Remember this young soldier of the American Revolution as you welcome the New Year
The New Year ahead in the most successful society in human history would not be happening had the events ushering in the dawn of 1776 not been accomplished against impossible odds.
The Continental Congress in Philadelphia had put George Washington in charge of the ragtag Continental Army assembled in a stand-off with the world’s mightiest military in Boston following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
It was there that the British Army, following the edict from its king, was to put down the fledgling American rebellion and bring an end to the notion that any kind of new nation would be formed from the actions of traitors.
After failing to convince his officers of plans to attack the English troops bivouacked in Boston, Washington turned to 25-year-old Henry Knox with an assignment that would ultimately develop the strategy that turned the tide of war in favor of the rebels.
Knox’s orders were to march to Fort Ticonderoga and bring back the artillery there for use in the battle to come that would give the Americans the advantage needed to overcome the superior forces they faced.
The distance he had to travel was about 300 miles in the New England winter. There he secured 59 cannon and mortars and then organized the journey back with sleds and boats to transport the heavy guns across what he expected to be frozen mountains and rivers.
It was on New Year’s Day when the weather turned warm and he wrote to his wife Lucy describing his fears of failure. “The thaw has been so grave that I’ve trembled for the consequences, for without snow my very important charge cannot get along.”
A week later, the temperature plunged again, and the expedition pushed on.
Pulitzer Prize winning historian David McCullough described Knox’s remarkable perseverance. “Knox had been gone for two months and he had fulfilled all expectations, despite rough forest roads, freezing lakes, blizzards, thaws, mountain wilderness and repeated mishaps that would have broken lesser spirits several times over.
“He had succeeded with his bold, virtually impossible idea at exactly the right moment, justifying entirely the trust Washington had placed in him. The story of the expedition would be told and retold for weeks within the army and for years to come.
“Not a gun had been lost. Hundreds of men had taken part in their labors and resilience had been exceptional. But it was the daring and determination of Knox himself that had counted above all. The twenty-five-year-old … had proven himself a leader of remarkable ability, a man not only of enterprising ideas, but with the staying power to carry them out.”
By early March the cannon had been placed on Dorchester Heights giving the American army the advantage. So tactical was the move that, after a futile attempt by British Commander William Howe to send his troops to dislodge the guns, the redcoats and hundreds of Boston loyalists boarded ships and abandoned the city.
In Washington’s next desperate engagement of the British upon crossing the Delaware River as the new year of 1777 dawned, it was the booming voice of Henry Knox bellowing orders above the rising wind and rain that saved the expedition.
According to one account chronicled by McCullough, “had it not been for the powerful lungs and extraordinary exertions of Knox, the crossing that night would have failed.”
Washington, upon his inauguration, would appoint Knox as the first United States Secretary of War.
So, as we celebrate this coming week, lift a toast to the young leader who at least twice at this time of the year, was instrumental in winning the American Revolution.
Richard Greene is a former Arlington mayor, served as an appointee of President George W. Bush as regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency and lectures at UT Arlington.