The 250th Anniversary of Henry Knox's "Noble Train of Artillery"

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This month marks the 250th anniversary of a crucial moment in the Revolutionary War and one of the mightiest triumphs over adversity in American history.

In late January 1776, Colonel Henry Knox’s “Noble train of Artillery”reached the American siege lines outside of Boston, arriving with 59 pieces of captured artillery, a total lot weighing nearly 120,000 pounds, after an arduous 56-day journey from Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York.

Using sleds and wagons pulled by teams of horses and oxen to move the heavy guns across deep, snowy trails, icy rivers, and rugged mountain passes, the 25-year-old Knox and his men had traveled 300 miles in the dead of winter to bring the desperately needed artillery to General George Washington and the soldiers of the Continental Army as they besieged the British in Boston.

Knox’s expedition had been filled with difficulty at every twist and turn. A native Bostonian and bookstore owner before the war, Knox almost froze to death during one part of the journey. On more than one occasion, some of the heaviest guns fell through the ice and sank in the Hudson River, requiring great effort to rescue them. As Knox wrote to General Washington on December 17, “It is not easy to conceive the difficulties we have had. . . .” Transporting those guns up and down the icy Berkshire Mountains had also been no walk in the park. In Knox’s words, “It appeared to me almost a miracle that people with heavy loads should be able to get up and down such hills.”

Despite facing so many daunting challenges, every single gun in Knox’s “Noble train of Artillery” had made it to Boston. Through the perseverance of Knox and his men, along with the help of local communities along the way, General Washington and his troops finally got the firepower that they needed to break the stalemate that had developed during the siege of Boston. Once those guns were placed on Dorchester Heights, a commanding ridge south of Boston that overlooked the town and its harbor, the British were ultimately compelled to evacuate on March 17, 1776, giving Washington and the Americans their first major victory of the Revolutionary War.

Sources:

1776 by David McCullough

American Battlefield Trust: Knox's Expedition to Boston

Fort Ticonderoga: Henry Knox's Noble Train of Artillery - Ticonderoga to the Siege of Boston

The National Interest: Honoring the 250th Anniversary of the "Noble Train of Artillery"