, Henry Knox was to
serve on the military tribunal which sentenced
Andre to the ignominious death of a spy. Now, all
unconscious of what Fate had in store for them,
they passed the greater part of the night in conver
sation. Between the two men there were many
points of resemblance. Says a biographer* of
Andre :
"Their ages were alike;' they had each renounced the pursuits
of trade for the profession of arms, each had made a study of his
new occupation, and neither was devoid of literary tastes and habits.
Much of the night was consumed in pleasing conversation on topics
that were rarely, perhaps, broached in such circumstances ; and the
intelligence and refinement displayed by Andre, in the discussion pf
subjects that were equally interesting to Knox, left an impression on
" the mind of the latter that was never obliterated. The respective
condition of the bedfellows was not mutually communicated till the
ensuing morning when they were about to part ; and when Knox, a
few years later, was called on to join in the condemnation to death
of the companion whose society was so pleasant to him on this occa
sion, the memory of their intercourse gave additional bitterness to
his painful duty."
From Albany, under date of January 5, 1776,
Knox wrote to his wife a lively and entertaining
narrative of his return journey up to that point.
After a brief account of his adventures amidst ice,
snow, forests, and blind roads, he makes this digres
sion :
" A little about my travels. New York is a place where I think
in general the houses are better built than they are in Boston. They
* Winthrop Sargent, Life and Career of Major Jokn Andr/,

'776] The Breaking of the Storm 43
are generally of brick, and three stories high, with the largest kind
of windows. Their churches are grand ; their college, workhouse,
and hospitals most excellently situated, and also exceedingly com
modious ; their principal streets are much wider than ours. The
people,— why, the people are magnificent : in their equipages, which
are numerous ; in their house furniture, which is fine ; in their pride
and conceit, which is inimitable ; in their profaneness, which is in
tolerable ; in the want of principle, which is prevalent ; in their
Toryism, which is insufferable, and for which they must repent in
dust and ashes. The country from New York to this place [Albany]
is not very populous, — not the fifth part so much so as in New Eng
land, and with much greater marks of poverty than there. The
people of this city, of which there are five thousand or six thousand,
are, I believe, honest enough, and many of them sensible people, —
much more so than any part 6f the government which I 've seen.
There are four very good buildings for public worship, the remains
of capital barracks, hospital, and fort, which must in their day have
been very clever.
"Albany, from its situation, and commanding the trade of the
water and the immense territories westward, must one day be, if not
the capital, yet nearly to it, of America. There are a number of
gentlemen's very elegant seats in view from that part of the river .
before the town ; among them I think General Schuyler's claims the
preference, the owner of which is sensible and polite, and I think
has behaved with vast propriety to the British officers who, by the
course of war, have fallen into our hands. Certain of them set out
for Pennsylvania yesterday, among whom was General Prescott, who
by all accounts behaved exceedingly ill to Colonel Allen of ours, who"
was taken at Montreal. Here also is Major Gamble, who wrote the
letters from Quebec which were published last summer. There are
in all about sixty commissioned officers, besides about twenty of the
Canadian noblesse, who appeared as lively and happy as if nothing
had happened. One or two of the officers I pitied, the others seemed
concerned, but not humbled. The women and children suffer amaz
ingly at this advanced season of the year. It is now past twelve
o'clock, therefore I wish you a good night's repose, and I will men
tion you in my prayers,"
All of Knox's letters to his wife breathe the sin-
cerest and most affectionate devotion of the married

44 Henry Knox tws—
lover. One of his letters, written while on this
arduous journey, begins in this fashion:
" My Lovely and Dearest Friend ; — Those people who love as
you and I do never ought to part. It is with the greatest anxiety
that I am forc'd to date my letter at this distance from my love, and
at a time too when I thought to be happily in her arms."
We may be sure that the arrival of Knox in camp,
with the " noble train of artillery" which he had
promised to Washington, was hailed with prodigious
acclaim. From that moment the speedy end of the
British occupation of Boston was determined. Gage
had been recalled to England in August of the pre
vious year, virtually in disgrace, and his departure
from Boston in the following October was regarded
by the patriots in the light of a victory over a man
whom they most cordially hated. General Howe
was now in command, and the British army of occu
pation was harassed by sea and land. A little navy
•had been improvised by the New England colonies,
and a series of reprisals had taken place between the
American privateersmen and the British men-of-war.
The burning of the open and unprotected town of
Falmouth (now Portland), Maine, by the infamous
Captain Mowatt, had convinced the patriots of other
parts of the colonies that although contumacious
Boston was to be severely punished for its stubborn
resistance to the royal mandates, war was to be car
ried into every part of the colonies on the continent.
The first naval battle of the war, as it is usually
called, took place near Machias, Maine, in the sum
mer of 1775, when John Knight, afterwards an ad
miral in the British navy, and several other officers,

1776] The Breaking of the Storm 45
were taken prisoners and sent to Washington's
headquarters at Cambridge. While Knox was oh
his memorable expedition to Fort Ticonderoga, the
patriots captured the British brigantine Nancy,
bound to Boston from London, with military stores,
among which were two thousand muskets, one hun
dred and five thousand flints, thirty-one tons of
musket-shot, three thousand round shot for 12-
pounders and four thousand for 6-pounders. Guns
of this calibre were in the train brought to camp by
Knox. General Ward was placed in command of a move
ment upon Dorchester Heights, commanding the
harbour of Boston, which was determined upon now
that the supply of artillery was so amply reinforced
that the line of circumvallation around the doomed
town was well-nigh complete. The immediate
charge of details was intrusted to General Thomas,
and, a formidable breastwork having been thrown
up, a vigorous cannonading opened from the Ameri
can works to the north of the town, on the night of
March 2, 1776, and was continued during the next
two ensuing days. The ground was frozen, and four
hundred yoke of oxen, under cover of the night,
drew the ordnance and stores needed for the new
batteries, passing unheeded amidst the din, with the
British sentries on Boston Neck, scarcely a mile
away. The British were utterly confounded when, by the
light of early morning, they found the harbour and all
of the southern part of Bosto n lying under the " rebel' '
guns on the heights of Dorchester. Evacuation

46 Henry Knox [ws-
was forced upon Howe, and, after using indi
rect and irregular means of communicating to his
besiegers his intention to leave the place which had
been made too hot to hold him, he embarked his
troops, nearly nine thousand, all told, and sailed
away to Halifax. He took with him eleven hun
dred loyalists, or Tories, who had been subjected to
persecutions from their neighbours and who fled from
the greater wrath to come. Most of these made
homes for themselves in Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick; others eventually returned to England.
Among these latter were the Flucker family. But
Secretary Flucker long after drew his salary as a
royal functionary of the province from which he was
a fugitive. In a letter written by his daughter Lucy
(Mrs. Knox) to her husband, in July, 1777, the
dutiful wife but rebellious daughter says: " By a
letter from Mrs. Tyng to Aunt Waldo, we learn that
papa enjoys his £300 a year as secretary of the pro
vince. Droll, is it not ? "
Howe's evacuation of Boston took place on the
morning of Sunday, March 17, 1776. At the head
of his army, Washington entered the town by the
long street that passes down " the Neck," an avenue
which now bears the name of the great commander
whose strategy and prowess had freed the town from
its invader. Howe's troops had been sorely dis
tressed during their long confinement in the besieged
town. Even fuel was scarce ; several churches had
been, used for secular purposes, and the old North
Church, from whose belfry had been shown the
signal lights of Paul Revere, had been taken down

1776] The Breaking of the Storm 47
and used for firewood. Knox rode with the army
into the town of his birth, and we are led to believe
that his brother William then returned to Boston
and endeavoured to gather up some of the remnants
of the ruined business on Cornhill. At any rate, the
letters passing between the two brothers from this
time forward indicate William's residence in Boston.
Great was the rejoicing of the colonists, from New
England to Georgia, over the wonderful news that
the British had been driven out of Boston. But
even most of the colonists did not know how immi
nent was the danger, up to a very late period of the
siege, that lack of ammunition and a demoralisation
of the patriot troops would compel an abandonment
of the operations around Boston. Knox's letters
disclose the fact that there was a great scarcity of
powder, and that the disposition of some of the
troops, whose time of enlistment had expired, or
was about to. expire, was little short of mutinous.
But all this was forgotten in the contemplation of
the signal victory which had been achieved over the
enemy. The" Union Flag," as Washington called
the standard first hoisted at Cambridge, January 2,
1776, now floated over the forts and public buildings
of Boston and its harbour.
The first medal in the numismatic history of the
American colonies was ordered by Congress to be
struck in honour of Washington's victory. It was of
gold and bore upon its face a representation of
Washington and his generals watching from Dor
chester Heights the exit of the British fleet; Ameri
can troops and ordnance are in the middle distance

48 Henry Knox [1776
below; and the proud motto of " HOSTIBUS Primo
Fugatis" is engraved over the scene. The date
beneath is " Bostonium Recuperatum, XVII.
Martii, MDCCLXXVI." Knox's share in this
famous victory was duly celebrated, some years
later, in a poem descriptive of the war, written by
Mrs. Sarah Morton. These are some of the lady's
lofty lines:
" And now the strong Artillery claims its birth,
Terrific guardian of the trembling earth,
With voice of vengeance, and tremendous breath,
That wake the fiends of ruin, flight, and death : —
What daring arm directs its dangerous way !
What Chief beloved, ye brave Columbians, say !—
'T is thine, intrepid Knox, on Glory's car
To shield the ranks, and guide the vollied war,
And thine the clime of Freedom's early boast,
Where the cold isthmus joins the stormy coast ;—
What time thy much-enduring country draws
Thy active valour to her suffering cause,
Warmed at her call, in winter's dreary reign
Thy hardy step explored the northern plain ; —
I see thee dauntless tread the trackless way,
Where frowning forests quench the glimmering day
Through the bleak wild, and up boreal steeps
Where, wrapped in frost, the stilled artillery sleeps,
I see that arm its ponderous weight prepare
And call its thunder to the distant war."

CHAPTER III

MILITARY OPERATIONS AROUND NEW YORK

1776
|)HE scene of active operations was now
transferred to New York and New
Jersey. Since the autumn of 1775,.
it had become known that it was the
intention of the British Government
to seize New York and the Hudson River. While a
large part of Lord Howe's fleet proceeded to Hali
fax to refit and recruit after the evacuation of Boston,
the naval vessels were detained in the outer harbour
to notify incoming English craft of the abandon
ment of Boston by the British forces. It was con
fidently and reasonably expected that a descent
upon Long Island and New York Harbour would
now be made, and Washington at once despatched
General Charles Lee to take command of all forces
available to withstand the anticipated invasion, and
to fortify the place.
Intense excitement had pervaded the city of New
York when the news of the evacuation of Boston
reached there. " The Sons of Liberty," as the
49

5° Henry Knox [1776
more active of the patriot volunteers were called,
had already begun to harass the small British force
then lying in the city, the tidings from Concord and
Lexington having roused them to a fever heat. Isaac
Sears and John Lamb, two of the leaders of these
devoted patriots, had made themselves specially
obnoxious to the Tories, the first named of these
having headed a band of one hundred men who,
riding in from New Haven, Conn., trotted down
Broadway and wrecked the printing-office of Riv
ington, the Tory printer, to whose correspondence
with Henry Knox we have already had occasion to
refer. Rivington's type was carefully saved and
moulded into bullets for future use. So great was
the disorder and tumult that Tryon, the royal Gov
ernor, fled to one of the English men-of-war lying
in the harbour.
While the little army that had been occupied in
the siege of Boston was being hurried to New York,
Knox was ordered to Connecticut and Rhode Island
to lay out fortifications for points along the coast
that had been already molested or threatened by the
enemy. His wife accompanied him a part of the
way and was afterwards sent to Norwich and sub
sequently to Fairfield, for safety; a child, Lucy
Flucker, had been born to the young couple, and
was now with its mother in Connecticut. Mean
while, the ill-starred American expedition to Quebec
had been undertaken ; it was abandoned in the early
summer, but not until the gallant General Thomas
had lost his life by smallpox and General Richard
Montgomery had been killed in battle.

^76] Operations around New York 51
Writing to' Washington from Norwich, Conn.,
under date of April 21, 1776, Knox says:
" In passing through Providence, Governor Cooke and a number
of principal people were very pressing for me to take Newport in
my way, in order to mark out some works of defence for that place.
The spirited conduct of the colony troops posted there, in driving
away the king's ships, alarmed the whole colony for the safety of its
capital. Knowing your Excellency's anxiety for the preservation of
every part of the continent, I conceived it to be my duty to act in
conformity to their wishes, especially as I could get to Norwich as
soon as the stores that set out on the 14th. Accordingly, I went to
Newport, and marked out five batteries, which, from the advant
ageous situation of the ground, must, when executed, render the
harbour exceedingly secure.
"Lieutenant-Colonel Burbeck declined complying with your Ex-
cellency's orders, alleging that the province had settled on him four
shillings sterling per day during life, after the war was over, which,
if he went out of the province, he might perhaps lose. Lieutenant-
Colonel Mason, who came with the ordnance to this town, being in
ill-health, I have permitted to go by land."
William Burbeck, it will be remembered, was
chosen first Lieutenant-Colonel of Knox's artillery
regiment at the time of Knox's appointment.
David Mason, who now succeeded Burbeck, had
been second Lieutenant-Colonel. Burbeck's demur,
which so much resembles the protests of modern
militia officers who decline to pass beyond the
borders of their respective States when called by
national authority, threw him out of Washington's
army. He never rejoined Knox's regiment, but re
mained in the employment of Massachusetts, being
in command of Castle William, Boston Harbour, for
many years. He died in Boston, July 22, 1785.
Knox proceeded on his way to New York, and

52 Henry Knox [1776
wrote to Washington from- New London, Conn.,
April 24, 1776, as follows:
"In consequence of your Excellency's directions, I am employed
in looking at and getting the necessary information respecting the
harbour, in which I shall spare no pains. I mentioned to your Ex
cellency Newport harbour, which, in conjunction with this, will,
when fortified, afford a safe retreat to the American navy and their
prizes in any wind that blows. They are equally convenient for
ships coming from sea ; and if the wind is not fair to go into one
harbour, they may go into the other. The artillery and stores are
nil embarked [for Now York] together with the remaining company
of my regiment, and have been waiting for a fair wind two days.
"Admiral Hopkins is still in this harbour, and I believe he will
be obliged to continue here for some time. He has this day received
intelligence that four ships and two brigs are off Montauk Point and
Rhode Island, stationed in such a manner that but one appears at a
time and each is able to come up to the assistance of the others.
The captain of the Cerberus was on Block Island yesterday, and
told a man there that he was waiting for Admiral Hopkins, and
expected in four days to be joined by Captain Wallace and his
squadron." Admiral Hopkins, to whom Knox refers in this
letter, was the famous Esek of that ilk. Made
commander-in-chief of the fleet organised under the
orders of the Continental Congress, he now nom
inally ranked as Admiral. In a letter to his wife,
written from New London, at this time, Knox gives
this bit of description:
" I have been on board Admiral Hopkins's ship, and in company
with his gallant son, who was wounded in the engagement with the
Glasgow. The Admiral is an antiquated figure. He brought to my
mind Van Tromp, the famous Dutch admiral. Though antiquated
in figure, he is shrewd and sensible. I, whom you think not a little
enthusiastic, should have taken him for an angel, only he swore now
and then."

*776] Operations around New York 53
There were many points of resemblance between
Knox and Hopkins; both were men of pluck and
energy, and both were born fighters. But Hopkins
early came to grief and was dismissed from the
service. The forces under Washington's command with
which he was to protect New York and its immedi
ate environs consisted of about ten thousand men of
all branches of the service. These were scattered
all along the south shore of Long Island, Brooklyn
Heights, Governor's Island, and Harlem on the one
side of the city, and as far north as Fort Washington
on the New York side of the Hudson, and Fort Lee
on the Jersey side of that stream. Most of the
cannon were old, honeycombed, and defective. On
the ioth of June, 1776, Knox's report to Washing
ton showed that he had fit for action one hundred
and twenty-one cannon, both light and heavy, re
quiring for their service twelve hundred men. His
regiment, present and fit for duty, numbered five
hundred and twenty, officers and men; and he re
commended that a draft be ordered to raise the
regiment to its required numerical strength.
Congress had divided the military district of the
Atlantic seaboard into two military departments,
General Charles Lee being ordered to the command
of the southern department, and Lord Stirling left
in the north to carry out the plans so ably mapped
out by his predecessor.
Lord Stirling, whose fortunes were to be so
closely identified with those of Knox and other
American patriots, and who served with them until

54 Henry Knox [1776
the close of the war, was a native of New York, his
family name being William Alexander. His title
was claimed by him through his Scotch descent, an
earldom being his by lineal right. Among the other
famous men with whom Knox was now associated
in the defence of New York was Alexander Hamil
ton, not yet twenty years old. He was captain of .a
local artillery company, and he subsequently dis
tinguished himself by covering the retreat of the
.American army to Harlem Heights after the battle
of Long Island, and by his masterly activity in the
construction of the works at that point. He was
subsequently appointed aide and private secretary
¦ to Washington, with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
Of the Major-Generals commanding was Israel Put
nam, who had left his plough in the furrow on his
farm in Pomfret, Conn., when tidings of the fight
at Lexington had reached him, and had taken a
leading part in the battle of Bunker Hill. He was
appointed a Brigadier-General by the government of
Connecticut, in April, 1775, and was made a Major-
General by the Continental Congress, June 17, 1775.
Major-General Heath had for his brigadiers Thomas
Mifflin and George Clinton, the last named of whom
had served in Canada and was subsequently Governor
of the State of New York, and Vice-President of the
United States. Major-General Spencer's brigadiers
were S. H. Parsons and James Wadsworth. Lord
Stirling and Alexander McDougall were brigadiers
under Major-General Sullivan, and Brigadier-Gen
erals Nix and Heard were next in command to
Major-General Greene. The restless and ambitious

/
f
i"'

X

\ {

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

ALEXANDER HAMILTON

1776] Operations around Nfew York $5
Aaron Burr had at first attached himself to the mili
tary family of Washington, but a mutual dislike
having sprung up between the two, Burr withdrew
and joined the staff of General Putnam, whom he
served as aide for four years, with the rank of Lieu
tenant-Colonel. What varied fortunes were to be
fall most of the men whose names have here been
cursorily mentioned as marshalled on the feeble line
of New York's defences!
Lee's plans for the defence of the Hudson and
the East River were considerably enlarged. A line
of sunken hulks was set in the channel between
Governor's Island and the Ba tery, and similar ob
structions were laid across t.ie river from Fort
Washington (at what is now the foot of 183d
Street) to Fort Lee, on the Jersey side of the river.
On the 25th of June, the long-expected arrival of
the enemy actually took place, Lord Howe coming
first in advance of his Boston army, then on its way
from Halifax. He was followed by his brother, Ad
miral Howe; with troops from England ; and next
came the Hessian mercenaries, eight thousand in
number, under General De Heister. When the
Boston army had arrived in the bay, Howe's total
command numbered about thirty-two thousand
men, of whom not quite twenty-five thousand were
reported fit for duty. The Hessians, however, did
not arrive until the middle of August, although
they are included in the above statement of General
Howe's forces. At the lowest estimate, Howe's
forces outnumbered those of Washington by at
least six thousand men.

5& Henry Knox lnit>
Learning that the Americans were strongly en
trenched on Long Island, Howe landed on Staten
Island, where he was warmly welcomed by Governor
Tryon, who had so long been a fugitive from the
capital city of the province over which he had been
set to govern."' For a time there was a lull before
the storm that was so soon to break; but even this
deceptive tranquillity was occasionally disturbed by
false alarms. It was momentarily expected that the
enemy would make a descent upon the city or upon
the south shore of Long Island, and the Narrows
were watched with feverish anxiety by the expect
ant patriots along the shores above. During the
final preparations for resisting the invader, Knox had
permitted his wife to join him at his headquarters,
which were at the point now known as No. i Broad
way. Here they passed such hours of affectionate
intercourse as Knox could snatch from his arduous
duties. A letter from Knox to his brother William,
then in Boston, dated July ii, 1776, describes one
of the panics that overtook the residents of New
York, in consequence of which Mrs. Knox was sent
post-haste to Connecticut :
1 "Dear Billy, — I received your affectionate letter by the post,
for which I thank you. In consequence of a false report, my Lucy
and her babe are at Stamford, or Fairfield, where she writes me that
she is very unhappy, and wants to return here again, which would
make me as unhappy in contemplating the idea which you had of her
flight, as if it were real. Indeed, the circumstances of our. parting
were extremely disagreeable. She had, contrary to my opinion,
stayed too long. From the hall window, where we usually break
fasted, we saw the ships coming through the Narrows, with a fair
wind and rapid tide, which would have brought them up to the city

1776] Operations around New York 57
in about half an hour. You can scarcely conceive the distress and
anxiety that she then had. The city in an uproar, the alarm guns •
firing, the troops repairing to their posts, and everything in the
height of bustle ; I not at liberty to attend her, as my country called
the loudest. My God, may I never experience the like feelings
again ! They were too much ; but I found a way to disguise them,
for I scolded like a fury at her for not having gone before."
Mrs. Knox, we shall see, followed the General
into even more critical phases of his military life.
than this. It was difficult for her to remain long
away from her beloved husband. Another alarm
in the city was caused, a few days later, by the
manoeuvres of a portion of the English fleet. As if
to assure his wife that her presence in New York
would be to her and to him a cause of constant
apprehension, Knox wrote to her this account of
the panic of July 1 2th:
" I thank heaven you were not here yesterday. Two ships and
three tenders of the enemy, about twenty minutes past three, weighed
anchor, and in twenty-five minutes were before the town. We had
a loud cannonade, but could not stop them, though I believe we
damaged them much. They kept over on the Jersey side too far
from our batteries. I was so unfortunate as to lose six men by acci
dents, and a number wounded. This affair will be of service to my
people ; it will teach them to moderate their fiery courage."
Lord Howe was willing, if possible, to stop the
war here and avoid the further shedding of blood;
and he essayed various expedients to open com
munication with General Washington for the pur
pose of ascertaining the basis upon which peace
could be negotiated. But the Continental Congress
had made its solemn declaration of the independence
of the United States, and there was no authority on

58 Henry Knox ti776
this side of the Atlantic to concede that independ
ence as a basis of terms of peace. In a letter to his
wife, dated at New York, July 15, 1776, Knox
thus relates one of the famous historic incidents in
which he had part :
" Lord Howe yesterday sent a flag of truce up to the city. They
came within about four miles of the city, and were met by some of
Colonel Tupper's people, who detained them until his Excellency's
pleasure should be known. Accordingly, Colonel Reed and myself
went down in the barge to receive the message. When we came to
them, the officer, who was, I believe, captain of the Eagle man-of-
war, rose up and bowed, keeping his hat off: ' I have a letter, sir,
from Lord Howe to Mr. Washington.' ' Sir,' says Colonel Reed,
' we have no person in our army with that address.' ' Sir,' says the
officer, * will you look at the address ? ' He took out of his pocket a
letter which was thus addressed :
" 'George Washington, Esq.,
" 'New York.
" ' Howe.*
" ' No sir,' says Colonel Reed, ' I cannot receive that letter.' ' I
am very sorry,' says the officer, ' and so will be Lord Howe, that
any error in the superscription should prevent the letter being re
ceived by General Washington.' ' Why, sir,' says Colonel Reed, ' I
must obey orders.' ' Oh, yes, sir, you must obey orders, to be sure.'
Then, after giving him a letter from Colonel Campbell to General
Howe, and some other letters from prisoners to their friends, we
stood off, having saluted and bowed to each other. After we had
got a little way, the officer put about his barge and stood for us and
asked by what particular title he chose to be addressed. Colonel
Reed said, ' You are sensible, sir, of the rank of General Washing
ton in our army ? ' ' Yes, sir, we are. I am sure my Lord Howe
will lament exceedingly this affair, as the letter is quite of a civil
nature, and not a military one. He laments exceedingly that he was
not here a little sooner' ; which we suppose to allude to the declara
tion of independence ; upon which we bowed and parted in the most
genteel terms imaginable."

*776] Operations around New York 59
But Howe was evidently determined to have
audience with Washington through some of his own
subordinate officers. On the 22d of July Knox
wrote to his wife as follows :

" On Saturday I wrote you we had a capital flag of truce, no less
than the adjutant-general of General Howe's army. He had an
interview with General Washington at our house. The purport of
his message was in very elegant, polite strains, to endeavour to per
suade General Washington to receive a letter directed to George
Washington, Esq., etc., etc. In the course of his talk every other
word was, ' May it please your Excellency,' ' if your Excellency so
please'; in short, no person could pay more respect than the said
adjutant-general, whose name is Colonel Paterson, a person we do
not know. He said the etc., etc. implied everything. ' It does so,'
said the General, ' and anything.' He said Lord and General Howe
lamented exceedingly that any errors in the direction should inter
rupt that frequent intercourse between the two armies which might
be necessary in the course of the service. That Lord Howe had
come out with great powers. The General said he had heard that
Lord Howe had come out with very great powers to pardon, but he
had come to the wrong place ; the Americans had not offended,
therefore they needed no pardon. This confused him. After a con
siderable deal of talk about the good disposition of Lord and Gen
eral Howe, he asked, ' Has your Excellency no particular commands
with which you would please to honour me to Lord and General
Howe?' 'Nothing, sir, but my particular compliments to both' —
a good answer.
" General Washington was very handsomely dressed, and made a
most elegant appearance. Colonel Paterson appeared awe-struck, as
if he was before something supernatural. Indeed, I don't wonder
at it. He was before a very great man indeed. We had a cold col
lation provided, in which I lamented most exceedingly the absence
of my Lucy. The General's servants did it tolerably well, though
Mr. adjutant-general disappointed us. As it grew late, he even ex
cused himself from drinking one glass of wine. He said Lord Howe
and General Howe would wait for him, as they were to dine on board
the Eagle man-of-war : he took his leave and went off."

60 Henry Knox [1776
On the nth of August, Knox, who was an ex
ceedingly busy man at this time, wrote as follows to
his wife:
" You wish to know how I pass my time. I generally rise with or
a little before the sun, and immediately, with a part of the regiment,
attend prayers, sing a psalm, and read a chapter [in the Bible] at the
Grand Battery. General Putnam constantly attends. I despatch a
considerable deal of business before breakfast. From breakfast to
dinner I am broiling in a sun hot enough to roast an egg. Some
times I dine with the generals, Washington, Putnam, Stirling, etc.,
but I am mortified that I have n't had them to dine with me in re
turn. However, that cannot be. I go to bed at nine o'clock or
before, every night."
A few days later, having received from Mrs. Knox
a letter in which she made some rather severe criti
cisms of the manners and speech of the Connecticut
people among whom she was temporarily sojourn
ing, Knox thought it needful that he should restrain
her freedom of comment. It will be recollected
that the lady was described by those who knew her
as a person of exceeding lofty manners. In these
later days she would have been described by the
irreverent as " stuck-up." Her sensible and loving
husband wrote:
" Take care, my love, of permitting your disgust to the Connecti
cut people to escape your lips. Indiscreet expressions are handed
from town to town and a long while remembered by people not
blessed with expanded minds. The want of that refinement which
you seem to speak of is, or will be, the salvation of America ; for re
finement of manners introduces corruption and venality. . . ,
There is a kind of simplicity in young States, as in young children,
which is quite pleasing to an attentive observer."
It was during this time of pressure and anxiety

MAJOR-QENERAL JOHN SULLIVAN.

I

MAJOR-QENERAL JOHN SULLIVAN.

1776] Operations around New York 61
that Knox was obliged to carry on a vigorous corre
spondence with John Adams, who appears to have
taken very seriously to heart the condition of the
army and the apparent neglect of Massachusetts men
in the selection of general officers. On the 13th of
August, Adams, who was an inveterate grumbler,
writes from Philadelphia to Knox as follows:
"I am very much chagrined that the Massachusetts has not its
proper pi oportion of General Officers. I wish I was better acquainted
with the Persons and Characters of the Colonells from that State.
It will never do for the Massachusetts to furnish so many'Men, and
have so few Generals while so many other States furnish so few Men
and have so many Generals."
On the 2 1st of August, Knox, writing to Adams,
asks when it is proposed to re-enlist the army ; he
also laments the weakness of the artillery arm of the
service and says that all may be lost in consequence
of the failure to supply these deficiencies. Again,
as in other letters, he urges that the army must be
paid. " When their homes were invaded," he says,
"• they fought for self-preservation. Now that they
are moved away from these, they naturally consider
that those who do not fight should pay."
Replying to this letter, Adams, writing on the
25th of the same month, says: " Able officers are
the soul of an Army. Gentlemen of sense and
.knowledge, as well as of valour, must be advanced.
I wish you would give me in confidence a list of the
best Officers from Massachusetts with their charac
ters. This may be delicate, but it will be safe."
Descending to details, Mr. Adams asks Knox to give
him the "characters" of "Coll Shepherd, Coll

62 Henry Knox fatf
Henshaw, and Major Brooks"; he also asks if
" Austin deserves promotion or note." These let
ters from Adams indicate to some degree the confid
ence which that sturdy patriot had in Knox, as
well as Adams's desire to be kept intimately in
formed concerning the personnel of the army, Massa
chusetts interests being more especially his charge.
On the 22d of August, the British forces had been
transferred from Staten Island to the opposite shore
of Long Island, the landing being effected at Graves-
end Bay, under cover of the guns of the fleet. On
the 27th of the month began the series of military
movements which are known in history as the battle
of Long Island. It would be superfluous to narrate
here the events of those unfortunate engagements;
and we may content ourselves with quoting the
brief account of the disaster given by Knox in a
letter to his wife, written on the 28th :
" About two o'clock in the morning (yesterday), the enemy at
tacked the woods in front of our works on Long Island, where our
riflemen lay. They attacked with a chosen part of the Hessians,
and all the light infantry and grenadiers of the army, and after six
or seven hours' smart skirmishing, our people fell back in front of
our works. The enemy lost nearly one thousand killed. We lost
about the same number, killed, wounded, and taken prisoners, among
whom are General Sullivan and Lord Stirling. Ge..-ral Parsons was
missing until this morning, when he returned. I met with some loss
in my regiment : they behaved like heroes, and are gone to glory.
I was not on the island myself, being obliged to wait on my Lord
Howe and the navy gentry who threatened to pay us a visit."
Previous to the opening of this series of engage
ments, however, it appears that Knox's habit was

1"

m.uiiinuiiiiiu.uiuiumml

ill mill HIM

MAJOR-QENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER.
rROM A PAINTINQ BY COL. JOHN TRUMBULL.

MAJOR-QENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER.
FROM A PAINTINQ BY COL. JOHN TRUMBULL.

1776] Operations around New York 63
« —
to cross over to the Long Island shore with Wash
ington every day to inspect and direct the lines of
defences that were being thrown up by the Ameri
cans. The retreat of the American troops to New
York, conducted under the immediate direction of
Washington, is briefly described as follows by one
of Knox's contemporaries. Dr. Thacher * :
"After this unfortunate skirmishing, our army retreated within
eir lines at Brooklyn, and were exposed to the greatest hazard ;
oui troops fatigued and discouraged by defeat, a superior enemy
in their front, and a powerful fleet about to enter the East River,
with a view of effectually cutting off their retreat ; but an interposi
tion of Providence, and the wisdom and vigilance of the Commander-
in-Chief, preserved our army from destruction. Having resolved to
withdraw his army from its hazardous position, General Washington
crossed over to the Island in the night of the 29th of August, and per
sonally conducted the retreat in so successful a manner, under the.
most embarrassing circumstances, that it is considered a remarkable
example of good generalship. A circumstance which is remarked as
manifestly Providential, is that a thick fog enveloped the whole of
Long Island in obscurity about two o'clock in the morning, while on
the side of the enemy at New York, the atmosphere was perfectly
clear. Thus, by a Providential interposition of an unusual fog, our
army, consisting of nine thousand men, in one night embarked under
great disadvantages, and with their baggage, provisions, stores,
horses, and the munitions of war, crossed a river, a mile or more
wide, and landed in New York undiscovered and without material
loss. The enemy were so near, that they were heard at work with
their pickaxes, and in about a half an hour later, the fog cleared off,
and the enemy were seen taking possession of the American lines."
Sullivan and Stirling, taken prisoners in these
operations, were subsequently exchanged, and Sulli
van was charged by Lord Howe with a mission to
the Continental Congress. The British General
'* Thacher, Military Journal, p. 56.

64 Henry Knox ivtf
.could not treat with the " rebel " Congress for
terms of peace, but he asked that a number of
private gentlemen should be commissioned to confer
with him, such commissioners to be members of the
body to whom he addressed his message. Benjamin
Franklin, John Adams, and Edward Rutledge were
accordingly appointed to serve on such commission,
and these gentlemen had an interview on Staten
Island with Lord Howe, the issue being, of course,
resultless. The commissioners firmly insisted that
Congress had no power to agree that the people
" should return to their former dependent state."
During these trying times the depression in the
American ranks was very great. Washington re
tained his serene temper, so violently disturbed
while the disorderly and blundering retreat to the
shores of Long Island was in progress. Knox's
letters written at this time disclose the fact that
his discouragements were chargeable to the low
standard of efficiency among the subordinate officers
of the army and to the disorderly and unmilitary
character of the enlisted men. On the 5th of Sep
tember, he wrote to his wife:
"We want great men, who, when fortune frowns, will not be dis
couraged. God will I trust in time give us these men. The Con
gress will ruin everything by their stupid parsimony, and they begin
to see it. It is, as I always said, misfortunes that must raise us to
the character of & great people. One or two drubbings will be of serv
ice to us ; and one severe defeat to the enemy, ruin. We must
have a standing army. The militia get sick, or think themselves so,
and run home ; and wherever they go they spread a panic."
Washington's faith in the militia had been shaken

.:' " %l?-f$

$1

>
'/

y

JOHN ADAMS.

¦

JOHN ADAMS.

m6] Operations around New York 65
by recent experiences on Long Island, and he was
disinclined to undertake the further defence of New
York with troops so untrustworthy and so restive
under their 'conditions. The men were ' ' badly paid
and wretchedly fed," according to the statement made
to Congress by Brigadier-General John M. Scott.
Even when Congress, yielding to the remonstrances
of the general officers of the army, consented to
" raise a standing army to consist of about seventy-
five thousand men, to serve for a term of three years,
or during the war," the pay of a private soldier was
only $6.67 per month, and that of the field officers
varied from fifty to seventy dollars a month. To
encourage enlistments, however, bounties in the
shape of land warrants were offered in addition to
small sums in the currency of the times. These
land warrants varied in extent, the privates receiving
warrants for one hundred acres for service during
the war, and the officers receiving land in proportion
to their respective ranks, from two hundred to five
hundred acres.
The unstudied letters of Knox to his wife, min
gling as they did matters of war and marital affection
and confidence, are entertaining reading. It was
Knox's habit then and afterwards to preserve all
letters that came into his hands; and, after the war,
when the correspondence which had passed between
him and his wife could be arranged and docketed,
nothing seems to have escaped his careful attention.
Here is the opening paragraph of a letter dated at
New York, September 5, 1776: " My dearest hope,
—I received your entertaining letter with all the

Oo Henry Knox .* . [1776
raptures of a young, passionate lover. The senti
ments of my being are charming, and her Harry
blesses .the moment which gave him such a rich
treasure." After dwelling upon certain domestic
affairs of much consequence to husband and wife,
but of no interest to the present generation of
readers, Knox passes to military matters in this
paragraph: " We must have a standing army," and
.he proceeds to give good reasons why this is im
peratively necessary.
Knox joined with Greene, Putnam, and perhaps
others in supporting Washington's determination to
abandon the further defence of New York. But a
majority of a council of war, on the 6th of Septem
ber, voted to hold the city at all hazards. Congress
voted to leave the whole question to the decision of
the Commander-in-chief, and on the 12th of the
month the previous action of the council was re
versed and preparations for an immediate evacuation
were carried out with celerity. This was not begun
a moment too soon. Howe, aware of the critical
situation of the American troops, had already moved
.his ships to positions enabling them to bombard the
city and to cut off the retreat of the Americans up
Manhattan Island. On the 15th of September, the
British troops made a landing at Kip's Bay, about
three miles above the city, and the evacuation was
so hurriedly completed that Knox, who had been
busily engaged in removing ordnance and stores,
narrowly escaped capture. Encountering Silliman's
brieade of Connecticut militia retreating in great
confusion from Corlaer's Hook, which they had

1776] Operations around New York 67
been left, with' other troops, to protect, Knox at
tempted to rally the demoralised forces, with whom
he threw himself into a partly finished work (known
as Fort Bunker Hill), where he hoped, as he said,
" to make a gallant defence," further retreat being
thought impracticable. But Colonel Aaron Burr,
who was one of General Israel Putnam's aides, came
riding up and assured the troops that retreat was
still possible by the Bloomingdale road. He guided
them to this line of retreat, and Knox, seizing a
boat, made his way in safety up the East River.
Arriving at Harlem, he was received with great
acclaim by his brothers-in-arms, and Washington,
who had given him up as lost, greeted him with an
affectionate embrace. It was on this retreat that
Mrs. Murray, whose name has been given to one
of the hills that rise to the north of what is now
Thirty-fourth Street, served well the patriot cause
by entertaining and detaining Howe and his pursu
ing troops at her hospitable mansion. Putnam con
ducted the retreat, and while Howe dallied over the
refreshments furnished liberally by Mrs. Murray,
the Americans escaped an encounter with a greatly
superior force. Thacher says: " Ten minutes, it is
said, would have been sufficient for the enemy to
have secured the road at the turn, and entirely cut
off General Putnam's retreat. It has since been
almost a common saying among our officers, that
Mrs. Murray saved this part of the American army."
While the army remained on Harlem Heights,
Knox's labours were arduous and incessant. Writ
ing to his brother on the 19th of September he

68 Henry Knox [1776
he says: " My constant fatigue and application to
the business of my extensive department has been
such that I have not had my clothes off o' nights
for more than forty days." In the same letter he
says: "' The rascally Hessians took my baggage
waggon, and I must therefore press you to buy me
some blue cloth, or, if that is not to be had, some
brown cloth superfine." One of the curious inci
dents of the time, which doubtless engaged the
attention of the overworked engineer and artillery
officer, was the testing of an invention of a machine
in the nature of a submarine torpedo, designed by
Mr. D. Bushnell, of Connecticut, who gave to his
machine the name of " the American Turtle, or
Torpedo." The invention was in the nature of a
submarine boat which was to be rowed horizontally
under water at any given depth, " and the advent
urer concealed within might rise, or sink, as occasion
requires." A small magazine of powder was at
tached to the boat in such a manner that it might be
screwed to the bottom of an enemy's ship and then
exploded by means of a clockwork within the con
trivance. It was determined to make an experiment
with Bushnell's torpedo on the British 64-gunship
Eagle, then lying in the East River. The experi-
ment was not successful. The inventor being unable
to be present to manage his machine, a sergeant
who had volunteered to essay the undertaking, was
baffled by encountering an obstacle in the hull of the
ship. Nevertheless, the magazine did explode and
" General Putnam and others who had waited with
great anxiety for the result, were exceedingly amused

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AARON BURR.

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AARON BURR.

1776] Operations around New York 69
1
with the astonishment and alarm which this secret
explosion occasioned on board the ship." Thacher
says that it was the general opinion that " this
wonderful machine " was " admirably calculated to
execute destruction among the shipping ";• but no
further mention of it is made in the chronicles of
the time.
After a series of skirmishes with no important re
sults, the army settled down to a condition of com
parative quiet on Harlem Heights, which had now
been tolerably well fortified. Washington's head
quarters were established at the mansion of Colonel
Roger Morris, now known as the Jumel Mansion, on
1 60th Street, east of Tenth Avenue. The British
were in full possession of the city below, the Ameri
cans being entrenched on the southern crest of the
heights. A great fire broke out in the city on the
2 1st of September, and the devastation was more
widespread on account of the failure of the fire-
engines, which were out of order ; hand-buckets were
the sole means of extinguishment of the flames; the
alarm bells had been removed by order of the Pro
vincial Congress. Nearly all that part of the city
lying south of what is now bounded by Chambers
and Barclay Streets was destroyed, and five hundred
buildings, among them Trinity Church and the
Lutheran Church, were burned. Incendiarism was
charged upon the " rebel " residents, many of whom
were arrested. In the midst of the excitement, a
patriotic soldier, Nathan Hale, of Connecticut, was
arrested, tried, convicted, and hanged as a spy.
Captain Hale made no defence, and he regretted, he

7° Henry Knox [1776
said, that he had but one life to give for his country.
The cruel and inhuman treatment accorded to Hale
by the British was cited, a few years later, as a cer
tain precedent for the treatment of Major Andre,
captured as a spy near West Point. But Andre's
fate, though that of a spy, was far less abhorrent
than that of Hale.
In scanning the letters of Knox, written- about
this time, one is struck by the anxious tone which
pervades those in which he refers to the morale of
the army. Again and again, he insists that the
officers should be educated in some sort of a military
school. He seems to have seen that the war would
be long and wasteful of human life; his letters
breathe the most confident spirit of ultimate victory,
while they dwell on the urgent need of drill for the
troops, a long-term service for the rank and file, and
a military training school for the men who are to be
placed in command. Thus, in a letter addressed to
his brother William, and dated Harlem Heights,
eight miles from New York, September 23, 1776,
he says :
" The general is as worthy a man as breathes, but he cannot do
everything nor be everywhere. He wants good assistants. There
is a radical difficulty in our army, — the lack of officers. We ought
to have men of merit in the most extensive and unlimited sense of
the word. Instead of which, the bulk of the officers of the army are
a parcel of ignorant, stupid men, who might make tolerable soldiers
but who are bad officers ; and until Congress forms an establishment
to induce men proper for the purpose to leave their usual employ
ments and enter the service, it is ten to one they will be beat urtil-
they are heartily tired of it. We ought to have academies, in which
the whole theory of the art of war shall be taught, and every encour
agement possible be given to draw persons into the army that may

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i

STATUE OF NATHAN HALE.
BY FREDERICK MAOMONNICS.

STATUE OF NATHAN HALE-
BY FREDERICK MACMONNIES.

1776] Operations around New York 71
give lustre to our arms. As the army now stands, it is only a re
ceptacle Tor ragamuffins. You will observe I am chagrined, not
more so than at any time I 've been in the army ; but many late
affairs, of which I 've been an eye-witness, have so totally sickened
me, that unless some very different mode of conduct is observed in
the formation of the new army, I shall not think myself obliged by
either the laws of God or nature to risk my reputation on so cobweb
a foundation. . . . The grounds on which we now rest are
strong, I think we can defend them : if we don't, I hope God will
punish us both in this world and in the world to come, if the fault is

The Boston bookseller had now been in the
military service one year, yet he appears to have
acquired the habit, if not the ability, of an accom
plished and severe military critic. But it should be
said here that most of the contemporaneous ac
counts of the doings of the American army at that
time fully bear out the new'y fledged colonel in his
strictures.
Active movements were now resumed by Lord
Howe, whose tactics, however, were never very
vigorous, justifying the criticism of one of his own
friends that he " calculated with the greatest ac
curacy the exact time necessary for his enemy to
make his escape." It was not until October 12th
that he moved against the position held by the
Americans on Harlem Heights. His design was to
flank Washington's forces by moving through West
chester County ; but his dilly-dallying at less import
ant points along the shores gave Washington ample
time to evacuate the heights and establish himself
at White Plains, where he held the roads leading to
the Hudson and to New England, which offered

/

2 Henry Knox -P7*

him two available avenues for further retreat. On
the 28th of October, Howe sustained a severe loss
of men in killed and wounded in an engagement
which Knox thus describes in a letter to his brother,
dated "Near White Plains, 32 miles from New
York, 1 Nov., 1776." He says:
" Last Monday the enemy with nearly their whole force advanced
upon the hills above us ; and soon after ten o'clock in the morning,
with a large part of their army, began a most furious cannonade on
a hill [Chatterton's] on our right, where we had about one thousand
posted under General McDougall, which they carried with considera
ble loss. Our loss was not very great. Our men had no works,
and were not timely reinforced, owing to the distance they were from
the main body. The enemy's having possession of this hill obliged
us to abandon some slight lines thrown up at White Plains. This
we did this morning, and retired to some hills about half a mile in
the rear. The enemy are determined on something decisive, and we
are determined to risk a general battle only on the most advantageous
terms. We are manoeuvring, in which we think they are somewhat
our superiors."
Still, Washington was left free to move, and he
accordingly fell back to Northcastle Heights, nearer
the Hudson, where he established himself in an im
pregnable position. Howe's only recourse now was
in the direction of Fort Washington, the location of
which, opposite Fort Lee on the Jersey side of the
Hudson, gave it much apparent importance so long
as the Americans were to occupy any part of the
New York shore. It was a question that had given
Congress and the army much anxiety to determine
whether Fort Washington should be held. General
Greene, who believed that Howe's next move would
be into the Jerseys, urged that the fort be retained

1776] Operations around New York 73
as long as possible. Washington, and probably some
of his generals, was anxious for the immediate trans
fer of his troops into the Jerseys, carrying the
campaign in the direction of Philadelphia.
Howe's movement on Fort Washington was pre
ceded by a demand for its immediate surrender, his
ultimatum being that if he were compelled to attack,
he would put the garrison to the sword. The com
manding officer, Colonel Robert Magaw, replied that
such a massacre as that threatened would be un
worthy of a British officer, adding that he should
defend the fort to the last extremity. After a
violent and furious assault, in which British and
Hessians participated, the Americans were over-
whelmed and the fort was surrendered on honour
able terms. The loss of this important fortification
caused great mortification and grief to the patriots,
the moral effect of the disaster being greater than its
actual effect upon the military fortunes of the strug
gling colonists.
An interesting side-light is thrown upon this event
by a letter written by General Greene to his intimate
and confidential friend Knox, dated at Fort Lee,
November 17, 1776, as follows:
" Your favour of the 14th reached me in a melancholy temper.
The misfortune of losing Fort Washington, with between two and
three thousand men, will reach you before this, if it has not already.
His Excellency General Washington has been with me for several
days. The evacuation or reinforcement of Fort Washington was
under consideration, but finally nothing concluded on. Day before
yesterday, about one o'clock, Howe's adjutant-general made a de
mand of the surrender of the garrison in the general's name, but
was answered by the commanding officer that he should defend it to

74 Henry Knox bn*
the last extremity. Yesterday morning, General Washington, Gen*
eral Putnam, General Mercer, and myself went to the island to de
termine what was best to be done ; but just at the instant we stepped
on board the boat the enemy made their appearance on the hill
where the Monday action was, and began a severe cannonade with
several field pieces. Our guards soon fled, the enemy advanced up
to the second line. This was done while we were crossing the river
and getting upon the hill. The enemy made several marches to the ,
right and to the left, — I suppose to reconnoitre the fortifications
and lines.
"There we all stood in a very awkward situation. As the disposi
tion was made, and the enemy advancing, we durst not attempt to
make any new disposition- indeed, we saw nothing amiss. We all
urged his Excellency to come off. I offered to stay, General Putnam
did the same, and so did General Mercer ; but his Excellency thought
it best for us all to come off together, which we did, about half an
hour before the enemy surrounded the fort. The enemy came up
Harlem River, and landed a party at headquarters, which was upon
the back of our people in the lines. A disorderly retreat soon took
place ; without much firing the people retreated into the fort. On
the north side of the fort there was a very heavy fire for a long while ;
and as they had the advantage of the ground, I apprehend the ene
my's loss must be great. After the troops retreated in the fort, very
few guns were fired. The enemy approached within small-arm fire
of the lines, and sent in a flag, and the garrison capitulated in an
hour. I was afraid of the fort : the redoubt that you and I advised,
too, was not done, or little or nothing done to it. Had that been
complete, I think the garrison might have defended themselves a
long while, or been brought off. I feel mad, vexed, sick, and sorry.
Never did I need the consoling voice of a friend more than now.
Happy should I be to see you. This is a most terrible event : its
consequences are justly to be dreaded. Pray, what is said upon the
occasion ? A line from you will be very acceptable.
" I am, dear sir, your obedient servant,
" N. Greene."

CHAPTER IV

THE FIGHT FOR THE JERSEYS
1776-1777
HE island of Manhattan, from the Bat
tery to Kingsbridge, was now in full
possession of the British, and two
days later, Cornwallis, commanding
under Howe, passed up the Hudson
with six thousand men and landed at a point nearly
opposite Yonkers. The evacuation of Fort Lee be
came inevitable, and the retreat of Washington's
little army across the Jerseys began. It was now
late in November, and the retreat was conducted in
a cold and inclement season ; the Americans were
almost constantly in sight of their pursuers, the rear
guard of the retreating army burning and pulling
down bridges which were speedily rebuilt by the
British. The object of the Americans was to delay
their pursuers as much as possible until impassable
roads and the severities of winter should end the
campaign. Putnam, Greene, Stirling, Mercer, and
Knox were with Washington, whose entire force
consisted of about four thousand men. The time

76 Henry Knox tr776-
of enlistment for many of these was to expire in
December, and Howe, who naturally expected and
believed that the American force would now melt
away, returned to winter quarters in New York,
leaving Colonel Donop and his Hessians and a
Highland regiment (the 42d) to hold the line. across
the Jerseys. Washington wrote to Governor Liv
ingston, of New Jersey, to be prepared for an inva
sion, and he recommended that the people remove
or destroy their stock, grain, and effects that would
be of use to the enemy, reminding them that the
ravages that had been committed by the British
troops in Westchester, N. Y., would be repeated in
the Jerseys. On the 30th of December, the two
British Peace Commissioners, General Howe and
Admiral Howe, issued a proclamation offering par
don and amnesty to " all who had taken up arms
against their King," provided they returned to their
homes within sixty days. At this time the panic in
New Jersey and Pennsylvania was very great, and
many availed themselves of the terms offered in the
proclamation of the royal agents. Dark and gloomy
was the prospect before the dwindling forces now
falling back upon the Delaware.
But although even the well-balanced and calm
mind of Washington was disturbed by visions of a
a final and irretrievable defeat of his country's cause,
Knox's letters continued to breathe the same spirit
of resolute belief in the ultimate triumph of the
patriots. Writing to his wife and brother and to
his intimate friends, General Nathanael Greene and
Harry Jackson, Knox persistently urged that the

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MAJOR-QENERAL CHARLE8 LEE.
FROM AN ENQLISH ENQRAVINQ PUBLISHED IN 177*.
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MAJOR-QENERAL CHARLES LEE.
FROM AN ENQLISH ENQRAVINQ PUBLISHED IN 1776.

1777] The Fight for the Jerseys 77
cause was too dear to the God of Nations to be al
lowed to fall, and too dear to humanity to suffer
long. . While he lamented the parsimony and the
meddlesomeness of the Continental Congress and
the short-sighted policy that permitted brief terms
of enlistment and the employment of officers un
schooled in military science, he confidently predicted
the final victory of the arms of the nascent nation
now struggling in its earliest throes for existence.
It was Knox's cheery spirit and his calm belief in
ultimate success that strengthened the faith of the
Commander-in-chief. The British were marching into Trenton, on the
8th of December while Washington was crossing the
Delaware into Pennsylvania. . Cornwallis's move
ments had been sluggish, or the Americans would
have been overtaken before they could have crossed
the river. But Washington not only had time to
escape; he had availed himself of opportunity to
seize and carry off everything in the shape of float
ing craft for seventy miles and up and down the
Delaware at the place of his crossing, thus prevent
ing the enemy from immediate pursuit and providing
himself with the means for a return. Gen. Charles
Lee, left with Gates on the Jersey side of the river,
assumed that his separation from Washington gave
to himself the supreme command of his and Gates's
troops, without regard to the orders of the Com
mander-in-chief, which were many times repeated
to urge him to join his forces to those on the Penn
sylvania side of the Delaware. His treasonable con
duct was finally terminated by his capture at Basking

78 Henry Knox E^o-
Ridge, and he was hurried off to place him beyond
all possibility of rescue. His command now de
volved upon Sullivan, who lost no time to carry out
Washington's orders to take his troops into Penn
sylvania. A bold stroke, designed to cripple the enemy and
cheer the despondent patriots, was resolved upon by
Washington. He. had crossed the Delaware south
ward on the 8th of December, and now he made
ready to recross the river during the night following
Christmas Day. In the orders prescribing the de
tails of the march to Trenton it was set forth that
the troops should " be assembled one mile back of
McKonkey's Ferry, and as soon as it begins to grow
dark, the troops to be marched to McKonkey's
Ferry, and embark on board the boats in the follow
ing order under, the direction of Colonel Knox."
Then follows the order of crossing, and it is further
specified that, " Immediately upon their debarkation,
the whole to form and march in subdivisions from
the right. A profound silence to be enjoined, and
no man to quit the ranks on the pain of death.
Each brigadier to appoint flanking parties; the re
serve brigade to appoint rear guards of the columns;
the heads of the columns to be appointed to arrive
at Trenton at five o'clock."
This historic military feat has often been described
by pen and pencil. The difficulties of the passage,
the roaring wintry storm, the stream obstructed by
masses of floating ice, and the ill-clad and ill-shod
troops suffering bitterly from the intense cold, are
features of the picture. But the gallant band. of

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WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS, POMPTOM, N. J.

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— . — ...._  -.n — — r.1^r..^T

1777] The Fight for the Jerseys 79
heroes, cheered by the stentorian voice of Knox,
who superintended the passage, and by their belief
that they were pressing on to victory, minded none
of these obstructions and went rejoicing on their
way. There is in Knox's letter to Mrs. Knox, giv
ing an account of the passage of the river and the
battle of Trenton, a certain reserve that is character
istic of all of hisofficial and unofficial reports of mili
tary events in which he had taken a leading part.
After describing the position of the enemy and the
number of the contending forces, Knox says that
the " hardy design " of attacking Trenton by storm
was formed. The fact that the town was held by
the foreign mercenaries, and not by the British
troops, seems to have encouraged the hope that the
" hardy design " might prove successful. The
passage of the river was accomplished by the aid of
a corps of New England men, recruited from the
coast towns and accustomed to the management of
water-craft. There were about three thousand men
in the ranks that crossed the Delaware on that
stormy Christmas night ; and they carried with them
eighteen field-pieces. According to Knox, " The
floating ice in the river made the labour almost in
credible. However, perseverance accomplished
what at first seemed impossible." He continues:
" About two o'clock the troops were all on the
Jersey side; we were then about nine miles from the
object. The night was cold and stormy ; it hailed
with great violence; the troops marched with the
most profound silence and in good order."
After describing the march to Trenton, with the

So Henry Knox I»77fr-
icy storm beating upon the backs of the men, Knox
says that the advanced guard of the enemy, a half-
mile from the town, was forced and the American
army which had advanced in two columns, " entered
the town pell-mell." The scene of war which then
was drawn upon the wintry stage was one of great
confusion, the like of which the writer had never
seen before. He continues:
"The hurry, fright and confusion of the enemy was not unlike
that which it will be when the last trump shall sound. They en
deavoured to form in streets, the heads of which we had previously
the possession of with cannon and howitzers ; these, however, in the
twinkling of an eye, cleared the streets. The backs of the houses
were resorted to" for shelter. These proved ineffectual ; the musketry
soon dislodged them. Fiually, they were driven through the town
into an open plain beyond. Here they formed in an instant. Dur
ing the contest in the streets measures were taken for putting an en
tire stop to their retreat by posting troops and cannon in such passes
and roads as it was possible for them to get away by. The poor
fellows, after they were formed on the plain, saw themselves com
pletely surrounded, the only resource left was to force their way
through numbers unknown to them. The Hessians lost part of
their cannon in the town : they did not relish the project of forcing,
and were obliged to surrender upon the spot, with all their artillery,
six brass pieces, army colours, &c. A Colonel Rawle [Rahl] com
manded, who was wounded. The number of prisoners was above
isoo, including officers, — all Hessians. There were few killed or
wounded on either side. After having marched off the prisoners,
stores, &c, we returned to the place, nine miles distant, where we
had embarked. Providence seemed to have smiled upon every part
of this enterprise. Great advantages may be gained from it if we
take the proper steps. At another post we have pushed over the
river 2000 men, to-day another body, and to-morrow the whole army
will follow. It must give sensible pleasure to every friend of the
rights of man to think with how much intrepidity our people pushed
the enemy, and prevented their forming in the town.
" His Excellency the General has done me the unmerited great

1777] The Fight for the Jerseys 81
honour of thanking me in public orders in terms strong and polite.
This I should blush to mention to any other than you, my dear
Lucy ; and I am fearful that my Lucy may think her Harry pos
sesses a species of little vanity in doing it at all."
Knox was now appointed a brigadier-general, his
commission being dated December 27, 1776, the day
following the victory at Trenton ; but the news of
that famous fight had not reached Congress when
the commission was ordered. In a letter dated at
Trenton on the 2d of January, 1777, Knox thus in
forms his wife of his advancement :
" We are collecting our force at this place, and shall give battle
to the enemy very soon. Our people have exerted great fortitude,
and stayed beyond the time of their enlistment, in high spirits, but
want rum and clothing. Will it give you satisfaction or pleasure in
being informed that the Congress have created me a general officer —
a brigadier — with the entire command of the artillery ? If so, I shall
be happy. It was unsolicited on my part, though I cannot say un
expected. People are more lavish in their praises of my poor en
deavours than they deserve. All the merit I can claim is my industry.
I wish to render my devoted country every service in my power ;
and the only alloy I have in my little exertions is, that it separates
me from thee, — the dearest object of all my earthly happiness. May
Heaven give us a speedy and happy meeting. . . . The attack
of Trenton was a most horrid scene to the poor inhabitants. War,
my Lucy, is not a humane trade,' and the man who follows it as such
will meet with his proper demerits in another world."
Evidently John Adams and other friends of Knox,
who were solicitous that Massachusetts should have
its full quota, of general officers, had not been un
mindful of the colonel of artillery. Nor can it be
said that his promotion, however unsolicited, was
either undeserved or rapid. Commissioned colonel
6

82 Henry Knox [1776- ,
of Washington's sole regiment of artillery on No
vember 17, 1775, and since entrusted with the com
mand of all the artillery attached to that army, it
was not until two years had passed that he was
commissioned a general officer. And this, too, in a
time when men from civil life were rapidly raised to
high military rank, owing to the pressing exigencies
of the service ; and it should not be forgotten that
three years had not passed since Brigadier-General
Knox was pursuing the peaceful vocation of a book
seller. On his retreat across the Delaware, after the
battle of Trenton, Washington carried* " six ex
cellent brass cannon, about one thousand two hun
dred small arms, and three standards, with a quantity
of baggage, etc." His prisoners were nearly fifteen
hundred in number, including thirty officers. This
signal victory greatly cheered the inhabitants of the
Jerseys and Pennsylvania, and reinforcements were
sent to the army from Virginia and Maryland. To
the honour of the patriotic citizens of Philadelphia,
it should be said that they had not waited for the
success at Trenton to send aid to the army, whose
efficient force was constantly changing. Fifteen
hundred citizens, although unused to the hardships
of military life, associated themselves together and,
marching to the relief of Washington's depleted
forces, endured cheerfully the vicissitudes of the in
clement months of January and December, " sleep
ing in tents, barns, and sometimes in the open air."
The patriotic and wealthy Philadelphian, Robert
* Thacher's journal.

1777] The Fight for the Jerseys - 83
Morris, raised the handsome sum of fifty thousand
dollars in specie which was sent to Washington's
camp to be used for pressing military purposes.
The New England regiments whose time had
expired were now persuaded to remain six weeks
longer, and these, with the recent acquisitions from
Philadelphia and elsewhere, brought Washington's
available force up to about six thousand men.
Emboldened by this prosperous turn of the tide,
Washington resolved on a brilliant stroke of strategy,
again crossing the Delaware and striking at the
British forces in the Jerseys. Hearing of this bold
movement, Cornwallis hurried to meet him. This
second crossing of the Delaware was successfully
accomplished on the 30th of December. The en
gagement that followed, known in history as the
battle of Princeton, is described in the following
letter from Knox to his wife :
" Morristown, Jan. 7, 1777,
" My Dearest Love,
" I wrote to you from Trenton by a Mr. Furness, which I hope you
have received. I then informed you that we soon expected another
tussle. I was not out in my conjecture. About three o'clock on
the 2nd of January, a column of the enemy attacked a party of ours
which was stationed about one mile above Trenton. Our party was
small, and did not make much resistance. The enemy, who were
Hessians, entered the town pellmell, pretty much in the same manner
that we had driven them a few days before.
" Nearly on the other side of Trenton, partly in the town, runs a
brook (the Assanpink), which in most places is not fordable, and
over which through Trenton is a bridge. The ground on the other
side is much higher than on this, and may be said to command Tren
ton completely. Here it was our army drew up, with thirty or forty
pieces of artillery in front. The enemy pushed our small party

84 Henry Knox [1776-
through the town with vigour, though not with much loss. Their
retreat over the bridge was thoroughly secured by the artillery.
After they had retired over the bridge, the enemy advanced within
reach of our cannon, who saluted them with great vociferation and
some execution. This continued till dark, when of course it ceased,
except a few shells we now and then chucked into town to prevent
their enjoying their new quarters securely. As I before mentioned,
the creek was in our front, our left on the Delaware, our right in
the wood, parallel to the creek. The situation was strong, to be
sure ; but hazardous on this account, that had our right wing been
defeated, the defeat of the left would almost have been an inevitable
consequence, and the whole thrown into confusion or pushed into
the Delaware, as it was impassable by boats.
" From these circumstances the general thought it best to attack
Princeton twelve miles in the rear of the enemy's grand army, and
where they had the 17th, 40th and 55th regiments, with ajiumber of
draughts, altogether perhaps twelve hundred men. Accordingly,
about one o'clock at night, we began to march and make this most
extra manoeuvre. Our troops marched with great silence and order,
and arrived near Princeton a little after daybreak. We did not
surprise them as at Trenton ; for they were on their march down to
Trenton, on a road about a quarter of a mile distant from the one
in which we were. You may judge of their surprise when they dis
covered such large columns marching up. They could not possibly
suppose it was our army, for that they took for granted was cooped
up near Trenton. They could not possibly suppose it was their own
army returning by a back road ; in short, I believe they were as
much astonished as if an army had dropped perpendicularly upon
them. However, they had not much time for consideration. We
pushed a party to attack them. This they repulsed with great spirit,
and advanced upon another column just then coming out of a wood,
which they likewise put in some disorder ; but fresh troops coming
up, and the artillery beginning to play, 'they were after a smart re
sistance totally put to the rout. The 17th regiment used their bayo
nets with too much severity upon a party they put to flight ; but
they were paid for it in proportion, very few escaping. Near sixty
were killed on the spot, besides the wounded. We have taken be
tween three and four hundred prisoners, all British troops. They
must have lost in this affair nearly five hundred, killed and wounded
and prisoners. We lost some gallant officers. Brigadier-General

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1777] The Fight for the Jerseys 85
Mercer was wounded : he had three separate stabs with a bayonet.
A Lieutenant-Colonel Fleming was killed, and Captain Neil of the
artillery, an excellent officer. Mercer will get better. The enemy
took his parole after we left Princeton. We took all their cannon,
which consisted of two brass six-pounders, a considerable quantity
of military stores, blankets, guns, etc. They lost, among a number
of other officers, a Captain Leslie, a son of the Earl of Leven and
nephew to General Leslie : him we brought off, and buried with the
honours of war.
"After we had been about two hours at Princeton, word was
brought that the enemy were advancing from Trenton. This they
did, as we have since been informed, in a most infernal sweat, —
running, puffing, and blowing, and swearing at being so outwitted.
As we had other objects in view, to wit, breaking up their quarters,
we pursued our march to Somerset Court House, where there were
about thirteen hundred quartered, as we had been informed. They,
however, had marched off, and joined the army at Trenton. We at
first intended to have made a forced march to Brunswick ; but our
men having been without either rest, rum, or provisions for two
nights and days, were unequal to the task of marching seventeen
miles further. If we could have secured one thousand -fresh men at
Princeton to have pushed for Brunswick, we should have struck one
of the most brilliant strokes in all history. However, the advantages
are very great : already they have collected their whole force, and
drawn themselves to one point, to wit, Brunswick.
" The enemy were within nineteen miles of Philadelphia, they
are now sixty miles. We have driven them from almost the whole
of West Jersey, The panic is still kept up. We had a battle two
days ago with a party of ours and sixty Waldeckers, who were all
killed or taken, in Monmouth County in the lower part of the Jer
seys. It is not our interest to fight a general battle, nor can I
think under all circumstances it is the enemy's. They have sent
their baggage to Staten Island from the Jerseys, and we are very
well informed they are doing the same from New York. Heath will
have orders to march there and endeavour to storm it on that side.
' There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood leads
on to victory.' For my part, my Lucy. I look up to heaven and
devoutly thank the great Governor of the Universe for producing
this turn in our affairs ; and the sentiment I hope will so prevail in
the hearts of the people as to induce them to be a people chosen of

86 Henry Knox O776-
Heaven, not to give way to despair, but at all times and under all
circumstances never to despair of the Commonwealth."
Knox, who had made a diligent and careful study
of the topographical situation of the Jerseys, strongly
advised the march to Morristown and the establish
ment of winter quarters at that place. The strategi
cal advantages of the position at Morristown were
considerable, and by taking it, the army was on the
flank of the enemy and could change its base, in
case of any emergency arising, without serious diffi
culty. Washington's ruse of keeping up watch-
fires in his deserted camps while he stole around to
Princeton from Trenton, his masterly conduct of all
the movements that had ridded the Jerseys of nearly
all the enemy's troops, were evidence to the world
that the head of the American army was a soldier
of indomitable courage, vast patience, and unlimited
military expedients. ' Brunswick and Amboy' were
now the only points in Jersey that were held by the
British, who had so recently proclaimed themselves
masters of the situation. Thacher, on the 30th of
January, says: "It it with infinite satisfaction we
learn that the royal army has been compelled to
quit almost every part of the Jerseys, and that our
army is pursuing them from post to post, and they
find no security but in the vicinity of their ship
ping."' A season of comparative quiet for the army en
camped at Morristown now ensued. That army,
however, was again reduced to a mere handful of
men; and from their winter quarters, consisting of
an assemblage of huts, an occasional foray was made

H77] The Fight for the Jerseys 87
upon the enemy, who had drawn in their outposts
to the borders of New York and Staten Island.
Meanwhile, Knox was sent to New England to
oversee the casting of cannon and the establishment
of laboratories for the manufacture of powder and
other material. He visited his wife, who was then
in Boston, and from that town he writes as follows
to Washington, under date of February I, 1777:
" After my letter to General Greene from Springfield, of the 26th
ult., I set out for this place, in order to provide such materials as1
were necessary to carry on the various branches connected with the
laboratories and ordnance establishment. Upon my arrival here, I
was much surprised at the very extraordinary bounty offered by the
State ($86 2/3) for recruits for the service. Part of a regiment, con
sisting of four hundred men with a detachment of one hundred and
fifty artillery, marches to-morrow and next day for Ticonderoga.
The enlistments in this town have been exceeding rapid. General
Ward is here, but whether he acts as councillor of the Massachusetts,
or a continental general, is difficult to say. There must be one bat
talion of artillery raised in this State, for all the old artillery-men,
who have been two years in the service, and acquired some experi
ence, are from this town and colony. If Congress should still ad
here to Brookfield in preference to Springfield, it will delay everything
for three or four months. I wrote to General Greene from Spring
field that it was the best place in all the four New England States
for a laboratory, cannon foundry, etc., and I hope your Excellency
will order it there."
Knox's advice was followed and the establishment
of the works which are to-day represented by the
United States arsenal at Springfield was the result
of his wise and well-directed labours. It may be
said that to his incessant urging upon Congress was
due the ultimate establishment of sundry other
foundries and laboratories and the foundation of the

88 Henry Knox [177°-
Military Academy at West Point, New York. A
committee of the Continental Congress visited
Washington's camp on Harlem Heights, in Sep
tember, 1776, and Knox, with others of the army
leaders, was requested to furnish the committee
with such suggestions for the information of Con
gress as might occur to him. His paper was headed
" Hints to Congressional Committee now in camp,
Headquarters, Harlem Heights, Sept. 27, 1776,"
and is filled with shrewd and practical suggestions,
some of which were destined, in later years, to
justify the wisdom of the able officer who made
them. In this interesting document he recommends
laboratories for the manufacture of materials for
gunpowder and fulminants, ordnance stores, gun-
carriages and equipments, foundries for brass can
non, etc. He adds: " And as officers can never act
with confidence until they are Masters of their pro
fession, an Academy established on a liberal plan
would be of the utmost service to America, where
the whole Theory and practice of Fortifications and
Gunnery should be taught." He refers to the mili
tary school at Woolwich, England, as a good ex
ample of an institution designed as a training school
for army officers.
Returning to New Jersey, Knox was next en
gaged, with General Greene, in laying out a new
series of defensive works on the Jersey side of the
Hudson, an attack by the enemy from that direction
being among the possibilities against which provision
should be made. Letters from his wife and brother,
written about this time, give some indication of the

1777] The Fight for the Jerseys 89
personal business cares that were intruded upon his
attention while he was so deeply immersed in mili
tary labours. William Knox had succeeded in rent
ing the building formerly occupied by his brother as
a bookstore and was now carrying on the business
under the advice of Mrs. Knox, who constantly
wrote to him when she was not in Boston, giving
many practical hints for his guidance. Among
other useful suggestions, Mrs. Knox advised William
not to confine himself exclusively to the book trade,
but to look up other bargains which might prove
equally advantageous. In a letter written to Knox,
March 18, 1777, she says that William had gone to
Newbury to purchase a cargo of stationery, " by
which he thinks he shall make money." And a few
Jays later, William writes to his brother that he
has bought quills, foolscap paper, sealing-wax and
wafers, the cost of which is two hundred pounds
sterling, " of which," he hopefully adds, " I shall
make a very pretty profit."
Knox was back again in Morristown for a short
time, a few days later, and, elated by recent acquisi
tions to his artillery stores, some of which were se
cretly furnished from France, he writes on the last
day of March to his wife as follows: " The enemy
and we are laying upon our oars. What think you
of the care of Providence to America in bringing in
so many ammunitions, notwithstanding the care of
our very malignant enemies ? For my own part, I
bow with Gratitude to that High Power who putteth
up and putteth down. America, under His smiles,
shall win."

90 Henry Knox [1776-
At this time Mrs. Knox was sojourning at Sewall's
Point (now Brookline), near Boston, with Mrs.
Heath, wife of the major-general. Mrs. Knox and
her infant, her second child, had been inoculated
for smallpox, and were suffering from the conse
quent effects thereof. The good lady was also ex
ceedingly lonely, as appears from a letter written at
this time to her husband in which she says : " I have
no company but Madame Heath, who is so stiff that
it is impossible to be sociable with her, and Mr.
Gardner the treasurer, so you may well think what
I feel under my present anxiety."
As for the Flucker family, they appear to have
cut off all communication with their daughter and
sister, Mrs. Knox, who writes to her husband, in
answer to inquiries from him, says that they have
sent her no missive or message. Replying to this,
Knox, writing from Morristown, on May 20th, says:
" Though your parents are on the opposite side from
your Harry, yet it 's very strange that it should
divest them of humanity. Not a line! My God?
what stuff is the human heart made of ? Although
father, mother, sister, and brother have forgotten
you, yet, my love, your Harry will ever esteem you
the best boon of Heaven."
A little later than this, an unpleasant incident in
Knox's career threatened to put an end to his in
valuable service in the American army. Silas
Deane, one of the commissioners sent to France by
the Continental Congress to negotiate with France
for terms of amity and assistance, somewhat ex
ceeded his powers in engaging officers of rank to

1777] The Fight for the Jerseys 91
co-operate in this country with the Americans. The
agreement was that the French officers who accepted
service in the American army should have there the
same rank that they held in the French army.
Among those who took service was one Ducoudray,
an engineer officer of great talent and ability. He
arrived in Boston early in May, expecting to be as
signed to duty as commander-in-chief of the artil
lery. Mrs. Knox, who was then in Boston, hearing
of Ducoudray's pretensions, wrote thus to her hus
band, who had returned to the Jerseys:
" A French General (Ducoudray), who styles himself commander-
in-chief of the continental artillery, is now in town. He says his
appointment is from Mr. Deane, that he is going immediately to
headquarters to take command, that he is a major-general, and a
deal of it. Who knows but I may have my Harry again? This I
am sure of, he will never suffer any one to command him in that de
partment. If he does, he has not the soul which I now think him
possessed of."
On his part, Knox, naturally feeling deeply injured
by this unexpected attempt, as he regarded it, to
supersede him by another and a foreign officer, ad
dressed Congress in terms that were at once firm and
respectful, declining to serve under Mr. Deane's
appointee. To his wife he wrote from Camp
Middlebrook, on the Raritan, ten miles from New
Brunswick, New Jersey, on the 2 1st of June, as
follows: "We have the most respectable body of continental troops that
America ever had, no going home to-morrow to suck, — hardy,
brave fellows, who are as willing to go to heaven by the way of a
bayonet or sword as any other mode. With the blessing of Heaven,
I have great hopes in the course of this campaign that we shall do

92 Henry Knox U776-
something clever. I think in five days there will not be an enemy
in the Jerseys ; but I fear they will go up the North River, where
perhaps they may plague us more. The inhabitants here appeared
as one man, and as a people actuated by revenge for the many rapes
and murders committed on them. The Congress have taken some
precious steps with regard to Mr. Ducoudray. They have resolved
that Mr. Deane has exceeded his commission, and that they cannot
ratify his treaty with Mr. Ducoudray. Pretty this ! — to bring a
gentleman 1200 leagues to affront him."
Knox's letter to Congress was addressed to John
Hancock, President of that body, and was dated at
Camp Middlebrook, July 1, 1777, as follows:
" Sir, — From information I have received I am induced to believe
that Congress has appointed a Mr. Ducoudray, a French gentleman,
to the command of the artillery.
" I wish to know of Congress whether this information be true ;
if it is, I beg the favour of a permission to retire, and that a proper
certificate for that purpose be sent me immediately.
"¦ I am, sir, your most humble servant,
" Henry Knox."
" Hon. John Hancock, Esq."
General Washington wrote to President Hancock
and to Richard Henry Lee, a member from Virginia,
protesting against the superseding of Knox by Du
coudray, adding that Ducoudray's appointment
would cause the retirement of General Knox, who
was " one of the most valuable officers in the service,
and who, combating almost innumerable difficulties
in the department he fills, had placed the artillery
upon a footing that does him the greatest honour " ;
and he further described Knox as " a man of great
military reading, sound judgment, and clear con
ceptions." General Nathanael Greene and General
Sullivan united in a similar letter to Congress.

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1777] The Fight for the Jerseys 93
The effect of these letters is thus described in a
letter from Knox to his wife, dated at Camp Pomp.
ton Plains, 13 July, 1777:
" The letter which I wrote to Congress, to know whether they had
appointed Mr. Ducoudray, has, in conjunction with the letters of
Generals Sullivan and Greene, produced a resolve purporting ' the
said letters to be an infringement on the liberties of the people, as
tending to influence the decisions of Congress,' and expecting that
we make acknowledgments to them for ' so singular an impropriety.'
Conscious of the rectitude of my intention and of the contents of my
letter, I shall make no acknowledgments whatever. Though my
country is too much pressed at present to resign, yet perhaps this
campaign will be the last. I am determined to contribute my mite
to the defence of the country, in spite of every obstacle."
None of the officers thus loftily snubbed by Con
gress offered either apology or resignation. But
Congress finally resolved that Mr. Deane's engage
ments could not in this particular be ratified, and
the difficulty was thus removed. Ducoudray was
subsequently (August 1 1, 1777) appointed inspector-
general with the rank of major-general, and assigned
to the duty of superintending the defensive works
on the- Delaware. These works, it is interesting to
recall, were planned by General Knox and were de
scribed in a memorandum filed by him with the
Commander-in-chief, August 9, 1777. Ducoudray's
term of service was short. On the nth of the fol
lowing September, while hastening to the battle of
Brandywine, where he expected to serve as a volun*
teer, his horse became restive during the crossing of
the Schuylkill, and, plunging from the ferryboat,
carried with him his rider, who was drowned.

94 Henry Knox [177°-
Although the quotas of men to be furnished to
the army by the order of Congress were never quite
filled, and recruits came in slowly, the hearts of the
commanding officers were cheered by the prospect
of a victorious summer campaign. Knox wrote to
his wife from Morristown, on May 20th, in these
hopeful terms:
" From the present information it appears that America will have
much more reason to hope for a successful campaign the ensuing
summer than she had the last. Our forces come in pretty fast and
are disciplining for the war. We are well supplied with arms and
amunitions of all species ; this, with the blessing of Heaven, will
assist us much ; but, I am sorry to say it, we seem to be increasing
most rapidly in impiety. This is a bad omen, but I hope we shall
mend, though I see no immediate prospect of it."
As in more recent times, the American army was
plagued with that class of scamps known as .
" bounty-jumpers." We have seen how large was
the bounty offered in Massachusetts to volunteer re
cruits. The Continental authorities also held forth
bounties in money and land to induce recruiting.
It was found necessary, while Washington's head
quarters were at Morristown, to issue a general order.
calling attention to the " frauds and abuses com
mitted of late by sundry soldiers, who, after enlisting
i in one regiment and receiving the bounty allowed
by Congress, have deserted, enlisted in others, and
received new bounties." The Commander-in-chief
proceeded to declare that " this offence is of the
most enormous and flagrant nature, and not admit
ting the least palliation or excuse ; whoever are con
victed thereof, and sentenced to die, may consider

r777] The Fight for the Jerseys 95
their execution certain and inevitable." What with
the rawness of the recruits, their lack of discipline,
their impiety, and their frequent inclination to ob
tain premiums for enlisting and then to desert, the
task of making soldiers of the material offered must
have been vexatious and difficult.

CHAPTER V

THE CONTEST MOVES SOUTHWARD
1777
PE events narrated in the preceding
chapter were made to anticipate some
what the chronological order of the
history of the time. The movements
of Howe, whose headquarters were in
New York, remained a matter of anxious speculation
among the American officers. It was uncertain
whether he would return to New England, or make
a descent upon Charleston, S. C, or Baltimore, or
Philadelphia, or proceed up the Hudson and effect
a junction with the invading army, which, under
Burgoyne, was expected to move down from Canada,
some ten thousand strong. The better to observe
Howe and follow him, if practicable, Washington
broke up his winter camp at Morristown and estab
lished himself in a strong position at Middlebrook,
New Jersey, on the Raritan, on the 28th of May.
But it was not until the 12th of June that the British
general made any move whatever. At that time,
he sent Cornwallis out to feel the American forces
0

J777j The Contest Moves Southward 97
and to surprise General Sullivan at Princeton. The
movement, however, was sluggish, as usual, and it
was not until two days later that the entire army
was in motion. How this design miscarried is de
scribed in a letter from Knox to his intimate friend,
Henry Jackson. As Jackson's name occurs with
great frequency in Knox's voluminous correspond
ence, it may be explained here that he was a native
of Massachusetts and had been appointed colonel of
the sixteenth additional Continental battalion raised
in that State, his commission being dated January
12, 1777. He served with distinction in Sullivan's
corps, and was appointed to the command of the
last body of Continental troops that were disbanded
in 1784. To him Knox was indebted for important
financial aid in his later enterprises. Writing to
him from " Camp Middlebrook, 21 June, 1777,"
Knox says :
"General Howe, on the 14th, put his whole army in motion. He
had for a long time past been collecting his force from Rhode Island,
New York, Staten Island, etc. The boats upon which he designed
to cross the Delaware as a bridge were fixed on waggons, besides
which he had a large number of flat-bottom boats fixed on waggons
to transport to the Delaware. These boats with the necessary appar
atus, waggons to convey the baggage and the ammunition waggons,
etc., swelled the number of his waggons to perhaps iooo or uoo, a
great incumbrance to an army not very numerous. As I have before
written, our position was exceeding, good, and while we continued
on it, the passage to the Delaware would be rendered extremely pre
carious, and to attack us in camp was an event much to be wished.
However, something was to be done. General Sullivan was posted at
Princeton with a force pretty respectable in itself but not sufficient
to stop General Howe's army ; and he might, by a forced march,
push a column between Princeton and us, and cut off General Sulli
van's communications, at least ; but our intelligence being pretty
7

98 Henry Knox N l*rn
good, the General directed Sullivan to take post about four miles
from Princeton in such a manner that the surrounding of him would
be impracticable. We also had a party at Milstone as a cover for the
ammunition to Princeton. This was a dangerous post from its
proximity to the enemy, but rendered less so by the extreme vigilance
which we recommended and which the commanding officer particu
larly obeyed. Matters were thus situated on the morning of the
14th, when we discovered that the party at Milstone was attacked.
Support was immediately sent to cover the retreat of the party, when
it was discovered to be the enemy's main body, as the same body of
observation posted there were obliged to retreat 'pretty auick.' The
enemy took position. Our whole army was immediately ordered
under arms, ready to be put in motion ; but the conduct of the
enemy rendered it unnecessary, for, instead of immediately pushing
for the Delaware, distant about twenty-five miles, or attacking Gen
eral Sullivan, he sat down on the ground and instantly began to
fortify in a very strong position ; but it was not till the next day that
we discovered their work. Their conduct was perplexing. It was-
unaccountable that people who the day before gave out in very gas
conading terms that they would be in Philadelphia in six days should
stop short when they had gone only nine miles. The intelligence
was pretty good with respect to their designs, yet it was too imper-^
feet in respect to their numbers to warrant an attack on troops so
well disciplined, and posted as they were. We also, in the course
of a day or two, discovered that they had not moved with any bag
gage, even tents and the most necessary, but had come out with an
intention of drawing us into the plain ; had left their immense num
ber of waggons behind them; but, even in this kind of ostentatious
challenge, they omitted not one precaution for their own safety.
They had Brunswick and the Raritan River on their right, secured
by eight or ten strong redoubts. At Brunswick the Raritan bends
and runs a little way north and then turns nearly west. This they
bad in their front, secured by strong redoubts at Middlebrook.
Their left was secured by the river Milstone, which empties itself,
into the Raritan near Bound Brook. From their right to left was
about eight miles.
" In this situation they continued until early in the morning of
the igth, continually at work throwing up redoubts. We had a
large body of riflemen, under Colonel Morgan, perpetually making
inroads upon them, attacking their pickets, killing their light-horse ;

1777] The Contest Moves Southward 99

<

and beset them in such a manner that Mr. Howe, instead of march
ing to Philadelphia, found himself almost blockaded in an open,
flat country. Nothing could exceed the spirit shown on this occa
sion by the much injured people of the Jerseys. Not an atom of
the lethargic spirit that possessed them last winter, — all fire, all re
venge. , The militia of Pennsylvania likewise turned out universally,
so that, had Sir William put his attempt into execution, we should
probably have had twenty-five or thirty thousand militia upon his
back, besides the most respectable body of continental troops that
ever were in America.
" These things being fully represented to General Howe, he
thought it proper to take himself and light army back to Brunswick
again, and accordingly marched, about one o'clock in the morning.
of the 19th, without beat of drum or sound of fife. When his army
had gotten beyond reach of pursuit, they began to burn, plunder
and waste all before them. The desolation they committed was
horrid and served to show the malice which marks their conduct.
" The militia light horse and riflemen exhibited the greatest marks
of valour, frequently taking prisoners within two hundred yards
of their encampment. Their loss must be at least one hundred
killed and wounded and taken prisoners, among whom are two lieu
tenants of grenadiers of the 55th, and a cornet of light horse and a
number killed, two sergeants taken. This little march of General
Howe fully proved that no people or country can be permanently
conquered where the inhabitants are unanimous in opposition."
It appears from Knox's letter that Howe put his
whole army in motion on the 14th of June, thereby
impressing the Americans with the notion that an
active campaign was about to begin. He had been
drawing in his forces from Connecticut, New York,
and Staten Island, and had provided himself with a
pontoon train and other contrivances for crossing
streams. These, with the ammunition waggons
swelled his transportation to one thousand or twelve
hundred waggons. The main army of Washington
was posted along the Raritan, making the passage

100 Henry Knox [1777
of the enemy to the Delaware extremely hazardous.
Sullivan, with a small force, was at Princeton, and
another and smaller force was at Milstone, prepared
to parry any blow that might be aimed at Sullivan's
detachment. Howe attacked the party at Milstone, and, covered
on their retreat by a force from the Raritan, the
Americans fell back upon Princeton. Washington
ordered his whole army to be under arms and ready
to move, but the British unaccountably paused and
began to intrench themselves instead of pushing on
to the Delaware, twenty-five miles distant, or attack
ing General Sullivan. Knox says: " Their conduct
was perplexing. It was unaccountable that the
people who, the day before, had given out, in very
gasconading terms that they would be in Philadel
phia in six days, should stop short when they had
gone only nine miles." In a very good position for
defence, the British remained, continually throwing
up redoubts, until the morning of the nineteenth,
when, finding himself blockaded in the midst of an
open country by the Americans, who had gradually
closed in upon him with much raiding and harass
ing, Howe thought proper to betake himself back to
Brunswick. To Brunswick he accordingly went
" about one o'clock in the morning of the 19th,
without beat of drum or sound of fife. When his
army had gotten beyond the reach of pursuit, they
began to burn, plunder, and waste all before them.
The desolation they committed was horrid, and
served to show the malice which marks their con
duct."

1777] The Contest Moves Southward 101
Knox pays a warm tribute to the spirit exhibited
at this time by " the much injured people of New
Jersey" and adds: " This little march of General
Howe's fully proves that no people or country can
be permanently conquered where the inhabitants are
unanimous in opposition."
As a matter of fact, whatever may have been the
original plans of Howe, he now withdrew once more
from New Jersey, his entire army crossing to Staten
Island on the 30th of June. From that time for
ward, for several weeks, his movements were veiled
in such secrecy that the Americans were compelled
to depend upon guesswork and probabilities for a
solution of the military problem presented to them.
Even when he finally set sail from New York, on
the 23d of July, Washington was still left in doubt
as to his ultimate destination. In a breezy letter to
his wife, dated at " Beverhout, 8 miles north of
Morristown, 26th July, 1777," Knox makes these
comments on Howe's motions:
" General Howe has sailed from the Hook, we suppose for Phila
delphia, therefore we are now marching that way. If he is not going
there, then Boston must be his object. We intercepted a letter from
him to General Burgoyne, purporting that the expedition up the
North River is given up for one to Boston. This letter was designed
to fall into our hands, in order to deceive. We suppose he will be
at Philadelphia near as" soon as we : we are now four days' march
from it. Upon the whole, I know he ought, in justice to his mas
ter, to either go up the North River or to the eastward, and endeavour
to form a junction with Burgoyne ; therefore (if he is not a fool), he
will operate accordingly ; but we are bound to Philadelphia upon
this supposition, and it's very reasonable."
If Lord Howe had been as shrewdly advised as

102 Henry ICnox t1?"
he might have been by some strategist as competent
as Knox, the disasters that soon after overtook the -
British army of invasion, east of the Hudson, would
probably have been averted. Howe's destination
was Philadelphia, and on the 30th of July, the fleet
appeared in the mouth of the Delaware. But that
stream was so obstructed that he again put to sea,
leaving his enemy still in doubt as to his ultimate
objective point. Washington's headquarters were
now established on Neshaminy Creek, about twenty
miles north of Philadelphia, where an enforced wait
of a fortnight kept the Commander-in-chief anxious
to ascertain the next move of his adversary. At
this camp Washington was joined by several volun
teer foreign officers of distinction, among them be
ing Lafayette, De Kalb, and eleven others. These
two first-named officers were commissioned major-
generals, after some delay, by Congress.
It was now supposed that Howe had either set
sail for Charleston, or that he had doubled on his
tracks and had gone to Boston. A council of war
in the American camp decided that Charleston was
the destination of the fleet, and that a retrograde
movement upon the Hudson, for the purpose of
heading off Burgoyne, was advisable. Just then the
British fleet was reported off the qapes of the Chesa
peake, and Washington's army, now numbering
about seven thousand men, was set in motion south
ward through Philadelphia. On the 25th of August,
Knox wrote as follows to his wife :
" The army yesterday marched through the city of Philadelphia.
Their excellent appearance and marching astonished the Tories, who

1777] The Contest Moves Southward 103
are very downcast on the respectability of the army. I was so un-
happy as to be absent at this time. General Greene and myself
begged the favour of his Excellency's permission to pay a visit to
Bethlehem, distant about forty miles, to purchase some things for my
dear, dear Lucy. The weather was extremely hot, and we set out
about four o'clock in the afternoon and arrived the next morning at
nine. An express from the general was waiting for us with orders
to return immediately : he had rode all night. However, we first
visited all parts of this singularly happy place, where all the inhabit
ants seem to vie with each other in humility and brotherly kindness.
We joined the army, after a most fatiguing jaunt of a hundred miles
yesterday, about an hour after they had passed through Philadelphia."
Washington's line of march took him to Wilming
ton, Delaware, and on the first day of September,
Knox, writing from that town, announced the land
ing of the British in this letter:
"The enemy have landed at the head of the Elk, in Maryland,
about twenty miles from this. Whether they intend to advance or
not is at present uncertain. We shall remain here a few days ; and
if they will not come to us, we shall go to them. It is supposed
that the enemy intend for Philadelphia ; if so, they will meet with a
stout opposition. I am at this moment president of a court-martial
to try an officer of General Howe for recruiting in the Jerseys."
Howe's forces were now concentrated at Kennett
Square, about seven miles south of the Brandywine
River. Of the fighting at Chad's Ford, and the
battle of Brandywine it is not necessary now to
speak in detail. The efforts of the Continental
army, heroic though they were, were not adequate
to head off the British march upon Philadelphia.
Knox's first letter, written after the battle, was ad
dressed to his wife to assure her that he had not
been whelmed in the great disaster. He says:

io4 Henry Knox [1777
" My dear girl will be happy to hear of her Harry's safety ; for,
my Lucy,, Heaven, who is our guide, has protected him in the day of
battle. You will hear with this letter of the most severe action that
has been fought this war between our army and the enemy. Our
people behaved well, but Heaven frowned upon us in a degree. We
were obliged to retire after a very considerable slaughter of the
enemy : they dared not pursue a single step. If they advance, we
shall light them again before they get possession of Philadelphia ;
but of this they will be cautious. My corps did me great honour ;
they behaved like men contending for every thing that 's valuable."
A contemporary account says of Knox's men :
" The regiment of artillery with their general be
haved with their usual coolness and intrepidity.
Some pf them could scarce be prevailed on to quit
their guns, even when surrounded by the enemy
and forsaken by our infantry."
Knox's official account of the battle of Brandy
wine was sent to the President of the Council of
Massachusetts.* The American loss was set down at nearly three
hundred killed, five hundred wounded, and ten
field-pieces captured by the enemy. The British
loss was reported to be something less than six hun
dred killed, wounded, and missing. The shattered
army of Washington now fell back upon Philadelphia
and Germantown, crossing the Schuylkill on the
13th of September. Howe advanced to meet it,
and at one time a pitched battle seemed to be immi
nent, when a rainstorm of extraordinary violence set
in and the ammunition of Washington's men was so
damaged by water flowing into the cartridge boxes
that a retreat was ordered and the army fell back to
* See Appendix.

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THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE.

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THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE.
FROM A FRENCH PRINT, 1781.

1777] The Contest Moves Southward 105
French Creek, Warwick Township, to repair and
refit. These movement are thus described in a
letter from Knox to his wife, dated at Pottstown,
Sept. 24, 1777:
" I wrote you on the 13th. The same day we crossed the Schuyl
kill, in order to try the issue of another appeal to Him who directs
all human events. After some days' manoeuvring, we came in sight
of the enemy, and drew up in order of battle, which the enemy de
clined ; but a most violent rain coming on obliged us to change our
position, in the course of which nearly all the musket cartridges of
the army that had been delivered to the men were damaged, consist-
ing of above 400,000. This was a most terrible stroke to us, and
owing entirely to the badness of the cartridge-boxes which had been
provided for the army.
" This unfortunate event obliged us to retire, in order to get sup
plied with so essential an article as cartridges, after which we forded
the Schuylkill, in order to be opposite to the enemy ; accordingly we
took post at a place called Flatland Ford.
"A defensive war is the most difficult to guard against, because
one is always obliged to attend to the feints of the enemy. To de
fend an extensive river when it is unfordable is almost impossible;
but when fordable in every part, it becomes impracticable. On the
afternoon of the 21st the enemy made a most rapid march of ten or
twelve miles to our right : this obliged us to follow them. They
kindled large fires, and in the next night marched as rapidly back
and crossed at a place where we had few guards, and pushed towards
Philadelphia, and will this morning enter the city without opposi
tion. We fought one battle for it, and it was no deficiency in brav
ery that lost us the day. Philadelphia, it seems, has been their
favourite object. Their shipping has not joined them there. They
will first have to raise the ehevaux de frise in the Delaware, and
defeat the naval force there, which is considerable.
" The troops in this excursion of ten days without baggage suffered
excessive hardships, — without tents in the rain, several marches of
all night, and often without sufficient provision. This they endured
with the perseverance and patience of good soldiers. Generals
Smallwood, Wayne, McDougall, and a considerable body of militia,
will join us to-day and to-morrow. This day we shall move towards

106 Henry Knox .[1777
Philadelphia, in order to try the fortune of another battle in which
we devoutly hope the blessing of Heaven. I consider the loss of
Philadelphia as only temporary, — to be recovered when expedient.
It is no more than the loss of Boston, nor, in my opinion, half so
much, when the present trade of the latter be considered. It is situ
ated on a point of land formed by the rivers Delaware and Schuylkill,
so that it would have been highly improper to have thrown ourselves
into it.
" If the enemy do not get their shipping up soon, and go into
Philadelphia, they will be in a very ineligible situation. I do not in
the present circumstances consider Philadelphia of so much conse
quence as the loss of reputation to our arms ; but I trust in God we
shall soon make up that matter. Billy * is well, and undergoes the
hardships of the campaign surprisingly well, and they are neither
few nor small."
Great was the panic in Philadelphia when the in
habitants of the capital were told that the British
army was approaching and could be in the city within
a few hours. The members of the Continental Con
gress were roused from their beds at midnight of the
19th of the month, Alexander Hamilton, of Wash
ington's staff, being the bearer of the evil tidings.
The delegates, who were under the royal ban as
traitors of the deepest dye, set off in hot haste, and
the exultant Tories made ready to receive the King's
army with acclaim. But, although the message of
Washington warned the people that the enemy could
be in the city within a few hours, Howe, marching
with his customary deliberation, gave ample time
for the escape of those who had the best reason to
:lread capture ; and it was not until the forenoon of
the 26th that Cornwallis, with his Hessians and
* Knox's brother, William, had joined the army at this time, and
vas with the column until after the battle of Gerroantown.

1777] The Contest Moves Southward 107
English, entered the city amid the cheers of the
Tories. On the 3d of October, Knox wrote to his
friend Colonel Henry Jackson from " Camp at
Metuchin, twenty miles from Philadelphia," as
follows :
" My dear Harry, — The enemy are now encamped at Philadel.
phia and its environs for about six miles. The Delaware frigate was
given up to them in a manner scandalous to relate. The crew, it 's
said, after they had fired one broadside at a battery which was erect
ing near the city, ran her ashore, and gave her up to the Britons.
The crew were principally foreigners. Our army has had several
reinforcements of militia, etc., since the late action. I hope for
better success in the next ; and an action we shall most assuredly
have before we go into winter quarters."
The British approach to Philadelphia by water
was hindered by a fleet of small armed craft that
hovered around the mouth of the Delaware River,
just above a line of obstructions that had been
drawn across the stream by the Americans, and by
two forts — Fort Mifflin on an island off the Pennsyl
vania side of the river and Fort Mercer on New
Jersey side. Howe sent down a detachment of
troops to reduce these two forts, and Washington,
learning by intercepted letters of this reduction of
the main army of the British, resolved to attack the
enemy, whose position, divided between German-
town and Philadelphia, appeared to offer an oppor«
tunity. By breaking the line of reinforcement from
Philadelphia and attacking him on the flank and
front, it was hoped that that part of the army
quartered in Germantown could be routed before aid
could arrive from Philadelphia. This well-planned

108 Henry Knox [1777
assault was defeated. The Americans moved in four
columns, the main reliance being upon the two cen
tral columns, one of which was commanded by
Greene and the other by Sullivan. The movement
began on the evening of the 3d of October. The
enemy were completely surprised and the Americans
pressed eagerly on, Washington, Knox, and other
officers of the staff riding in the rear with Lord
Stirling's reserves.
Sullivan's column, which was composed of his
own and Wayne's divisions, had passed the stone
mansion known as the "Chew house" without
noticing that a British force of about two hundred
had occupied the structure, and, by barricading the
1 lower story, had converted it into a fortress of con
siderable strength. This was discovered when Stir
ling's reserves came up, and the British troops in the
house opened fire upon them. A consultation was
held to consider the expediency of reducing the im
provised fort before going on. Knox insisted that
it was against all military rule and tradition to leave
a fortification in the rear, and operations against the
house were begun. But the light field-pieces and
musketry of the assailants had little effect upon the
solid walls of the mansion, although the scars of
shot remain unto this day to testify to the severity
of the fusillade.
For two hours a hot contest raged around the
Chew house, and the unexpected choice of this
now historic mansion as the pivotal point of the
battle not only misled the troops in the advance,
but it confused the line of march and detained

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1777] The Contest Moves Southward 109
Stirling's reserves who were coming up to the support
of Sullivan's and Wayne's columns. Worse than
this, the troops, now enveloped in the smoke of
battle and a heavy fog, in the early morning light,
were thrown into inextricable confusion on the left
of Wayne's command. General Stephens, on the
left, made the blunder of supposing the firing at
the Chew house to be an attack by the British in the
rear; and he accordingly changed his line of march
and turning in that direction, fell upon Wayne's rear
and began a fire into the American troops. This
disastrous blunder lost the battle of Germantown.
It was believed that the day was won for the Ameri
cans when Stephens's attack on Wayne's rear de
stroyed all hope of success. A court-martial showed
that Stephens was drunk at the time he left his
proper line of march, and he was dismissed from the
service. . Whether Knox's advice to attack the Chew
house was sound has since been debated by compet
ent military critics without any conclusive verdict.
Washington, who was a man of independent judg
ment, sanctioned the attack, which was conducted
under his own eyes. It may be observed that in
Knox's report of the battle of Germantown, sent to
General Artemas Ward, President of the Council of
Massachusetts, no allusion is made to the Chew
house incident. The report is herewith printed:
" Artillery Park, Perkeomy Creek,
" (27 miles from Philadelphia), October 7, 1777.
" Hon. Artemas Ward :
" Sir, — I shall endeavour to give you a short authentic account of an

no Henry Knox ^777
attack made by our army on the British army, lying at Germantown,
six miles from Philadelphia, on the morning of the 4th instant.
"At six o'clock on the evening of the 3d, the army, under his
Excellency General Washington, began their march in four columns
on as many roads towards the enemy ; the nearest column had to
march fourteen, and some twenty, miles. By marching all night,
the columns arrived a little after break of day (opposite) to the re
spective- posts of the enemy assigned to them. The attack com
menced by forcing their pickets, which were soon reinforced in front
by all the light infantry of the line and other troops. After a smart
action, these were obliged to give way, our troops pressing on with
great spirit and good order.
"The different attacks being made at the same time distracted
the enemy'js attention so much, that after about an hour's engage
ment they began to give way on every part ; but, most unfortunately
for us, a fog which had arisen about daybreak became so excessively
thick from the continued firing that it was impossible to discover an
object at twenty yards' distance.
" This was the unhappy cause of our losing the victory after being
in possession of it for near two hours, and having driven the enemy
above two miles from the place where the engagement begun, quite
through their encampment. In this unusual fog it was impossible
to know how to support, or what part to push. At this instant, the
enemy again rallied and obliged part of our troops to retire ; and
after a smart resistance, the retreat of the line became general. The
enemy followed with caution, and we came off without the loss of a
single piece of cannon or any thing else, except one empty ammuni
tion waggon, the engagement from beginning to end being about two
hours and forty minutes.
"Our loss in killed, wounded, and missing, is not fully ascer
tained, but will not exceed five hundred or six hundred. We had a
very considerable number of officers of merit killed and wounded.
Brigadier-General Nash, of North Carolina, mortally wounded by a
cannon-ball taking off his thigh.
"The enemy's loss, we hear from pretty good authority, is very
considerable ; General Agnew killed, Sir William Erskine wounded.
This is the first attack made during this war by the American troops
on the main body of the enemy ; and had it not been for the unlucky
circumstance of the fog, Philadelphia would probably have been in
our hands. It is matter worthy of observation that in most other

1777] The Contest Moves Southward in
countries which' have been invaded one or two battles have decided
their fate ; but America rises after a defeat !
" We were more numerous after the battle of Brandywine than
before, and we have demonstration of being more numerous now
than before the 4th. Our men are in the highest spirits, and ardently
desire another trial. I know of no ill consequences that can follow
the late action ; on the contrary, we have gained considerable experi
ence, and our army have a certain proof that the British troops are
vulnerable." Washington's army fell back upon Metuchen Hill,
where, about two weeks later, the inspiriting news
of Burgoyne's surrender to Gates at Saratoga was
received. Notwithstanding the confusion occa
sioned by the rivalries and jealousies among the
American commanders, and the reverses with which
their defensive campaign had opened, St. Leger,
marching to the support of Burgoyne, had been cut
off, and the battles of Bennington, Oriskany, and
Stillwater rendered Burgoyne's position exceedingly
critical. His final surrender on the 1 8th of October,
1777, was hailed by the patriotic people of the young
States with rapture and hopeful enthusiasm. While
this campaign was in progress, but before Burgoyne's
surrender was an accomplished fact, Knox, writing
to his wife, after the battle of Stillwater, or Free
man's farm, says: " Observe, my dear girl, how
Providence supports us. The advantages gained
by our Northern army give almost a decisive turn
to the contest. For my own part, I have not yet
seen so bright a dawn as the prospect, and I. am as
perfectly convinced in my own mind of the kind
ness of Providence towards us as I am of my own
existence."

n2 Henry Knox l*m
The British continued to batter at the forts block
ing the entrance to the Delaware, but with very
little success. In an attack on Fort Mercer, the
Hessian colonel, Donop, and his second in command
were killed and two British ships were destroyed.
The news of Burgoyne's surrender came to raise still
higher the spirits of the Americans, who fired a joy
ful salute at their camp near Philadelphia. Knox,
in a letter to his wife, dated November 3d, says :
" The enemy have not yet been able to drive our galleys away, or
storm, or batter our forts with success. We have lately had a storm,
which has ruined their batteries and works erected against Fort
Mifflin. Since they had two men-of-war burnt on the 23d in the
river, and were defeated at Red Bank, they have appeared quite
silent in deeds, but not so in words. They have been very angry for
our feitx de joie, which we have fired on the several victories over
Burgoyne, and say that by and by we shall bring ourselves into con
tempt with our own army for propagating such known falsehoods.
Poor fellows ! nothing but Britain must triumph."
But the attempt of the British to reduce Fort
Mifflin, made on the ioth of November, with a
formidable fleet, was successful ; the garrison evacu
ated the fort in the night, taking refuge in Fort
Mercer, at Red Bank, on the opposite side of the
river. On the 15th, Knox, with De Kalb and St.
Clair, was sent to the relief of the beleaguered Jersey
fort with instructions to increase its defences. But
Cornwallis now advanced into New Jersey at the
head of a large force and the position at Red Bank
became untenable. It was abandoned, and the
British fleet, now that all obstructions were re
moved, was in full and undisputed possession of

1777] The Contest Moves Southward 113
Philadelphia. Howe vainly tried to bring on a
general engagement; but Washington, secure in his
entrenched camp, ten or twelve miles from Phila
delphia, refused to be drawn out of his lines.
Councils of war were held at Washington's head
quarters to consider the expediency of attacking the
enemy in the city of Philadelphia. It was proposed
to attack by storming the enemy's redoubts; to
throw twelve hundred troops into the city by the
way of the Delaware, embarking them at Dunx's
Ferry, sixteen miles above Philadelphia. These
councils, held on the 26th of October and on the 3d
of December, decided not to order the attack.
Knox's opinion was adverse to making the pro
posed assault. In his written statement, submitted
in response to Washington's request, and dated at
" Artillery Park, Camp Whitemarsh, 26th Novem
ber, 1777," Knox, after vecounting sundry reasons
why the project seemed to him hopeless, considered
in the light of past events, says: " My opinion is to
draw our whole force together, take post at, and
fortify Germantown, considering it as our winter
quarters." He then advises that when the defence
of the camp is amply provided for, a battle should
be offered to the enemy, predicting that the supe
riority of the Americans would be fully evinced.
He concludes: " If they should come out, fight,
and defeat us, we have a secure retreat and winter
quarters." To the council of December he gave
these reasons for still opposing the projected attack
on Philadelphia: " Our entire want of clothing; the
impossibility of surprising ten thousand veteran
8

n4 Henry Knox [1777
troops in a well fortified city ; the impossibility of
our keeping the field to besiege their works and city
regularly, being almost totally deficient in warlike
apparatus for so arduous an enterprise; and the un
certainty of obtaining a sufficient number of militia
to warrant the enterprise." He proposed that the'
army go into winter quarters with the right resting
upon Lancaster and the left at Reading, provided
sufficient cover could be there obtained ; if not, then
quarters should be established near the Schuylkill,
about thirty miles from Philadelphia, huts being
constructed for the men.
Winter quarters were finally selected at Valley
Forge, somewhat nearer the city than the point in-
dicated by Knox, and the army took up its line of
march for the locality made sadly famous in Ameri
can history by the subsequent sufferings of the
patriot forces. Their dreary march was undertaken
by ill-clad and barefooted men in the midst of an
inclement season. Washington's word is given for
the statement that that march of his men might
have been tracked " from White Marsh to Valley
Forge by the blood of their feet."
Knox was given leave of absence to visit his wife
in Boston, during this cessation of active operations,
and to him, on the 26th of February, 1778, General
Greene wrote from Valley Forge, giving him this
account of some of the privations of that winter:
"The army has been in great distress since you left it. The
troops are getting naked ; and they were seven days without meat,
and several days without bread. Such patience and moderation as
">ey manifested under their sufferings does the highest honour to the

W7] The Contest Moves Southward 115
magnanimity of the American soldiers. The seventh day they came
before their superior officers, and told their sufferings in as respect
ful terms as if they had been petitioners for special favours. They
added that it would be impossible to continue in camp any longer
without support. Happily, relief arrived from the little collections
I and some others had made, and prevented the army from disband
ing. We are still in danger of starving. Hundreds of our horses
have already starved to death. The Committee of Congress have
seen all those things with their own eyes. They have been urging
me for several days to accept the quartermaster-general's appoint
ment, his Excellency also presses upon me exceedingly. I hate the
place, but I hardly know what to do. I wish for your advice in the
affair, but I am obliged to determine immediately."
It was during this trying and critical time for the
American cause that the " Conway cabal," com
posed of sundry intriguers in the military service,
attempted the destruction of Washington's su
premacy. Gates, whose fortuitous success in the
North had given him great prestige, was a leader in
the opposition to Washington. Conway, whose
name was given to this junta, was a soldier of for
tune, sent over by Silas Deane and made Inspector-
General of the army in place of the ill-fated
Ducoudray. The other active members of the
cabal were Mifflin and the traitorous Charles Lee,
who had not then been detected in his secret corre
spondence with the enemy. The Continental Con
gress was sitting at York, Pennsylvania, and while
some of its members were conspiring to remove
the Commander-in-chief, that dilatory and dawdling
body failed to make adequate provision for the
sustenance and equipment of the dejected army at
Valley Forge. The darkest days for the young re-
public had come.

CHAPTER VI
IN THE DARKEST DAYS OF THE WAR
I 778- I 78 I
ILITARY operations in the early part
of 1778 appear to have waited on
diplomacy. The long and tedious
negotiations between the American
envoys and the Government of
France, looking to the conclusion of a treaty of
amity and alliance, were brought to a crisis by the
news that the redoubtable Burgoyne had surrendered
his army at Saratoga. The treaty was concluded in
Paris on the 6th of February and was ratified by the
Continental Congress on the second of May, amid
great popular rejoicings. Nowhere was the glorious
news more enthusiastically celebrated than by the
impoverished and suffering army in camp at Valley
Forge. A day for public rejoicing was set apart in
general orders, and the slender resources of the
camp were taxed to their utmost to furnish means
to make manifest the satisfaction with which the
troops received the news of the alliance. The
demonstration chiefly consisted of a general parade
116

i78i] Darkest Days of the War 117
of all the battalions and the firing of several salutes
of thirteen guns each. The infantry were ordered
to keep up a running fire, and this wa;. followed by
salutes of thirteen rounds by the artillery under the
direction of General Knox, who had returned to the
army several weeks earlier. According to a con
temporaneous account, upon a signal given, the
troops shouted at different times as follows : "Huzza!
Long live the King of France! " " Huzza! Long
live the friendly European Powers! " " Huzza for
the American States! "
The British Government was forced at last to
recognise the Continental Congress as a lawful body,
and commissioners to treat for terms of peace were
appointed and despatched from England. These
officials arrived in June and their credentials were
immediately presented to that representative as
sembly, the Continental Congress. The brief and
comprehensive reply to the peace commissioners
was to the effect that Congress would be satisfied
with nothing short of " an explicit acknowledgment
of the independence of these States, or the with
drawing of his [the King's] fleets and armies." The
last attempt of the British Government to secure a
cessation of hostilities without an acknowledgment
of the independence of the new American States
had failed.
In the meantime, there were very few military
movements of importance in any part of the country,
and midsummer had arrived before these were to be
resumed. At the Valley Forge camp were several
ladies of distinction, among them being Mrs. Martha

n 8 Henry Knox [1778-
Washington, Lady Kitty Stirling, and the wife of
General Greene. On the 20th of May, Mrs. Knox,
who had been escorted from New Haven by General
Benedict Arnold, arrived in the camp. She re
mained with the army, with which she was a great
favourite, or very near its headquarters, from that
time until it was disbanded at the close of the war.
Concentration of the British forces was now of
more consequence than the mere occupation of
territory, and orders for a return of the army to
New York had arrived with the peace commis
sioners. The evacuation of Philadelphia was doubt
less hastened by the news that a French fleet, under
the command of Count D'Estaing, was momentarily
expected on the coast. Sir Henry Clinton super
seded Lord Howe in command of the army, which,
on the 18th of June, 1778, left Philadelphia where
it had been lying for eight months without having
occupied any territory outside the city and its im
mediate environs. The army crossed the Delaware
at Gloucester Point, about three miles below the
city, with a baggage train that was reported to be
ten miles long and which included officers' luggage
and their plunder from the private houses of Phila
delphia. In this plunder, it may be noted, was an
assortment of books from the library of Benjamin
Franklin, selected by Major John Andre,* who had
been quartered in the house of the American patriot
and philosopher, then absent in France.
As soon as Washington was informed of the evacu
ation of the city, he prepared to follow the trail of
* The Many-Sided Franklin, by Paul Leicester Ford.

i78i] Darkest Days of the War x 19
the retreating army, and on the 21st his columns
crossed the Delaware at Coryell's Ferry, at the point
now occupied by the town of Lambertville, New
Jersey. On the 28th the army struck the rear of
Clinton's retreating forces and the battle of Mon
mouth followed. The weather was intensely hot,
and officers and men on both sides suffered severely
from the heat. During the trying march across the
Jerseys, there were many desertions from the British
columns, six or eight hundred Hessians having safely
escaped from their own lines. A council of war was
held at Hopewell on the 24th of June to consider
the advisability of inviting from Clinton a general
engagement. Six of the generals, including Charles
Lee, were in favour of the enemy's being followed
up and harassed on his rear and flanks by separate
and cautious attacks. Six others, including Greene,
Knox, and Lafayette, favoured more vigourous
tactics. Next day, writing, at four o'clock in the
morning, from Hopewell, Knox gave his brother,
who had returned to Boston, these particulars of the
situation at that time:
"The enemy evacuated Philadelphia on the 19th. Lucy and I
went in, but it stunk so abominably that it was impossible to stay
there, as was her first design. The enemy are now at Allen Town,
about ten miles south-east of Princeton, and we are at about six miles
north of Princeton, so that the two armies are now nineteen or
twenty miles apart. We are now on the march towards them, and
their movements this day will determine whether we shall come
in close contact with each other. We have now very numerous
parties harrassing and teasing them on all quarters. Desertion
prevails exceedingly in their ranks, especially among the Germans.
Above three hundred German and English have deserted since they
left Philadelphia. Had we a sufficiency of numbers, we should be

120 Henry Knox [w*-
able to force them to a similar treaty with Burgoyne ; but, at pre
sent, have not quite such sanguine hopes. If general actions had no
other consequences than merely the killed and wounded, we should
attack them in twenty-four hours. But the fate of posterity, and
not the illusive brilliancy of military glory, governs our Fabian com
mander, the man to whom, under God, America owes her present
prospects of peace and happiness."
Clinton's original intention had been to march to
South Amboy, but the appearance of Washington's
forces upon his left flank and rear induced him to
deflect from that line, the crossing of the Raritan
now becoming hazardous; he accordingly turned
the head of his columns in the direction of Sandy
Hook, by the way of Freehold and Monmouth.
Of the battle of the 28th, Knox wrote as follows to
his wife : " June 29, Near Monmouth Court House.
" My dearest Love : — I wrote you some few days ago that a day
or two would determine whether we should have an engagement
with the Britons. Yesterday, at about nine o'clock a.m., our ad
vanced parties, under General Lee, attacked their rear while on the
march towards Shrewsbury, upon which their whole army, except the
Hessians, came to the right about ; and, after some fighting, obliged
him to retire to the main army, which was about two miles distant.
The enemy advanced with great spirit to the attack, and began a
very brisk cannonade on us, who were formed to receive them.
" The cannonade lasted from about eleven until six o'clock, at
which time the enemy began to retire on all quarters and left us in
possession of the field. We have had several field officers killed.
Colonel Ramsay, Mrs. Ramsay's husband, was taken prisoner and
this morning released on his parole. I have had several officers
killed and wounded. My brave lads behaved with their usual intre
pidity, and the army gave the corps of artillery their full proportion
of the glory of the day.
"Indeed, upon the whole, it was very splendid. The capital
army of Britain defeated and obliged to retreat before the Americans',
whom they despised so t-uch ! I cannot ascertain either our or the

i78i] Darkest Days of the War 121
enemy's loss, but I really think they have lost three times the num.
ber we have. I judge from the field of battle, which, to be sure, is
a field of carnage and blood : Three to one of the British forces lie
there. The Britons confess they'have never received so severe a
check. The enemy took a strong post about a mile from the place
of action, to dislodge them from which, as it was dark, would cost
too many men, and by which they covered the retreat of their army.
After having been fighting all day, and one of the hottest I ever felt,
they decamped in the night and marched off with the utmost precipi- ,
tation, leaving a great number of their wounded, both officers and
men, in our hands. We have sent out large bodies in pursuit, but I
believe they will not be able to come up with the main body. . . ,
The number of deserters, since they left Philadelphia, must exceed
eight hundred. The march has proved to them a most destructive
one and is very ill-calculated to give Sir H. Clinton any e'clat. He
may storm Fort Montgomery, but is very ill-calculated, in my
opinion, to be at the head of a large army.
" My friend Harry [Jackson] crossed over from Philadelphia and
was in the unfortunate [i.e. early] part of the day. I saw him once
on the field for a moment : He appeared much fatigued. His
regiment had a few killed and wounded and is reported to have
behaved well."
A contemporaneous account says that soon after
the evacuation of Philadelphia, " the Honourable
Major-General Arnold took possession of Philadel
phia, with Colonel Jackson's Massachusetts regi
ment." * This explains Jackson's presence in the
evacuated city at that time. It will be seen that
Knox's accounts of the battle of Monmouth were
very moderate in tone, considering the conspicuous
and gallant part which he took in that historic en
gagement. Writing to his brother, July 3, 1778, he
says: " The enemy inclined more to their right than we expected, and

* Pennsylvania Evening Post, June 20, 1778.

i_22 Henry Knox [1778-
took the road to Sandy Hook, instead of the supposed one to South
Amboy. " A body of Jersey militia, amounting to near 2000, had endea
voured to retard them, by taking up the bridges, felling trees, and
harassing their flanks and rear. Beside these, his Excellency Gen
eral Washington had detached several large bodies for the same
purpose, all of which, except Colonel Morgan, were, on the 28th
ult., united under General Lee, who early on that morning advanced
to Monmouth Court House with the intention of attacking the
covering party by left flank, the main army moving on at the same
time to support him, although it was some miles in the rear. The
parties under General Lee, instead of finding a covering party as
was expected, found their whole army or the greater part of it.
After some manoeuvring, cannonading, and some other circum
stances, which are not yet sufficiently explained, it was thought
proper by Gen. Lee to retire until it met the main army, which it
effected without much loss. The army was drawn up on advan
tageous ground to receive the enemy who advanced to the attack
with considerable impetuosity, and began a brisk cannonade, which
was returned with becoming spirit. The action of the musketry was
various, and with intermissions until about, six o'clock, when we
pushed the enemy off the field. Their whole loss may amount to
about ten or twelve hundred killed, wounded and prisoners. His
Excellency, the General, has done the corps of artillery and me the
honour to notice us in general orders in very pointed and flattering
terms. Indeed, I was highly delighted with their coolness, bravery,
and good conduct. The effects of the Battle of Monmouth will be -
great and lasting. It will convince the enemy and the world that
' nothing but a good constitution is wanting to render our army equal
to any in the world."
It was at this same battle of Monmouth that
Washington lost his temper and reprimanded Gen.
Charles Lee in terms that have become historic.
Lee, who seems to have entered into the fight with
little zeal, and who had declined to agree to any
concerted plan of action, preferring to be left to be
governed by circumstances, so handled his men as

17&1] Darkest Days of the War 123
to bring on a confused and demoralising retreat
when he should have attacked the enemy with
vigour as soon as he discovered that they were in
motion. Whether Washington, who soon came up
and took sole command of the army, really cursed
Lee with sublime and righteous indignation, as
tradition has told us, is not a matter of unquestioned
record. Even the most rigid of moralists would
have been willing to condone a more violent exhibi
tion of wrath than that commonly credited to the
usually placid Washington, under the provoking
circumstances. Dr. Thacher, in his Military Journal, gives this
impartial and apparently dispassionate account of
the affair :
" His Excellency was exceedingly mortified and astonished [at
Lee's retreat] ; coming up to General Lee, and meeting part of his
his corps in their flight, he with some warmth inquired the cause of
his retreat, and addressed General Lee in language which implied
censure. The high-spirited Lee could not brook the slightest appear
ance of disapprobation, and replied with an air of disrespect. He,
however, requested of his Excellency fresh orders for the conduct
of his corps, and these he promptly obeyed, and discovered no want
of bravery in the field. But, unable to quell the rankling of a tur
bulent temper, he addressed, after the battle, two letters to the
Commander-in-chief, containing improper and disrespectful expres-
sions. As if in defiance of superior authority, he demanded a
trial by court-martial, that he might have an opportunity of vindicat
ing his conduct, in consequence of which his Excellency has put him
under arrest to await his trial."
The result was that Lee was found guilty of dis
obedience of orders and misbehaviour in the face of
the enemy. He was sentenced to suspension from

124 Henry Knox [177&-
command for one year. His military career was
ended then and there.
When the battle of Monmouth was brought on,
Knox in person reconnoitred in front, cheerily rallied
the retreating troops (who were demoralised but not
alarmed) and brought up the rear with a lively fire
from a battery which had been planted during the
previous night by his orders. His untiring efforts
and good generalship were complimented by the
Commander-in-chief, as he proudly notes in one of
his letters. In general orders referring to the en
gagement, Washington says he " can with pleasure
inform General Knox and the officers of the artillery
that the enemy has done them the justice to acknow
ledge that no artillery could have been better served
than ours." For their bravery in attacking so su
perior a force and securing so decided an advantage,
Congress passed a vote of thanks to General Wash
ington, his officers, and men.
Clinton's march to New York, after the battle of
Monmouth, was not further disturbed. Washington
followed, establishing his army at White Plains, New
York, where he awaited developments. Great ex
pectations were then entertained of the French fleet
under D'Estaing, which arrived off the coast of New
York in the latter part jof July, 1778. It consisted
of twelve ships, and carried four thousand troops.
But the high hopes of the Continentals were not
realised in the actions of D'Estaing. The fleet was
too late to assist in the reduction of Philadelphia,
the British having already evacuated that city. In
stead of entering the port of New York, where a

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i78i] Darkest Days of the War 125
considerable number of British men-of-war and
transports were assembled, D'Estaing, protesting
that he could not cross the harbour bar, sailed for
Newport, Rhode Island, where he was followed by
Howe's fleet from New York. A misunderstanding
with General Sullivan, who was then in command at
Rhode Island, prevented that co-operation between
the French naval contingent and the land forces
which had been arranged, and both fleets put out to
sea, where they were overtaken and scattered by a
tremendous storm. D'Estaing went to Boston,
taking his troops with him, as if his ships could not
be refitted and provisioned unless the French sol
diers, so much needed by Sullivan, were on board
to witness the process. The popular disappoint
ment and discontent were very great.
The New England campaign was without serious
results except that the British, angered by Sullivan's
elusion of their trap to catch him, burned New Bed
ford and Fairhaven, with all the shipping in those
parts. Meanwhile, there was much desultory fight
ing in various parts of the country during the au
tumnal months; but none of these events, although
of great importance to the people involved, was in
the least related to operations along the coast.
D'Estaing's fleet, being refitted, declined Howe's
challenge to combat and sailed for the West Indies
and left the American cause to take care of itself.
Washington still retained his position at White
Plains, keeping a wary observation on the move
ments of the enemy. But there was in New York
an utter absence of all appearance of military

126 Henry Knox tws-
activity, and a strict surveillance over all channels of
communication was maintained, the better to mys
tify and baffle the American commander. In a
letter to his brother, dated at the camp in White
Plains, September 14, 1778, Knox says:
" We wish to know where Lord Howe is, as it might be some clew
to the designs of the enemy ; though as to dangerous designs they
have none, I am persuaded, nor ever had, except to themselves. It
is improper for a person in my station to speak thus, were it to be
divulged ; but I do not believe there ever was a set of men so per
fectly disqualified, by a total and profound ignorance of every thing
that ought to constitute the characters of leaders of an army to con
quest. I beg you not to imagine that by depreciation of their abili
ties I mean to exalt our own. God forbid ! I shall say nothing
about it but only this, that we never set ourselves up as great military
men, I believe they (the enemy) are about to quit the continent,
and perhaps only wait for their last orders to effect it."
Knox was ever an optimist, and to his unshaken
faith in the ultimate triumph of the American cause
(which he regarded as the cause of truth and right
eousness), he added a hopeful spirit that never for a
moment deserted him through all the dark days of
the Revolution. But his belief that the silence of
the British at their headquarters in New York was
premonitory of their speedy departure was not to be
justified by subsequent events. Weary years were
to pass before Knox should lead the victorious col
umns of the army into the evacuated city of New
York. The year closed without any important engage
ments on the land ; but on the sea the exploits of
Paul Jones and the destructive doings of the Ameri
can privateers carried panic and terror into the

i780 Darkest Days of the War 127
commercial cities of England. The foreign commerce
of that country was paralysed by the " pirates," as
the English called these dreaded craft. Nearly five
hundred vessels engaged in deep-sea voyages were
captured or destroyed by the Americans in the year
1777, and the admiralty courts of the New England
coast districts were crowded with proceedings for
the condemnation of English prizes brought in by
the hardy privateers fitted out in those ports.
Eighteen prizes were brought into New London in
the month of May, 1779; an<* tne admiralty courts
for the Essex district of Massachusetts condemned
more than eight hundred prizes during 1780.
Knox and his friend Jackson were together inter
ested in some of these privateering speculations;
but they seem to have been rather unfortunate in
such ventures. Knox's correspondence shows that
many a vessel in which he had shares was captured
by the enemy, some of them being laden with valu
able cargoes taken from the enemy's ships, and some
of them being headed off by British men-of-war just
as they were entering their home port after prosper
ous ventures. In a letter to his brother dated at the
artillery camp near Pluckemin, New Jersey, at the
beginning of 1779, Knox says:
" I am sorry for the loss of the vessel you mention, but not dis
couraged. I hope the little vessel will at least make up for her. I
wrote for you to try something, by way of adventure in the General
Arnold. She is a good vessel and commander. . . . I am ex
ceedingly anxious to effect something in these fluctuating times
which may make us lazy for life. You know my sentiments with
respect to making any thing out of the public. I abominate the
idea. I could not, at the end of the war, mix with my fellow

128 Henry Knox [1778-
citizens with that conscious integrity, the felicity which I often
anticipate." There was a great scarcity of ordnance materials
in camp at this time and Knox was at his wits' end
to supply the deficiency. Sent on a mission of ex
ploration to Philadelphia, in February, 1779, he
wrote to his brother thus :
" We are in great want of lead. The Board of War have desired
me to write to Boston to inquire what quantity can be gotten there
and at the neighbouring towns, and at what price. I wish you to
make the inquiry, or rather get some person to make it for you, as
the gentleman speculators may suspect from your connection that you
want it for the public and advance their prices in proportion. Write
me the result as speedily as possible, so that I may communicate it to
the board. ... I am glad you have gotten into the old store.
I thank you for the little pamphlet. The girls are the same every- -
where — at least some of them : they love a red coat dearly. Arnold
is going to be married to a beautiful and accomplished young lady,
—a Miss Shippen, of one of the best families of this place."
Arnold's bride was Margaret Shippen, daughter
of Edward Shippen, a distinguished Tory, of Phila
delphia. It was this lady's correspondence with
Major Andre, innocent enough in itself, that was
subsequently believed to have opened a means of
communication between the British commander and
Benedict Arnold. Just here, it is interesting to re
call the fact that Arnold's engagement to Miss Ship-
pen was not his first entanglement in the meshes of
a love affair. In the Knox Papers is a note from
him to Mrs. Knox, dated at Watertown, Mass.,
March 4, 1777, enclosing a note from Arnold to
"the heavenly Miss Deblois," which the writer
hopes Mrs. Knox will see is forwarded to the lady

r78i] Darkest Days of the War 129
thus rapturously described. Arnold concludes his
letter to Mrs. Knox as follows:
" I shall remain under under the most anxious suspense until I
have the favour of a line from you, who, I may judge, will from your
own experience conceive the fond anxiety, the glowing hopes and
chilling fears that alternately possess the breast of,
" Dear Madam,
"Your obd't & most Humble sev't,
"B. Arnold."
It was while he was in command in Philadelphia
that charges were brought against Arnold by the
State. After some delay, he was finally arraigned
before a court-martial, and, under the sentence of
the court, he was publicly rebuked by the Com
mander-in-chief. At that very time, while he was
in active communication with the enemy, having in
view a betrayal of his trusts, he had the hardihood
to allude to the charges against Adjutant-General
Reed, President of the Court (who had been accused
of an intention to desert the patriots' cause), in these
terms: " When our illustrious General was retreat
ing through New Jersey with a handful of men, I
did not propose to my associates basely to quit the
General, and sacrifice the cause of my country to my
personal safety, by going over to the enemy and
making my peace." The great soul of Knox could
not for a moment entertain a doubt of the loyalty
of his brother-in-arms, and, writing to William
Knox, about this time, he says: " You will see in
the papers some highly colored charges against
General Arnold by the State of Pennsylvania. I
shall be exceedingly mistaken if one can be proven.

13° Henry Knox [1778-
He has returned to Philadelphia, and will, I hope,
be able to vindicate himself from the aspersions of '
his enemies."
While the army was in winter quarters at Plucke-
min, New Jersey, Knox endeavoured to make some
humble beginning of the military academy which he
insisted was absolutely needful for the proper train
ing of officers, and which subsequently took perma
nent shape in the Military Academy at West Point.
A writer in the Philadelphia Packet, March 6, 1779,
giving a description of a fete at the camp in honour
of the first anniversary of the French alliance, says
of Knox's artillery park, as it was called :
"A range of field-pieces, mortars, and heavy cannon make the
front line of a parallelogram ; the other sides are composed of huts
for the officers and privates ; there is also an academy where lectures
are read on tactics and gunnery, and work huts for those employed
in the laboratory, all very judiciously arranged. This military vil
lage is superior in some respects, to most of those that I had seen.
Its regularity, its appearance, and the ground on which it stands,
throws over it a look of enchantment, although it is no more than
the work of a few weeks."
The writer says that the auditorium of the academy
was fifty feet by thirty, " arched in an agreeable
manner, and neatly plastered within." This was
the seed from which was to spring, in years to come,
the military academy which is to-day one of the
finest of its kind in the world.
The fete which the writer above alludes to was
rather tardily given, imperative engagements of
General Washington and others of his staff having
prevented the celebration of the anniversary of the

i780 Darkest Days of the War 131
exact date of the conclusion of the treaty of alliance.
Dr. Thacher gives this account of the affair:
"The anniversary of our alliance with France was celebrated in
proper style a few days since near headquarters at Pluckemin. A
splendid entertainment was given by General Knox and the officers
of the artillery. General Washington, and his lady, with the prin
cipal officers of the army and their ladies, and a considerable number
of respectable ladies and gentlemen of the State of New Jersey,
formed the brilliant assembly. About four o'clock sixteen cannon
were discharged, and the company collected in a large public build
ing [the academy hall] to partake of an elegant dinner. In the
evening a very beautiful set of fireworks was exhibited, and the cele
bration was concluded by a splendid ball opened by his Excellency
General Washington, having for his partner the lady of General
Knox." The work of Washington's army in 1779 was
necessarily confined to the keeping of a watchful
observation of Clinton, who rested in New York.
Tories and British alike united in the proclamation
in great swelling words of the impending doom of
the patriot army during the coming summer. In a
letter to his brother William, from Pluckemin, May
7, 1779, Knox, alluding to the enforced idleness of
the American army, says: " If we are to believe
Rivington 's paper of May 1, we are to have bloody
work this summer. They swear by monstrous big
oaths that they will exterminate us this campaign.
However that may be, we at present have but little
apprehensions of it, although, from a variety of cor
roborating circumstances, we expect we shall have
a much more active campaign than the last."
Early in June, there was every reason to suppose
that Clinton would attack the important post at

132 Henry Knox [1778-
West Point, his forces having advanced up the
Hudson as far as King's Ferry, thirteen miles below
West Point. The army at Pluckemin and vicinity
broke camp and marched in hot haste to Morristown,
where its heavy baggage was deposited. Knox's
headquarters were with those of the Commander-in-
chief at Middlebrook, New Jersey, from which point
he wrote as follows to his brother:
" The whole army have moved up to this place to cover the al
most infinitely important posts in the highlands, which we do in so
effectual a manner that, were the enemy much stronger than they
are, I should be in no pain for the safety of the posts. The enemy
have established themselves so securely at King's Ferry that we shall
not be able to dislodge them at present. Perhaps a future and more
important operation may involve King's Ferry in its fall. The
enemy expect reinforcements, and we, with the blessing of Heaven,
expect to baffle their utmost efforts. We expect everything from
the discipline and goodness of our troops ; but probably we shall
want some assistance from our brethren."
In the North, during that summer, the chief mili
tary events were expeditions into New York for the
punishment of the Six Nations. These Indians had
co-operated with the Tories and British in waging a
relentless warfare upon the citizens of the State who
were loyal to the patriot cause. The American
forces, under the command of General Sullivan,
marched with celerity, after the tedious delays of
the first start were overcome, and his punishment
of the Indians was so swift and condign that they
could never again be rallied to oppose the desolating
march of Sullivan's men.
General Benjamin Lincoln, of Massachusetts, was
entrusted with the defence of Charleston, South

i780 Darkest Days of the War . 133
Carolina, the British having developed their plan of
dividing the Southern States from the Northern by
the capture of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia.
This excellent officer, who had been described by a
Tory newspaper as " one Benjamin Lincoln, late
secretary to the conventions and congresses of
Massachusetts Bay, and a forward person in all the
rebellious proceedings of that colony," being rein
forced by D'Estaing, was induced to attempt the
recapture of Savannah, then held by the British
under General Prevost. The expedition was a
failure, and Lincoln was obliged to return to Charles
ton, where he was ultimately forced to surrender to
Clinton, who arrived on the coast to assist in the
reduction of South Carolina.
Between Knox and Lincoln there existed a deep
and sincere affection which was manifested in many
ways up to the day when these two men were sepa
rated by death. In a letter written by Knox to
Lincoln, just after the capture of Charleston, which
involved the surrender of the commanding general
and his army, is this paragraph :
" The great defence made by you and your garrison in field forti
fications will confer on you and them the esteem and admiration of
every sensible military man. I hope and believe that Congress will
most unequivocally bestow that applause which you have so richly
merited. No event, except the capture of Sir H. Clinton and his
army, would give me more pleasure than to see you. He is now in
force at Springfield, below Morristown."
At a later period, Knox wrote this affectionate
letter to Lincoln :

134 Henry Knox [rrfi-
" The first moment I had the happiness of being acquainted with
you I conceived a high degree of friendship, which uniformly has
increased as I became more intimate, until the present period. I
consider the confidential manner in which we have indulged as one
of the happy circumstances of my life, and in all events of grief or
joy there is no man from whose friendship I should more readily
expect the most cordial balsam, or whose bosom would more cheer
fully expand in a participation of my happiness."
It was during this summer (1779) that the Knox
family were bereaved by the death of their second
daughter. In the midst of his cares and anxieties,
Washington found time to write to the afflicted
mother a note of condolence; and an anonymous
friend sent her a copy of " Elegiac Lines, Inscrib'd
to Mrs. Knox, occasioned by the death of her In
fant Daughter, who deceas'd near Pluckemin, N.
Jersey, July 2d, 177" ." From these lines, as an
example of the literary taste of the time, we extract
the following stanza :
" This little Cherub, like some blooming Flower,
The soft Exotic of a happier Clime,
Shrunk from the dawn of beauteous Childhood's hour,
And, drooping, sought Its native Realms Sublime ! "
The winter of 1779-80 was one of great severity.
The army of Washington, once more in winter
quarters at Morristown, suffered from cold and
hunger. The troops were insufficiently clad, and it
required all the faith, patience, and fortitude for
which these brave patriots had now become pro
verbial, to endure the privations of that inclement
season. There were incursions and excursions on
both sides during the winter. It was not until the

1780 - Darkest Days of the War 135
middle 6f June that a movement from New York
was observed by the watchful Americans. Wash
ington divined that an attack was once more in
tended to be made upon West Point by the way of
New Jersey. He made his dispositions accordingly ;
and the fight at Springfield, New Jersey, was the
result of Greene's determined resistance to the ad
vance of the British. It was at this encounter that
Dayton's militia were inspired by the warlike ex
ample of their chaplain, Mr. James Caldwell, whose
wife had been cruelly and wantonly killed in her
house near Connecticut Farms. The soldiers being
out of wadding, the good parson brought from the
meeting-house an armful of hymn-books for this
purpose, crying, " Give 'em Watts, boys! " The
enemy was checked at this point, and having burned
the town, he returned to Staten Island.
An important event of that summer was the ar
rival at Newport of five thousand French troops
under Count de Rochambeau, on the nth of July,
1780. These were the first division of an army of
twelve thousand men which Lafayette, who had re
turned to France for that purpose, had induced the
French king to send to co-operate with the Ameri
cans. As was the case when D'Estaing arrived, the
hopes of the people were now raised to an extrava
gant pitch of enthusiasm. It was expected that an
immediate and overwhelming movement against the
British would sweep them from the continent. But
it was not until the 15th of the month that all the
French troops were landed, and many of these were
ill and were sent to hospitals for treatment. On the

i3° Henry Knox [ws-
25th, Rochambeau sent a messenger to the Massa
chusetts Council for reinforcements, an attack by
Clinton and the British fleet being threatened.
Weeks wore away without any capital operations,
and on the 21st of September, Washington, Knox,
and Lafayette went from West Point to Hartford,
Conn.; to meet Rochambeau and the French Ad
miral, de Ternay, to concert a plan of future opera
tions. It was while returning from this conference
that the three generals learned of the treason of
Benedict Arnold, then in command at West Point.
When Washington received and looked through the
papers disclosing Arnold's treason, he exclaimed to
Knox and Lafayette, as if in despair, " Whom can
we trust now! "
John Andre, the spy, through whose activity these
later negotiations between Arnold and Sir Henry
Clinton had been carried on, was first taken to West
Point and then to Tappan, where army headquarters
were established. Andr6 was tried by a court-
martial convened on the 29th of September. It is
not necessary to dwell on the details of the trial and
execution. The findings of the court, and the de
tail of officers composing it, will be found in the
following extract from the record :
"The Board having considered the letter from his Excellency,
General Washington, respecting Major Andre, Adjutant General to
the British army, the confession of Major Andre, and the papers
produced to them, report to his Excellency the Commander in Chief,
the following facts, which appear to them relative to Major AndreV
First, that he came on shore from the Vulture, sloop of war, in the
night of the 21st of September, instant, on an interview with Gen
eral Arnold, in a private and secret manner. Secondly, that he

A REPRESENTATION of the FIGURES exhibited and paraded through the Streets of Philadelphia, on Saturday,
the loth of September, 1780.

BENEDICT ARNOLD CARRIED IN EFFIQY.

A REPRESENTATION of the FIGURES exhibited and paraded through the Streets of Philadelphia, on Saturday,
the 30/^ of September, 1780'.

BENEDICT ARNOLD CARRIED IN EFFIQY.

178x3 Darkest Days of the War 137
changed his' dress within our lines, and under a feigned name, and
disguised habit, passed our works at Stony and Verplank's Points,
in the evening of the 22d of September, instant, and was taken on
the morning of the 23d of September, at Tarrytown, in a disguised
habit, being then on his way to New York ; and when taken he had
in his possession several papers which contained intelligence for the
enemy. The Board, having maturely considered these facts, do
also report to his Excelltncy, General Washington, that Major
Andre, Adjutant to the British army, ought to be considered a spy
from the enemy, and that agreeably to the law and usage of nations,
it is their opinion that he ought to suffer death.
" (Signed) Nathanael Greene, Major General and President.
Stirling, St. Clair,
La Fayette, '
R. Howe,
Steuben, '
Samuel H. Parsons, Brigadier General.
James Clinton,
Henry Knox, " " Artillery.
John Glover,
John Paterson,
Edward Hand,
John Huntington,
John Stark,
John Lawrence, Judge Advocate General.''
Andrews execution was set for the first day of
October, but on the arrival of a flag of truce from
Sir Henry Clinton, asking for time to make further
proposals for the release of the condemned man, the
execution was postponed until the next day, when
he was duly hanged. It was natural that Knox,'
as one of the general officers who composed the
court-martial that sentenced Andre to the igno
minious but deserved death of a spy, should have
found his duty on this occasion most distasteful.

138 Henry Knox [1778-
Nevertheless, it was his duty, and while he recalled
with many pangs of regret the pleasant converse
which he had with the condemned man, years be
fore, in the wilds of New York, he discharged his
task with martial implicitness.
Another winter passed without any military
operations of immediate importance being under
taken in the Northern States. In the South, Corn-
wallis and Greene still struggled for the possession
of Georgia and the Carolinas. The numerousness
of the Tories in North Carolina gave a partisan as
pect to the fighting that was carried on in a desultory
manner over the eastern portion of the State. Raids
for the capture of supplies were occasionally made
by the British into the country held by the Ameri
can forces, and these forays were only slightly ex
ceeded in importance by the expedition headed by
Benedict Arnold sent into Virginia " to steal to
bacco " during the last days of December, 1780.
The expedition landed at Westover, on the James
River, and, marching to Richmond, destroyed much
public and private property and military stores.
But although the raid was nothing more than a de
structive and annoying dash into and out of a hostile
country, it excited great alarm all over the country,
and the attention of Congress and the Commander-
in-chief was arrested by its bold and successful
execution. At this critical juncture, a serious and alarming
incident was the mutiny of the Pennsylvania line,
then stationed in winter quarters near Morristown.
About two thousand of these troops, discontented

- ™..  wM^im^Jsw^ „

3

¦

*mh^ik:^,i.~*£^ci*^*-

THE CAPTURE OF ANDRi.
FROM A PRINT IN THE POSSESSION OF DR. COUTANT.

"

THE CAPTURE OF ANDRE.
FROM A PRINT IN THE POSSESSION OF DR. COUTANT.

i78ij Darkest Days of the War 139
with their destitute and impoverished condition,
resolved to mutiny against their own officers and
redress their grievances. They had been enlisted in
a slovenly manner, their papers being drawn with
such ambiguity that it was well-nigh impossible to
decide whether they were bound for three years
only, or for the whole war. Naturally, the troops
claimed that they were to serve for three years, and
that that term having expired, they were now free
to return home. Many of the men were willing to
re-enlist, notwithstanding their distressed condition
in camp; but they claimed themselves entitled to
such bounties as were allowed then to recruits, under
the orders of Congress.
Some notion of the sufferings of these men, who
had been neglected by the Continental Congress, may
be gained from the following letter to William Knox,
written by General Knox, early in December, 1780:
" We depend upon the great Author of Nature to provide subsis
tence and clothing for us during a long and severe winter ; for the
people, whose business, according to the common course of things,
it was to provide the materials necessary, have either been unable
or neglected to do it. The soldier, ragged almost to nakedness, has
to sit down at this period, and with an axe — perhaps his only tool,
and probably that a bad one — to make his habitation for winter.
However, this, and being punished with hunger into the bargain,
the soldiers and officers have borne with a fortitude almost super
human. The country must be grateful to these brave fellows. It
is impossible to admit of the idea of an alternative."
Under such circumstances, and knowing that the
men had some show of reason for complaining that
their enlistments had been conducted with unfair
ness and deception, the mutiny of the Pennsylvania

Ho Henry Knox [ms-
line does not seem wholly unreasonable. The mu
tineers, having provided themselves with six field-
pieces, and rejecting the advice and expostulations
of their commander, General Wayne, took up their
line of march to Philadelphia to demand of Congress
redress for their many grievances. They said that
" they had been imposed on and deceived respecting
the term of their enlistment, that they had received
no wages for more than a year, and that they were
destitute of clothing, and had often been deprived
of their rations."
This open mutiny caused great anxiety to the
Commander-in-chief, and he called a council of war
at his headquarters at New Windsor, on the west
side of the Hudson River. Sir Henry Clinton art
fully endeavoured to avail himself of the revolt to
weaken the American forces. But his emissaries,
who were instructed to offer money and immunity
from military duty to such of the mutineers as were
willing to come into his lines, were repelled with
scorn and were turned over to General Wayne to
await developments. The result was that the claims
of the soldiers were found to be just and right,
and their complaints were finally met by Congress
and satisfied. Clinton's emissaries were eventually
hanged as spies. The mutiny of a part of the
Jersey line, which almost immediately followed,
did not end so happily. These troops, stationed at
Pompton, New Jersey, followed the example of the
Pennsylvanians, but more severe measures were
adopted towards them, Washington being deter
mined to check the spirit of insubordination then

i78x] Darkest Days of the War' 141
and there. General Robert Howe, with five hun-
dred men, was ordered to surround and capture the
mutineers and punish the ringleaders. This was
promptly done, and three of the leaders wSre con
demned to be shot by the mutineers. Two of the
condemned men were instantly executed ; the third
was pardoned on the spot at the intercession of his
officers. This heroic treatment was successful, and
the troops returned to duty, much to the chagrin of
Sir Henry Clinton, whose emissaries were again sent
out with offers of aid and comfort to the mutineers,
on condition that they come over into his camp on
Staten Island.
The news of the mutiny of the Pennsylvania line
was taken to Boston by Knox, who, at the request
of Washington, had undertaken to present to the
New England States a statement of the pitiable
condition of the army. Armed with a letter of ex
plicit instructions from the Commander-in-chief,
Knox presented in forcible terms the woes of the
troops. To quote his own language, he showed
" the aggravated calamities and distresses that have
resulted from the total want of pay, for nearly
twelve months, the want of clothing in a severe
season, and not unfrequently the want of provisions,"
all of which trials he declared " are beyond descrip
tion." His mission was successful to a certain ex
tent, and the legislatures of Massachusetts and
New Hampshire voted to send at once to each en
listed man and non-commissioned officer who had
enlisted from those States " for the war " the sum
of twenty-four dollars in specie. Relief also came

H2 Henry Knox tm^
from other States, and the condition of the army, in
many .respects, became materially improved after
this crisis had been safely passed.
Arnold's invasion of Virginia was not to be treated
lightly, notwithstanding the predatory character
which it had been made to assume. Washington
made preparations to march to the relief of the
harassed Virginians, and in February Lafayette
was ordered to Chesapeake Bay to embark for the
lower part of Virginia. On the sixteenth of that
month Washington sent to Knox detailed instruc
tions to procure war materials necessary for " a
capital operation against New York, or against
Charleston, Savannah, Penobscot, etc., in case of
inability to undertake the siege of the first and
principal object." Knox promptly promised to use
his utmost exertions to furnish the needed supplies,
but he reported the difficulties of obtaining the re
quisite materials, and complained of the dilatoriness
of the Board, of War in honouring his requisitions for
these imperatively needed articles. " Powder," he
said, " is an article of which we are so deficient
that, when a reasonable quantity shall be appro
priated for the use of the posts in the highlands
(which ought and will be furnished under all circum
stances), there will literally none remain."
There was evidently a clash between Clinton and
Cornwallis as to the general principles on which the
Southern campaign should be conducted; Clinton's
notion was that the Southern States should be con
quered from the southward, taking Georgia as the
British base of operations. Cornwallis's plan was

1781] Darkest Days of the War . 143
first to invade and hold absolute possession of Vir
ginia. Greene and Marion gave the British troops
under Ravvdon and Stewart many a hard tussle
during the summer. The battles of Hobkirk's
Hill, the Cowpens, and Eutaw Springs, and other
engagements with the enemy generally left the ad-
vantage with the Americans, and by midsummer
the British forces were literally shut up in Charles
ton, Savannah, and Wilmington, not a handful of
their men being found outside the environs of those
three cities.
Proposing the complete investiture of the city of
New York for, his immediate objective, Washington,
accompanied by Knox, went to Wethersfield, Conn.,
to hold a conference with Rochambeau as to the
best method of employing the French fleets and the
allied armies in the forthcoming operations. Knox
was one of the few American generals who spoke
the French language with some degree of fluency;
he had studied French while engaged in the active
duties of a bookseller's apprentice in the shop of the
excellent Mr. Bowes, Cornhill; and he found the
accomplishment of great use when he was brought
into contact with the officers of our ally-beyond the
seas. While at Wethersfield, Knox wrote as fol
lows, on May 20, 1781, to his brother in Boston:
"I am here, my dear brother, having arrived last
evening, with his Excellency, the General, and
General Duportail to' meet Count Rochambeau and
Admiral Barras, upon some matters of'great conse
quence. We came here last night. The French
gentlemen will be here to-morrow, and we shall.

144 Henry Knox [w»-
probably depart in two days after." But the coun
cil did not break up until five days later, for, on the
25th, Knox wrote again: " We have not finished
our business until this morning. Count Rocham
beau left us yesterday, and we shall set out in about
one hour, and shall expect to reach New Windsor
to-morrow evening."
It was probably at this conference in Wethersfield
that the allied generals agreed upon the main details
of the remarkable campaign which, having the siege
of New York for its primary and ostensible purpose,
had yet a far-reaching ulterior object which was to
confound the enemy and administer to him an irre
trievable defeat. Writing to Knox from army head
quarters at New Windsor, under date of May 28,
1 78 1, Washington says:v
" As you are perfectly acquainted with the measures which have
been concerted with the Count de Rochambeau. I have only to re
quest that you will be pleased to make all necessary estimates of
articles wanted in your department, and also to put the whole busi
ness (so far as is within your reach), in the best train of execution
which our embarrassed circumstances will possibly admit. Under
the present appearances of an evacuation of New York, I think it
will be proper to draw the stores from the eastward rather than
from the southward."
The fleet of Admiral Barras was at Newport and
that of De Grasse was on the way from the West
Indies and soon to be within hailing distance of the
Admiral. Sir Henry Clinton, in New York, might
well be bewildered when he wished to divine whether
the Chesapeake, or New York Bay, was to be the
objective point of the allied forces which he saw

_-^rti-*-''- "-

Al

v.

,,-lJ^

COUNT DE ORASSE.

COUNT DE QRASSE.

i78i] Darkest Days of the War 145
making preparations for a summer campaign. As
far as possible, Washington strengthened Clinton's
apprehensions of a siege of New York. His ad
vance from the vicinity of West Point and similar
movements on the Hudson convinced the British
General that active operations against the city were
imminent. Moving in four divisions, Rochambeau 's army
marched from Connecticut to the Hudson in perfect
order, reaching North Castle (where Washington
had made his stand after the retreat from White
Plains, in 1776), on the 2d, 3d, and 4th of July; and
on the 6th of that month the allied armies were en
camped on a line which stretched from Dobbs Ferry
on the Hudson to the Bronx River.

CHAPTER VII

THE BRITISH SURRENDER AT YORKTOWN
I78l .

HE consummate strategy with which
Washington beguiled the enemy was
kept up for several weeks. The ex
act time when the fleet of De Grasse
should be available .for carrying out

the details of Washington's deep-laid plan could not
be definitely fixed ; and upon the movements of the
French ships much depended. Meanwhile, every
semblance of a close siege of New York was main
tained. Works were thrown up on the Jersey shore
opposite the northern end of Staten Island, parties
of observation were continually appearing at points
near and overlooking the city of New York, and
active movements were zealously practised in parts
of Westchester County nearest the city. Clinton,
naturally expecting a siege, which would be aided
by a blockade of the harbour by the combined
French fleets, withdrew from the grumbling and
unwilling Cornwallis a considerable part of his
forces, and it seemed as if the entire British army
146

i78i] Surrender at Yorktown 147
in Virginia might be required to defend New York
against the allied forces.
It was not until the middle of August that news
was brought to Washington that De Grasse would
be at the mouth of the Chesapeake with his ships by
the last of that month. Whatever movement was
likely to be resolved upon, the army was ready for
any orders. In the latter part of July, Knox wrote
to his brother this characteristic letter:
" Lucy, with her sweet children, has gone up the river [the Hud.
son], with Mrs. Cochran* on a visit to some families. I suppose
she will proceed as far as Albany ; after which, I think, she will sit
down in Jersey for the remainder of the campaign. Although we
are not bad in accommodating ourselves to our circumstances, yet I
sensibly feel the inconveniences we labor under, to accumulate in
proportion to the increase of our family. I sincerely pray God that
the war may be ended this campaign, that public and private society
may be restored. . . .
" The vile water-gruel governments which have taken place in
most of the States are wholly disproportioned to the exigencies of
the war, and are productive of sentiments unworthy an energetic
republic. However, I hope we shall wade through.
" I cannot, in justice, omit paying some compliments to our State,
The policy appears to be enlarged and liberal ; and the exertions
greatly surpass, at this present time, any State in the union. The
same tone, sentiments, and exertion, pervading all the States, would
indisputably render this the last campaign.
" The enemy lately sent some ships up the river with an intent to
interrupt our communication by water with West Point, but they
retired yesterday without effecting any thing of consequence."

* Mrs. Cochran was the wife of Dr. John Cochran, of Pennsyl
vania, Director-General of the military hospitals of the United
States. After the close of the war, he removed to New York where
he practised medicine and surgery. Under Washington, he was
subsequently appointed Commissioner of Loans for the State of New
York.

148 Henry Knox [1781
, And still the plan of campaign, the campaign on
which Knox placed such high hopes, was virtually
waiting on the movements of the enemy. How
completely Sir Henry Clinton had been fooled by
the manoeuvres of Washington was not yet evident.
The details of his plans could not be unfolded at
present. Knox, writing from the camp near Dobbs
Ferry, August 3, 1781, thus salutes his wife and
attempts to parry her inquiries as to the military
situation and prospects :
"Yesterday was your birthday. I cannot attempt to show you
how much I was affected by it. I remembered it and humbly pe
titioned Heaven to grant us the happiness of continuing our union
until we should have the felicity of seeing our children flourishing
around us, and ourselves crowned with virtue, peace, and years, and
that we both might take our flight together, secure of a happy
immortality. . . „ All is harmony and good fellowship between
the two armies. I have no doubt, when opportunity offers, that the
zeal of the French and the patriotism of the Americans will go hand
in hand to glory. I cannot explain to you the exact plan of the
campaign : we don't know it ourselves. You know what we wish,
but we hope for more at present than we believe."
It is impossible to read without emotion let
ters like these, breathing alike a devout and
reverent religious spirit and a sincere and exalted
patriotism. Providence, in whose beneficence Gen
eral Knox so implicitly trusted, had in store for
him years of peace crowned with virtue, and a
victorious ending of the campaign then about to
be entered upon under circumstances that tried
men's souls.
Some entertaining gossip regarding the French
officers serving the American cause at this time is

i78i] Surrender at Yorktown 149
1
given in this letter from William Knox to his brother
in camp : " Boston, Aug. 22, 1781,
" I suppose, from necessity, you are obliged to speak much French,
which, you having long since learnt the theoretic part, I should im
agine from a little practice, would come easy to you.
"If I recollect, the Compte Rochambeau doesn't speak a word
of English, nor do the two brothers Viomenil, Marquis Laval, or
Compte St. Maine. The' two counts Deux Ponts, on the other
hand, speak it pretty well ; and the most amiable General Chastellux,
a merveille. If you have opportunity I am sure must be very inti.
mate with General C, if the two characters of the man of letters and
the polite gentleman are recommendations, I know nobody who can
be more strongly recommended. I have reason to speak of the
civility of all the gentlemen I have named, and of many which I
have not, and who belong to that army, but more particularly of
those shown me by the Chevalier Chastellux, at whose petits soupers
I was invited two evenings out of the three when I was at Newport.
I mention this as being a particular mark of his attention, for the
being invited to dine is a common compliment from him to recom
mended strangers ; but the evening circle is always selected."
The Chevalier de Chastellux, to whom William
Knox refers in terms of admiration, was a major-
general in the army of Rochambeau and a member of
the French Academy. After the conclusion of the
war he wrote a book descriptive of his travels in
America, in which he makes frequent mention of Gen
eral Knox, for whom he appears to have conceived
a warm and ardent friendship. In the latter part of
the preceding year he had accepted an invitation to
visit the American army headquarters at New Wind
sor, and in his journal he spoke of his observations
there with considerable detail. Visiting the artillery
camp in company with General Washington, the
distinguished Frenchman was received by General

i5° Henry Knox [1781
Knox at the head, of his battalions. The artillery
was exhibited in fine order, each gunner at his post
and ready, to fire at the word. General Knox
apologised for not firing a salute, explaining that
the troops on the Jersey side of the river had re
ceived orders to put themselves in motion, and that
anunexpected firing might mislead and alarm them.
On another occasion, Chastellux and Lafayette
visited the generals of the army at their several
headquarters, and Knox, conducting the visitors
back to Washington's headquarters, brought them
by a woodland road to his retired private residence
, where Mrs. Knox and her children were placed for
the campaign. The spot and the " real family,"
as the chevalier called it, made a vivid impression
• upon the foreign visitor who makes special mention
of it in his book of travels.
After his return to France, Chastellux wrote fre
quently to Knox, and one of his letters, dated
March 30, 1782, gives evidence pf the warmth of his
friendship. He says:
" My sentiments will always meet yours, and I hope that I shall
not be excelled in serving America and loving General Knox. Let
us be brothers in arms, and friends in time of peace. Let the alliance
between our respective countries dwell in our bosoms, where it shall
find a perfect emblem of the two powers : in mine, the seniority ; in
yours, the extent, of territory.
" I depend upon your faith, and I pledge my honour that no in
terest in the world can prevail over the warm and firm attachment
with which I have the honour to be
" De Chastellux."
Two days before Washington heard of the desti
nation of the French fleet, upon whose movements

i78i] Surrender at Yorktovvn 151
so much depended, General Greene wrote to Knox
from his camp on the Santee, South Carolina, in
these familiar and jocular terms:
"My dear Friend, — If ac:ounts are true, that New York is
seriously invested, you must be the hero of the day. Methinks I
hear the cannon roar while I am writing. The shells and the shot
fired from the besiegers and the besieged must make a terrible rat-
tling. The splendour of such a siege will sink our puny operations
into nothing. But, after you have done at New York, it is to be
hoped that you will come to the southward and unfetter the poor
unfortunate inhabitants of Charlestown. I should be happy to see my
old friend, McDougall, in the field of speculation. How goes on his
chapter of difficulties ? The siege of New York, I imagine, will afford
him a large collection of materials. Where is Howe,* with his nose?
has he left off his port, or forgiven the boy who insulted him so
grossly at Morristown ? The story is told even in this country ; and
I declare, upon my honour, I did not bring it here.
" Where is the noble Earl [Stirling] ? I hope he 's had an oppor-
tunity to review the ground on Long Island ; and, I presume, every
officer of note in the French army has heard in detail the particulars.
We have had a report here that General Howe and he had had a
duel, but I do not believe it. Honest fellows ! what have they to
quarrel about?
+ " I am sending aide-de-camp after aide-de-camp to get news from
the northward. I am not a little apprehensive the people on the
road will think the Southern army is broken up.
" I beg you will present Mrs. Knox with my most affectionate re
gards and I hope you will not get in the way of a four-and-twenty
pounder, but will return to her with whole bones."
The American army was set in motion on the
morning of the 19th of August, with every appear
ance of being marched straight to New York. But
the troops were at once faced westward and pressed
forward in the direction of King's Ferry, on the
* The American Major-General Robert Howe.

152 Henry Knox [1781
Hudson River. On the same day the French army
also moved, and, by the 22d, both armies were well
across the river, the Americans being headed for
Springfield, New Jersey, and the French marching
directly upon Trenton, with the view of crossing the
Delaware at that point. Heath was left in com
mand on the Hudson, with three thousand men,
for the defence of West Point; and it is likely that
no one in the American army, save Heath and
Knox, knew the direction of the masterly move
ment which Washington had now undertaken.
On the 2d of September the Americans were
marching through Philadelphia, and the French
followed on the next day. Lafayette, who was in
lower Virginia, had been instructed to prevent the
retreat of Cornwallis into North Carolina, and the
French fleet, after several desultory engagements
with the English, was hovering off the mouth of
the Chesapeake with three thousand troops on board.
De Grasse's force consisted of thirty ships of the line,
and he was instructed to put himself into communica
tion with Lafayette as expeditiously as possible.
Dr. Thacher, who participated in this strategical
movement, has written the following striking ac
count of its opening*

"Our situation reminds me of some theatrical exhibition where
the interest and expectations of the spectators are continually in
creasing, and where curiosity is wrought to the highest point. Our
destination has for some time been a matter of perplexing doubt and
uncertainty ; bets have run high on one side, that we were to occupy
the ground marked out on the Jersey shore, to aid in the siege of
New York, and on the other, that we were stealing a march on the

i78i] Surrender at Yorktown 153
enemy, and actually destined to Virginia in pursuit of the army of
Lord Cornwallis."
It is not likely that Benedict Arnold's town-
burning expedition to Connecticut, which was
started about this time, was intended to divert
Washington's attention by a fire in the rear. The
infamous raid which, however unjustifiable and
cruel, could not add a tint to the blackness of
Arnold's ill-repute, was actually planned before the
news of Washington's march southward could have
reached Clinton.
While the French troops were in Philadelphia,
and the French officers were being entertained by
the Chevalier de Lauzun, Ambassador from the
French court, a message from the fleet was an
nounced. The Chevalier, who stood at the head of
his table, made the joyful statement that " thirty-
six ships of the line, commanded by Monsieur le
Compte de Grasse, are arrived in the Chesapeake
Bay, and three thousand men have landed and
opened a communication with the Marquis de la
Fayette." For all practical purposes, the York
peninsula was now ready for American occupation,
and the doom of the army of the sullen and discon
tented Cornwallis was sealed. Cornwallis had ap
peared to find a grim pleasure in warning Clinton of
the dangers of his own situation while he had un
graciously acceded to the wishes and obeyed the
orders of his commanding officer.
Everywhere on the march southward the army of
Washington was hailed with extravagant demon
strations of joy by the patriotic inhabitants, who

i54 Henry Knox [nai
seemed to see in this unexpected and formidable
array the promise of a speedy deliverance of their
beloved country from the heel of the invader. Gen
eral Knox is authority for the story that when pass
ing through Pennsylvania, General Washington and
his staff — General Knox and others — stopped at a
farmhouse to breakfast; and when the meal was
finished, and the party were waiting for their horses,
the people of the neighbourhood were admitted to
pay their respects to the Commander-in-chief, for
whom the popular love and admiration were univer
sal. Among the visitors was a venerable man, evi
dently the patriarch of the place, who approached
Washington and stood before him for a few mo
ments, gazing in his face without speaking. The
attitude of the aged patriot was observed by all in
the room in perfect silence, when, raising his hands
and eyes to heaven, he exclaimed in tones of mingled
pathos and veneration, " Lord, now lettest Thou
Thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen
Thy salvation."
On the 30th of September, the British at York-
town were surrounded from a point on the James
River above to a point below. The French, under
the command of Viomenil, were on the right; the
Americans, now under the immediate command of
General Benjamin Lincoln, were on the left. Corn
wallis, retired within his works, was throwing around
himself a maze of redoubts, earthworks, and ditches,
ineffectual for the purposes of defence.
In the Knox Papers is to be found a detailed state
ment of the force of artillery available for the siege

i78i] Surrender at Yorktown 155
of Yorktown, furnished to the Commander-in-chief
by Knox, and dated at " Park of Artillery, 24th
August, 1 78 1." This document shows that the
siege guns were twenty-three in number, three being
24-pounders and twenty 18-pounders, all of iron.
The brass pieces were howitzers and mortars,
twenty-one all told, and of varying calibre, mostly
10-inch bore. The field artillery numbered fifteen
brass pieces of ordnance, the largest being two 12-
pounders, and the others 6- and 3-pounders. The
French contingent in the artillery service was twenty
24- and 16-pounders and sixteen mortars and how
itzers for the siege ; and thirty-two large guns and
four howitzers for the field. As at the siege of
Boston, in 1775, Knox's fertility of expedient and
tireless energy were adequate to the occasion, his
power to create material apparently being implicitly
relied upon to remedy all deficiencies. Washing
ton reported to Congress, after the siege, that
Knox's services had been of inestimable value and
that " the resources of his genius supplied the deficit
of means."
In Chastellux's Travels in North America, before
alluded to, the author says:
" We cannot sufficiently admire the intelligence and activity with
which he [Knox] collected from different places and transported to
the batteries more than thirty pieces of cannon and mortars of large
calibre, for the siege. . . . The artillery was always very well
served, the general incessantly directing it and often himself point
ing the mortars : seldom did he leave the batteries. . . . The
English marvelled no less at the extraordinary progress of the
American artillery, and at the capacity and instruction of the officers.
As to General Knox, but one-half has been said in commending his

156 Henry Knox [1781
military genius. He is a man ot talent, well instructed, of a buoy
ant disposition, ingenuous and true : it is impossible to know him
without esteeming and loving him."
This cordial and apparently sincere tribute to the
character of Henry Knox comes from a competent
authority. While Washington's temporary headquarters were
at Williamsburg, Virginia, the Commander-in-chief,
accompanied by Knox, Rochambeau, Duportail,
and Chastellux went down to De Grasse's fleet, and
on board the Ville de Paris arranged a plan of co
operation. Subsequently, expecting an attack from
the British fleet, and dreading a combat inside the
Capes, De Grasse announced his intention of put
ting to sea to meet the enemy outside. This was
likely to upset the plans agreed upon, which in
cluded the cutting-off of all hope from seaward for
Cornwallis, and Lafayette and Knox were sent to
the French naval commander to entreat him to stay
where he was; fortunately, the advice of the two
generals persuaded De Grasse to remain.
General Greene, Knox's intimate and steadfast
friend, still held in his camp on the Santee, wrote
Knox a characteristic letter on the 29th of Septem
ber, in which he says : -"Sept. 29, 1781.
"My dear Friend, — Where you are I know not, but if you are
where I wish you, it is with the General in Virginia ; the prospect is
so bright and the glory so great, that I want you to be there to share
in them. I was in hopes you would have operated seriously against
New York, which would have been still more important ; but as your
operations are directed another way, I take it for granted means
were wanting to play the great game. '

i78i] Surrender at Yorktown 157
"We have been beating the bush, and the General has come to
catch the bird. Never was there a more inviting object to glory.
The General is a most fortunate man, and may success and laurels
attend him. We have fought frequently and bled freely and little
glory comes to our share. Our force has been so small that nothing
capital could be effected, and our operations have been conducted
under every disadvantage that could embarrass either a general or
any army.
" I long to see you, and spend an evening's conversation together.
Where is Mrs. Knox ? and how is Lucy and my young god-son, Sir
Harry ? I beg you will present my kind compliments and best wishes
to Mrs. Knox.
" How is my old friend, Colonel Jackson? — is he as fat as ever,
and can he still eat clown a plate of fish that he can't see over? God
bless his fat soul with good health and good spirits to the end of the
war, that we may all have a happy meeting in the North. Please to
give my compliments to your brother, and tell him we are catching
at smoky glory while he is wisely treasuring up solid coin."
Mrs. Washington had invited Mrs. Knox to make
Mount Vernon her home for the remainder of the
campaign, and about the middle of September,
Mrs. Knox, leaving her young daughter in Phila
delphia, went to the Washington family seat where
she could be within a reasonable distance of the seat
of war in Virginia. On the first day of October,
Knox wrote to his wife as follows: " We came be
fore York on the 28th [of September] ; on the 29th
nearly completed the investiture; but yesterday the
enemy evacuated their outposts, which gives us a
considerable advantage in point of time. Our
prospects are good, and we shall soon hope to im
press our haughty foe with a respect for continental
arms." After a vain attempt to elude the besiegers, con
vinced of his inability to escape or to hold out any

i58 Henry Knox [psx
longer, Cornwallis offered to open negotiations for a
surrender; and on the 19th of October, the terms
of capitulation were formally concluded. Corn
wallis, chagrined and mortified, took no part in the
ceremonies of the final surrender; pleading illness,
he deputed General O'Hara to act in his stead.
General Benjamin Lincoln, whose surrender at
Charleston had been forced under aggravating cir-
cumstances, designed to humiliate the American
commander, received the sword of O'Hara, but im
mediately returned to that officer the weapon tend
ered in token of the British surrender.
William Knox had hastened on to Virginia to be
" in at the death " which was so confidently ex
pected by his illustrious brother. He was now on
his way to Mount Vernon to carry the great news to
the ladies who there awaited with anxiety and hope
tidings from their liege lords at Yorktown. Knox's
letter to his wife, written on the morning of the
formal surrender, is as follows :
" I have detained William until this moment that I might be the
first to communicate good news to the charmer of my soul. A glori
ous moment for America ! This day Lord Cornwallis and his army
march out and pile their arms in the face of our victorious army. ¦
The day before yesterday he desired commissioners might be named
to treat of the surrender of his troops, the ships, and everything they
possess. He at first requested that the Britons might be sent to
Britain, and the Germans to Germany ; but this the General refused,
and they have now agreed to surrender prisoners of war, to be kept
in America until exchanged or released. They will have the same
honours as the garrison of Charleston ; that is, they will not be per
mitted to unfurl their colours, or play Yankee Doodle. We know
not yet how many they are. The General has just requested me to
be at headquarters instantly, therefore. I cannot be more particular."

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WEST POINT AT THE TIME OF THE REVOLUTION.
HEORAWN FHOM GARBER'8 " HISTORICAL COLLECTION."

i78i] Surrender at Yorktown 159
As a matter of record, it is set down here that
Cornwallis's entire force consisted of seven thousand
men, of whom about two thousand were unfit for
duty. The allied forces were about fifteen thousand
men. But bad management, rather than inferiority
of numbers, had brought Cornwallis to this humiliat
ing pass. Washington's generalship had over
whelmed the British army in Virginia with a disaster
which might have been averted, one would suppose,
by a competent military strategist. Too late, on
the very day of Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown,
Clinton set sail from Ne.w York, only to sail back
when he learned, when off the Chesapeake, that his
dilatoriness and over-caution had been the ruin of
the British army in Virginia, and that Cornwallis
and Cornwallis's men were prisoners of war.
Knox's account of the operations in Virginia and
the final surrender of Lord Cornwallis, sent to Mr.
John Jay, American Minister to the court at Madrid,
is herewith appended as a valuable and entertain
ing contribution to the history of the time:
" Camv vkforf. York, in Virginia,
"21 Oct., 1781.
"To John Jay:
" The enemy's operations in these States, though not carried on
with great armies, compared with those of 1776 and 1777, yet were
so formidable as to dispel every force which the country of itself was
capable of opposing. This rendered it necessary for America to
march its army here, or give up the Southern States as lost. It ap
pears, also, to have been the opinion of the French Court, as Count
de Grasse gave intelligence of his intention of arriving at the Capes
of Virginia. Our previous views were New York. The dispositions
were made on the Hudson River for the attack of Lord Cornwallis

160 Henry Knox [1781
in Virginia, and everything has succeeded equal to our sanguine
wishes. " This important affair has been effected by the most harmonious
concurrence of circumstances that could possibly have happened : a
fleet and troops from the West Indies, under the orders of one of the
best men in the world ; an army of American and French troops,
marching from the North River, — five hundred miles, — and the fleet
of Count de Barras, all joining so exactly in point of time as to ren
der what has happened almost certain.
"I shall not enter into a detail of circumstances previous to the
collection of our force at Williamsburg, twelve miles distant from
this place, which was made on the 27th ult. On the 28th we
marched to the camp, and on the 29th and 30th we completed the
investiture of York. A body of American militia, Lauzun's legion,
and some marines from the fleet of Count de Grasse, at the same
time formed in the vicinity of Gloucester, so as to prevent any in
cursions of the enemy into the country. From the 1st October to
the 6th was spent in preparing our materials for the siege, bringing
forward our cannon and stores, and in reconnoitring the points
of attack. On the evening of the 6th we broke ground and began
our first parallel within six hundred yards of the enemy's works,
undiscovered. "The first parallel, four redoubts, and all our batteries were
finished by the gth, at two o'clock r.M., when we opened our bat
teries and kept them playing continually. On the night of the 12th
we began our second parallel, at three hundred yards' distance from
the enemy. And on the night of the 14th we stormed the two re
doubts which the enemy had in advance of their main works. The
gallant troops of France under the orders of Baron de Viomenil,
and the hardy soldiers of America under the Marquis de la Fayette,
attacked separate works and carried them in an instant. This bril
liant Stroke was effected without any great loss on our side : the
enemy lost between one and two hundred. This advantage was im
portant, and gave us an opportunity of perfecting our second par
allel, into'which we took the two redoubts. On the 16th, just before
day, the enemy made a sortie, and spiked up some of our cannon,
but were soon repulsed and driven back to their works. The can
non were soon cleared ; and the same clay our batteries in the second
parallel began the fire, and continued without intermission until
nine o'clock in the morning of the 1 7th October, ever memorable on

nit) Surrender at Yorktown 161
account of the Saratoga affair, when the enemy sent a flag, offering
to treat of the surrender of the posts of York and Gloucester. The
firing continued until two o'clock, when commissioners on both
sides met to adjust the capitulation which was not finished and
signed until twelve o'clock on the 19th. Our troops took possession
of two redoubts of the enemy soon after, and about two o'clock the
enemy marched out and grounded their arms.
"The whole garrison are prisoners of war, and had the same -
honours only as were granted to our garrison at Charleston, — their
colours were cased, and they were prohibited playing a French or
American tune.
" The returns are not yet collected ; but including officers, sick
and well, there are more than seven thousand, exclusive of seamen,
who are supposed to amount to one thousand. There are near forty
sail of topsail vessels in the harbour, about one-half of which the
enemy sunk upon different occasions ; about two hundred pieces of
cannon, nearly one-half of them brass ; a great number of arms,
drums, and colours are among the trophies of this decisive stroke.
The prisoners are to be sent into any part of this State, Maryland,
or Pennsylvania. The consequences will be extensively beneficial.
The enemy will immediately be confined to Charleston and New
York and reduced to a defensive war of those two posts, for which
they have not more troops in America than to form adequate
garrisons." An incident of one of the assaults alluded to by
Knox in his letter to Jay is thus described by
Thacher, who was present at the siege :
"During the assault, the British kept up an incessant firing of
cannon and musketry from their whole line. His Excellency,
General Washington, Generals Lincoln and Knox, with their aids,
having dismounted, were standing in an exposed situation waiting
the result. Colonel Cobb,* one of Washington's aids, solicitous for
his safety, said to his Excellency, ' Sir, you are too much exposed
here, had you not better step a little back?' 'Colonel Cobb,' re
plied his Excellency, 'if you are afraid, you have liberty to step
back.' "

* David Cobb, afterwards Major-General.
11

162 Henry Knox Mi]
In general orders, issued after the surrender at
Yorktown, General Washington specially compli
mented . Knox on the skill and efficiency he had
displayed in the handling of the artillery, and he
also recommended him for promotion. Congress,
however, with its usual tardiness, did not act upon
Washington's recommendation until the following '
March, when (on the 22d), Knox was promoted as
major--general, dating from the 15th of November,
1781. General Greene, from his headquarters" at
the Round O," December 10, 1781, thus. congratu
lated his good friend Knox upon the Yorktown
victory :
" My dear Friend, — Your favour of the 1st November has just
come to hand. Whatever sweet things may be said of me, there is
not less said of you. Colonel Lee, who lately returned from the
Northern army, says you are the genius. of it, and that everything is
said of you that you can wish. I will not wound your delicacy by
repeating his remarks. Your success in Virginia is brilliant, glori
ous, great and important. The Commander-in-chief's head is all
covered with laurels, and yours so shaded with them that one can
hardly get sight of it.
'¦' I long to be with you, our spirits are congenial and our princi
ples and sentiments the same. A long distance separates, and alas !
I fear, with you, we shall nvt have a happy meeting for a long time
to come. But be assured my esteem and.affection are neither less
ened by time nor distance ; and I hope at some future day, when the
cannon shall cease to roar, and the olive-branch appears, we shall
experience a happy meeting. Your great success in Virginia gives
me the most flattering hopes that this winter will terminate the war,
" P.S. — Don't be surprised if you hear I attempt the siege of-
Charleston ; nor must you be disappointed greatly should we fail."

—  , 

—  '*',IWII!WUM,IWWNW- , -u . i-,ji.n«llil.)i,np|

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MAJOR-QENERAL NATHANAEL GREENE.
FROM THE PAINTINQ BY OOL. JOHN TRUMBULU

MAJOR-GENERAL NATHANAEL QREENE.
FROM THE PAINTING BY COL. JOHN TRUM9ULL.

CHAPTER VIII

THE END OF THE WAR

I782-1783
LTHOUGH the capture of Lord Corn
wallis and his army virtually ended
the war, the disbandment of the
American army was long delayed
thereafter. The preliminary treaty
of peace was signed on the 30th of November,
1782. But negotiations for the final settlement of
questions growing out of the long war dragged
their slow length along for nearly one year more;
and during the two years that intervened between
the cessation of hostilities and the conclusion of the
treaty of peace, it was necessary that the army
should be left under arms. Those were sad and
gloomy years for the young Republic, notwithstand
ing hostilities had been concluded and the long
struggle for independence had so gloriously come to
an end. Congress, then as ever, a meddlesome and
dilatory body, failed to provide funds for the pay
ment of an army whose continued existence under
arms it zealously insisted upon. Of course, it was
163

1 64 Henry Knox [1782-
impossible to disband the army in the presence of
an enemy, but the army — idle, unemployed, and
left to brood over its neglect and its woes, — might
become a danger to the country which its prowess
had just delivered from the oppressor.
Meanwhile, Washington was harrassed by in
numerable difficulties arising out of the complicated
situation. The British military authorities, chafing
under their defeat, were sullen, unyielding, and re
luctant to concede even the smallest advantage to
their victorious and magnanimous adversary. The
exchange of prisoners which should have naturally
taken place without friction, early in the truce suc
ceeding the Yorktown surrender, was hampered by
many intentional obstacles on the part of the British.
General Knox and Gouverneur Morris were ap
pointed commissioners to arrange for a general ex
change of prisoners, to liquidate the expenses of
their- maintenance, and provide for their subsistence
as long as they should be legitimately regarded as
the charges of the people. One civilian, Andrew
Elliot, and one military officer, General William
Dalrymple, were appointed to meet the Americans.
Knox had known Dalrymple in Boston, before the
outbreak of the war, when that officer was in com
mand of the 14th Regiment, H. B. M. Infantry, and
it was expected that the acquaintance might facili
tate the business in hand. But this reasonable ex
pectation was not realised. Evidently acting under
instructions, the British commissioners were un
yielding in their demands and stubborn in their
refusal to allow concessions. The sessions of the

*783] The End of the War 165
commission were held in Elizabethtown, New Jersey,
and Knox, in a letter to Washington, dated at Bask
ing Ridge, April 21, 1782, says: " We have at last
left Elizabethtown. Our stay there was unreason
ably protracted by frequent references to New
York," where Sir Guy Carleton, who had replaced
Clinton, was in command of the British forces.
Knox shrewdly adds: " We have very good reason
to believe that all the important propositions made
by us were discussed in New York by a council of
general officers. . . . Every circumstance we
observed tended to convince us that we never shaM
obtain justice or equal treatment from the enemy
but when we are in a situation to demand it." The
British were not yet able to regard the Americans
in any other character than that of rebels against
their sovereign, the King.
In his letter acknowledging receipt of the report
of Knox and Morris, Washington wrote:
" I should do injustice to my own feelings on this occasion if I
did not express something beyond my bare approbation of the at
tention, address, and ability exhibited by you, gentlemen, in the
course of this tedious and fruitless negotiation. The want of suc
ceeding in the great object of your mission does not, however, lessen
in my estimation the merit which is due to the unwearied assiduity
for the public good, and the benevolent zeal to alleviate the distresses
of the unfortunate, which seem to have actuated you on every occa
sion, and for which, I entreat, you will be pleased to accept my
most cordial thanks."
In a letter from Knox to Washington giving his
reasons for the failure of the Elizabethtown negoti-'
ations, he refers gratefully to his recent appointment
as major-general on Washington's recommendation

1 66 Henry Knox [1782-
of the preceding year, after the Yorktown victory,
and says: " I cannot express how deeply I am im
pressed with a sense of your kindness, and the
favourable point of view in which you have regarded
my feeble attempts to promote the service of my
country. I shall ever retain, my dear General, a
lively sense of your goodness and friendship, and
shall be happy indeed if my future conduct shall
meet with your approbation."
It was not without difficulty that the promotion
of Knox to be a major-general was finally secured.
The friends of James Clinton, of New York, and of
Moultrie, of South Carolina, and Mcintosh, of
Georgia, insisted that those three brigadiers should
be promoted at the same time; and certain mem
bers of Congress, strenuously working for their
favourites, after the manner of Congressmen in all
ages, refused to vote for Knox unless each of the
three other brigadiers should be advanced along
with him. There was a deadlock, and seven result-
less ballotings were had, before some patriotic
member, probably neutral in the Knox-Clinton-
Moultrie-Mclntosh complication, suggested that the
advice of General Washington be sought. The wise
General advised that the question of Knox's pro
motion be first considered by itself; and he took
occasion to pay a strong tribute of praise of Knox's
abilities and his services to his country. This
counsel prevailed, and Knox was confirmed, March
22, 1781, his commission as major-general to date
from November 15, 1781.. This deserved promo
tion gave him precedence over Duportail, who had

1783] The End of the War 167
meanwhile been made a major-general, but whose
commission bore a later date than that of Knox.
The three aforementioned brigadiers were also pro
moted in regular order, their commissions being
antedated by Knox's. Knox might well cherish a
lively sense of the " goodness and friendship " with
which Washington had attended every step of the
military career which, beginning with the siege of
Boston, was now so near its close.
From this time forward, Knox's headquarters
were at West Point, although he was not appointed
to the command of that post until the following
year. The American army celebrated at West
Point, on the first day of June, the birth of that
hapless son of Louis XVI. who was known as the
Dauphin. True to their affectionate obligation to
France, the Americans united in what was styled
" an elegant entertainment " in honour of the aus
picious event. An immense bower was constructed
on the plain at West Point, the festivities lasting
through the day and evening; they were concluded
by a ball at which, according to a chronicle of the
time, " His Excellency General Washington was
unusually cheerful. He attended the ball in the
evening and with a dignified and graceful air, having
Mrs. Knox for his partner, carried 'down a dance of
twenty couple in the arbor on the green grass."
Knox, having reported upon the condition of the
fortifications at West Point and its inability to stand
a siege, was appointed to the command of the post,
August 29, 1782; and he set himself to work, with
characteristic energy, to complete and strengthen

168 Henry Knox [1782-
the system of defences already planned. In his
letter of instructions, Washington, who was well
aware of Knox's familiarity with the exigencies and
needs of the situation, said: " I have so thorough
a confidence in you, and so well acquainted with
your abilities and activity, that I think it needless
to point out to you the great outlines of your duty."
Early in 1783, when the discontent of the army
had reached its height, Washington, writing to
Knox at West Point, says: " If there are any non
commissioned officers or soldiers whose mutinous
dispositions appear to arise from their anxiety to be
discharged the Army, you have my full permission
to give them furloughs for any length of time they
wish. We are better off without them than with
them." But this was after peace had been assured,
although the final treaty had not been signed. It
was during the cheerless winter of 1782-83 that the
murmurs of the half-clad, under-fed, and long-
neglected army began to be manifested in audible
cries for immediate redress of wrongs and slights.
A calm and eminently dispassionate statement of
the grievances of the men and officers was drawn up
in December, 1783, by a committee of general offi
cers of which Knox was chairman ; the document,
which was addressed to Congress, after stating the
amounts due to the army, proposed that the half-
pay for life that had been granted to the officers
should be commuted for a specific sum, and that the
question of future pensions, arrears of pay, and
other claims of the rank and file should be at once
adjusted. The memorial was taken to Congress by

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1783] The End of the War 169
General McDougall, Colonel John Brooks, and
Colonel Ogden. Immediate attention was given to
the memorial, and at one time it was thought that
matters were in train for a satisfactory settlement of
all existing difficulties. But party feeling and the
besetting sin of Congress — dilatoriness — blocked the
way ; nothing practical was done.
During these trying times, Knox wrote to his
steadfast friend, General Lincoln, of Massachusetts,
a letter which, under date of the 20th of December,
1782, gives this warning note of impending trouble:
" I am, and I believe the whole army are, perfectly in sentiment
with you respecting a commutation of half-pay. The accounts up to
the present period ought to be settled by somebody. The State
settlement, for the reasons you have given must be preferable. The
expectations of the army, from the drummer to the highest officers,
are so keen for some pay, that I shudder at the idea of their not
receiving it. The utmost sufferance upon that head has arrived.
To attempt to lengthen it will undoubtedly occasion commotions.
The gentlemen sent with the address have been unable to raise the
money for their expenses, until yesterday. The army will have
anxious moments until they shall know the result."
In a letter written to Gouverneur Morris, two
months later, Knox gives his views and those of
the army upon the proposition that the nation
should have a strong government, since none but a
strong government could be a responsible one. It
was the irresponsibility of the mob of Congressmen
which the army had reason to dread and distrust.
Knox says, in his letter to Morris :
" The army generally have always reprobated the idea of be
ing thirteen armies. Their ardent desires have been to be one

170 Henry Knox [n*»-
continental body looking up to one sovereign. This would'have >
prevented much heart-burning at the partialities which have been
practised by the respective States. They know of no way of bring
ing this about, at a period when peace appears "to be in full view.
Certain it is they are good patriots, and would forward any thing
that would tend to produce union, and a permanent constitution ;
, . , but they must be directed in the mode by the proper
authority. " It is a favourite toast in the army, ' A hoop to the barrel,' or
'Cement to the Union.' America will have fought and bled to little
purpose if the powers of government shall be insufficient to preserve
the peace, and this must be the case without general funds. As the
present Constitution is so defective, why do not you great men call
the people together and tell them so ; that is, to have a convention
of the States to form a better Constitution ? T'./is appears to us,
who have a superficial view only, to be the more efficacious remedy.
Let something be done before a peace takes place, or we shall be in
a worse situation than we were at the commencement of the war."
General McDougall and Colonel Ogden united in
a report of their doings and of the non-doings of
Congress, all of which gave a most unsatisfactory
view of the situation up to the latter part of Febru
ary. The report was sent to General Knox, as
chairman of the committee of officers who had pre
pared the address carried by the three commission
ers. Writing from West Point, February 21, 1783,
Knox replies to McDougall:
" 1 received the report signed by you and Colonel Ogden, copies
of which have been distributed to the different parts of the army..
The business, instead of being brought to a close, seems more re
mote from a decision than it was before the application to Congress.
The complex system of government operates most powerfully in the
present instance against the army, who certainly deserve everything
in the power of a grateful people to give.
" We are in an unhappy predicament indeed, not to know who are
responsible to us for a settlement of accounts.

»783] The End of the War 171
" Posterity will hardly believe that an army contended incessantly
foreight years under a constant pressure of misery to establish the
libecties of their country, without knowing who were to compensate
them • or whether they were ever to receive any reward for their
services. It is high time that we should, now we have a prospect of
peace, know whether the respective States or the whole, aggregately
are to recognise our dues and to place them upon such principles as
to promise some future benefit. Much has been said about the influ
ence of the army : — it can only exist in one point, that to be sure is
a sharp point, which I hope in God will never be directed but against
the enemies of the liberties of America.
" It will take much time to change or amend the present form of
government : must our accounts, therefore, remain unsettled until
this shall have been considered and decided upon ? I think not.
" My sentiments are exactly these. I consider the reputation of
the American army as one of the most immaculate things on earth,
"and that we should even suffer wrongs and injuries to the utmost
verge, of toleration rather than sully it in the least degree, but
there i$£ point beyond which there is no sufferance. I pray sincerely
we may not pass it. I have not taken the sense of the army upon
your report ; that is, I have not called any number of officers to
gether upon this subject, because, as no decision has been made,
nothing they can say will, in the least, forward the matter. I ard
ently wish you maybe able to fix the rate of commutation, and have
a person appointed to settle the accounts of the army, and then have
a reference to the respective States, to become responsible for the
sums which may be found due upon both principles of accounts and
commutation of half-pay.
"You will readily perceive I mean this as a private letter, nay,
more, a confidential one."
Ten days later Knox writes: " The army are im
patiently waiting the result of your mission. I
earnestly wish it may produce more than it at
present seems to promise." One explanation of
the dilatoriness of Congress at this time was the in
difference with which States regarded vacancies
existing in their delegations, and the languor with

17* Henry Knox [1782-
which many members attended upon the sessions
of the body. Alluding to this, Knox, in his letter
to McDougall says: " It is enough to sicken one to
observe how light a matter many States make of
their not being represented in Congress, — a good
proof of the badness of the present Constitution."
On the loth of March appeared in camp at New-
burgh an incendiary document, published anony
mously, which was the first of the two famous
" Newburgh Addresses." The writer, who was
afterwards known to be Major John Armstrong, an
aide-de-camp on the staff of General Gates, discussed
in inflammatory terms the condition of the army
and the wrongs that had so long been endured by
officers and men. Referring to the late memorial
to Congress, the address advised that this should be,
•rather, a last remonstrance before quitting the serv
ice of the Republic and retiring to some unsettled
portion of. the country where the army might mock
when fear should again come to the young Republic.
Accompanying the address was a notice calling a
meeting of the general and field officers, a commis
sioned officer from each company and a delegate
from the medical staff, to consider the inaction of
Congress and the exigencies of the situation.
Washington made the call and the address the
subject of general orders issued on the following
day, in which he expressed his disapprobation of
" such disorderly proceedings " ; he also asked that
the officers of the army should meet on the 15th of
March, instead of on the nth, the day set in the
anonymous call. The writer of the first address,

»783] The End of the War 173
seeing that he was checkmated by Washington's
calm and resolute attitude and by his invitation, at
tempted to cover his retreat by a second address in
which he jauntily assumed that the Commander-in-
chief was with him in this attempt to swerve the
army from its allegiance to the only recognisable.
authority in the Republic.
But when the meeting took place, on the 15th of.
March, Washington opened the proceedings with a
dignified and forcible address in which he suggested
that the writer of the anonymous documents could
not be a friend to the country, but, rather, an in
sidious foe, possibly an emissary from New York,
plotting the ruin of both civil and military power of
the Republic by cowing the seeds of discord. He
counselled faith and patience, pointing out the
fatuousness of the proposed secession of the army
and urging the men to rise superior to the most
complicated sufferings.
Washington's good sense and the veneration in
which he was held carried the day. When he had
withdrawn and Gates, as the senior major-general
present, had taken the chair, Knox moved a series
of resolutions thanking Washington for his wise and
patriotic course and expressing unabated attachment
for the Commander-in-chief. The resolutions also
declared the unshaken reliance of the army on the
good faith of Congress and the country, and a deter
mination to bear with patience their grievances
until, in due time, they should be redressed. Con
gress, alarmed by these significant and impressive
proceedings, once more took up the subject of the

174 Henry Knox [«7Sa-
army's wrongs and agreed to grant" the provisions
asked for in the memorial. While the commission
ers from the army were yet in Philadelphia, urging
upon the attention of Congress the imminence of
the impending crisis, but before the meeting at
which Washington's address was made, Knox wrote
to General McDougall, vehemently imploring him ,
to bring before the dawdling Congressmen the mag
nitude of the ills which their inaction invited. He
says: " Endeavour, my dear friend, once more to
convince the obdurate of the awful evils which may
arise from postponing a decision on the subjects of
our address."
On the 16th of March, after the crisis at Newburgh
had passed, Knox wrote to his friend, General Ben
jamin Lincoln, enclosing a transcript of the proceed
ings of the meeting of the 15th, and adding: " The
occasion, though intended for opposite purposes,
has been one of the happiest circumstances of the
war, and will set the military character of America
in a high point of view. If the people have the
most latent spark of gratitude, this generous pro
ceeding of the army must call it forth. For these
reasons, I think the proceedings ought to be pub
lished. Can you not have this done immediately ?
If so, forward some hundred copies to the army.
The General's address is a masterly performance."
' It was about this time that Knox conceived the
happy idea of organising a society to perpetuate the
friendships formed by the officers of the army and
to provide for their indigent widows and surviving
children; each officer, on joining the society, was

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1783] The End of the War 175
to contribute to its fund one month's pay. In the
Knox Papers is to be found a document, endorsed in
Knox's handwriting, ;' Rough draft of a society to
be formed by the American officers, and to be called
the Cincinnati." The paper is dated " West Point,
15 April, 1783." The preamble, which is couched
in the somewhat inflated language of the time, reads
as follows :
" Whereas it has pleased the Supreme Governor of the Universe
in. the disposition of human affairs, to cause the separation of the
Colonies of North America from the domination of Great Britain,
and, after a bloody conflict of eight years, to establish them free, in
dependent and sovereign States connected by alliances founded upon
reciprocal advantages with some of the Great Princes and Powers of
the Earth — To perpetuate therefore as well the remembrance of this
great event as the mutual friendships which have been formed under
the pressure of common danger, and in numerous instances cemented
by the blood of the parties — The officers of the American Army do
hereby in the most solemn manner associate, constitute and combine
themselves into one Society of Friends, to endure while they shall
endure, or any of their oldest male posterity who may be judged
worthy of becoming its supporters and members."
It was further declared that as " these officers
were originally taken from the citizens of America,
with high veneration for the character of the illus
trious Quinctius Cincinnatus, and being resolved to
follow his example by returning to their citizenship,
they think they may with propriety denominate
themselves ' The Cincinnati.' " Knox's plan was
complete, even down to the smallest details of the
society's seal, badge, etc. It was further recom-
-mended that the Count de Rochambeau be asked
to furnish the names of such foreign officers as were
eligible to election to membership in the society.

*76 Henry Knox [1782-
This project was hailed with enthusiasm by officers
of the army, and with derision and contempt by
many who were not entitled to membership in the
fraternity. The provision to make the society self-
perpetuating by the election of eldest sons to suc
ceed their parents was greeted with the most acrid
criticism. This clause, it was urged, was intended
to create a new order of nobility, and whereas the
law of primogeniture had always been highly offen
sive to every true son of liberty, it was now proposed
to link the illustrious name of Washington to an in
sidious attempt to set up such a method of regulat
ing succession in this Republic. Among the civilians
who scouted the project were the two Adamses,
John and Samuel, and Benjamin Franklin; this
venerable cynic assailed the scheme with his own
peculiar sarcasm, deriding the institution in every
particular. During the turmoil caused by the pub
lication of Knox's scheme, that redoubtable general,
not in the least dismayed by the clamour, wrote to
Washington thus: " The Cincinnati appears, how
ever groundlessly, to be an object of jealousy. The
idea is that it has been created by a foreign influ
ence, in order to change our form of government."
In spite of this wordy and unreasonable opposi
tion, the officers of the army went forward with the
formation of the society, an eminently practical and
patriotic institution whose existence unto this day
testifies to its vital energy and to the wisdom of its
founders, whose illustrious example still serves to
keep alive the fires of patriotism that burn through
out the great Republic. The first president of the

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1783] The End of the War ,177
order was George Washington; its first secretary
was Henry Knox, who became vice-president in
1805. Knox was also chosen vice-president of the
Massachusetts branch of the society in 1783.
On the 26th of August, 1783, Knox was left in
command of the army with instructions from Wash
ington to proceed with the difficult and delicate duty
of disbanding it. Late in the following October
(the definitive treaty of peace having arrived), pre
parations for a popular celebration of the great
event were begun; but Washington, in a letter to
Knox, dated October 23d, suggested that it would
be better to omit the celebration until the city of
New York should be evacuated by the British, when
all who would might join and could find ample ac
commodations in that city. ' At the same time,
Washington directed Knox to be prepared for an
early occupation of New York with his troops, and
requested him to confer with Governor Clinton, of
New York, as to the necessary arrangements to be
made for entering and taking possession. Governor
Clinton was ill and unable to take any part in the
preliminary arrangements, and Knox, acting upon
the instructions received from the Commander-in-
chief, wrote to Sir Guy Carleton, asking him to give
him (Knox) five or six days' notice of the embark
ation of the first of his troops.
On the 1 2th of November, Carleton wrote from
New York to Washington and to Knox announcing
his intention of " relinquishing the posts at King's
Bridge and as far as McGowan's Pass, inclusive, on
this island on the 21st instant; to resign possession

178 Henry Knox [1782-
of Herrick's and Hampstead with all the eastward
to Long Island, on the same day; and, if possible, "
to give up this city with Brooklyn on the day follow
ing, and Paulus Hook, Denny's and Staten Island
as soon after as may be practicable." The British
General at the same time stipulated that in case any
repairs sho'uld be needed by his ships, before sail
ing, " free and uninterrupted use of the Ship Yard "
should be had for that purpose.
On the 25th of November, 1783, the British finally
and definitively evacuated the city. On the same
day, Knox, at the head of his troops, took military
possession. But this was a military precaution, not
a formal ceremony. Having disposed such guards
as were necessary to preserve order, a more impos
ing ceremonial was observed. A contemporaneous
account says*:
" The British army evacuated New York, and the American troops,
under General Knox, took possession of the city. Soon after, Gen
eral Washington and Governor Clinton, with their suite, made their
public entry into the city on horseback, followed by the lieutenant-
governor and the members of the council, for the temporary govern
ment of the southern district, four abreast. General Knox and the
officers of the army, eight abreast ; citizens on horseback, eight
abreast ; the speaker of the assembly and citizens on foot, eight
' abreast." The final act of the military drama was closed ;
but a more touching and affecting scene occurred
on Tuesday, December 4th, when Washington took
final leave of his brothers in arms at Fraunce's Tav
ern. The occasion when these men who had suffered
* Thacher's Military Journal.

1783] The End of the War 1 79
together and had fought for many years parted, from
each other and from their beloved commander, was
one of historic impressiveness. Washington took
no pains to conceal the emotions that shook his
frame. Raising a glass of wine, he said: " With a
heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of
you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days
may be as prosperous and happy as your former
ones have been glorious and honourable." Having
drank, he added, " I cannot come to each of you to
take my leave, but shall be obliged to you, if each
of you will come and take me by the hand." With
manly tears coursing down his face, Washington
turned to Knox, who stood nearest him, grasped his
hand and kissed him with sincere affection. In the
same manner he took leave of each succeeding
officer. The simple ceremonial was concluded in
solemn silence, not a word being spoken to inter
rupt the gravity of the scene. When all was done,
the great commander left the room, walked to
Whitehall, where he entered a barge, and so was
rowed to Paulus Hook. Having embarked, he
turned to the illustrious company on the water's
edge, took off his hat. and waved a last, silent fare
well.

CHAPTER IX

sLxizl oou-Txiai

A TRYING INTERREGNUM
1783-1788
N his return to West Point, after the
American occupation of New York
had been formally and smoothly con
ducted, Knox was given an official
vote of thanks for the attention to

the rights of the citizens of the State and the pre
servation of peace and good order maintained by
General Knox and his associates in arms. Governor
Clinton, in transmitting the resolution to General
Knox, took occasion to add a few words of his own,
warmly commending the services of the army.
The West Point command was now the most im
portant of any in the country; not only was the
commanding officer charged with the delicate and
responsible duty of reducing the numerical strength
of the army as rapidly as was practicable, but the
defences of the post must not be, neglected, arms
and military equipments were to be collected there,
and visits to the outlying posts of the command
were frequently necessary. The small pay of a,
180

1788] A Trying Interregnum 181
major-general was hardly adequate to bear the ex
penses entailed upon commandant of the post, and
Knox accordingly wrote to Washington, reminding
him that it was customary to make a special allow
ance to a major-general commanding in a separate
department ; but this allowance had been suspended
before Knox was assigned to the post ; and he beg
ged the Commander-in-chief to communicate the
facts to Congress. Knox was known to be the em
bodiment of hospitality, and at no time during the
war did he find the emoluments of his military rank
and station sufficient to meet his expenses.
It was not an unusual condition of things, there
fore, that surrounded him at this time, when he
wrote: "That the unavoidable expenses arising
from the command of this post and its dependencies
have greatly exceeded any emoluments of office
arising from my rank in the army; and that, in
order to support my station with some propriety, so
as not to reflect disgrace upon the public rank I sus
tain, I have been obliged to make use of my private
resources to a considerable amount." This reason
able statement was approved by Congress, and the
additional allowance permitted under such circum
stances (ninety dollars per month) was granted him,
the extra sum being included in his allowance dating
from September I, 1782.
There was much private and public discussion now
going on over what was called the Peace Establish
ment. Congress was disposed to be economical in
making any military dispositions for the future.
The voluminous correspondence of Washington and

182 Henry Knox M3-
Knox contains many references to this absorbing
topic, both of the distinguished writers being of the
opinion that the hostile attitude of the Indians on
the north-western frontier, and the mischief-making
tactics of the British in the frontier posts would
seem to require the maintenance of at least a skele
ton army. There were not wanting those who ad
vocated the immediate and complete disbandment
of the entire force, leaving not one man to mount
guard in the so-called Peace Establishment.
One scheme for the defence of the Western frontier
was the organisation of a new state westward of the
Ohio, where much land would be taken up by offic
ers and discharged soldiers under the land-warrants
to which they were entitled for military services.
Writing on this subject, in September, 1783, Knox
says to Washington: " I am daily solicited for in-'
formation respecting the progress of the officers'
petition for a new State westward of the Ohio. . . .
Were the prayer of the petition to be granted, the
officers in a very few years would make the finest
settlement on the frontiers, and form a strong barrier
against the barbarians."
Knox's active mind, ever revolving projects for
the better defence of his country and for the en
hancement of the dignity of the new Republic, was
also busy with schemes for the efficient maintenance
of so much of an army as might be allowed under
the Peace Establishment policy of a frugal Congress.
At this time, the Constitution of the United States
not having been adopted, the general care of the
army was vested in a Secretary at War, and General

»788] A Trying Interregnum 183
Benjamin Lincoln filled the office. Lincoln did not
desire to remain in office, and it was well known
that Washington's choice for his successor, if, in
deed, a successor were to be allowed, was the well-
beloved Knox ; and that officer, in the same letter,
from which quotation has just been made, says:
" I have had it in contemplation for a long time past, to mention
to your Excellency the idea of a master general of ordnance. But
I hesitated, and finally declined it in my last opinion to you upon a
Peace Establishment, lest it might be concluded that I was endea
vouring to create a post for myself. But the resignation of the min
ister of war eventual upon the definitive treaty of peace, and his
opinion that no successor will be appointed, joined to the necessity
of having some person responsible to Congress, seem to combine to
render such an officer peculiarly necessary, who should principally
reside near Congress to execute orders as they thould think proper
for the dignity and security of the republic. It is a well-known fact
that so complex and extensive a business as the formation of an
ordnance and its numerous dependencies, the manufacture of small
arms and accoutrements, must be the work of much time, and can
only be effectually prepared in time of profound peace."
. Knox frankly adds that his own desire is for a
private life, and on this he has formed his plans and
expectations. But if any office " should be formed
upon the broad scale of national policy," he would
give the plan his assistance if he were thought
worthy. These considerations, then so novel, and to many
persons so unwelcome, are of interest to us when we
come to the study of the rise and growth of what
are now known as the executive departments of the
National Government. There was no department of
the navy ; the postal service was so inconsiderable

1 84 Henry Knox [1783-
that its chief officer was a functionary of humble
rank; and the financial interests of the young nation
were in the hands of a so-called Financier — an officer
unknown to the present generation, and then held
immediately amenable to Congress.
General Lincoln's resignation was offered in Octo
ber, 1783, and Washington wrote to Knox as
follows : *' Rocky Hill, 2d Nov. 1783.
"General Lincoln's resignation has been offered, and accepted by
Congress. ... I have conversed with several members of Con
gress upon the propriety, in time of peace, of uniting the offices of
Secretary at War and Master of Ordnance in one person, and letting
him have command of the troops in the Peace Establishment, not as
an appendage of right, — for that I think would be wrong, — but by
separate appointment at the discretion of Congress. Those I have
spoken to on the subject seem to approve the idea, which, if adopted,
would make a handsome appointment. I will converse with others
on this head, and let you know the result. My wish to serve you in
it you need not doubt, being with much truth
" Your most affectionate
" George Washington."
There was considerable correspondence between
Knox and Washington on this subject, and in a
letter dated January 3, 1784, Knox informs Wash
ington that he has very nearly wound up his military
work at West Point, and is ready to leave. Refer
ring once more to the familiar topic, he says:
" I believe I did not mention to your Excellency my ideas of the
pay of the offices that might be associated ; viz., the duties of Secre
tary at War, Master of Ordnance, and the charge or command of
any troops that might be retained in service. It appears to me, and
I hope that I fairly estimate the expenses and trouble, that the pay

1788] A Trying Interregnum 185
and emoluments of a major-general in a separate department free of
any encumbrances would not be an unreasonable appointment.
Should Congress think proper to honour me with an offer of these
offices associated together, I should be willing to accept them upon
the above terms ; but I should do injustice to myself and family to
accept of any employment which would not prevent my involving
myself." This question of compensation for the discharge of
official duties in the much-talked-of Peace Establish
ment, as we shall see, was continually coming up at
this time, and under the Constitution, to vex the
souls of the statesmen of the period.
Thus Washington, writing to Knox from Rocky
Hill under date of October 23, 1783, refers to the
debates in Congress on the Peace Establishment,
and says :
" By what I can learn, there is a great diversity of sentiment among
the Members of Congress respecting the Peace Establishment ; and
that great opposition will be given to the measure whenever it is
brought forward. It may be well, therefore, for you to consider,
whether upon the footing and with the emoluments agreed upon by
the Committee, the office of Secretary at War (which I presume will
very soon be acted upon) would meet your views. If it should, and
you will let me know by return of tho Post, I will mention your
name to those gentlemen of my acquaintance in Congress as I have
already done, and shall be happy if any endeavours of mine can serve
you. Gen'l Lincoln is of opinion that a capable & confidential as
sistant may be had for, say between 500 and 1000 dollars ; but when
to this, travelling expenses, wood, paper, candles, &c, are added,
/ should think it would sink pretty deep into the residue ; He con
ceives otherwise, unless the Secretary, whoever he may be, chuses to
travel with a retinue & incur more expenses than is necessary."
This characteristically Washingtonian letter is
concluded in the following manner :

1 86 Henry Knox ln*y-
" My best wishes attend Mrs. Knox, and I am, with the greatest
truth & friendship, " Dear Sir, Y'r most obed't and
' ' affectionate serv't
" George Washington."
Later, on the same day, Washington writes to
Knox to say that he has now learned that the
salary of the Secretary of War is to be $3500 per
year, the Secretary to keep a clerk, or assistant, and
bear all incidental expenses of travel, wood, lights,
etc., and to visit the magazines, military stores,
etc. Virtually, there was now almost no army, but the
young Republic was in possession of a large supply
of arms, ammunition, and military stores at West
Point and Pittsburgh ; for the care of these no ade
quate provision had been made. Knox's work -was
done when the army was dissolved, and the popular
prejudice against the maintenance of even the sem
blance of a military establishment prevented the
taking of any steps to perpetuate the functions of
general officers. Writing from West Point to the
President of Congress, January 3, 1784, Knox in
forms that functionary that, under the directions of
the Commander-in-chief, several lines of troops have
been dissolved ; but one regiment, commanded by
Brigadier-General Henry Jackson, is still on duty,
together with 120 men in the artillery, their terms
of enlistment not having expired. As there were at
that time about 500 men in what was left of Jack
son's regiment, the standing army of the United
States then consisted of less than 700 men. Of this

i7«8] A Trying Interregnum 187
force Knox reports that he has detached some to
guard the military stores at Springfield, Mass.;
others are ordered to duty in New York, under the
directon of Governor Clinton, and still others are
sent to Fort Schuyler and the lake posts.
Knox then enumerates the stores of arms and
munitions of war deposited at West Point, and in
dulges in this excusable flight of patriotic rhetoric:
" I hope it will not be thought presumptuous or im
pertinent to indulge the rapture which fills my mind
upon so interesting a contrast, so honourable and so
highly flattering to my cougtry — especially when so
great a part of the cannon are trophies, wrested by
the hand of virtue from the arm outstretched to
oppress it."
Having concluded his labours at West Point,
Knox departed for Boston to await the develop
ment of events. He took up his residence in the
ancient village of Dorchester, now a part of the
modern city. Before leaving the military post which
he had filled with so much energy and ability, he
addressed a letter to Washington, in which he an
nounces his intention to depart for New England,
having sent his wife and family before him. He
concludes: " I should do violence to the dictates of
my heart were I to suppress its sensations of affec
tion and gratitude to you for the innumerable in
stances of your kindness and attention to me. And,
although I can find no. words equal to their warmth,
I may venture to assert that they will remain in
delibly fixed. I devoutly pray the Supreme Being
to continue to afford you his especial protection."

1 88 Henry Knox . te*3r
On his part, Washington, having now established
himself in his seat at Mount Vernon, wrote with
much warmth and affection to his old companion in
arms, and congratulating himself on, the calm and
tranquillity of his present station. In a letter dated
at Mount Vernon, February 20, 1784, Washington,-
after referring to past events, says to Knox :
" I feel now, however, as I conceive a wearied traveller must do,
who, after treading many a painful step with a heavy burthen on his
shoulders, is eased of the latter, having reached the haven to which
the former were directed ; and from his own housetop is looking
back, and tracing with an eager eye the meanders by which he es
caped the quicksands and the mines which lay in his way ; and into
which none but the all-powerful Guide and Dispenser of human
events could have prevented his falling."
In the summer of this year, Knox was appointed
by the General Court of Massachusetts to serve on
a commission to treat with the Penobscot Indians
and induce them to relinquish a part of their lands
on the Penobscot River, District of Maine, that
region still being the territory of Massachusetts.
There were about one hundred families of these
people, and it was desired that they move up the
river, ceding to the State, for a consideration, so
much of their lands as lay below the head of tide
water. After a speech by Knox in which he pre
sented the white man's view of the case with his
customary affability and force, a reply was made by
the chief, Orono, whom Knox describes as" one of
the old chiefs, half-Indian and half-French of the
Castine breed." The Baron de St. Castine, a
soldier of fortune who established himself near the

1788] A Trying Interregnum • 189
mouth of the Penobscot, early in the seventeenth
century, gave his name and lineage to some of the
aboriginal tribesmen of the region. It was in vain
that the old chief pleaded, " The Almighty placed
us on the land, and it is ours." The white man's
imperious necessities prevailed and the Penobscots
retired up the river.
Knox and his associates, General Lincoln and Mr.
George Partridge, were also instructed by the Gen
eral Court to examine into the charge that the
people of Nova Scotia had trespassed upon Ameri
can territory, and to settle the eastern boundary
line, there being a sharp dispute as to which was
the true river St. Croix, designated in the treaty of
peace as the line of demarcation between Maine and
the British possession on the east. The report of
the commissioners was made in August, but it was
not until later that the much-vexed boundary ques
tion was finally settled.
During these and later years, Knox maintained a
regular correspondence with the foreign officers who
had aided in the war of the Revolution, and who,
from their homes on the other side of the Atlantic,
regarded with unabated interest the gradual develop
ment of the young Republic and with steadfast
affection their American companions in arms. La
fayette appears to have entertained for Knox and
Greene an almost romantic affection. With both
of them he kept up a vigorous and intimate corre
spondence, and he eventually adopted into his own
family the son of General Greene. Writing to
Knox, from Paris, in January, 1784, Lafayette says:

190 Henry Knox [1783-
" It'has been to me a great happiness to hear from you, and while
we are separated, I beg you will let me enjoy it as often as possible.
You know my tender affection for you, my dear Knox, is engraved
in my heart, and I shall keep it as long as I live. From the begin
ning of our great Revolution, which has been the beginning of our
acquaintance, we have been actuated by the same principles, im
pressed with the same ideas, attached to the same friends, and have
warmly loved and confidentially intrusted each other. The remem
brance of all this is dear to my heart ; and from every motive of
tenderness and regard, I set the greater value by the happiness of
your possession as a bosom friend. I have been much employed in
rendering America what service I could in the affairs of her com
merce. What I can do must be entirely done before the spring,
when I intend embarking for my beloved shores of Liberty. My
delays in Europe are owing to motives of American public service.
. . . Dunkirk, L'Orient, Bayonne, and Marseilles have been
declared free ports of America."
Lafayette's plans for visiting the United States
were finally carried out, and he was received with
great enthusiasm upon these shores. In October of
that year, he went to Boston, and was met at Water-
town by a large party of officers of the late Revolu
tionary' army, headed by General Knox, and the
illustrious company sat down to a handsome repast
which had been provided for the occasion. On the
following day, these officers waited upon Lafayette
in a more formal manner, presenting to him an ad
dress of welcome and congratulation, written by
Knox, to which the distinguished visitor made a
suitable reply. A few days later, the citizens of
Boston tendered Lafayette a public banquet in
historic Faneuil Hall ; among the many distinguished
persons present were seventy-five officers of the late
Continental army.
Washington, at this time, was living at Mount

j 788] A Trying Interregnum ' 191
Vernon in as complete seclusion as was possible
under the circumstances. But his frequent and
intimate letters to Knox show that he was often in
undated with company and that he was always bur
dened with a vast correspondence growing out of his
long service at the head of the military affairs of the
country. In a letter to Knox, dated at Mount
Vernon, January 5, 1785, Washington recites sortie
of his difficulties and burdens, referring especially to
his correspondence, which, he says, " would require
the pen of a historian to satisfy," so numerous were
the inquiries proposed to him; and he adds:
" This, my dear sir, is a friendly communication. I give it in
testimony of my unreservedness with you & not for the purpose of "
discouraging your letters ; for, be assured that, to correspond with
those I love is among my highest gratifications, and I persuade my
self you will not doubt my sincerity, when I assure you I place you
among the foremost of this class. Letters of friendship require no
study, the communications are easy, and allowances are expected
and made."
After much discussion, Congress decided to con
tinue the office of Secretary of War, combining in
the duties of the place all those which had been
before specified as legitimately belonging to separate
offices. The salary, out of which the incumbent
was to provide for the pay of a clerk, or assistant,
was fixed at $2450, and on the 8th of March, 1785,
Congress proceeded to elect Knox to fill the office
thus continued. It will be noticed that the settle
ment of the pay and emoluments of the place was
in the nature of a compromise, the sum mentioned
by Washington in his letter to Knox, dated October
23, 1783, being reduced to $2450, while the incidental

192 Henry Knox [1783-
expenses of the. office, on which so much stress was
laid by the Commander-in-chief, were to be liquid
ated at public cost. Knox accepted the place,
writing to Mr. Charles Thomson, Secretary of Con
gress, to say that he hoped to have leave of absence
to allow him to settle some of his private affairs.
He adds: " I have a perfect reliance upon a candid
interpretation of my actions, and I shall hope that
application to business and propriety of intention,
may in a degree, excuse a deficiency of talents."
Still residing in Boston, Knox wrote to Washing
ton, on the 24th of March, in these terms :
"You may probably have heard that Congress have been pleased
to appoint me Secretary at War. I have accepted the appointment,
and shall expect to be in New York [then the seat of the National
Government] about the 15th of next month. From the habits im
bibed during the war, and from the opinion of my friends that I
should make but an indifferent trader, I thought, upon mature con
sideration, that it was well to accept it, although the salary would be
but a slender support. I have dependence upon an unwieldy estate
of Mrs. Knox's family, and upon the public certificates given for my
services ; but neither of these is productive, and require a course of
years to render them so. In the meantime, my expenses are consid
erable, and require some funds for their supply. Congress have
rendered the powers and duties of the office respectable ; and the
circumstances of my appointment, without solicitation on my part,
- were flattering, nine States out of eleven voting for me. I do not
expect to move my family to New York until June next."
Washington, doubtless, was sincerely gratified by
Knox's appointment, and when, some time later, he
wrote to the newly chosen Secretary to congratulate
him on his advancement, he said, " Without a com
pliment, I think a better choice could not have been
made."

'788] A Trying Interregnum 193
A period of political chaos and confusion now in
tervened, and the small powers of the National
Government were taxed to their utmost to maintain
for itself even a semblance of respect from the in
dividual States. Congress was frequently obliged
to suspend its sessions on account of their being no
quorum present. The States, jealous of each other,
were united only in their dread of the centralised
government which they thought they saw emerging
from the jarring elements that composed the Con
gress of Delegates. The western counties of Penn
sylvania were in a chronic condition of unrest and
defiance of th General Government, and the western
counties of North Carolina set up an independent
government which was styled the State of Frank-
land; and similar claims for independent statehood
were set forth by that part of Virginia which after
wards became the State of Kentucky. The people
of the District of Maine also clamoured for a sepa
ration from Massachusetts and a State government
of their own.
The most acute stage of these internal troubles
was reached in Massachusetts when, in the autumn
of 1786, a party of malcontents, headed by one
Daniel Shays, formerly a captain in the Continental
army, openly took the field against all constituted
authority. The complaint of these men was that
the taxes were oppressive, that the rich were becom
ing richer, and the poor, poorer; in short, their ful-
minations were almost identical with those of the
so-called Populists of a later period in American
history. Knox, writing to Washington from New

194 Henry Knox [1783-
York, under date of the 23d of October, 1786, gives
this vivid and accurate picture of the commotion in
New England :
" I have lately been far eastward of Boston on private business,
and was no sooner returned here than the commotions in Massachu
setts hurried me back to Boston on a public account.
"Our political machine, composed of thirteen independent sov
ereignties, have been perpetually operating against each other and
against the federal head ever since the peace. The powers of Con
gress are totally inadequate to preserve the balance between the
respective States, and oblige them to do those things which are
essential for their own welfare or for the general good. The frame
of mind in the local legislatures seems to be exerted to prevent the
federal constitution from having any good effect. The machine
works inversely to the public good in all its parts : not only is State
against State, and all against the federal head, but the States within
themselves possess the name only without having the essential con
comitant of government, the power of preserving the peace, the pro
tection of the liberty and property of the citizens. On the very first
impression of faction and licentiousness, the fine theoretic govern
ment of Massachusetts has given way, and its laws are trampled
under foot. Men at a distance, who have admired our systems of
government unfounded in nature, are apt to accuse the rulers, and
say that taxes have been assessed too high and collected too rigidly.
This is a deception equal to any that has been hitherto entertained.
That taxes may be the ostensible cause is true, but that they are the
true cause is as far j-emote from truth as light from darkness. The
people who are the insurgents have never paid any or but very little
taxes. But they see the weakness of government : they feel at once
their own poverty compared with the opulent, and their own force,
and they are determined to make use of the latter in order to remedy
the former.
1 " Their creed is, that the property of the United States has been
protected from the confiscations of Britain by the joint exertions of
all, and therefore ought to be the common property of all ; and he
that attempts opposition to this creed is an enemy to equality and
justice, and ought to be swept from the face of the earth. In a
word, they are determined to annihilate all debts public and private,

1788] A Trying Interregnum 195
and have agrarian laws, which are easily effected by the means of
unfunded paper money, which shall be a tender in all cases whatever.
The numbers of these people may amount, in Massachusetts, to one-
fifth part of several populous counties ; and to them may be added
the people of similar sentiments from the States of Rhode Island,
Connecticut and New Hampshire, so as to constitute a body of twelve
or fifteen thousand desperate and unprincipled men. They are
chiefly of the young and active part of the community, more easily
collected than kept together afterwards. But they will probably
commit overt acts of treason, which will compel them to embody for
their own safety. Once embodied, they will be constrained to sub
mit to discipline for the same reason.
" Having proceeded to this length, for which they are now ripe,
we shall have a formidable rebellion against reason, the principle of
all government, and against the very name of liberty.
"This dreadful situation, for which our government have made
no adequate provision, has alarmed every man of principle and
property in New England. They start as from a dream, and ask
what can have been the cause of our delusion ? What is to give us
security against the violence of lawless men ? Our government must
be braced, changed, or altered to secure our lives and property. We
imagined that the mildness of our government and the wishes of
the people were so correspondent that we were not as other nations,
requiring brutal force to support the laws. . •
" But we find that we are men, — actual men, possessing all the
turbulent passions belonging to that animal, and that we must have
a government proper and adequate for him.
"The people of Massachusetts, for instance, are far advanced in
this doctrine, and the men of property and the men of station and
principle there are determined to endeavour to establish and protect
them in their lawful pursuits ; and what will be efficient in all cases
of internal commotions or foreign invasions, they mean that liberty
shall form the basis, — liberty resulting from an equal and firm
administration of law.
"They wish for a general government of unity, as they see that
the local legislatures must naturally and necessarily tend to retard
the general government. We have arrived at that point of time in
which we are forced to see our own humiliation, as a nation, and
that a progression in this line cannot be productive of happiness,
private, or public. Something is wanting and something must be

196 Henry Knox fate-
done, or we shall be involved in all the horror of failure, and civil
war without a prospect of its termination. Every friend to the lib
erty of his countr)' is bound to reflect, and step forward to prevent
the dreadful consequences which shall result from a government of
events. Unless this is done, we shall be liable to be ruled by an
arbitrary and capricious armed tyranny, whose word and will must
be law.
" The Indians on our frontiers are giving indisputable evidence
of their hostile intentions. Congress, anxiously desirous of meeting
the evils on the frontiers, have unanimously agreed to augment the
troops now in service to a legionary corps of 2,040 men. This
measure is important, and will tend to strengthen the principles of
government, if necessary, as well as to defend the frontiers. I men
tion the idea of strengthening government as confidential. But the •
State of Massachusetts requires the greatest asssistance, and Con
gress are fully impressed with the importance of supporting her with
great exertion."
The legionary troops mentioned in this letter as
likely to be raised under the authority of Congress,
nominally for the defence of the north-western
frontier, were not needed in Massachusetts; nor
was the feeble attempt to disguise the real pur
pose of this move successful. The insurgents
marched around the country, threatening the courts
and defying the State authorities. An attack on
the United States arsenal at Springfield was medi
tated, and Secretary Knox was applied to by the
law-abiding citizens of Massachusetts to permit the
use of the national arms for general defence. He
replied that the arms could be taken only for the
' defence of the armory, and should be returned as
soon as danger of an attack was passed. The
prompt measures of Governor Bowdoin, and of
General Lincoln, then commanding the State
militia, put an end to the rebellion. Lincoln

i78s] A Trying Interregnum 197
chased the insurgents from Springfield to Peter
sham, where after an ineffectual attempt to rally
his followers, Shays was finally compelled to
give up his hare-brained scheme, and his little
force melted away, Shays finding it convenient to
protest that he never meant anything serious by
his demonstration.
Great was the relief felt throughout the country
when it was announced that the Shays rebellion
had finally been suppressed. At this distance of
time, when the affair has assumed the dimensions
of a mere incident, generally esteemed of light ac
count to the State, it is difficult to understand the
sense of depression that exercised the patriots of
those days, when, pending the formation of a strong
and respectable central government, a handful of
malcontents actually raised the standard of revolt
and defied all government. No man was more
sensibly lifted from this state of depression than
Washington, who had regarded the incident with
feelings of lively apprehension. Writing to Knox
from Mount Vernon, February 25, 1787, Washing
ton expressed his gratitude for letters keeping him
informed concerning the progress of events in Mass
achusetts and the final quelling of the revolt. Of
Knox's letters he says:
" They were indeed exceedingly satisfactory, and relieving to my
mind, which had been filled with great & anxious uneasiness for the
issue of General Lincoln's operations and the dignity of govern
ment. On the happy termination of this insurrection I sincerely
congratulate you ; hoping that good may result from the cloud of
evils which threatened not only the hemisphere of Massachusetts,
but, by spreading its baneful influence, the tranquility of the Union.'

198 Henry Knox [1783-
It will be recollected that Knox, writing to
Gouverneur Morris, in February, 1783, at the time
when the imbecility and sluggishness of the Con
tinental Congress threatened to alienate the entire
army* argued in favour of a convention to frame a
new constitution. " As the present Constitution is
so defective," he wrote, " why do not you great
men call the people together and tell them so ; that
is, have a convention of the States to form a better
Constitution." And Alexander Hamilton, who had
before this advocated a national convention for that
very purpose, now proposed the assembling of such
a convention to meet in Philadelphia in May, 1787,
" to take into consideration the situation of the
United States, to devise such further provision as
shall appear to them necessary to render the Consti
tution adequate to the exigencies of the Union, and
to report such an act for that purpose to the United
States in Congress assembled, as, when agreed to by
them, and afterwards confirmed by the Legislature of
every State, will effectually provide for the same."
Hamilton's proposition was offered to a conven
tion which had assembled at Alexandria, Virginia,
for a purely commercial purpose — the regulation of
the navigation of the Potomac and the Chesapeake;
but it took shape with readiness and promise of
success. Writing to his old friend, General Lincoln,
February 14, 1787, Knox, after congratulating him
on the efficiency and spirit with which he had
quelled the Shays rebellion, says:
VThe convention proposed by the commercial convention last
September, to meet in Philadelphia in May next, engrosses a great

1788] A Trying Interregnum 199
portion of the attention of men of reflection. Some are for it, and
some are« against it ; but the preponderance of opinion is for it.
None of the New England States have yet chosen, and it appears
quite problematical whether any will choose unless Massachusetts.
The convention will be at liberty to consider more diffusively the
defects of the present system than Congress can, who are the execu
tors of a certain system. If what they should think proper to pro
pose, after mature deliberation, should require the assent of the
people of the respective States, which is supposed necessary in an
original compact, the convention would recommend to the respective
legislatures to call State conventions for the sole purpose of choosing
delegates to represent them in a continental convention, in order to
consider and finally decide on a general constitution, and to publish
the same for observance. If a differently constructed republican
government should be the object, the shortest road to it will be found
in the convention. I hope, therefore, that Massachusetts will choose,
and that you, Mr. [Rufus] King, and Mr. [Stephen] Higginson
should be three of the delegates."
To Mr. Higginson, Knox wrote about the same
time a long letter to the same purport, in which he
thus shrewdly outlined the work of the proposed
national convention :
" Should the convention agree on some continental constitution,
and propose the great outlines, either through Congress, or directly
to their constituents, the respective legislatures, with the request
that State conventions might be assembled for the sole purpose of
choosing delegates to a continental convention in order to consider
and decide upon a general government, and to publish it for general
observance, in the same manner as Congress formed and decided
upon the articles of confederation and perpetual union, would not
this, to all intents and purposes, be a government derived from the
people, and assented to by them as much as they assented to the
confederation ? If it be not the best mode, is it not the best which
is practicable? If so, one would conclude that it ought to be
embraced." During this formative period, Washington re
quested the opinions of several of his intimate

200 Henry Knox [1783-
friends and old companions relative to a plan of a
general government. Knox wrote a modest and
manly letter in which he advised that it were-
" prudent to form the plan of a new house before
we pull down the old one"; and he proceeded to
write of a plan for a federal government, " instead
of an association of governments. ' ' He adds :
" Were it possible to effect a general government of this kind, it
might be constituted of an Assembly, or Lower House, chosen for
one, two, or three years ; a Senate, chosen for five, six, or seven
years ; and the executive, under the title of Governor-General,
chosen by the Assembly and Senate for a term of seven years, but
liable to an impeachment by the Lower House and triable by the
Senate ; a Judiciary, to be appointed by the Governor-General during
good behaviour, but impeachable by the Lower House and triable by
the Senate ; the laws passed by the general government to be obeyed
by the local governments, and, if necessary, to be enforced by a
body of armed men, to be kept for the purposes which should be
designated ; all national objects to be designed and executed by the
general government without any reference to the local governments.
This rude sketch is considered as the government of the least possible
powers to preserve the confederated governments. To attempt to
establish less will be to hazard the existence of republicanism, and
to subject us either to a division of the European powers, or to a
despotism arising from high-handed commotions."
The impartial reader cannot fail to be struck by
the closeness with which Knox's crude plan for a
general government projects the lines on which the
Federal Constitution was finally moulded. If it
, varied in some particulars, it is not for us to say that
the variance was not better for the country, or that
some of the ills that now afflict us might not have
been avoided by a closer adherence to the scheme
so aptly sketched by this master mind while all

*788] A Trying Interregnum 201
plans for. a general government were as yet in
nubibus. A little later than this, Washington wrote to
Knox (the Continental convention being determined
upon), asking his friend's advice as to whether he
(Washington) should attend that convention. In
his reply, dated at New York, 19 March, 1787,
Knox warmly advises his old chief to go to the
convention. He says:
" I imagine that your own satisfaction or chagrin, and that of your
friends, will depend entirely upon the result of the Convention. For
I take it for granted that, however reluctantly you may acquiesce, you
will be constrained to accept the president's chair. Hence the pro
ceedings of the Convention will more immediately be appropriated
to you than to any other person. . . . I am persuaded that your
name has had already great influence to induce the States to come
into the measure ; that your attendance will be grateful, and your
non-attendance chagrining ; that your presence would confer on the
assembly a national complexion, and that it would more than any
other circumstance induce a compliance to the propositions of the
Convention." The Constitutional Convention met in Independ
ence Hall, Philadelphia, May 14, 1787, with George
Washington, a delegate from Virginia, in the chair
of presiding officer. Knox was overjoyed at the
happy turn which affairs had taken; and, writing to
Rufus King, one of the Massachusetts delegates, on
the 15th of July, he says: "I am happy the con
vention continue together without agitating the
idea of adjournment. If their attempts should
prove inadequate to effect capital alterations, yet
experience will be gained, which may serve import
ant purposes on another occasion." The doctrine

202

Henry Knox [1783-

of State Rights, in its most virulent form, had
vexed the souls of other patriots than Henry Knox;
and the sturdy general, accustomed to the use of
vigorous language when vigour was apparently
needed, indulged in this burst of righteous wrath.
" The State systems are the accursed thing which
will prevent our being a nation. The democracy
might be managed, nay, it would remedy itself after
being sufficiently fermented ; but the vile State gov
ernments are sources of pollution, which will con
taminate the American name perhaps for ages.
Machines that must produce ill, but cannot produce
good, smite them in the name of God and the
people." We may better understand the vehem
ence of Knox, in denouncing the State governments
of his time, if we recall the fact that the return of
the power originally issuing from the people was
then being demanded by them individually, and
that the extreme logic of this sort of local sovereignty
was accepted by the States, many of which insisted
that the confederation was, and should continue to
be, a voluntary association of nations, each of which
was virtually independent of every other.
While the Constitutional Convention was in
session in Philadelphia there were occasional re
cesses of that august body. Washington was in
vited by Knox to take advantage of one of these
. adjournments to visit New York and meet some of
his old friends with whom he had been associated
during the war. Replying to this invitation, Wash
ington takes occasion also to offer to the Knox
family his condolences on the loss which they had

1788] A Trying Interregnum 203
lately sustained by the death of one of their children.
Referring to the proposed visit to New York, he says :
" I should have had great pleasure in a visit to New York during
the adjournment of the Convention ; but, not foreseeing the precise
period at which it would take place, or the length of it ; I had,
previously thereto, put my carriage into the hands of a workman to
repair, and had not the means of going. I condole very sincerely
with Mrs. Knox and yourself on your late misfortune ; but am sure,
however severe the trial, each of you have fortitude to meet it. Na
ture, no doubt, must feel severely before calm resignation can over
come it. I offer my best respects to Mrs. Knox, and every good
wish for the family — With great regard and unfeigned aff'n,
"lam yours,
" George Washington."
On the 17th of September, 1787, the Federal Con
stitution, finally agreed upon by the convention .sit
ting in Philadelphia, was signed by the delegates,
three only (from Virginia and Massachusetts) with
holding their signatures. The instrument was now
submitted to Congress, and that body submitted it
to the States, its ratification by nine of said States
being necessary to give it vitality. The story of the
devices and the arguments needed to reach the de
sired end in the several States cannot be told here.
But, in passing, we may take note of the discussion
that at once arose among the people when they
began to scrutinise the new Constitution in all its
bearings upon the problem of future government.
General Knox, in a letter to Lafayette, dated Octo
ber 24, 1787, gives a very good view of the attitude
of the public mind at that time. Prefacing his
statement with the remark that that attitude is one
of " anxious attention," he says:

204 Henry Knox M3-
" The discussions are commenced in the newspapers and pam
phlets, with all the freedom and liberty which characterise a people
who are searching, by their own experience, after a form of govern
ment most productive of happiness. . . . The transition from
wishing an event, to believing that it will happen, is easy indeed. I
therefore am led to a strong persuasion that the proposed govern
ment will be generally or universally adopted in the course of twelve
or fifteen months."
Knox did not, in this instance, exhibit that over-
sanguine disposition with which his friends had
usually credited him. The ninth State to ratify the
new Constitution was New Hampshire, and that
event occurred on the 2istof June, 1788, only eight
months after Knox had written to Lafayette that
the desired result would be reached in twelve or
fifteen months.
Knox was naturally interested in the contest
going on in his own State of Massachusetts over
the proposition to ratify the Constitution, and in a
letter to Washington, dated at New York, January
14, 1788, he summed up the situation in Massachu
setts very admirably and in concise terms. He said
that there were three parties in the State : the first
being made up of men engaged in commercial pur
suits, to whom were added the clergy, the lawyers,
the judiciary, and the officers of the late army;
the strength of this party he estimated at three-
sevenths of the entire population. This party, he
. said, was " for the most vigorous government."
The second party was in the eastern part of the State
and in the District of Maine; the members of this
party were hoping for the erection of their section
. into a new State, and they were waiting to see if

1788] A Trying Interregnum 205
the new Constitution would facilitate, or hinder,
their great project. Their faction was about two-
sevenths of the whole population. The third party
was made up of " the insurgents and their favourers,
the great majority of whom are for an annihilation
of debts, public and private, and therefore cannot
approve the new Constitution. This party may
not be less than two-sevenths of the State." He
predicted that the first and second parties would
unite and that the Constitution would be adopted,
notwithstanding the bitter opposition of Samuel
Adams. Massachusetts ratified the Constitution on Febru
ary 6th, and one element of the strength of the
Federalists in the Convention was the adhesion
of John Hancock, who, after much coquetry and
elusion on his part, finally gave his support to the
cause. A letter from Rufus King to General Knox,
written a few days before the final vote in conven
tion, gives a clue to the motives that induced Han
cock to pledge himself at that late hour. After
announcing that Hancock had committed himself,
King says:
" The final question will probably be taken in five or six days.
You will be astonished, when you see the list of names, that such a
union of men has taken place on this question. Hancock will here
after receive the universal support of Bowdoin's friends, and we tell
him that if Virginia does not unite, which is problematical, that he
is considered as the only fair candidate for President.
Hancock's vanity was flattered by the prospect
thus held out to him by the artful friends of the
Constitution. But Virginia, then holding off its

206 Henry Knox [1783-
ratification of the great instrument, finally did ratify,
and George Washington, rather than John Hancock,
became " the only fair candidate for President."
In a letter written to Lafayette, in April of that
year, Knox, after reciting the history of the adop
tion of the Constitution, up to that date, expresses
himself in such vigorous and energetic language as
he was wont to employ when writing to an intimate
friend concerning any matter in which he was deeply
interested. He says: " As to Rhode Island, no
little State of Greece ever exhibited greater turpi
tude than she does. Paper money and Tender Law
engross her attention entirely ; this is, in other words,
plundering the orphan and widow by virtue of laws. ' '
Passing to matters of more immediate personal
interest, to Lafayette Knox says :
" Mrs. Greene [widow of General Nathanael Greene] and her little
family you so kindly inquire after, are seated at Wethersfield, in
Connecticut, under the auspices of our friend, Colonel Wadsworth.
Mrs. Greene is most honourably and industriously employed in the
education of her children. Colonel Wadsworth is anxious George
should be sent to France, to which Mrs. Greene consents. It is
possible the young gentleman may be addressed to your care in the
course of one or two packets hence."
About the middle of the following month, Knox
again wrote to Lafayette notifying him that the lad,
whose full name was George Washington Greene,
had been sent to Paris in charge of" Mr. Barlow, of
Connecticut, author of the poem entitled the ' Vis
ion of Columbus,' " a gentleman whom he specially
recommended to the kindness of the distinguished
Frenchman. As for young George, his friend and

1788] A Trying Interregnum 207
guardian suggested to Lafayette, who ws j now to
have charge of his education, that " The classics
and modern languages, as being the work of memory,
will probably constitute his first studies, together
with learning the necessary personal exercises to
form his manners. Mathematics, geography, as
tronomy, and the art of drawing will follow, of
course." Knox further says that the lad's disposi
tion is good and that, with proper education, he
promises to be " an honour to the memory of his
father, and the pride of his mother and other
friends." The " Mr. Barlow, of Connecticut,"
mentioned in this letter, it is hardly necessary to
explain, was the redoubtable Joel Barlow, whose
ponderous epic, " The Columbiad," and mock-
heroic poem, " The Hasty Pudding," were the
pride of our forefathers.
One year later than this, Knox wrote the follow
ing wise and affectionate letter to the son of his
dear old friend :
" My dear Washington :
"The only news we have had of you is from M. St. John de
Crevecoeur's son, who is in your academy. His report of you, on a
very short acquaintance, is much in your favour.
" I flatter myself that you will most industriously make yourself
master of the several objects that shall be assigned to you.
" You will recollect that you are the son of General Greene, who,
by the force of his own talents, became so dear and so important to
his country ; that you are to qualify yourself to support his name
and to become the protector of your family.
"You will entertain the most respectful affection for the Marquis
de la Fayette and implicitly obey all his directions, — propriety, grat
itude, and a regard for your own happiness require the most per
fect attention to this hint.

208 * Henry Knox [»78j-
" As I beg leave to consider myself in the light of your dearest
friend, I shall hope to receive letters from you occasionally and that
you will make me the channel of communication to your other friends.
"Your honoured mother has gone to Charleston, South Carolina,
at which place she arrived safely in the month of May last. Previ
ously to her departure, she placed your sister at Bethlehem, in Penn
sylvania, for her education. Your brother Nathanaelis at Lebanon,
in Connecticut, under the care of Colonel Wadsworth.
" I am, my dear Washington,
" Your affectionate friend,
" H. Knox."
Knox had a paternal interest in the lad's prosper
ity and progress as this admirable letter shows.
When young Greene had sailed for France, Knox
wrote to Washington (who also had a lively interest
in the lad's career) to inform him of the departure
of the ship bearing the youngster and his fortunes
to Europe. He added : " It is proposed that he re
turn in about six years. Indeed, this will be long
enough, lest he should receive habits inconsistent
with those necessary to be practised in this country.
He is a lively boy, and with a good education, he
will probably be an honour to the name of his father,
and the pride of his friends."
But alas for the vanity of human expectations!
Young Greene remained in France until the great
upheaval that overthrew the throne of the Bour
bons and set up the Reign of Terror. Returning
to the United States, in 1794, at the earnest solicit
ation of his mother, he joined her at Savannah, and
was accidentally drowned in the Savannah River not
long after his arrival, thus ending a career which,
under the affectionate direction of Washington,

^ss] A Trying Interregnum 209
Lafayette, and Knox, promised so much for his
family and for his country.
Lafayette also had a son named for Washington
— George Washington Lafayette. During the
troublous times of the French Revolution, the
family of Lafayette were proscribed, and the young
man, aided by some of his American friends in Paris,
escaped on board a vessel bound to America.
Reaching Boston in September, 1795, he promptly
reported to General Knox, whose house appears to
have been the refuge of many a distressed foreigner.
Knox wrote to Washington: " The son of M. de
Lafayette is here, accompanied by an amiable
Frenchman as tutor. Young Lafayette goes by
the name of Motier, concealing his real name, lest
some injury should arise to his mother, or to a
young Mr. Russell, of this town, now in France,
who assisted in his escape. Your namesake is a
lovely young man, of excellent morals and con
duct." In due course of time, the youngster was
sent by Knox to Mount Vernon, and his name is
not further mentioned in the Knox memoirs.
Knox's letters contain many examples of the
friendly and confiding manner with which he always
addressed his more intimate friends. Thus, to
select almost at random one of these pleasant com
munications, a letter written to the Rev. David Mc-
Clure, one of his old-time playmates, and later the
pastor of a parish in Connecticut, he says:
" Our situations, however, have been widely different. You have
been deeply exploring the natural and moral world, in order to im
press on the minds of your fellow-mortals their relative connection
14

210

Henry Knox

[1788]

with the great scale of intelligent being : leading them by all the
powers of persuasion to happiness and humble adoration of the Su
preme Head of the universe ; while I have been too much entangled
with the little things of a little globe. But, as it is part of my belief
that we are responsible only for the light we possess, I hope we have
both acted our parts in such a manner as that a reflection on the
past will give us more pleasure than pain, and that we shall possess
a well-grounded hope of a happy immortality."

CHAPTER X
IN WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION
1789-1794
HE momentous events of the adoption
of the Constitution, the election of
the first President, the formation of
the new Government, and the selec
tion of the seat of that Government
were accomplished without disorder but not without
much debate and some confusion. The adoption of
the Constitution, attended as it was with acrimonious
discussion, gave occasion for the organisation of two
distinct parties — Federalists and Anti-Federalists.
In the course of time, those who were opposed to
the new Constitution, or to some of its provisions,
found it expedient to adopt a more individual title
than Anti-Federalist; but as the chief " plank " of
their political platform was that which separated
them from the supporters of the new scheme of
fundamental law, they were still proud to be known
as opponents of " the Gilded Trap," as some of
them called the Constitution.
Knox, as we have seen, was a furious Federalist,
211

212 Henry Knox [1789-
and when President Washington formed his Cabinet,
it was natural that the man who was his first and
only choice for Secretary of War under the elder
dispensation of the Confederation should be gladly
invited to continue in that office under the Constitu
tional Government of the Republic. The Cabinet
was so framed as to preserve a judicious balance be
tween the two parties. Hamilton, another ardent
Federalist, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury.
Jefferson, an Anti-Federalist, then on his way home
from France, was Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
as his office was then styled. Congress had author
ised only three executive departments, but an At
torney General was imperatively needed for the
guidance of the Chief Magistrate and his Cabinet
in matters of law, and Edmund Randolph, of
Virginia, who had refused to vote for the adoption
of the Constitution, was appointed to that post.
The postal service of the new Republic was weak
and feeble, and the office of Postmaster-General
was considered of so little importance that Samuel ,
Osgood, of Massachusetts, who discharged the sim
ple duties of that office, was not regarded as a
member of the Cabinet.
The powers and functions of the War Department
were important, though the army of the United
States at that time did not number more than seven
hundred menr There were at least the beginnings
of a navy, and the management of that branch of
the public service was lodged in the hands of the
Secretary of War. He also was charged with the
care of Indian affairs and with the distribution of

¦"'¦' "¦' ' " — _„_„___,   i n iwi-iiu" .'

)

MAJOR-QENERAL HENRY KNOX.
FROM THE PAINTINQ BY EDWARD SAVAQE.

^'^fsff^n^^'^'rm^^^^^^i'^'i^B^-m^^^i

.

pgn&WFi,

MAJOR-QENERAL HENRY KNOX.
FROM THE PAINTINO BV EDWARD SAVAGE.
»794] Washington's Administration 213
the so-called bounty lands among the soldiers who
were entitled thereto.
Under the Confederation the Secretary of War
was entrusted with large executive powers in mili
tary matters, and it may be understood that the
first President assumed that those powers were con
tinued under the Constitution. But a conflict very
soon arose between Knox and the Secretary of the
Treasury, neither of whom was disposed to minimise
the importance of his office. Secretary Hamilton
thought that the purchase of military stores and
supplies was one of the functions of the Treasury
Department. Secretary Knox differed with him,
insisting that the War Department should not only
control the distribution but the purchase of these
materials for military purposes. Hamilton per
suaded Congress to enact a law authorising his de
partment to purchase all supplies for the use of the
War Department in all of its branches. This
anomalous condition of affairs, with some changes,
continued until 1.799, when repeated untoward in
cidents provoked Congress to rescind the action by
which the Treasury Department was charged with
the duty of purveying for the War Department, and
that responsibility was laid upon the Secretary of
War, where it has ever since remained, nominally if
not in fact.
Knox was a persistent advocate of a national
militia system, and the plans which he had sub
mitted to Congress, during the war of the Revolu
tion, were revised and urged by him as Secretary of
War during his first year in office. Those plans

214 Henry Knox [*7«9-
contemplated what was known as the legionary
formation in which all citizens of the United States
between the ages of eighteen and sixty years
were to be enrolled. The legions were to be sub
divided into three classes — " the Advanced Corps,"
"the Main Corps," and the " Reserves." Each
subdivision was to consist of 2880 non-commissioned
officers and privates and 153 commissioned officers;
each legion being commanded by a major-general.
To the average American citizen this system seemed
drastic and costly. There was also abroad, both
during and after the prosecution of the war for in
dependence, a dread of a standing army, to which
an institution like a national militia appeared to be
a plausible introduction. General Benjamin Lin
coln, of Massachusetts, Knox's lifelong and well-
beloved friend, while he cordially approved of
Knox's scheme, warned him that it would be un
popular. Massachusetts, he was confident, would
not adopt it. He wrote to say this emphatically to
the Secretary, and he explained: " The expense,
pay of officers, no pay of men, the burden on mas
ters, calling on the youth indiscriminately, dis
franchisement for a time in certain cases, officers
excluded from actual service, subjection to a draft
for a service of three years, etc., will be magnified
here and damn the bill." The bill, accordingly,
was damned, notwithstanding it had the support of
Washington, who favoured it with frankness if not
with active zeal. A plan embodying less energy and
less burdensomeness was subsequently adopted by
Congress.

1794] Washington's Administration 215
Knox, like many another later statesman, " took
care of his friends." General Lincoln had fallen
upon evil times, and, in a pathetic letter to Knox,
he had explained his financial embarrassments,
which were then so common among the patriotic
men who had spent years of unprofitable service in
the Revolutionary army, and asking his friend's aid
in securing for him the office of United States Mar
shal for Massachusetts. We may suppose that
Knox's efforts brought Lincoln a better place, that
of Collector of the Customs. In a letter from Knox
to Lincoln, dated August, 1790, the Secretary said:
" Although I do not conceive the office of Collector
of the Port of Boston adequate to the merits of my
friend, yet, as it is the best thing that can be offered
at present, I sincerely congratulate you on the
appointment." Subsequently, when Congress authorised the build
ing of six frigates, the work of supervising the
construction of the Constitution, laid down at Bos
ton, was entrusted to Knox's old friend, Colonel
Harry Jackson, who was Navy Agent at that port.
Knox considered it his duty, as it undoubtedly
was his pleasure, to maintain his social standing and
office with all the state that was attainable at that
time. His establishment was costly, if we regard
costs from the point of view of an official with a
meagre salary. In his papers is to be found a memo
randum giving an estimate of his annual expenses
about this time. This curious document, which is
headed " Knox, Mrs. Knox, his brother William,
four or five children, two female servants, one girl

2i 6, Henry Knox [1789-
without wages, and two German boys, indented ser
vants," may give some idea of the scale and cost of
living in those days. The family food is estimated to
cost one pound, " York currency," per day. The
house rent, stable, and taxes are put in at two hun
dred and fifteen pounds a year. The item of wine
is set down at one hundred pounds a year, and there
is a charge of twenty-four extra dinners per year, at
¦five pounds each. " Clothing for self and family "
is set down at one hundred pounds, and the next
larger, item is for " Contingencies, including chari
ties, subscriptions, etc.," for which eighty pounds
ate set apart.
The Knox family first established their home in
New York in the house of " Lady Anne Poettnitz,"
and there is extant a lease between the Secretary of
War and Stephen Sayre, agent of said Lady Anne,
of premises " situated in the bowery lane." Later
in their residence at the temporary capital the family
lived in a house on Broadway. Knox kept two
horses, and the rent of a stable, wages of groom,
and so on, were no inconsiderable item of his ex
penditures. His salary at that time was .£980 per
annum; his total expenses were £1314 16s., leaving
a deficit balance of .£334 16s. on the wrong side of
the ledger. In the careful and neat penmanship of
Secretary Knox is still preserved an annual state-
. ment of the total expenses of the War Department,
which in these later and more extravagant times,
seem ludicrously small. Thus, in the statement for
the year 1793, the total annual expenses of the
department are set down at $7550, of which the

^94] Washington's Administration 217
Secretary's salary, $3000, is the largest item; the
other salaries are $500, each, except that of Frederick
Spn'gg. messenger, who is given one-half that
amount for his annual stipend. At an earlier
period, when Knox was first inducted into office
under the Constitution, five persons drew pay in
the department, and the total sum paid on account
of salaries, including the salary of the Secretary,
was about nine hundred dollars per quarter.
Some of the smaller incidental expenses that are
set down in the accounts of the Secretary, while
living in New York, give us a notion of the customs
and fashions of the time. Mrs. Knox's dresses are
duly charged in the accounts, but are not described
in so minute a- manner as to interest the women of
these days. There is a receipted bill to Knox of
one Anthony Latour, hair-dresser, for three months'
hair-dressing at twenty shillings per month, and in
the same account is a charge of two yards of ribbon
for the tying of the Secretary's queue, and two
pounds of powder for the decoration of his chevelure.
Later in the same year, Latour gives place to J. M.
Land, who charges ninepence for each hair-dressing,
and who brings in a bill for one pot of pomatum and
four pounds of powder consumed in the ornamenting
of the Secretary's hair.
The hair-dressing fashions of the time were ex
travagant in some respects, but the ladies evidently
. bore off the palm, as they do now, for elaborateness.
Dr. Manasseh Cutler, the agent of the Ohio Land
Company of Massachusetts, an organisation in which
Knox was a stockholder, sets down in his journal an

218 Henry Knox [1789-
account of his dining at the house of Secretary
Knox, on which occasion several notables were
present. The repast, he says, was " served in high
style, much to the French taste," perhaps out of
compliment to the Marquis Lotbiniere, who was one
of the guests. Mrs. Knox, he says, was " very
gross," meaning large in person; but her manners,
he adds, were easy and agreeable. Her manner of
dressing her hair, which was very likely the work of
Monsieur Anthony Latour excites the worthy Doc
tor's attention and disgust. He says:
"She seems to mimic the military style, which to me is very dis
gusting in a female. Her hair in "front is craped at least a foot
high, much in the form of a churn bottom upward, and topped
off with a wire skeleton in the same form, covered with black
gauze, which hangs in streamers down her back. Her hair be
hind, is a large braid, and confined with a monstrous crooked
comb." If we were dependent upon Dr. Cutler's account
alone for this glimpse of the strange fashions of
that time, we might suppose Mrs. Knox to have.
been the only " female" who dressed her hair in
this preposterous style. But art has handed down to
us the portraits of numerous women of fashion who,
in those far-off days, employed an expert hair
dresser to build just such fantastic structures upon
their heads.
General Knox and his wife were both conspicuous
in court society at this time, partly on account of
their generous size, and partly on account of their
official station. It is said that Mrs. Washington
rather shrank from the discharge of such public

1794] Washington's Administration 219
social duties as would naturally devolve upon " the
first lady of the land," and that Mrs. Knox was by
no means averse to taking the lead in all semi
official matters. John Adams's married daughter,
Mrs. William S. Smith, who visited New York
during the residence there of the Knox family,
wrote thus to her mother: " General and Mrs.
Knox have been very attentive to us. Mrs. Knox
is much altered from the character she used to have.
She is neat in her dress, attentive to her family, and
very fond of her children. But her size is enormous:
I am frightened when I look at her; I verily believe
that her waist is as large as three of yours at least.
The general is not half so fat as he was." Knox's
weight at this time was about two hundred and
eighty pounds, and his height was a trifle over six
feet. In his The Republican Court, Rufus W. Griswold
says that Mrs. Knox had been one of the heroines
of the Revolution and that she was nearly as well
known in the camp as her husband. Of her position
in New York at the time of which we are writing,
Griswold says:
" She and her husband were, perhaps, the largest couple in
the city, and both were favourites, he for really brilliant convers
ation and unfailing good humour, and she as a lively and meddle
some but amiable leader of society, without whose co-operation
it was believed by many besides herself that nothing could be
properly done in the drawing-room or the ball-room, or any place
indeed where fashionable men and women sought enjoyment."
In New York, as elsewhere, Knox proffered a gen
erous and elegant hospitality that far exceeded in

220 Henry Knox O789-
cost the moderate estimate he made for it in the
memorandum above quoted. Dr. Manasseh Cutler
says in his diary that he dined at Knox's table with
forty-four other gentlemen, and that the entertain
ment " was in the style of a prince." Baron Steu
ben was one of the guests, and every gentleman at
the table, except the diarist, was a member of the
Society of the Cincinnati, and each wore his appro
priate badge.
But the active temperament of Knox did not
waste his energies in social functions, however
gracious a figure he may have been in these during
his term of office. The watchful eyes of the Anti-
Federalists were upon every movement of the
political leaders of the Administration, and every
semblance of the assumption of regal airs and man
ners was eagerly pounced upon by these carping
critics as evidence of the ambitious and soaring aims
of Washington and his associates in the Federal
Government. The relations of the President to the
Congress, the style of addressing the Chief Magis
trate, and the rules of etiquette which should regu
late the intercourse of President and Cabinet with
the Congress were all matters of deep concern;
before they were settled, the heartburnings and the
bitterness engendered on both sides were exceed
ingly trying to the temper of moderate and large-
minded men.
Thus the verbal communications of the President
to the Senate were for a long time subject to the
sharpest criticism from the men who were watchful
for invasions of their prerogatives and powers. That

1794] Washington's Administration 221
staunch old Anti-Federalist Senator from Pennsyl
vania, William Maclay, has left on record in his
journals many lively pictures of tilts between the
Executive and the Senate during this formative
period, when the machinery of the Republic was
slowly " finding itself" and settling to its work.
Washington read his messages in person, and when
matters of importance were to be brought before the
Senate by the Executive, the President drove down
to the temporary capitol and discoursed to that
body, accompanied by such members of his Cabinet
as were immediately and officially interested in the
propositions to be presented. As may be readily
supposed, these visits were anticipated by the mem
bers of the opposition with suspicion and aversion.
Secretary Knox was actively engaged in promoting
the negotiation of treaties of amity between the
Federal Government and the Indian tribes, then
slowly coming into the relationship of wards of the
young nation. On one occasion, when President
Washington sought the advice and consent of the
Senate concerning one of these treaties, he went to
the Senate by appointment, taking the Secretary of
War with him. The appearance of Knox seems
to have excited the ire of the Anti-Federalists, one
of whom, Maclay, says that it was apparent that
Washington wished " to tread on the necks of the
Senate," and that " he sat there, with his Secretary
of War, to support his opinions and overawe the
timid and neutral part of the Senate." Up to that
time, no member of the Cabinet had made an oral
communication to either branch of Congress, but

222 Henry Knox [1789-
Knox, in answer to a question from a Senator, who
desired to know when General Lincoln could be
brought thither, . answered "Not till Saturday
next." Maclay italicises this four- word reply; and,
so far as history has recorded the doings of those
days, this was the first, last, and only time when a
member of the Cabinet personally addressed that
august body, the United States Senate.
Maclay, who speaks of the "sullen dignity"
of the Father of his Country, the " silly laugh " of
John Adams, and the " bacchanalian figure " of
Secretary Knox, was subsequently able to record
the gradual cessation of these personal visits of the
President and his advisers; and " the shamefaced-
ness," which the diarist complains kept everybody
silent in the presence of the President, had no excuse
for continuance in the Senate.
It was the custom for the members of the Cabinet
to give the President their views in writing when
his messages were to contain reference to matters
within the purview of their respective departments.
Thus Knox's humane and temperate views as to the
policy to be pursued towards the Indian tribes are
to be found among the papers of Washington and of
Knox. In minutes for the President's message to
Congress, in October, 1791, the Secretary advocated
that segregation of the Indian lands which, in these
later days, has engaged the attention of American
statesmen. He also recommended an impartial
administration of justice towards the Indians, and
argued that generous treatment of them and condign
punishment of lawless men who infringed upon the

1794] Washington's Administration 223
rights of these people would win the allegiance of
the wards of the nation and secure lasting peace
with them. The generous side of Knox's nature is
apparent in his observation: " A system producing
the free operation of the mild principles of religion
and benevolence towards an unenlightened race of
men would be at once economical and highly
honourable to the national character."
In August, 1790, a deputation of the Creek In
dians were induced to visit the capital, and Knox, as
sole commissioner of the United States, negotiated
with them a treaty by which extensive tracts of
land, claimed by Georgia, were relinquished to that
State. The Creeks, by their incursions into Georgia
and East Tennessee, had caused great and continual
uneasiness to the white people. On behalf of their
nation, Alexander McGillivray and twenty-three
other chiefs now promised to maintain a policy of
peace and amity for all time to come. McGillivray,
• by way of reward for his services, was commissioned
a brigadier-general in the army of the United States.
One of the defences of East Tennessee in those
troublous times was Fort Knox, named in honour
of the Secretary of War. The fortification has long
since disappeared from the face of the earth, but
Knoxville remains to perpetuate the name cf the
illustrious man who did so much to pacify the red
men who once roved those regions.
The first act of the Governor (William Blount)
and judges of " the territory south of the river
Ohio," now Tennessee, was the establishment, in
June, 1792, of Knox County. The patriotism of

224 Henry Knox [1789-
the commissioners gave the names of Washington,
Jefferson, Sullivan, Greene, Knox, Monroe, Sevier,
Hamilton, and other military heroes and statesmen,
to the early framed counties of the territory, and
Knoxville became the capital of the young State.
General Knox was an early and strenuous advo-
cate of the building of a navy. His mind reached
forward to the growing necessities and the looming
prosperity of the young Republic. He also zealously
advocated the construction of a chain of fortifica
tions for the better defence of our extensive seaboard
against attacks from without. The timid and the
conservative held their breath with awe at the dis
closure of the far-reaching and costly plans of the
Secretary of War. The Cabinet was divided in
opinion on the subject, and it is worthy of remark
that Jefferson, the malignant Anti-Federalist, was
Knox's supporter in his strenuous exertions to carry
his measures.
But the poverty of the treasury and the fixed
popular prejudice against everything resembling
extensive military preparations and operations de
feated Knox's patriotic plans, for a time. The
depredations of the Algerine pirates, the enslave
ment of American citizens by these cruel barbarians,
and their threatened destruction of American com
merce in the Mediterranean (under the unfriendly
aid of Great Britain), moved Congress to speedy
action. In response to Washington's message of
March 3, 1794, Congress authorised the construc
tion, or purchase, of six frigates, or of a naval force
. which should not be less than that number of

1794] Washington's Administration 225
frigates, no vessel to be equipped with less than
thirty-two guns. The long-continued depredations
of the pirates of northern Africa enforced at last the
passionate arguments of the Secretary of War.
The famous names of the Constitution, the President,
the United States, the Chesapeake, the Constellation,
and the Congress made up the list of these first
frigates ordered by Congress to be built. Under
Knox's administration their keels were laid ; under
the management of his successor, Timothy Picker
ing, they were largely constructed, and they were
completed and launched during the tenure of office
of Secretary of War McHenry. The system of coast
and harbour defences was authorised by Congress
about this time, and the forts and batteries so
ardently asked for by Secretary Knox were in a
condition of tolerable efficiency when the Republic
of the United States was called upon to defend itself
against Great Britain, in 1812.
Meanwhile (in 1791), after much wrangling and
log-rolling, the seat of the National Government was
removed from New York to Philadelphia. Knox,
whose stay in the Cabinet was not to be much
longer continued, for a time occupied a house be
longing to John Adams, and in a letter from the
Secretary to the Vice-President, written in June of
the year of removal, Knox takes occasion to thank
Adams for the use of the house, situated on Bush
Hill, in what were then the suburbs of Philadelphia.
" While the inhabitants of this city," says the Sec
retary, " are gasping for breath like a hunted
hare, we experience in the hall at Bush Hill a
>5

226 Henry Knox [1789-
delightful and animating breeze — a little heated,
however. ' '
Near the close of Knox's term of office, the
country was vexed and harassed by the episode of
Citizen Genet, the feather-headed French Envoy
who strove to embroil the United States with Great
Britain by lending money and furnishing to France
other means of making war. One of his attempts
upon the Secretary of War was made with the in
tention of securing from Knox an underhanded and
secret use of some of the resources of his depart
ment in the prosecution of his belligerent designs
against Great Britain. It was in vain that the argu
ments of Genet were forced upon the immovable
Secretary. Knox made a minute of the conversa
tion which he had had with Genet, and this he
showed to the President.
The conversation took place, according to the
date of the memorandum, June 7, 1793. Genet said
that French ships had appeared off Martinique and
Guadaloupe, in need of arms and ammunition, and
that if the War Department of the United States
would furnish these to the vessels, Genet would
guarantee that the cost of the same should be de
ducted from the debt due from the United States to
France. There were long arguments on both sides
of this strange proposition, but Knox's final reply
was to the effect that such a transaction would be a
violation of neutrality to which Great Britain would
enter objections. He also insisted that the Presi
dent had not the power to order such a transaction.
On the back of the memorandum which sets forth

*794] Washington's Administration 227
Genet's arguments and Knox's replies, is endorsed
in Knox's handwriting, " Read to the President of
the U. S. the before recited conversation, in the
presence of the Secretary of the Treasury." The
President approved the reasons that had been given
to M. Genet for Knox's refusal to comply with his
requests; and the endorsement further specifies that
Washington emphatically approved Knox's asser
tion that the President had no authority to direct
the Secretary of War to do the things requested of
him by Genet ; and that such acts would be a clear
violation of the neutrality so lately proclaimed by
the United States, apropos of the hostilities pending
between France and Great Britain. In due season,
Monsieur Genet ran his erratic course, and, after
sowing seeds of discord which long after bore a
plentiful crop, he departed in disgrace from our
shores. The last year of Knox's administration of the
War Department was marked by another unhappy
complication. The three western counties of Penn
sylvania rose in rebellion against certain acts of Con
gress providing for the imposition and collection of
taxes on whiskey. The so-called Whiskey Insur
rection was a forcible attempt to resist the execu
tion of a law of Congress. The distillers and their-
sympathisers protested that the tax was excessive,
and that the provision requiring them to cross the
mountains and pay that tax, or otherwise answer for
non-compliance with the provisions of the law, was
an insufferable hardship. Congress endeavoured to
ameliorate the burden of the law so far as it related

.228 Henry Knox [1789-
to the collection of taxes and the compulsory jour
ney of non-paying distillers from one end of the State
to the other; but there still remained the obnoxious
provision which gave to the Federal courts, and not
to State courts, sole jurisdiction of all excise cases.
The malcontents armed themselves, defied the law
and the Federal Government, and drove its officers
and outspoken supporters across the mountains.
Assembling on Braddock's Field, the insurrection
ists organised themselves into an armed mob and
swore to accomplish dreadful things. Through the
War Department the President called upon the
States of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and
New Jersey for troops to assist in the suppression
of the rebellion. The militia called out by pro
clamation were to number 12,950. Another pro
clamation by the President warned the rebels to
desist and disperse. Washington took the field in
person, and he gave audience to a commission from
the insurrectionists who endeavoured to stay the
progress of the troops and secure from the President
the promise of a let-alone policy. It was in vain;
the troops marched on, and, although bloodshed,
riot, and incendiarism were rife in the disaffected
counties, that march of the volunteer militia so dis
mayed the rebels that the insurrection was over in
sixty days, and Washington returned to the national
capital. Only two of the malcontents were con
victed of treason; and these were subsequently
pardoned by President Washington. The response
of the States to the call for troops was prompt and
cordial. The " invasion " of Pennsylvania by armed

1794] Washington's Administration ^229
men from Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey, to
enforce the laws of the United States, was the first
instance of its kind in history; and the first forcible
attempt to resist the authority of the officers of the
Republic ended in defeat and confusion.
Events like these, we may be certain, did not
lessen Knox's official energy, nor yet turn away his
thoughts from his plan for retiring to private life.
He found real pleasure in the activities of his
station, and his desire to serve his country was
always keen and unselfish. But he had long before
determined to return to a private station and devote
some portion of his abundant energies to making
such provision for his young and growing family as
was due to them. His expenses in public life far
exceeded the income from his official emoluments,
and the needs of a large landed estate which be
longed to his wife required his personal supervision.
He was now forty-four years of age, and he had
spent nearly all of his years of manhood in the ser
vice of his country. Two years before, that is to say,
in 1792, he had written to his daughter Lucy to say
that the objects of life did not longer appear to him
as they did when he was in the heyday of his youth.
" All my life," he said, " I have been pursuing illusive bubbles
which burst on being grasped, and 't is high time I should quit
public life and attend to the solid interests of my family, so that
they may not be left dependent upon the cold hand of charity ; and
in order to retire with reputation, it is indispensably necessary that
1 should not afford subject for calumny to feed upon, by neglecting
for a moment the services belonging to my station. I wish for ease,
but in order to enjoy it, I must make some exertions for pecuniary
objects."

230 Henry Knox [1789-
It is likely that the death of his well-beloved friend,
General Nathanael Greene, who left a family insuf
ficiently provided for, after a career of the most
honourable and patriotic service, had made some im
pression on the observant mind of Knox. He could
no longer, in time of peace, neglect the interests
of his family. President Washington, from time
to time, had persuaded Knox to remain with him
longer, urging him to stay at least until the end of
the presidential term. But Knox finally wrote the
following letter to his illustrious chief :
" Philadelphia, 28 Dec, 1794.
" Sir : — In pursuance of the verbal communications heretofore
submitted, it is with the utmost respect that I beg leave officially
to request you will please to consider that, after the last day of the
present month and year, my services as Secretary for the Department
of War will cease.
" I have endeavoured to place the business of the department in
such a train that my successor may without much difficulty commence
the duties of his station. Any explanations or assistance which he
may require shall be cordially afforded by me.
" After having served my country nearly twenty years, the great
est portion of which under your immediate auspices, it is with
extreme reluctance I find myself- constrained to withdraw from so
honourable a situation.
"'But the indispensable claims of a wife and a growing and
numerous family of children, whose sole hopes of comfortable com
petence rest upon my life and exertions, will no longer permit me to
neglect duties so sacred.
" But, in whatever situation I shall be, I shall recollect your con
fidence and kindness with all the fervour and purity of affection of
which a grateful heart can be susceptible."
Washington to Knox.
" Philadelphia, Dec. 30, 1794.
" Sir,— The considerations which you have often suggested to
me, and are repeated in your letter of the 28th inst., as requiring

1794] Washington's Administration 231
your departure from your present effice, are such as to preclude the
possibility of my urging your continuance in it.
" This being the case, I can only wish that it was otherwise. I
cannot suffer you, however, to close your public service without
uniting, with the satisfaction which must arise in your own mind
from a conscious rectitude, my most perfect persuasion that you have
deserved well of your country. My personal knowledge of your ex
ertions, while it authorises me to hold this language, justifies the
sincere friendship which I have ever borne for you, and which will
accompany you in every situation of life. Being with affectionate
regard, " Always yours,
" Geo. Washington."

CHAPTER XI

THE RETURN OF CINCINNATUS
1795-1800
H E ex-Secretary of War left Philadel
phia on the 1st of June, 1795, for his
estates in the district of Maine.
Tarrying for a while in his native
town of Boston, he was invited to a
public banquet in his honour, and when he reached
Thomaston, Maine, where he had fixed his future
place of residence, he was given a grand welcome
and reception, in which the people of the region
joined to greet with great warmth the famous gen
eral and statesman, their fellow-townsman. A local
historian * says : ,
" The year 1795 is a memorable epoch in the history of this town
and the adjacent country ; made so in consequence of the resignation
of Maj.-Gen. Henry Knox, as Secretary of War under Washington,
and his removal to Thomaston. . . . Wherever Washington
fought, Knox was by his side ; and there can be no higher testimony
to his merits than that, during a war of so long continuance, he uni
formly retained his confidence and esteem. This confidence, before
their separation, had ripened into friendship which was kept up by
* Cyrus Eaton, author of History of Thomaston, etc.
232

**v,

¦ nt

... i

- i^nir:

iirir^lfirlimnitalfrt.a'WaifT hm., ., ¦  ..-—¦¦-¦¦  ¦ ¦-  ¦  .....^— -..,.-. ,..-^...,., ^.-^.
"MONTPELIER," THE HOME OF GENERAL KNOX, THOMASTON, MAINE.
»r.,.,»
r.. f,
f

ifc> ii'iinrniiiimii '

oi
l-

i8oo] The Return of Cincinnatus 233
a frequent and affectionate correspondence till discontinued by the
death of Washington."
Knox had previously ordered the building of an
elegant mansion on his estate, and he now took
-possession of the domicile, furnished it in a manner
sumptuous for those primitive days in primitive
Maine, and went heartily to work clearing up the
title and improving trie vast tract of land to which
he had come into possession. Unto this day there
are extant many legends pf the splendour of " Mont
pelier," as Knox dubbed his fine house; and the
original cost of the building was variously reputed
to be anywhere between twenty-five thousand dol
lars and fifty thousand dollars. As a matter of fact,
Knox's own private accounts show that the house
cost about fifteen thousand dollars. It was built at
the head of St. George's River, a small stream
emptying into Penobscot Bay. The situation was
one of great beauty and picturesqueness, the site of
the mansion being elevated and surrounded with
native forest trees. In the rear of the building,
which was largely constructed of brick, stone, and
timber from the Knox estate, were a number of
outbuildings, stables, and cook-houses, after the
ample and generous style of the best Virginia home
steads; these were arranged in the form of a cres
cent, and a covered way from a section of these
provided means for communication with the man
sion in all manner of weather. The house long
remained, after the death of its builder, one of the
sights of the region. It is pleasant to remember
that in these quiet and picturesque shades the

Z34 Henry Knox [179
war-worn veteran passed the last and happiest yeaia
of his busy life.
But the General's repose was by no means undis
turbed by cares and vexations. The tract of land
now in possession of Knox was known as the Waldo
patent, and to it Knox added by purchase many
thousand acres. The domain (some thirty miles
square) lay between the Penobscot and Kennebec
rivers, and included the greater part of what is now
the territory of Knox, Waldo, Penobscot, and Lin-.
coin counties. The Waldo patent was originally
issued to General Samuel Waldo, the maternal
grandfather of Mrs. Henry Knox. This soldier was
appointed a brigadier-general by William Shirley,
Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in
1744. He was in command of the forces raised in
the province for the reduction of Louisburg, and
when that important fortified post surrendered to
the British colonial arms, he continued to garrison
Louisburg until relieved by the regular troops.
" All of which was greatly to the detriment of his
private fortune," says General William Pepperell,
acting Governor of Massachusetts, in a certificate
attached to Waldo's petition to the King of Eng
land, praying for a grant of wild land by way of
compensation for his services. Before the grant
could be issued and confirmed, General Waldo died,
and his heirs, Samuel Waldo, Francis Waldo, Isaac
Winsiow and Lucy Waldo (his wife), Thomas
Flucker and Hannah Waldo (his wife), all of Bos
ton, petitioned the King for confirmation of the
royal grant. This secured, the so-called Waldo

igoo] The Return of Cincinnatus 235
patent became the property of the heirs; and event
ually the share of the Flucker family, and then the
entire tract, came into possession of Lucy Flucker
Knox and her husband, partly by inheritance and
partly by purchase.
Knox was also one of the members of the specu
lative organisation known as the Eastern Land As
sociates, Henry Jackson, Royal Flint, and other
friends of the General being united with him in the
purchase of a tract of wild land bought of the Com
monwealth of Massachusetts, in 1792, and bounded
on the south by lands which they had previously
purchased ; on the west by a line six miles from the
east branch of the Penobscot River; on the east
by the Schoodic River; north by the Canada line.
For this immense tract the purchasers were to pay
the Commonwealth twenty-five cents an acre, of
which gross sum $5000 was to be paid within thirty
days, and the remainder in payments of $30,000
per annum; bonds and securities were given by
the buyers for the faithful performance of this
contract. Speculation in the wild lands of Maine was then
rife, and extravagant stories of the hidden wealth
of the region had induced many settlers and pur
chasers to take up as many acres as they could
secure " by hook or by crook." When Knox ac
quired his first interest in the Waldo patent he sent
thither one Monsieur Monvel, " a judicious young
French gentleman who had been educated in the
Royal Academy at Paris," to explore the region to
discover its wealth in ores and minerals. It does

236 Henry Knox [ws-
not appear that he found anything more valuable
than excellent beds of limestone, a product of which
the proprietor made use when he established himself
on his purchase.
Knox was greatly bothered by the incursions of
squatters upon his land, and as many of these were
Revolutionary veterans who had " located " their
claims under bounty-land warrants upon the Waldo
patent, in possible ignorance of their trespassing on
private property, the embarrassments of the general -
were doubled. By his firmness and gentleness, as
well as by his generous treatment of the interlopers,
he secured most of them in their holdings without
serious damage to himself. A more difficult class
to deal with were the lawless invaders who squatted
upon his lands, shot at the surveyors sent to run
boundary lines, and generally carried themselves in
an exasperating and unfriendly manner towards the
rightful proprietor. Vilifying attacks were made
upon Knox in the public prints, and at least one of
these attained the dignity of a published pamphlet
entitled The Unmasked Nabob of Hancock County.
Hancock County, whose western boundary is the
Penobscot River, then extended over what is now
a part of Waldo and Penobscot counties, on the
west bank of that stream.
Another prolific source of difficulty was the defini
tion of boundary lines where islands were concerned.
The Waldo patent gave to the grantee all islands
within a certain distance of the mainland ; but where
a part of the island was without that limit and a part
within it, litigation arose, as in the case of Long

x8oo] The Return of Cincinnatus 237
Island, Penobscot Bay, a part of which lay within
the line of the patent ; and a similar embarrassment
arose where the title to Brigadier's Island conflicted
with that of the actual settlers. In the case of the
Long Islanders, the General Court of Massachusetts
enacted a law to quiet title by impartial appraise
ment, and purchase by the settlers; and Knox
bought outright the holdings of the men on Briga
dier's Island.
It is not surprising that General Knox, with these
vexatious and expensive lawsuits on his hands
added to the burdens which he had assumed in his
vast purchases, became embarrassed in his financial
arrangements. As early as 1792, when he was deep
in his land speculations, he had recourse to his
steadfast friend, Mr. William Duer, with whom his
transactions in that year amounted to more than
$29,000. Duer was a staunch Federalist, a man of
wealth, and the writer of at least three papers in The
Federalist ; he was a friend beloved by both Knox
and Hamilton. Another of Knox's comrades who
was involved in his disastrous speculations was
Colonel " Harry " Jackson, who, with General Ben
jamin Lincoln, endorsed heavily the notes of Knox.
These men, however, were amply secured by bonds
and mortgages, and they were eventually able to
make good their temporary losses. In the Knox
Papers is to be found a memorandum of notes and
bonds given by the General to Lincoln, June 17,
1797, the gross sum being $56,000.
While Knox .was building his house in Thomas
ton, he wrote an entertaining letter to his friend

238 Henry Knox • [»ras-
Jackson in which he described the budding magni
ficence of the mansion. Then, passing to the con
sideration of the habits of one of Jackson's sons,
whose education had been entrusted to him, Knox
says:
" I have considered your son as very extravagant in the article
of clothing, and without the least economy as it respects them,
and unless he is put under some control {he has no idea of the
value of money), his expenses would exceed all bounds. ... I
have no doubt but his expense for clothing is more than the sum,
of any lad at the academy at the same time."
This glimpse of the extravagance and prodigality of
a lad in private school, given by the pen of his much-
vexed guardian, is ended by the further remark of
Knox that he has " directed that the lad's expend
itures be checked by the preceptor," which, he
thinks, " Master Harry will find irksome."
Some years later, writing to his friend, Joseph
Peirce, of Boston, Knox casually touches upon his
troubles with another lad for whose well-being he
has become responsible. This youngster appears to
have been one of several of his wife's nephews who
had returned from England to America. Knox
apologises for troubling his friend " with the young
Fluckers so much " ; but he sends him Thomas of
that ilk with the request that Mr. Peirce shall, if
possible, aid him in securing for the lad an appoint
ment as midshipman on the frigate Constitution. If
vsuccessful in this, young Flucker will need suit
able clothing, a uniform, a hanger, or short sword,
and other things. Knox plaintively adds, " I
don't know what to do with him if he fails of the

- .,, ^-^A*-"^.

^

\

MAJOR-QENERAL BENJAMIN LINCOLN.

MAJOR-QENERAL BENJAMIN LINCOLN.

1800] The Return of Cincinnatus 239
appointment." Unfortunately, history does not
record the ultimate fate of young Flucker and his
brothers. Knox's industrial occupations and enterprises, like
everything that he undertook, were on a very large
scale. Lumber, lime, bricks, fish, and other products
were the objects of his untiring and energetic indus
try. Of saw-mills he had no less than five,' and
minute reports of their output, " from fish-time
until the water failed," are given in his papers. His
private list of workmen employed on the estate —
labourers, quarrymen, brickmakers, carpenters,
coopers, blacksmiths, farmers, gardeners, and mill
wrights — shows a total of 103 men. The pay-roll
is not to be found ; but we notice that during one
year, 1798, there were killed on the estate beeves
which yielded over 15,000 pounds of beef, 900
pounds of tallow, and 2500 hides. The sustenance
of an army of workmen and an unceasing stream of
visitors required, it was said, the slaughter of one
beeve and twenty sheep each week, to say nothing
of the fish, fowls, game, and other lesser articles of
food that were daily consumed at Montpelier.
Local tradition, which still lingers lovingly over the
fleeting splendours of the Knox mansion, further
sets forth the fact that one hundred beds were made
every day in that hospitable abode. Abating much
from these extravagant legends, it is evident that
the Knox establishment, with its adjuncts of ship
building, brick-making, quarrying, and farming,
must have been a costly experiment in the hands of
our generous and expansive Cincinnatus. In the

240 Henry Knox tr795-
course of time the experiment succeeded ; but at its
earliest stages, it nearly bankrupted General Knox
and many of his friends.
A pioneer, to a certain extent, in the wilds of
Maine, Knox was the first to introduce many feat
ures of social life that were novel in those parts.
His wife's piano was the first brought into the region.
His library, which was the second largest in Maine,
comprised nearly sixteen hundred volumes, of which
about one-fourth were in the French language. His
entertainments were on a scale as much larger as his
Thomaston house exceeded in size the humbler
domicile which he occupied in " the bowery lane,"
New York. At his house-warming, on Independ
ence Day, 1795, five hundred people came jn answer
to a general and generous invitation for all the in
habitants of the locality to be the guests of General
and Mrs. Knox. The entire Tarratine clan of the
Penobscot Indians were his guests for days and
weeks, and after feasts of beef, pork, corn, and
bread had exhausted the General's larder, if not his
patience, it was needful for him to say to the chief,
" Now we have had a good visit, and you had better
go home."
Knox sedulously searched for the best forest trees
indigenous to Maine for the embellishment of his
grounds. Brigadier's Island, which he bought of
¦ the men who had squatted there on his own pro
perty, he utilised as a fancy stock farm for the breed
ing of imported cattle. His superintendent was
Captain Thomas Vose, formerly commanding in the
Continental artillery,and highly esteemed by General

isoo] The Return of Cincinnatus 241
Knox. Captain Vose eventually became a partner
with General Knox in the extensive trading and
manufacturing business in which he was engaged.
In a letter, a model of its kind, written to this
good man by his employer, in September, 1794,
Knox says :
" Having with great satisfaction viewed the progress of the build
ing of my house under your direction, aided by the industry and
exertion of Messrs. Simpson & Hersy, and Messrs. Dunton and
Cushing [architects], I conceive it a matter of duty to thank you
particularly for your care and attention in the arduous task imposed
upon you, and to express to them my approbation of their conduct ;
for your time and trouble in this business, I shall be desirous of mak
ing you satisfactory compensation."
Among the visitors who were lodged under the
ample roof of the retired soldier and statesman were
many distinguished men from beyond the seas.
Talleyrand, Louis Philippe, the Count de Beaumetz,
the Duke de Liancourt Rochefoucauld, and Alex
ander Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton, were of
these famous men. The Duke de Liancourt was an
unfortunate e'migre' whose poverty was so dire that
he was forced to accept from his friend Knox sun
dry much-needed replenishments of his personal
wardrobe. It is related of him that he once said to
a sympathising American companion, " I have
three dukedoms on my head, and not one whole coat
on my back! "
During the acrimonious dispute which engaged
the attention of the United States and France,
in 1797, the Duke de Liancourt wrote to Knox a
kindly letter in which he told the General of rumours
16

242 Henry Knox tos-
affecting Knox's attitude towards France. In his
reply, Knox said:
" Under every vicissitude of human affairs I shall love and esteem
you as a brother. You are not truly informed of my having a hatred
for the French nation. Their great qualities of gallantry and mag
nanimity are above, far above, my eulogy. But as it relates to this
country, they are acting under a mistaken impression of our being
attached to the British nation. I hope time and better information
will lessen the resentment of France against this country ; it cannot
be for their happiness or ours that we should quarrel."
During the latter years of his life, and while he
was engaged in the multifarious occupations of
farmer, manufacturer, and stock-raiser, General
Knox found time to take a hand in public affairs
and to review some of the matters which had come
under his observation during his term of official life.
Thus he was appointed on the commission to as
certain the true situation of the river St. Croix,
which, under existing treaties, was the eastern
boundary of the United States. In 1801 he was
chosen a member of the General Court of Massa
chusetts, and in 1804 he was appointed one of
the Governor's Council and was often consulted
by Strong, the Chief Executive of the Common
wealth. National commerce also became the object of his
solicitude, and he busied himself with an elaborate
compilation of returns showing that the tonnage of
vessels employed in trade between Great Britain and
the United States, before the Revolutionary War,
amounted to 65,058, or 497 vessels. Of these, 165
vessels, of 21,686 tons, were the property of the

ispo] The Return of Cincinnatus 243
colonists. After the war was over, the General
found that 261 vessels were engaged in the same
trade, with a tonnage of 52,595, of which 163 ves
sels, of 26,564 tonnage, were the property of Ameri
can owners. The project of a canal across Cape Cod,
to connect the waters of Buzzard's Bay and Barn
stable Bay, also gave him a topic for discussion and
careful estimates of the costs. It was estimated
that the total cost, including piers, bridges, etc.,
would be £70,707 lay. In his papers also are found
minute plans of a harbour-defence craft, or floating
battery, submitted to his inspection and afterwards
examined and commented upon by him in his retire
ment. In 1787 his attention was attracted to the increas
ing demand for copper, and he was one of a company
organised for the purpose of mining for that metal.
The company of which he was a member contracted
with the Government of the United States for the
delivery to the agents of said Government of stipu
lated amounts of copper, which was to be coined
under certain conditions. The copious memoranda,
which are in Knox's handwriting, do not show that
-operations under the contract ever amounted to
anything. .
His charities were extensive, and, although he
was at times cramped in his vast financial opera
tions, he was ever liberal with his contributions.
He was by profession a Unitarian, but he gave
generously to a church building in Thomaston
which was to be occupied by any denomination of
Christians who might choose to take it for occasional

244 Henry Knox 1*795-
use in the fitful religious ministrations of those days
when sparse settlements and imperfect means of
communication prevented regular" stated worship."
He gave to that church a Bible and a bell. In his
papers is found a bill from Paul Revere for the cast
ing of said bell, which weighed 683 lbs. and cost 85
pounds, 7 shillings, and 6 pence. For the engrav
ing of a motto on the same the charge was fifteen
shillings. Some years after Knox's death, the bell
was cracked, and it was sent to Boston to be recast.
It still bears the name of Paul Revere, still swings
in the steeple where it has hung for so many years;
but the legend selected by Knox was omitted in
the recasting, and we are left without any hint of its
pertinence. Among the General's papers is one,
evidently written by him at the request of some of
his friends, entitled " The Duties of a Christian
Minister," in which the deportment, personal char
acter, and parochial functions, rather than the pulpit
exercises of the minister, are descanted upon by the
writer. He also drew up and headed with fifty dollars a
subscription for the relief of the " four amiable
daughters of the Compte de Grasse, in recognition
of the services of De Grasse at Yorktown," etc.,
these ladies being then in the West Indies where
they were in great financial straits. Knox was a
subscriber to the publications of Noah Webster;
and to the extent of his ability he was a patron
of the fine an:s. He drew a bill for Congress to
authorise the purchase of certain paintings by John
Trumbull, of Connecticut, " illustrative of the late

i8oo] The Return of Cincinnatus 245
important revolution which secured the independ
ence of the United Sta'es." The preamble to the
bill declared that " the encouragement of the arts
and sciences has been justly esteemed honourable
and worthy of the wisest and most enlightened
^nations " ; and the Secretary of the Treasury was to
be authorised to purchase said paintings and con
trol the engraving of the same. The scheme fell
through on account of the discovery of the inability
of the Government to house them in any gallery or
other public place. But Congress, in 1816, did
order the purchase of four paintings at $8000 each.
These were The Signing of the Declaration of Inde
pendence, The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at York-
town, The Surrender of Burgoyne, and Washington
Resigning his Commission to Congress. In the Knox
Papers is a receipt for three guineas, paid by the
General for two prints executed in London by An
thony C. Poggie, engraver, from Trumbull's paint
ings representing the death of Montgomery and the
battle of Bunker Hill, and dated November 10,
1788. John Trumbull and Anthony C. Poggie
united in signing this receipt.
During this period, so filled with miscellaneous
activities and cares, General Knox maintained an
active correspondence with all the leading spirits of
the American Revolution, whether living in this
country or in Europe. The letters of Washington
to Knox are characterised by the same affectionate-
ness and intimacy that always constituted the
chief charm of the correspondence of these two
great men. When Washington, on the eve of his

246 Henry Knox C*ws-
departure from the national capital, in 1797, re
viewed his closing years of administration, he wrote
to Knox, who had recently suffered bereavements
by deaths, the following interesting letter:
" Philadelphia, March 2, 1797.
41 My dear Sir :
" Among the last acts of my political life, and before I go hence
into retirement profound, will be the acknowledgement of your kind
and affectionate letter from Boston, dated the 25th of January.
" From the friendship I have always borne you, and from the in
terest I have ever taken in your prosperity & happiness, I participated
in the sorrows which I know you must have felt for your heavy losses.
But it is not for man to scan the wisdom of Providence. The best
he can do, is to submit to its decrees. Reason, Religion, & Philo
sophy teaches us to do this, but 't is time alone that can ameliorate
the pangs of humanity & soften its woes.
" To the wearied traveller who sees a resting-place and is bending
his body to lean thereon, I now compare myself ; but to be suffered
to do this in peace is, I perceive, too much to be endured by some. '
To misrepresent my motives ; to reprobate my politics ; and to
weaken the confidence which has been reposed in my administration
are objects which cannot be relinquished by those who will be satis
fied with nothing short of a change in our political System. The
consolation, however, which results from conscious rectitude, and
the approving voice of my Country, unequivocally expressed by its
Representatives, deprives their sting of its poison, and places in the
same point of view both the weakness and the malignity of their"
efforts. " Although the prospect of retirement is most grateful to my soul,
and I have not a wish to mix again in the great world or to partake
of its politics, yet, I am not without my regrets at parting with (per
haps never more to meet), the few intimates whom I love, — among
those be assured you are one.
" The account given by Mr. Bingham,* and others, of your agree
able situation at St. George's gave me infinite pleasure ; and no one

* Senator Wm. Bingham of Pennsylvania, an intimate friend of
Knox's.

isoo] The Return of Cincinnatus 247
wishes more sincerely than I do that they may increase with your
years. The remainder of my life (which in the course of nature
cannot be long), will be occupied in rural amusements, and though
I shall seclude myself from the noisy and bustling crowd, none more
than myself would ba regaled by the company of those I esteem, at
Mount Vernon, more than 20 riiiles from which, after I arrive there,
it is not likely I shall ever be."
After describing the events which are to take
place during the following week, when he is to give
formal farewell of the diplomatic corps, the heads
of the departments, etc., Washington says he will
witness the inauguration of his successor, Mr. John
Adams, and then take his leave. He thus concludes :
" Mrs. Washington unites with me in every good wish for you,
Mrs. Knox, and family ; and with truth, I am yours always and
affectionately, Geo. Washington."
Twelve children were born to General and Mrs.
Knox. Of these, nine died in infancy or at an
early age. One son, Harry Jackson, lived to matur
ity and was married, but died without issue, so that
the name of Knox disappeared from his direct line of
descent. Two daughters, Lucy Flucker and Caro
line, survived their parents. Lucy, the eldest, born
in 1776, married Mr. Ebenezer Thatcher ; and
Caroline married first, James Swan, of Dorchester,
Mass., and, second, John Holmes, of Alfred, Maine,
who was the first United States Senator elected
from that State. Harry Jackson Knox was nomin
ated a midshipman in the United States navy,
during his father's lifetime, but failed of confirm
ation by the Senate. He did, however, subsequently
enter the navy, and his after-life was eccentric and

248 Henry Knox [1795-
not altogether creditable to the illustrious name he
bore. In his last years, he became deeply religious,
and he regarded with remorse his misuse of time and
his failure to sustain the dignity of the Knox family.
In token of this repentance, he directed that he
should be buried in the Thomaston burying-ground
in a grave of great depth, and that no memorial
should mark his last resting-place. This request
was carried out, and only an iron fence denotes the
spot where he was entombed.
The Columbia Centincl, of April 27, 1796, noting
the death of two of the Knox children, who were
taken on the same- day, says: " Seven healthy,
blooming children have been torn almost as sud
denly from the same fond parents, who, with lacer
ated hearts, hang over the bed of another child,
labouring under the same disease." The fatal dis
temper which wrought so much grief in the Knox
household was then known as " putrid sore throat " ;
and is now better known and more successfully
treated as diphtheria. The same newspaper, sub
sequently chronicling the death of the child who
was ill when her brother and sister were taken away,
said: " To s,upport the death of so lovely a child,
added to the loss of eight others, requires the com
bined efforts of Reason, Philosophy, and Religion;
for she possessed all the amiable qualities o'. the head
and heart, to promise the highest satisfaction and
comfort to her friends and parents." I.i the Centi-
nel, a few days later, appears a tendc and sympa
thetic elegiac poem, inscribed Aux manes de Julia
Knox from the pen of " A Scientific Foreigner."

i8oo] The Return of Cincinnatus 249
Among the numerous correspondents of General
Knox none was more intimate and confiding than
John Adams, the second President of the United
States. We have seen how confidential was this
statesman in his communications with Knox, during
the Revolutionary period. This intimacy was main
tained as long as the two men lived. A letter from
Adams to Knox, written just after the President's
inauguration, is an amusing example of what one of
his biographers* calls his " truculent letters about
men. ' ' Knox had written to Adams congratulating
him on his success in the recent presidential elec
tion. Adams, in his reply, acknowledges that he
would have been mortified if he had been defeated.
" But," he adds, " to see such a character as Jeffer
son, and much more such an unknown Being as
Pinckney, brought over my head and trampling on
the Bellies of hundreds of other Men infinitely his
Superiors in Talents, Services, and Reputation,
filled me with apprehension for the Safety of us all.
, . . We should have been set afloat and landed
the Lord knows where." f His reference to Jeffer
son as " the first Prince of the Country and the
Heir Apparent to the Sovereign Authority " is a
caustic comment, and a prophecy to be later ful
filled. The times have not greatly changed since
John Adams told Henry Knox that " To a French
man the most important man in the world is him
self, and the most important Nation is France.
He thinks France ought to govern all Nations,
* Rev. Theodore barker.
f See Appendix.

250 Henry Knox [^s-
and that he ought to govern France." No
wonder that Adams, at the close of this enter
taining epistle, cautions Knox that " This is all in
confidence." But, notwithstanding Adams's aversion to Pinck-
ney, when war with France seemed inevitable, in
1798, he found it necessary * to appoint this " un
known Being " to a major-generalship in the provis
ional army then raised. Washington was appointed
lieutenant-general, and Alexander Hamilton, C;
C. Pinckney, and Henry Knox major-generals, in
the order thus given. How far Knox's old friend,
President Adams, was influenced by others in the
choice which placed him third in the list, cannot
now be ascertained. But Knox, naturally enough,
was mortified and indignant that he should ¦ be
placed after those who had been his juniors in rank
during the late war. Pinckney, on the other hand,
had outranked Hamilton during that war, having
been made a brigadier by brevet just before its
close, whereas Hamilton had never been ranked
higher than lieutenant-colonel. As Pinckney was
then absent in Europe, he was absolved from all
suspicion of having influenced the strange choice of
Adams. And when he heard that Knox was wrath
ful at Pinckney's being second to his own third, he
offered to give place to him; but Knox's continued
* Harrison Gray Otis, who was a Member of Congress at this
time, says in his reminiscences . " Mr. Adams, however, did not
conceal his preference for Knox, nor his chagrin at being overruled;
and he imputed this, not to the decided predilection of Washington,
but to a cabal of his cabinet ministers,"

i8oo] The Return of Cincinnatus 251
indignation subsequently induced Pinckney to with
draw even that offer.
Washington had made his own acceptance of the
lieutenant-generalship conditional on his being first
consulted in the choice of staff and general officers.
It is not certain that he was so consulted in this
instance. Knox wrote to Washington protesting
against a reversal of the order of precedence, and
Washington's reply to his, former chief of artillery
was conciliatory and explanatory, the explanation
being that the army as now organised was not in
any way to be regarded as having any connection
with the old army ; rank was to be determined by
present needs, not by past arrangements. Knox's
letter was sent to Hamilton by Washington, and
Hamilton manifested a disposition to place upon
others the responsibility for this unfortunate com
plication. As Washington had delicately intimated
that he was unwilling to wound the feelings of
Knox, Hamilton wrote to the latter as follows :
" My judgment tells me that I ought to be silent on a certain
subject, but my heart advises otherwise, and my heart has always
been the master of my judgment. Believe me, I have felt much pain
at the idea that any circumstance personal to me should have de
prived the public of your services or occasioned you the smallest
dissatisfaction. Be persuaded, also, that the views of others, not
my own, have given shape to what has taken place, and that there
has been a serious struggle between my respect and esteem for you
and the impression of duty. This sounds, I know, like affectation,
but it is, nevertheless, the truth."
The upshot of the matter was that although Hamil
ton reluctantly offered to leave the arrangements

252 Henry Knox [1795-
wholly in the hands of Washington, Pinckney's
withdrawal of his offer to go below Knox induced
that war-worn veteran to persist in declining any
place in the provisional army ; Adams's Cabinet
insisted that Pinckney should outrank Hamilton,
and it was not until Washington intimated that a
failure to place Hamilton above Pinckney would be
regarded by himself as a breach of an existing
agreement, that Hamilton's preference was ac
quiesced in by the President's advisors. Knox still
remained the Cincinnatus of his fields, devoting his
energies to redeeming them from debt. In a letter
to Washington, in 1799, he said: " I am here [at
Thomaston], and should be more happy in my pur
suits thart I have ever been, were some embarrass
ments entirely dissipated. But this will require
time. My estate, with indulgence, is competent,
and greatly more, to the discharge of every cent I
owe. ... I pray that your days on earth may
be days of felicity, without clouds, sickness, or
sorrow. ' '
This letter was dated December 22d, eight days
after the illustrious Washington had breathed his
last. But the slowness with which the mails were
then carried about the country had kept Knox in
ignorance of the event that deprived the young Re
public of the advice and counsel of Washington.
Three months later, writing to his old friend, Gen
eral David Cobb,* who, at one time, had been a
* David Cobb was a member of the Massachusetts Provincial Con
gress, 1775 ; 2d Lieutenant-Colonel in the Massachusetts Regular
Militia from May to December, 1775 ; Lieutenant-Colonel in 16th

i8oo] The Return of Cincinnatus 253.
member of his military family, he expressed himself
as entirely reconciled to the dignified exit of their
former chieftain. He said of Washington: " He
exhibited a most glorious setting sun; and the
people of the United States have exhibited human
nature in its brilliant attitudes by their gratitude.
His death and the testimonials of respect will be an
excellent stimulus to future patriotism." Knox
was by no means thus self-contained when the
tidings of the tragical death of his much-loved
Hamilton came to him, in July, 1804. The bluff
man of war broke out into a most violent and un
controllable agony of grief and tears.
General Cobb, like several others of the Revolu
tionary worthies, sought to recover his wasted
fortunes by taking up his residence in the promising
land of the District of Maine. In a letter to Knox,
to which the above quotation was written in reply,
Cobb referred to his downcast condition of mind;
whereupon Knox says:
"You mention that your spirits are not good. For God's sake
bear up against the devil of Gloom. Put yourself in motion. Visit

Massachusetts Continental Infantry ; Lieutenant-Colonel in Col.
Harry Jackson's regiment, from Jan. 12, 1777, to Dec. 31, 1780;
Lieutenant-Colonel gth Massachusetts Continental Infantry, 1781 ;
Aide to General Washington from 1781 to 1783 ; Lieutenant-Colonel
commanding 5th Regular Massachusetts Line, 1783; Brevet-Briga
dier-General, Sept. 30, 1783; and served to the close of the war.
He» was later chosen to fill two terms of Lieutenant-Governor of
Massachusetts, and then two terms in the National Congress from
the Bristol district of that State. He was serving as judge at Taun
ton during the Shays rebellion and made for himself a name in the
judicial resistance to the mob.

254

Henry Knox

[1800]

even me if you can find nothing better. Get Willich, a new author
on diet and regimen ; but above all, get — on horseback.
"I shall have bright days yet. My daughter had been there [in
Boston] for two months. She returned with me. Mrs. K. and
Caroline stayed at home, which is to me, after all, the most agreeable
place, provided I had you and a few other friends near me.
" Bonaparte, what a glorious fellow ! how completely he has
averted the monster anarchy and mad democracy ! I hope in God
that no fanatic will assassinate him, which is to be dreaded."
This letter, it should be said, was written in
March, 1800, while Napoleon Bonaparte was yet
First Consul, and nine months before the attempt
was made to kill him with an infernal machine.

>^3

CHAPTER XII

A BUSY LIFE ENDED

1806

E have seen how the advent of General
Knox into the community where he
had fixed his residence was regarded
as an event of moment. The natural
expectations of the people of
Thomaston were not disappointed. The dominat
ing personality of the retired soldier and statesman
very soon exerted a pervasive influence in every
activity of the country, whether social, industrial,'
political, or religious. His was a commanding
figure, and the ample generosity of his house set
the pace, as it were, for those whose social life even
distantly imitated his own. His multifarious enter
prises gave employment to a host of men, quickened
the pulses of trade and commerce, and stimulated
the productive energies of a considerable stretch of
sea-coast. His positive opinions and zealous public
spirit gave him a preponderating influence in the
politics of the time; and in all matters pertaining
to the maintenance of religious ordinances and
255

256 Henry Knox [i**
beneficent organisations, Knox's hand and Knox's
name were always foremost. The death of such a man
meant the withdrawal of an energising force from
the concerns of a thrifty and growing community.
The end of his useful career, which came to his
neighbours and fellow-citizens like a sudden calam
ity, fell on the 25th of October, 1806. The General
inadvertently swallowed a small fragment of chicken
bone, which, lodging in the intestinal system, caused
mortification and death. In the midst of his mature
years, his strenuous labours were abruptly discon
tinued ; the inventive brain and diligent hand rested
from their labours.
General Knox's funeral took place on the 28th
of the month, and was celebrated with military
honours. After services in the mansion, a long
procession, headed by an artillery company, a com
pany of cavalry, and one of infantry, escorted the
remains of the veteran soldier to the tomb which
had been constructed under the General's favourite
oak tree, on his own domain. There were the
usual military exercises at the grave— volleys of
musketry and lowering of standards. The concourse
of sincerely mourning citizens was very large, and
the journals of the day published in various parts of
New England, vied with each other in paying tributes
of honour and respect to the hero, who, after years of
arduous service " in the imminent deadly breach "
and in the tented field, rested tranquilly in the syl
van shade of his beloved Montpelier. Later changes
in the management and ownership of the estate
necessitated frequent removals of this burial-place,

i

*

' /?

f

fl

;1

L. !>.,— -,

THE GRAVE OF HENRY KNOX AT THOMASTON, MAINE.

<
szoh
<s o

l806] A Busy Life Ended 257
and the last removal left the grave of the General in
the cemetery which he had, in his lifetime, given to
the town of Thomaston. A severely plain shaft
of limestone is placed over the grave with this
inscription :

THE TOMB
OF
MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY KNOX,
WHO DIED OCT. 25TH, 1806,
AGED 56 YEARS.
" 'T is Fate's decree ; Farewell, thy just renown,
The Hero's honour, and the good Man's crown."
On the south side of the same column are carved
the names of Mrs. Lucy Knox, widow, who died in
1824, and Caroline Holmes (daughter of General
Knox and wife of Hon. John Holmes), who died in
185 1. The graves of Senator Holmes and General
Knox's second son are within the same enclosure.
Senator Holmes's grave is unmarked. In one of the
public squares of Alfred, Maine, in which town the
Senator spent the best years of his life, is a monu
ment to his memory.
The General's will had for its preamble the follow
ing unique sentence, in which the testator, after the
fashion of those times, declared his religious belief:
" Know all men by these presents that I, Henry Knox of Thomas
ton, county of Lincoln, Mass., but at this time [November 26, 1802]
doing business in Boston, do hereby make and ordain this to be my
17

258 Henry Knox [18°°
last will and testament. First, I think it proper to express my un
shaken opinion in the immortality of my soul, or mind, and to dedi
cate and devote the same to the Supreme Head of the Universe ;
to that great and tremendous Jehovah who created the universal
frame of nature, worlds and systems of worlds in numbers infinite,
and who has given intellectual existence to his rational beings of
each globe, who are perpetually migrating and ascending in the scale
of mind according to certain principles always founded on the great
basis of morality and virtue ; to this sublime and awful Being do I
resign my spirit, with unlimited confidence in his mercy and pro
tection."

Then follow directions for the final disposition of
the estate and personal effects, an inventory of which
showed a valuation (apart from all real estate except
that immediately around the mansion) of $100,000. •
The house and furniture, some of which latter was
very elegant, were valued at $42,656; and the real
estate of Montpelier, with carriages, horses, etc.,
were appraised at $33,000. In the inventory were
seven carriages, fifteen horses, and a number of
sleighs, harnesses, and other adjuncts of a large
riding and driving establishment. The General's
scale of living, as has been said, was generous. In
his account books are to be found entries of madeira
imported from Funchal for his own use, and of rum
and spruce beer for the consumption of his workmen.
In those days it was customary for employers to
make provision for the refreshment of their employed
as well as for their payment in wages.
At the death of Mrs. Holmes, in 185 1, the only
immediate descendant of the general was Mrs. Lucy
Knox Thatcher, then a widow. With her daughter,
Mrs. Hyde, she resided, until her death in 1854, in

1806] A Busy Life Ended 259
the old mansion from which all its former glories
and spirit had fled. A local historian says that up
to that time
" enough remained to show that the house had been the home of
opulence and taste. The papering, of antique style, resembling
tapestry, with figures dressed in ancient costumes, was in good pre
servation on the wide halls and staircases ; the general's secretary,
mirror-fronted, with gilded handles and decorated richly with inlaid
work, and a large bookcase in the same style, both said to have been
brought from the Tuileries of Paris ; the state bed with its silken
damask draperies ; the old-fashioned, well-worn sideboards and large
round table ; oval mirrors curiously bordered ; Mrs. Knox's own toilet
glass, an admirable portrait of Knox [by Gilbert Stuart] and another
of Thomas Flucker [by John Singleton Copley], were still there."
But the ultimate division of these effects made ne
cessary a sale by which all the handsome and curious
articles were dispersed. Stuart's portrait finally
became the property of the city of Boston ; that of
Knox's father-in-law, Secretary Thomas Flucker,
adorns the walls of the art museum of Bowdoin
College. Some of the objects of art and curiosity,
whose very mention would make a modern col
lector's mouth water, still remain in the hands of
Maine people who revere the name of Knox and
cherish fondly the memory of his deeds.
The contemporaries of Knox, some of them illus
trious and still famous, unite in according to him
talents of a high order and a character of marked
attractiveness and versatility. The Marquis de
Chastellux, whose book on the United States has
been already mentioned, says of him: " To praise
him for his military talents alone would be to de
prive him of half the eulogium he merits; a man of

260 Henry Knox ti8o°
understanding, gay, sincere, and honest — it is im
possible to know without esteeming him, or to see
without loving him, — thus have the English with
out intention added to the ornaments of the human
race, by awakening talents where they least wished
or expected." Dr. Thacher, in his Military four-
nal, says that Lord Moira, afterwards Marquis of
Hastings, the accomplished British officer who, as
General Rawdon, defeated Greene at Hobkirk's
Hill, praised in high terms the military talents of
General Knox. Chief-Justice Marshall, in his
biography of Washington, says of Knox:
" Throughout the contest of the Revolution, this officer continued
at the head of the American artillery, and from being a colonel, had
been promoted to the rank of major-general. In this important sta
tion he preserved a high military character, and on the resignation
of General Lincoln, had been appointed Secretary of War. To his
great services and to unquestionable integrity, he was admitted to
unite a sound understanding ; and the public judgment as well as
that of the chief magistrate, pronounced him in all respects compet
ent to the station he filled. The President was highly gratified in
believing that his public duty comported with his private inclination,
in nominating General Knox to the office that had been conferred
upon him under the former government."
Dr. Thacher, who knew Knox well, says :
" Long will he be remembered as the ornament of every circle in
which he moved, as the amiable and enlightened companion, the
generous friend, the man of feeling and benevolence ; — his convers
ation was animated and cheerful, and he imparted an interest to
every subject that he touched. In his gayest moments he never lost
sight of dignity ; — he invited confidence, but repelled familiarity.
His imagination was brilliant, his conceptions lofty, and no man
e er possessed the power of embodying his thoughts in more vigor-
pus language ; when ardently engaged, they were peculiarly bold

THOMAS FLUCKER.
FROM THE PAINTINQ BY JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY, IN THE ART COLLECTION IN
BOWOOIN COLLEGE.

THOMAS FLUCKER.
FROM THE PAINTING BY JOHN SINOLETON COPLEY, IN THE ART COLLECTION IN
BOWDOIN COLLEGE.

ioo6] A Busy Life Ended 261
and original, and you irresistibly felt in his society that his intellect
was not of the ordinary class. Yet no man was more unassuming, none
more delicately alive to the feelings of others. He had the peculiar
talent of rendering all who were with him happy in themselves ; and
no one ever more feelingly enjoyed the happiness of those around
him. Philanthropy filled his heart ; in his benevolence there was no
reserve — it was as. diffusive as the globe, as extensive as the family
of man." A more elaborate pen picture of Knox is given by
William Sullivan in his Fatniliar Letters on Public
Characters and Events from 1783 to 1815. The
writer says :
" He was a large, full man, above the middle stature ; his lower
limbs inclined a very little outward, so that in walking his feet were
nearly parallel. His hair was short in front, standing up and pow
dered and queued. His forehead was low ; his face, large and full
below ; his eyes, rather small, grey and brilliant. The expression
of his face was altogether a very fine one.
" When moving along the street, he had an air of grandeur and
self-complacency, but it wounded no man's self-love. He carried
a large cane but not to aid his steps ; and sometimes, when he hap
pened to stop and engage in conversation with his accustomed ar
dour, his cane was used to flourish with, to aid his eloquence. He
was usually dressed in black. In the summer he commonly carried
a light silk hat in his hand while walking in the shade. When en
gaged in conversation, he used to wind and unwind the black silk
handkerchief which he wore wrapped around his mutilated hand,
but not so as to show its disfigurement.
"When thinking, he looked like one of his own heavy pieces,
which would surely do execution when discharged ; when speaking,
his face had a noble expression, and was capable of displaying the
most benignant feeling. This was the true character of his heart.
His voice was strong and no one could hear it without feeling that
it had been accustomed to command. The mind of Knox was
powerful, rapid and decisive, and he could employ it continuously
and effectively. His natural propensity was highly social, and no
man better enjoyed a hearty laugh.
" He had a brilliant imagination, and no less brilliant modes of

262 Henry Knox t***
expression. His conception of the power and glory of the Creator
of the universe were of an exalted character. The immortality of
the soul was not with him a matter of induction, but a sentiment or
a fact, no more to be questioned than his own earthly existence.
He said that he had through life left his bed at dawn, and had
always been a cheerful and happy man."
Cyrus Eaton, in his History of Thomaston, speaks
of Knox as " The leading man of the parish, the
benefactor of the town, the life of the business com
munity, the friend of virtue, his country, and the
human race." Among other anecdotes narrated of
Knox, Eaton gives one which evinces the keen per
ception of the General. In his day, it was customary
for the legal voters of a parish to be assessed for the
costs of the preaching of the gospel in the parish
church, with certain exemptions. General Knox
was one of the members of the committee on the
supplying of the pulpit, and being suspicious of the
sincerity of a preacher, the Rev. W. H. H. Chealy,
he ventured to advise against his permanent settle
ment. Knox thought that the clergyman had too
much to say about himself and his own achieve
ments, and he added: " Even Cicero could never
speak of himself without appearing ridiculous."
Open accusations being brought against Mr. Chealy,
General Knox declared that " the minister of
Thomaston must be, like Caesar's wife, not only
pure, but unsuspected." The reverend gentleman
was subsequently discharged; and he justified some
of the suspicions entertained of him by going into
the business of rumselling in Boston.
The General was accustomed to use very forci
ble language on occasion. It is related of him

1806] A Busy Life Ended 263
that, having a dispute with a man who had as
he thought, made an overcharge of four shillings
and sixpence in his bill, the General stoutly de
clared that this small amount was in excess of
the honest charge ; whereupon the man offered
to make oath that the invoice was true. Knox,
drawing himself up to the full of his imposing
height, said, in solemn tones, " Well, if you are
willing to risk your immortal soul for four and six
pence, do it, in the name of God!" The man
quailed before that awful voice and fled precipitately
from the presence.
The Rev. Thurston Whiting, who for a time sup
plied the Thomaston pulpit, was, for some reason,
an object of aversion to Mrs. Knox. On one occa
sion, the parson being invited to the General's house
to dine, Mrs. Knox preceded the company to the
dining-room and seated herself at the table. It was
the custom of the time to say grace standing, and
the General said, " Rise, my dear, and the parson
will ask a blessing." Mrs. Knox made no motion,
and the General repeated the remark ; and still the
lady, smiling, kept her seat; whereupon General
Knox, " with something of that stentorian voice
that rose above the tempest at the battle of Tren
ton," said, " Rise — my — dear — the parson is going
to ask a blessing ! ' ' The lady, still smiling, remained
unmoved, and the parson invoked the blessing with
out more being said or done.
Harrison Gray Otis, who was associated with
Knox while the General was Secretary of War and
Otis was a member of Congress, says:

264 Henry Knox [1806
" As Knox's matrimonial connection was a love-match, and both
parties possessed great good sense and were proud of each other, it
was understood by their friends that their mutual attachment had
never waned. It was, however, well-known that they frequently
differed in opinion upon the current trifles of the day, and that the
irtt amantium, though always followed by the integratio amoris,
were not infrequent, and that in those petty skirmishes our friend
showed his generalship by a skilful retreat. On one occasion, at a
very large dinner-party at their own house, the cloths having been
removed, the general ordered the servants to take away the woollen
cover, which Madam, in an audible voice, prohibited. He then
instantly, addressing the whole circle, observed : ' This subject of
the undercloth is the only one on which Mrs. Knox and I have
differed since our marriage.' The archness and good humour of
this appeal to the company were irresistible, and produced, as was
intended, a general merriment."
An old resident of Thomaston has related how,
when he was a lad, he was loitering about the Knox
mansion while a great festivity was in progress
within. To give pleasure to the large company as
sembled, General Knox had ordered from his stables
a number of saddle-horses for a ride through the
grounds and park. Among the animals thus sad
dled and brought to the house was Mrs. Knox's
favourite horse, and, in the presence of the assem
bled company, the lady turned to the General
and asked why her horse had been brought up.
He replied that it was brought for the use of one of
the guests. To the mortification of the General, she
protested against the use of her horse by anybody
but herself; and she did not propose to ride. Call
ing to the groom, the General said, ' John, put
Mrs. Knox's horse in the stable, and do not take it
out again until God Almighty, or Mrs. Knox, tells
you to."

»8o6] A Busy Life Ended 265
The General's full habit has already been noted,
and it is recorded * of him that his weight, in 1783,
was the greatest of eleven distinguished officers of
the army, being 280 pounds, Washington's weight
being set down at 209 pounds. With a Captain
Sargent, he was selected to present the hard case of
the starving and naked men at Valley Forge to the.
attention of a committee of Congress. One of the
Congressmen, willing to show his wit and sarcasm,
said that he had never seen a fatter man than Gen
eral Knox nor a better dressed man than his as
sociate. Knox managed to keep his temper and
remained silent, but his subordinate retorted: " The
corps, out of respect to Congress, and themselves,
have sent as their representatives the only man who
had an ounce of superfluous flesh on his body and
the only other who possessed a complete suit of
clothes." It is evident that the sanguine temperament of
General Knox was the cause of the misfortunes that
clouded his later years. Harrison Gray Otis, in his
reminiscences of him, says:
" When this great and good man left the Federal cabinet, he be
came a victim to anticipation. Coming into possession of large
tracts of land in Maine, he expected to accelerate, and to realise in
a few years, not merely the growth and prosperity which Maine has
now attained, but the high destination to which she may probably
arrive in another half-century. His own palace raised in the woods
was a beau ideal only of the ' castles in the air' which floated in his
ardent imagination ; and his projects of improvement and civilisation
were worthy of Peter the Great, and would have required no incon
siderable portion of Peter's resources to be carried into effect. He
* Winthrop Sargent's Life of Major John Andre*,

266 Henry* Knox [1806
regarded his lime-kilns as mines of gold, and his standing timber as
if cut and dried in the markets of Boston."
This, foible in the character of the great man was
overlooked by the people who were his fellow-towns
men and his most intimate friends and neighbours.
His genius will be respected by future generations
of patriotic Americans; his example as a lover of his
country — able, incorruptible, and devoted — may
well be commended to the emulation of those who,
though they may not be so richly endowed as he,
may desire to live so that they shall serve well the
land that bore them.
Henry Knox deserved the eulogium with which a
local bard, during his lifetime, apostrophised him :
Raised by thy toils the brazen bulwark stands,
Thy care creates it, and thy voice commands ; —
Yet as the truly brave are truly kind,
And mildest manners mark the noblest mind,
So, while a country's wrongs thy spirit fires
And patriot ardour every deed inspires,
Not more in arms revered than loved by fame
For every worth the social virtues claim, —
In war, the terror of the blazing line,
In peace, the soul of gentleness is thine."

APPENDIX
GENERAL KNOX TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE
COUNCIL OF MASSACHUSETTS

Camp near Schuylkill, 13th Sept., 1777.
Sir: I do myself the honour to transmit to you an account
of an action which happened between the American and
the British troops, the nth instant, on the heights of
Brandywine. Brandywine is a creek which empties-itself into the
Delaware, near Wilmington, about thirty miles from
Philadelphia. On the 9th instant our army took post
about eleven miles up this creek, having it in front at a
place called Chad's Ford, that being the most probable
route by which the enemy would endeavour to pass to
Philadelphia. The enemy on the 10th advanced to
Kennet Square, within three miles of our advanced
parties, and at eight o'clock in the morning of the nth
3. considerable body of their army appeared opposite to
us. Immediately a heavy cannonade commenced, and
lasted with spirit for above two hours, and more or less
the whole day. Our advanced light corps, under Gen
eral Maxwell, engaged the advanced parties of the enemy
on the other side of the creek with success, having twice
repulsed them, and entirely dispersed a body of three
267

*6S Henry Knox
hundred Hessians. This light corps was engaged with
their advanced parties almost through the day. At the
same time this body advanced opposite to our army,
another large column, consisting of the British and Hes
sian grenadiers, light infantry, and some brigades, took
a circuitous route of six miles to our right, and crossed
the creeks at the forks of Brandywine. His Excellency,
General Washington, notwithstanding his utmost exer
tions to obtain intelligence, had very contradictory ac
counts of the numbers and destination of this column
until it had crossed the creek six miles to our right. He
immediately ordered General Sullivan's, Lord Stirling's,
and General Stephen's divisions to advance and attack
them. This was about three o'clock p.m. These divi
sions, having advanced about three miles, fell in with the
enemy, who were also advancing. Both sides pushed
for a hill situated in the middle.
The contest became exceedingly severe, and lasted
without intermission for an hour and a half, when our
troops began to give way, having, many of them,
expended all their cartridges.
His Excellency, who in the beginning of this action
galloped to the right, ordered Greene's division and
Nash's brigade from the left; but, the distance being so
great, the other divisions had retreated before they
arrived. However, they formed and were of the utmost
service in covering the retreat of the other divisions,
particularly Weedon's brigade of Greene's division,
which behaved to admiration in an excessive hot fire,
checked the British grenadiers, and finally, after dark,
came off in great order.
While this scene was acting on the right, the enemy
opened a battery on the left of seven pieces of cannon
opposite to one of ours of the same number. General

Appendix 269
Wayne, with a division of the Pennsylvania troops, hav
ing Maxwell's light corps on his left, and Nash's brigade
(which was afterward drawn off to support the right
wing) on his right, formed the left wing. The enemy's
batteries and ours kept up an incessant cannonade, and
formed such a column of smoke that the British troops
passed the creek unperceived on the right of the battery,
on the ground which was left unoccupied by the with
drawal of Nash's brigade.
A very severe action immediately commenced between
General Wayne and the enemy, who had now got posses
sion of a height opposite to him. They made several
efforts to pass the low grounds between them, and were
as frequently repulsed. Night coming on, his Excel
lency, the General, gave orders for a retreat, which was
regularly effected without the least attempt of the enemy
to pursue. Our troops that night retired to Chester, and
will now take post in such a manner as best to cover
Philadelphia. It is difficult at present to ascertain our loss; but,
from the most particular inquiry I have been able to
make, it will not exceed seven hundred or eight hundred
killed, wounded, and missing, and ten field-pieces.
KNOX'S DRAFT OF AN ADDRESS TO WASHINGTON,
IN REPLY TO THE GENERAL'S FAREWELL AD
DRESS TO THE ARMY
All the officers of the part of the army remaining on
the banks of the Hudson have received your Excellency's
Serious and Farewell Address to the Armies of the
United States. We beg your acceptance of our unfeigned
thanks for the communication and your affectionate pro
fessions pf inviolable attachment and friendship. If

270 Henry Knox
your attempts to insure them the just, the promised re
wards of their long, severe, and dangerous services have
failed of success, we believe it has arisen from causes
not in your Excellency's power to control. With extreme
regret do we reflect on the occasion which called for such
endeavours. But, while we thank your Excellency for
these exertions in favour of the troops you have so suc
cessfully commanded, we pray it may be believed that in
this sentiment our own particular interests have but a
secondary place; and that even the ultimate ingratitude
of the people (were that possible) would not shake the
patriotism of those who suffer by it. Still with pleasing
wonder and grateful joy shall we contemplate the glorious
conclusion of our labours. To that merit in the Revol
ution, which, under the auspices of Heaven, the army
have displayed, posterity will do justice: and the sons
will blush whose fathers were their foes. Most gladly
would we cast a veil on every act that sullies the reputa
tion of our country. Never should the page of history "s
be stained with its dishonour, even from our memories
should the idea be erased. We lament the opposition
to those salutary measures which the wisdom of the
Union has planned, — measures which alone can recover
and fix on a permanent basis the credit of the States, —
measures which are essential to the justice, the honour,
and interest of the nation. While she was giving the
noblest proofs of magnanimity, with conscious pride we
saw her growing fame; and, regardless of present suffer
ings, we looked forward to the end of our toils and
dangers, to brighter scenes in prospect. There we be
held the Genius of our country dignified by sovereignty
and independence, supported by justice, and adorned
with every liberal virtue, There we saw patient Hus
bandry fearless extend her cultured fields, and animated

Appendix ' 271
Commerce spread her sails to every wind that blows.
There we beheld fair Science lift her head, with all the
arts attending in her train. There, blest with Freedom,
we saw the human mind expand; and, throwing aside
the restraints which confined us to the narrow bounds of
country, it embraced the World. Such were our fond
hopes; and with such delightful prospects did they pre
sent us. Nor are we disappointed. Those animating
prospects are now changed and changing to realities;
and actively to have contributed to their production is
our pride, our glory. But Justice alone can give them
Stability. In that Justice we still believe. Still we hope
that the prejudices of the misinformed will be removed,
and the arts of false and selfish popularity, addressed to
the feelings of avarice, defeated, or in the worst event,
the world, we hope, will mark the just distinction. We
trust the disingenuousness of a few will not sully the
reputation, the honour, the dignity of the great and
respectable majority of the States.
We are happy in tjie opportunity just presented of con
gratulating your Excellency on the certain conclusion of
the definitive treaty of Peace. Relieved at length from
long suspense, our warmest wish is to return to the
bosom of our country, to resume the character of citi
zens; and it will be our highest ambition to become
useful ones.
To your Excellency, this great event must be peculiarly
pleasing; for while at the head of her armies, urged by
patriot virtues and magnanimity, you steadily persevered,
under the pressure of every possible difficulty and dis
couragement, in the pursuit of the great objects of the
war, — the freedom and safety of your country, — your
heart panted for the tranquil enjoyments of peace. We
cordially rejoice with you that the period of indulging

272 Henry Knox
them has arrived so soon. In contemplating the bless
ings of liberty and independence, the rich prize of eight
years' hardy adventure, past sufferings will be forgotten;
or, if remembered, the recollection will serve to heighten
the relish of present happiness. We sincerely pray God
this happiness may long be yours; and that when you
quit the stage of human life you may receive from the
Unerring Judge the rewards of valour exerted to save the
oppressed, of patriotism and disinterested virtue.

EXTRACTS FROM KNOX'S LETTERS TO WASHING
TON RESPECTING THE FORMATION OF THE
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT Boston, 31st Jan., 1785.
Your remarks on the present situation of our country
are indeed too just. The different States have not only
different views of the same subject, but some of them
have views that sooner or later must involve the country
in all the horrors of civil war. If there is any good
policy which pervades generally our public measures, it
is too mysterious to be comprehended by people out of
the cabinet. A neglect in every State of those principles
which lead to union and national greatness, an adoption
of local in preference to general measures, appear to
actuate the greater part of the State politicians. We are
entirely destitute of those traits which should stamp us
one nation, and the Constitution of Congress does not
promise any capital alteration for the better. Great
measures will not be carried in Congress so much by the
propriety, utility, and necessity of the thing, but as a
matter of compromise for something else, which may be
evil itself, or have a tendency to evil. This perhaps is

Appendix 273
not so much the fault of the members as a defect of the
confederation. Every State considers its representative
in Congress not so much the legislator of the whole
Union as its own immediate agent or ambassador to
negotiate, and to endeavour to create in Congress as
great an influence as possible to favour particular views,
etc. With a Constitution productive of such disposi
tions, is it possible that the Americans can ever rival the
Roman name ? The operation of opening the navigation
of the rivers so as to communicate with the Western
States is truly noble; and, if successful, of which I hope
there is no doubt, it must be followed by the most ex
tensively beneficial consequences, which will increase in
exact proportion to the increase of the population of the
country. I am pleased that you interest yourself so
much in this great work.
- You are so good as to ask whether General Lincoln
and myself had an agreeable tour to the eastward, and
whether the State societies are making moves towards
obtaining charters. We went to the eastern line of this
State, and found that the British had made excessive en
croachments on our territories. There are three rivers
in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, to which the British have
within twenty years past, with a view to confound the
business, given the name of St. Croix. But the ancient
St. Croix is the eastern river. The British have settled
and built a considerable town called St. Andrews on
the middle river, which has always sustained among
the people in that country the Indian name Schudac. The
proper St. Croix and the Schudac are only nine miles
distant at their mouths. They run into the country
about sixty miles, and they diverge from each other so
much, that although at their mouths they are only nine
miles apart, yet at their sources they are one hundred

2 74 Henry Knox
miles distant from each other; and it is from the source
the north line to the mountains is to begin. The mount
ains are distant from the source about eighty or one
hundred miles; so that the difference to this State is one
hundred miles square above the heads of the rivers,
and the land between the rivers, which must be sixty
by fifty miles square. Our Legislature have transmitted
the report we made on this business to Congress and the
Governor of Nova Scotia. The matter has been involved
designedly by the British in such a manner that it can
now be settled only by commissioners mutually ap
pointed for that purpose. I have seen a letter from Mr.
John Adams, dated last October, which mentions that
the river meant by the treaty of peace was decidedly
the river next to St. John's River westward; and there
are plenty of proofs that the ancient St. Croix was next
to St. John's. I have been particular in this narration,
that you may know the precise state of this affair, which
it is probable will sooner or later occasion much con
versation. As to the Cincinnati, the objections against it are ap
parently removed. But I believe none have yet applied
for charters. In this State it is pretty evident from com
municating with the members of the Legislature that we
should not succeed. However, we shall attempt it pre
vious to our next meeting in July.
PLAN FOR A GENERAL GOVERNMENT
New York, 14th Jan., 1787.
Notwithstanding the contrary opinions respecting the
proposed Convention, were I to presume to give my own
judgment it would be in favour of the Convention, and
I sincerely hope that it may be generally attended. In

Appendix 275
my former letters I mentioned that men of reflection
and principles were tired of the imbecilities of the present
government, but I did not point out any substitute. It
would be prudent to form the plan of a new house before
we pull down the old one. The subject has not been
sufficiently discussed as yet in public to decide precisely
on the form of the edifice. It is out of all question that
the foundation must be of republican principles, but so
modified and wrought together that whatever shall be
erected thereon should be durable and efficient. I speak
entirely of the federal government, or, which would be
better, one government instead of an association of gov
ernments. Were it possible to effect a general govern
ment of this kind, it might be constituted of an Assembly
or Lower House, chosen for one, two, or three years; a
Senate, chosen for five, six, or seven years; r>nd the
Executive, under the title of Governor-General, chosen
by the Assembly and Senate for the term of seven years,
but liable to an impeachment of the Lower House and
triable by the Senate; a Judiciary, to be appointed by
the Governor-General during good behaviour, but im
peachable by the Lower House and triable by Senate;
the laws passed by the general government to be obeyed
by the local governments, and, if necessary, to be en
forced by a body of armed men, to be kept for the pur
poses which should be designated; all national objects
to be designed and executed by the general government
without any reference to the local governments. This
rude sketch is considered as the government of the least
possible powers to preserve the confederated govern
ments. To attempt to establish less will be to hazard
the existence of republicanism, and to subject us either
to a division of the European powers, or to a despotism
arising from high-handed commotions.

276 Henry Knox
I have thus, my dear sir, obeyed what seemed to be
your desire, and given you the ideas which have pre
sented themselves from reflection, and the opinion of
others. May Heaven direct us to the best means for the
dignity and happiness of the United States.
JOHN ADAMS TO GENERAL KNOX
[This letter was written by President Adams in reply to
one from Knox, in which the General had congratulated
Adams on his elevation to the presidency, and, in order
to remove the possibility of war with France, then im
minent, had made several suggestions, one of which was
the appointment of Jefferson as special envoy to the
French Republic] Philadelphia, March 30, 1797.
Dear Sir:
I have received with much pleasure your favour of the
19th. If I should meet with any " Roses " in my path,
I shall thank you for your congratulations, and also when
I set my foot on " thorns," as I certainly shall, I will
thank you equally for your condolence. But when you
assure me that you " feel confidence in the Safety of
our political bark," you give me much comfort, and I
pray you may not be disappointed.
It is a delicate thing for me to speak of the late elec
tion. To myself personally, my " elevation " might be
a. matter of indifference or rather of aversion. Had Mr.
Jay, or some others, been in question, it might have less
mortified my vanity, and infinitely less alarmed my ap
prehensions for the Public. But to see such a character
as Jefferson, and much more such an unknown Being as
Pinckney, brought over my head and trampling on the

Appendix 277
Bellies of hundreds of other Men infinitely his Superiors
in Talents, Services, and Reputation, filled me with ap
prehensions for the safety of us all. It demonstrated
to me that, if the Project succeeded, our Constitution
could not last four years; we should have been set afloat
and landed the Lord knows where.
That must be a Sordid People indeed, a People desti
tute of a sense of honour, Equity, and Character, that
could submit to be governed, and see hundreds of its
most meritorious Public Men, governed by a Pinckney
under an elective Government. Hereditary Govern
ment, when it imposes young, new, inexperienced Men
upon the Public, has its Compensations and equivalents;
but elective Governments have none. I mean by this
no disrespect to Mr. Pinckney. I believe him a worthy
Man. I speak only by comparison with others.
I have it much at heart to settle all disputes with
France, and nothing shall be wanting on my Part to ac
complish it, except a violation of our faith and a Sacrifice
of our Honour. But, old as I am, war is even to me less
dreadful than Iniquity or deserved disgrace. Nothing
can be done of much moment in the way of even nego
tiation without the Senate, and nothing else without
Congress. Your Project has been long ago considered and deter
mined upon. Mr. Jefferson would not go. His reasons
are obvious. He has a station assigned him here, by the
Nation, which he has no right to quit, nor have I any
right to call him from. I may hereafter communicate to
you what I have never communicated to any other, what
has passed upon that subject. The Circumstance of
Rank is too much. We shall never be respected in
Europe while we confound Ranks in this manner in
their Eyes. The Chief Justice was too much to send

278 Henry Knox .
to England. I have Plans in Contemplation that I dare
say will satisfy you, when they come to be developed.
I regret the time that must be lost before the Senate
and Representatives can assemble.
If we wish not to be degraded in the Eyes of Foreigners,
we must not degrade ourselves. What would have been
thought in Europe, if the King of France had sent Mon
sieur, his Eldest Brother, as an Envoy ? What of the
King of England, if he had sent the Prince of Wales ?
Mr. Jefferson, in essence, is in the same situation. He
is the first Prince of the Country, and the Heir Apparent
to the Sovereign Authority, quoad hoc. His considera
tion in France is nothing. They consider nobody but
themselves. Their apparent respect and real Contempt
for all Men, and all Nations but Frenchmen are pro
verbial among themselves. They think it is in their
power to give Characters and destroy Characters as they
please, and they have no other rule but to give Reputa
tions to their Tools, and to destroy the reputations of all
who will not be their tools. Their efforts to " popular
ise" Jefferson and " depopularise " Washington are all
upon this Principle. To a Frenchman the most import
ant Man in the world is himself, and the most important
: Nation is France. He thinks France ought to govern all
Nations, and that he ought to govern France. Every
Man and Nation that agrees to this, he is willing to
popularise. Every Man and Nation that disputes or
doubts it, he will depopularise if he can.
This is in all confidence from, Sir, your most
humble servant,
John Adams.
General Knox.

INDEX

Adams, John, at Lexington, 29 ;
letter to Knox, 35 ; ditto con
cerning army promotions, 61 ;
peace commissioner, 64 ; ditto
concerning his own election
to presidency, 249 and Ap
pendix ; appoints Hamilton
and Pinckney over Knox, 250
Alexandria, Va.,. convention at,
198
Algerine piracies, 224
Andre, John, meets Knox, 41 ;
his plunder from Franklin's
library, 118 ; his trial and exe
cution, 136-137
Armstrong, Major John, author
of Newburgh addresses, 172
Arnold, Benedict, at Valley
Forge, 117 ; at Philadelphia,
121 ; marriage, and a previous
courtship, 128-129 ; charges
against, 129 ; his treason, 136 ;
tobacco-stealing expedition in
Virginia, 138 ; burns Connecti
cut towns, 153
Artillery company, Paddock's,
in Boston, 19
Ashburton, Lord, 241
B
Barlow, Joel, 207
Barras, Admiral, 144

Beaumetz, Count, 241
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 254 .
Boston, "Massacre," 7, 8;
Knox's bookstore in, 9 ; Port
Bill, 15; American siege of,
31, 37 et seq. ; Howe's evacu
ation of, 46 ; Knox returns.to,
187 ; General Lincoln Col
lector of, 215
Bounty - jumpers in American
army, 94
Brandywine, battle of, 103
Brigadier's Island, Me., 240
Brooks, John, 169
Bunker Hill, battle of, 31
Burbeck, William, 51
Burgoyne's surrender at Sara
toga, ni
Burr, Aaron, on Putnam's staff,
55 ; aids Knox in retreat from
New York, 67
Bushnell's torpedo, 68 •

Cabinet, Washington's first, 211-
212
Caldwell, Rev. James, 135
Canal, the Cape Cod, 243
Carleton, Sir Guy, 177
Castine, the Baron de St., 188
Chealy, Rev. W. H. H., 262
Chew house, siege of, 108
Cincinnati, Society of, 175 ti
seq.

279,

28o

Index

Clinton, General and Governor,
54 ; prepares for evacuation
of New York by British, 177 ;
thanks Knox, 180
Clinton, Sir Henry, supersedes
Lord Howe, 118; withdraws
troops from Cornwallis, 146
Cobb, Gen. David, at York-
town, 15S ; Knox's letter to,
252-253
Cochran, Mrs. John, 147
Concord and Lexington, begin
ning of troubles at, 29, 30
Congress, soldiers' memorial to,
16S ; ratifies new Constitution,
203 ; authorises building of
six frigates, 215, 224
Constitutional convention at
Philadelphia, 202, 203
Constitution finally ratified, 204
"Conway cabal," the, 115
Copper, Knox's, mining scheme,
243
Cornwallis, Lord, goes up the
Hudson, 75 ; at Trenton, 77 ;
' enters Philadelphia, 107 ; re
turns to New Jersey, 112;
clash between him and Clin
ton, 142 ; opens negotiations,
and surrender at Yorktown,
158 el seq.
Cutler, Dr. Manasseh, 217

Dauphin, birthday of the, cele
brated, 167
Deane, Silas, his mission to
France, 90
D'Estaing. Count, arrives with
- French fleet, 124-125
De Grasse, 144 ; his fleet in
Chesapeake Bay, 153; penury
of his daughters, 244
De Kalb, Barcn, joins American
army, 102
Ducoudray, ready to supersede
Knox, 91 ; subsequent career.
93

Dudley, Dorothy, letter describ-
*ng American generals, 37
E
Easi -n Land Association, 235
Eatoi Cyrus, historian of Thom-
asto . Me., 232, 262
Exchai »e of prisoners, difficul
ties o 164

Falmouth, the burning of, 44
Flucker, Miss Lucy, customer
at Knox's store, 12 ; marriage
to Knox, 22, 24
Flucker, Secretary Thomas, 12,
46 ; younger member of his
family, 238 ; portrait of, by
Copley, 259
France, aids American patriots,
90; treaty with (1778), 116;
French troops in Philadel
phia, 153
Franklin, Benj., peace commis
sioner, 64

Gage, General, threatens to seize
arms of Boston militia, 20 ;
sends military force to Con
cord, 29 ; his angry proclama
tion, 33
Gates, Gen. Horatio, appointed
brigadier-general, 32 ; arro
gates separate command, 77 ;
victory at Saratoga, ill ; pre
sides at Newburgh meeting,
*75
Genet, Citizen, his intrigues in
America, 226 et seq.
Germantown, battle of, 108 ;
Knox's description of, 109 et
seq.
Greene, Geo. Washington, 206
Greene, Nathanael, General, ap
pointed brigadier, 32 ; letters
to Knox concerning capture
of Fort Washington, 73 ; with

Index

281

Greene, Nathanael — Continued,
Knox in New Jersey, 88 ; his
letters to Knox from South
Carolina, 151, 156, 162
Gridley, Richard, artilleryman, .
34 H
Hale, Nathan, executed as a
spy, 69
Hamilton, Alexander, aide to
Washington, 54 ; warns Phila
delphia of approach of Brit
ish, 106 ; proposes national
convention, 198 ; Secretary of
the Treasury, 212 ; military
rank over Knox, 250-251
Hancock, with Adams at Lex
ington, 29 ; supports the new
Constitution, 105
Harlem Heights, Washington's
headquarters at, 69
Heath, William, General, 32 ;
his brigadiers, 49
Higginson, Stephen, 199
Howe, British admiral, 55
Howe, General, and Lord, in
command at Boston, 44 ;
evacuates Boston, 46 ; ar
rives off New York, 55 ; sends
embassy to Washington, 58-
59 ; moves against Americans
on Harlem Heights, 71 ; is
sues proclamation of amnesty,
76; his operations in New Jer
sey as described by Knox, 97
et seq.; withdraws to New
York, 101 ; sails for Philadel
phia, 102 ; superseded by Clin
ton, 118
Howe, General Robert, Ameri
can, 141

Indians, Penobscot, Knox's er
rand to, 188 ; Knox's policy
towards, 222 ; Penobscots'
visit to Montpelier, 240

Jackson, Col. Harry, General
Knox's friend, 97 : in Phila
delphia, 121 ; left late in his
command, 186 ; Navy Agent
at Boston, 215 ; member of
Eastern Land Association,
235 ; his boy in Knox's charge,
238
}ay, John, Knox's letter to, 159
efferson, Thomas, Secretary of
State, 212
Jersey Line, mutiny of, 140
Jones, Paul, 126 K
King, Rufus, 199
Knox, Henry, General and
Secretary of War ; the ances
tors of, 2-3 ; parentage in
America, 4 ; apprenticeship
in Boston, 5 ; boyhood, 6 ;
witness of Boston Massa
cre, 7, 8 ; loses two fingers,
13 ; his books from London,
16 ; downfall of business, 18 ;
his letter to Longman, 19 ;
serves in an artillery company,
19 ; in a grenadier corps, 22 ;
courtship and marriage, 22-24;
flight from Boston, 30 ; meets
Washington, 32 ; appointed
colonel, 34 ; expedition to Ti
conderoga. 38 el seq.; meets
John Andre, 41 ; letter to
Washington from Norwich,
Conn., 51 ; describes panic
in New York, 56-57 ; letter
describing embassy from Howe
to Washington, 58 ; criticises
the army, 70 ; at the crossing
of the Delaware and battle of
Trenton, 79 et seq.; appointed
brigadier-general, 81 ; de
scribes battle of Princeton, 83
et seq. ; advises march to
Morristown, 86; advises

282

Index

Knox, Henry— Continued.
public works at Springfield,
Mass., 87 ; and a military
academy, 88 ; lays out defen
sive works for New Jersey,
88 ; threatened to be super
seded by Ducoudray, 91 ;
describes Howe's operations
in New Jersey, 97 et seq. ;
announces British entry into
Philadelphia, 107 ; describes
battle of Germantown in letter
to Gen. Artemas Ward, 109 ;
advises against assault on
British in Philadelphia, 113;
visits Boston, 114; in Phila
delphia, 119; describes battle
of Monmouth, 119, 120; his
ventures in privateering, 128 ;
at Camp Pluckemin, 130:
letters to General Lincoln,
I33->34; at Hartford, Conn.,
with Washington and Lafay
ette, 136 ; member of the
Andre court-martial, 137;
complains of difficulty of
obtaining military supplies,
142 ; attends military con
ference at Wethersfield, Conn. ,
143 ; letter on " water-gruel
government," 147 ; his ac
tivity at Yorktown, 155 ;
account of Yorktown sur
render, 159 ; appointed major-
general, 162 ; letter from
Greene to, 162 ; commissioner
for exchange of prisoners,
164 ; confirmed major-gen
eral, 166 ; headquarters at
West Point, 167 ; letters
about the unpaid army, 169
tl seq.; action on Newburgh
addresses, 173 et seq. ; pro
poses Society of the Cincinnati,
ITS el seq.; enters New York, .
178 ; leaves West Point for
Boston, 187 ; treats with
Penobscot Indians, 188 ;
Secretary of War, 189 ; de
scribes Shays's rebellion, 194 ;

his ideas of a general govern
ment, 200 ; explains Massa
chusetts' position on the new
Constitution, 204 ; sends Gen
eral Greene's son to France,
206 ; letter concerning Lafay
ette's son, 209 ; letter to Rev.
David McClure, 209 ; Secre
tary of War in Washington's
administration, 212 ; advo
cates a national militia
system, 213 ; domestic ex
penses in New York, 215
et seq. ; advocates building of
a navy and coast defences,
224; in the suppression of
Whiskey Rebellion, 227 et
seq. ; resigns his office, 229 ;
fixes his home at Thomaston,
Me., 232 ; his land specula
tions, 234 et seq. ; his in
dustrial enterprises, 239 ; his
distinguished guests, 241 ;
member of the General Court
and Governor's Council, 242 ;
copper-mining schemes, 243 ;
early deaths of his children,
247 ; affronted by being
ranked by Hamilton and
Pinckney, 250 ; death and
funeral, 256 ; last will and
testament, 257 ; anecdotes
and personal traits of, 259
et seq.
Knox, Mrs. Lucy, birth of first
child, 50 ; leaves New York
in a panic, 56 ; her criticism
of Connecticut people, 60 ; at
Valley Forge, 117 ; letter from
Benedict Arnold to, 129 ;
death of infant daughter, 134;
birthday letter from her
husband, 148 ; at Mt. Vernon,
157 ; receives news of York-
town surrender, 158 ; death
of, 257
Knox, William, carries on his
brother's business in Boston,
89; joins him in Philadelphia,
106 ; sent to Mt. Vernon

Index

283

Knox, William — Continued.
with news of Yorktown sur
render, 158
Knoxville, Tenn., 223

Lafayette, General, joins the
American army, 102 ; visits
Hartford, Conn., with Wash
ington and Knox, 136 ; or
dered to Virginia, 142 ; his
affection for Knox and Greene,
189 ; revisits the United
States, 190 ; his son named
for General Washington, 209
Land patent, the Waldo, 234
Lauzun, Chevalier de, 153
Lee, Charles, appointed major-
general, 32 ; in command of
the Southern Department, 53;
suspicious conduct of, and
capture by British, 77 ; re
primanded by Washington at
the battle of Monmouth, 123 ;
end of military career, 124
Lexington, beginning of troubles
at, 29
Lincoln, General Benjamin, at
defence of Charleston, S. C,
132-133 ; Knox's letters to,
133-134 ; receives British sur
render at Yorktown, 158 ;
Secretary of War, 183 ; re
signs his office, 184 ; collector
of customs at Boston, 215 ;
financial dealings with Knox,
237
Long Island, Americans en
trenched on, 56 ; battle of, 62 ;
retreat of Americans from, 63
M
Machias, Me., naval engage
ment near, 44
Maclay, William, 221
Maine, wild lands in, 235
Marshall, Chief Justice, estimate
of Knox's character, 260

Massachusetts, action on the
new Constitution, 204 etseq,
Middlebrook, N. J., American
camp at, 96 ; Knox writes
from, 97 ; return of army to,
132
Military academy, Knox advises
establishment of, 88 ; Knox's,
at Pluckemin, 130
Militia system, national, Knox
advises, 213
Monmouth, battle of, 119;
Washington reprimands Lee
at, 123
Montgomery, Richard, ap
pointed brigadier-general, 32 ;
death of, 50
Montpelier, Knox's house at, cost
of, 233
Monvel, Monsieur, 235
Morris, Gouverneur, commis
sioner for exchange of prison
ers, 164
Morristown, American army en
camped at, 86 ; winter quar
ters at (1779), 80, 134
Morton, Mrs. Sarah, poetry of,
48 .
Mount Vernon, Washington at,
188
Mutiny, of Pennsylvania line,
138 ; of New Jersey line,
140 Mc
McClure, Rev. David, 209
McGillivray, 223
McIIenry, Secretary, 225
N
Naval victories of Americans, 127
Navy, Knox advises building of,
224
New York, military operations
around city of, 49 ; American
retreat from, 66 et seq. ; great
fire in (1776), 69 ; Washing
ton proposes new operations

284

Index

New York— Continued.
against, 143 ; evacuation by
British, 178; seat of govern
ment removed from, 225

Ogden, Colonel, 169
Osgood, Samuel, 212
Otis, Harrison Gray, 13, 265

Paddock, his artillery company,
20
Peace, commissioners from Eng
land, 117 ; treaty signed, 163 ;
the establishment of , 181 et seq.
Pennsylvania line, mutiny of,
138
Penobscot, Indians, Knox's
treaty with, 188 ; visit Mont
pelier, 240
Percy, Lord, 28
Pepperell, Governor William,
234
Philadelphia, Howe sails from
New York for, 101 ; American
army enter, 102 ; panic in, at
approach of British, 106 ; evac
uation of, by British, 118;
Knox enters, 119; Harry
Jackson in, 121 ; French and
American armies march
through, 122; seat of national
government in, 225
Philippe, Louis, 241
Pickering, Timothy, 225
Pinckney, C. C, ranks Knox,
250 et seq.
Pluckemin, N. J., fete at, 130
Pomeroy, Seth, appointed brig
adier-general, 32
Princeton, battle of, 83
Privateering, Knox's ventures in,
127
Putnam, Israel, appointed ma
jor-general, 32 ; at New York,
54

Randolph, Edmund, 212
Revere, Paul, patrol in Boston,
27 ; midnight ride, 29 ; fur
nishes bell for Knox, 244
Rivington, James, ships tea to
Knox, 15 ; Tory pamphlets
from, 17 ; his printing-office
wrecked by Americans, 50
Rochambeau, General, arrives
in America, 135 ; visited by
Washington and Knox, 143 ;
his army marches to the Hud
son, 145
Rochefoucauld, Duke de, 241
Rutledge, Edward, 64

Saint Croix River, disputed
boundary at, 189
Saratoga, victory of, III
Schuyler, Philip, appointed ma
jor-general, 32
Shays's rebellion, 193 et seq,
Springfield, Mass., Knox advises
works at, 87
Springfield, N. J., fight at, 135
Spencer, Joseph, appointed brig.
adier-general, 32 ; major-gen
eral and his brigadiers, 54
Stirling, Lord, 54 ; taken pris
oner, 62
Stuart, Gilbert, his portrait of -
Knox, 13, 259
Sullivan, John, appointed brig
adier-general, 32 ; taken pris
oner, 62 ; charged with errand
by Lord Howe, 63
Sullivan, William, his pen pict
ure of Knox, 261

Talleyrand, 241
Thomas, John, appointed briga
dier-general, 32 ; at the siege
of Boston, 45 ; death of, 50

Index

285

Thomaston, Me., Knox fixes his
residence at, 232
Thacher, Dr. James, describes
American retreat from Long
Island, 63 ; march to Virginia
through Philadelphia, 152 ;
estimate of Knox's character,
260
Ticonderoga, Knox's expedition
to, 38 et seq.
Torpedo, Bushnell's, 68
Tonnage of American ship?, 242
Treaty (of 1778), with France,
116 ; peace, with Great Britain
signed, 163
Trenton, battle of, 79 et seq.
Tryon, Governor, flight of, 50
Trumbull, Governor of Con
necticut, 33
Trumbull, John, proposed pur
chase of his paintings, 244-245

Valley Forge, painful march of
American army to, 114; cele
bration of French treaty at,
116 ; Mrs. Knox at, 118
Vose, Captain, Knox's factor at
Montpelier, 241

W
Waldo, General Samuel, 234
Ward, General Artemas, Knox
reports to, 30 ; appointed
major-general, 32 ; in com
mand at Dorchester Heights,
45 ; Knox's letter to, describing
battle of Germantown, 109 et
seq'.
War, Secretary of, salary of, 186 ;
continued office of, 192 ; func
tions of, under new Constitu
tion, 212, 213 ; discussion of
emoluments of, 217
Washington, Fort, capture of,

by British, 73 ; General
Greene's letter concerning sur
render, 74
Washington, George, appointed
commande r-in-c h i e f , 31 ;
meets Knox, 32 ; letter to
Governor Trumbull, 33 ; to
President of Congress, 34 ;
friendship for Knox, 36 ; en
ters Boston, 46 ; at Harlem
Heights, 69 ; warns Gov.
Livingston, of New Jersey,
76 ; crosses the Delaware into
Pennsylvania, 77 ; recrosses
the stream and drives the
British out of Trenton, 78 et
seq.; protests against Knox be
ing superseded by Ducoudray,
92 ; order against bounty-
jumpers, 94 ; reprimands Lee,
123; compliments Knox at
Monmouth, 124; thanks from
Congress, 124; camps at
White Plains, 124 ; attends
fete at Pluckemin, 131 ; visits
Rochambeau at Hartford,
Conn., 136; deals with Penn
sylvania and New Jersey mu
tineers. 140- 141 ; sends requi
sitions toKnax for "capital op
erations," 142 ; impressive call
from a Pennsylvania patriarch,
154 ; in Virginia, 156; at siege
of Yorktown, 161 ; compli
ments Knox on artillery serv
ice, 162 ; letter on disaffec
tion of army officers, 168 ;
action on the Newburgh ad
dresses, 172 ; enters New
York, 178 ; farewell to offi
cers, 178-179 ; advises Knox
of Lincoln's resignation of
office, 184 ; retires to Mount
Vernon, 188 ; presides over
Constitutional Convention,
202.'; President, 212 ; leaves
public life, 246 ; death, 252
West Point, celebration at, of
the Dauphin's birthday, 157 ;
Knox in command at, 180

286

Index

Wethersfield, Conn., conference
at, 143
Whiting, Rev. Thurston, 263
Whiskey Insurrection, 227 et
seq.
Wooster, General David, 32

Yorktown, British position at,
154 ; siege of, begins, 155 ;
surrender of, 158

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