Skip to main content

Henry Knox Delivers Ticonderoga Cannons to George Washington in Cambridge in January 1776

 

Knox Trail Marker in Cambridge, MA 

On January 24, 1776,  25 year old Boston bookseller and American revolutionary war hero Henry Knox reported to General George Washington in Cambridge that he and his volunteers had just transported 59 cannons and artillery 300 miles, from Fort Ticonderoga in  New York to eastern Massachusetts, in the dead of winter.  

Image Courtesy of Marching the Knox Trail

The plan was to position the cannons atop Dorchester Heights in South Boston and aim them at the British fleet in Boston Harbor.  

On March 5, British General Howe saw the guns aiming down at his fleet, and by March 17, 1776, the British troops, along with their sympathizers, evacuated Boston, ending the eleven month Siege of Boston. The daring standoff was known as Evacuation Day, and is still celebrated in Boston each March 17th.  Read more about Dorchester Heights.

Knox (1750-1806) later became a Major General and artillery commander through the Revolutionary War, and was the nation's first U.S. Secretary of War under President Washington.

Knox’s father and uncles were original members of the Charitable Irish Society, formed in 1737 to help other Irish immigrants settle in Boston.  A bookseller by trade, Knox joined the Society in 1772, when he was 22 years old.  He also became a member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in Philadelphia.  

Knox died in Thomaston, Maine in 1806, where today the Henry Knox Museum is located.

For more about Boston Irish history, visit IrishHeritageTrail.com. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 28, 2023 at 5:57 PM

    This is so awesome to know....I live in Blandford and Otis and eat at the Knox Inn. I have been to Fort Ticonderoga in New York and have been amazed how 69 cannons weighing over two tons each were brought from upstate New York down from the Great Lake and across the mountainous steep hills of Western Mass in the dead of winter to scare off the British that Occupies Boston! Such tough men of the day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 27, 2023 at 9:49 AM

    Thanks for your comments about Henry Knox and his incredible feat!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Boston Celtics : The Story Behind Their Irish Green Theme

Bill Russell played for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1959 (This story was updated in March 2024) Many people wonder why the  Boston Celtics  wear shamrocks on their green uniforms and have a giant leprechaun smoking a cigar as their team logo. And why is the team mascot a guy named Lucky who looks like he stepped out of a box of Lucky Charms? According to the Boston Celtic’s official web site, the name came about in 1946 when owner Walter Brown started the team. He and his public relations guy, Howie McHugh, were throwing out potential nicknames, including the Whirlwinds, Unicorns and Olympics. It was Brown who had the epiphany, saying, “Wait, I’ve got it – the Celtics. The name has a great basketball tradition from the old Original Celtics in New York (1920s). And Boston is full of Irishman. We’ll put them in green uniforms and call them the Boston Celtics.” Red Auerbach , the now legendary coach of the early Celtics, then commissioned his brother Zang, a graphic designer i
Post a Comment
Read more

Boston Mayors of Irish Descent, 1885-2021

(Originally published in 2013, this post was updated in 2021) Here are the Mayors of Boston Claiming Irish Heritage:  Hugh O’Brien 1885–88 Patrick Collins 1902–05 John F. Fitzgerald 1906–07, 1910–13 James M. Curley 1914–17, 1922–25, 1930–33, 1946–49 Frederick W. Mansfield 1934–37 Maurice Tobin 1938–41, 1941-44 John Kerrigan 1945 John B. Hynes 1950–59 John Collins 1960–68 Kevin H. White 1968–83 Raymond L. Flynn 1984–93 Martin J. Walsh   2014- 2021 The lineage of Boston mayors with Irish ancestry dates back to 1885, when Irish immigrant Hugh O'Brien of County Cork assumed office and became the first Irish-born mayor elected in Boston, serving four one-year terms (1885-88).   O'Brien was followed by Irish-born Patrick Collins (1902-05), also of County Cork, who died in office in 1905. He was replaced by John F. Fitzgerald, who became the first American-born mayor of Irish descent, serving two terms.  A noteworthy mayor was James
Post a Comment
Read more

Visit these Public Memorials to John Boyle O'Reilly throughout Massachusetts

  Born 180 years ago on June 28, 1844, John Boyle O’Reilly helped shape the history or Ireland and America in the late 19th century in powerful ways. Today, O'Reilly’s stature as a seminal figure in Irish and Irish-American history is particularly evident in his beloved birthplace of Dowth, County Meath; in Freemantle, Australia where he was imprisoned; and indeed, throughout the Irish Diaspora.  O'REILLY LANDMARKS IN MASSACHUSETTS O’Reilly remains popular in Boston, New Bedford, Hull and Springfield where there is a selection of memorials and plaques, parks and city squares, library collections and Irish organizations honoring O’Reilly’s memory. In Boston, the John Boyle O’Reilly Memorial at the corner of Boylston Street and The Fens, not far from Fenway Park, was unveiled in 1896 by famed Concord sculptor Daniel French. The Memorial is part of Boston’s Irish Heritage Trail. In Charlestown, O’Reilly lived at 34 Winthrop Street, where there is a plaque in his honor. In 1988 th
Post a Comment
Read more