Is Revolution War Hero Henry Knox Boston's Greatest Irish-American?

Illustration of Henry Knox by Alonzo Chapel

Henry Knox, a  first-hand witness to American history and a hero in the American Revolution, is possibly the greatest Irish-American to ever come out of Boston, a city with a plethora of Irish legends over the centuries. 

Born on July 25, 1750 along Boston's waterfront near the southwest corner of Atlantic Avenue and Essex Street, Knox was the seventh of ten children.  His parents, William Knox and Mary (née Campbell), were Ulster Scots immigrants who came to Boston from Derry in 1729, part of a large exodus of Ulster-Irish Presbyterians who were emigrating to New England beginning around 1717-1718.

As a boy, Knox attended the Boston Latin School, then at age 12, he went to work as an apprentice and clerk at Wharton & Bowes Booksellers at the corner of State and Cornhill (now Washington Street). The bookstore was right next to where the Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770, and Knox came upon the impending massacre before it happened. According to witnesses, Knox implored British Captain Preston to withdraw his men, but before the appeal could be considered, shots rang out, giving way to the fracas that left five Boston men dead. 

In 1771 Knox opened his own store just down the street from the massacre site.  It was called the London Book Store and specialized in book binding as well as imported books from England and Europe. 

Knox’s father and uncles were original members of the Charitable Irish Society, an organization of Irish immigrants formed in 1737 to help other Irish immigrants settle in Boston.  Knox himself joined the Society in 1772 at the height of the insurrection in Boston. 

Knox also joined the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in Philadelphia, a group formed in 1771 that included many of George Washington's top Irish generals and naval leaders, including Stephen Moylan, Anthony Wayne, Edward Hand and John Barry.

Knox was present at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, and won praise from General Washington himself for his work constructing two fortresses in Roxbury to obstruct British troop movement. 

A few months later, Knox hatched a daring plan to retrieved captured British cannons at Fort Ticonderoga in New York and drag them 300 miles to Boston in the dead of winter. General George Washington gave him the go-ahead, despite objections from his senior command, and Knox set off with a group of men, including his younger brother William.   

The group retrieved 59 canons and heavy artillery in December, 1775, and dragged them nearly 300 miles across the frozen landscape of Massachusetts, finally arriving in Cambridge on January 24, 1776.  Soon after, the cannons and munitions were dragged up to Dorchester Heights.  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. 

The expedition became known as "The Noble Train of Artillery," and is considered a pivotal episode in the history of the American Revolution.  Read Knox's diary of the expedition from the Mass Historical Society.

George Washington named Knox Chief of Artillery and Brigadier General.   He was at the Battle of Trenton, the Battle of Princetown and Brandywine. He masterminded the crucial victory at the Battle of Yorktown, Virginia in 1781.

During the war, Knox also formed the Society of the Cincinnati in 1783, whose lofty aims were "to perpetuate the memory of the War for Independence, maintain the fraternal bonds between the officers, promote the ideals of the Revolution, support members and their families in need, distinguish its members as men of honor, and advocate for the compensation promised to the officers by Congress."

After the war, in 1889, George Washington appointed Knox the first U.S. Secretary of War, because of the crucial contributions Knox made throughout the American Revolution.

He retired in 1794 had and moved to Thomaston, ME, where his wife Lucy Fluker had inherited land. They built a mansion there and lived out their lives in Maine. Knox died in Thomaston in 1806 and Lucy died in 1824.  Today, the Knox mansion on High Street, which the Knoxs called Montpelier, is now the Henry Knox Museum and is open to visitors between Memorial Day and Columbus Day. 

Read more about local Boston landmarks pertaining to the Irish and Scots-Irish during the American Revolution. 

Research + Text, Michael Quinlin