-LIFE 
 
 AND 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OP 
 
 HENRY KNOX, 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY 
 
 ARMY. 
 
 By FRANCIS S. DRAKE. 
 
 '. , - .•*rsW* i -Tr S\ ' '> i» ,, *> 
 
 BOSTON: 
 SAMUEL G. DRAKE, 
 
 17 Bromfield Street. 
 
 1873. 
 
*>* 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 
 
 THE MASS. SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 Three hundred copies printed, for Subscribers only. 
 
 • • • • 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: 
 PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The materials for this Memoir, prepared a short 
 time since for the " Memorials of the Massachusetts 
 Society of the Cincinnati," have been mainly derived 
 from the original letters and papers of General Knox. 
 These papers, which fill fifty-six large portfolios, 
 include, besides Knox's own letters and military 
 papers, many of the letters of Washington Greene, 
 and other prominent actors in the Revolution ?;nd a 
 variety of documents illustrating the history and set- 
 tlement of that part of Maine included in the Mus- 
 congus or Waldo patent. About the year 1840 they 
 were placed by the family in the hands of Hon. 
 Charles S. Daveis of Portland, who began, but did 
 not finish, a memoir of Knox ; and in 1853 they were 
 transferred, with the same object, to Mr. Joseph Wil- 
 lard of Boston, a gentleman eminently qualified for 
 the task, but who unfortunately died before its com- 
 pletion. During their transit by water from Portland 
 to Boston, the vessel in which they were embarked 
 was wrecked, and they were slightly injured, having 
 been for some hours submerged. They are now, 
 
 224367 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 however, in safe keeping, their former owner, Ad- 
 miral Henry Knox Thatcher, U.S.N., grandson of 
 General Knox, having recently presented them to 
 the New-England Historic Genealogical Society of 
 Boston. 
 
 It should be borne in mind, in reading Knox's let- 
 ters, that the greater part of them exist only in the 
 origin al rough drafts, and hence occasional inaccura- 
 cies and ungrammatical expressions will be noticed, 
 which the letters themselves would probably not 
 contain. 
 
 The author's acknowledgments are due to Mr. 
 David G. Haskins, Jr., of Cambridge, to whose cour- 
 tesy he is indebted for the privilege of using the 
 materials respecting the family and early career of 
 Knox, collected by his grandfather, Hon. Charles 
 S. Daveis. 
 
 October 1, 1873. 
 
LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY KNOX 
 
LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY KNOX. 
 
 /^VF the well-known truth, that Revolutionary epochs 
 ^^^ are prolific of great men as well as of exalted ideas, 
 that period of the history of our own country which marks 
 its transition from a state of colonial dependence to that 
 of an independent nation presents a striking example. 
 Prominent in the remarkable group of which Washington 
 forms the grand central figure, and second to none in the 
 esteem, the confidence, and the affection of that illustrious 
 man, with possibly the single exception of La Fayette, 
 his adopted son ; trusted and leaned upon by him as a 
 stanch and tried support in moments of anxiety, diffi- 
 culty, and danger; sharing with him in every conflict 
 of the Revolution in which that great leader was per- 
 sonally engaged, — such was Henry Knox, who rose by 
 the simple force of his character and abilities from the 
 condition of a volunteer to the highest rank in the army, 
 that of major-general. Placed at once by his genius 
 and merit at the head of an important branch of the 
 military service, — the artillery, — he discovered powers 
 admirably suited to its requirements, and which cannot 
 perhaps be better shown than by contrasting the feebleness 
 and inefficiency of that arm at Bunker's Hill with its ter- 
 rible efficacy in the trenches of Yorktown. 
 
 Inferior, perhaps, as a general to Greene, between whom 
 
8 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 and himself the closest ties of friendship existed, he was 
 happier in living to witness the benefits conferred by their 
 toils and sacrifices in the establishment of a constitutional 
 government, a result which, as the head of the war depart- 
 ment, he was indefatigable in his efforts to bring about; 
 while under his auspices was achieved also Wayne's 
 memorable victory over the Indians, which gave peace 
 and security to the West, and opened to settlement that 
 immense region destined to be the centre of Western 
 civilization. 
 
 While few of our Revolutionary patriots are more 
 worthy of the love and admiration of posterity, there are 
 very few to whose memory so little justice has been 
 accorded. None engaged in the noble cause of freedom 
 with more ardor and enthusiasm ; and none with more 
 entire dedication of all the powers of body and mind, both 
 of which were unusually vigorous. 
 
 The paternal ancestors of Knox were from the Low- 
 lands of Scotland, a place bearing that name being found 
 on the southern border of the Clyde, within the barony 
 of Renfrew. John Knox, the great reformer, was a native 
 of the neighboring district of East Lothian, where the 
 name is still numerous and respectable. During the reign 
 of James L, many Scotch Presbyterians settled in the north 
 of Ireland, whence numbers of them subsequently emigrated 
 to America, whose descendants were conspicuous in the 
 cause of liberty during the Revolutionary war. In the year 
 1729 some of these emigrants landed in Boston, bringing 
 with them their pastor, John Morehead, and founded in 
 Bury Street a religious society, which was the origin of the 
 Federal Street Church, afterward the scene of the labors of 
 the eloquent Channing. It is remarkable that the first two 
 names found on the baptismal records of this society, of 
 which the parents of Knox were members, are those of 
 
ANCESTRY. 
 
 Knox and Campbell. The tradition in the family of Knox 
 was that they came from the vicinity of Belfast, Ireland, 
 and that William, his father, was a native of St. Eustatia, one 
 of the West Indies. He was married at Boston, on Feb. 11, 
 1735 (O.S.), by Rev. Mr. Morehead, to Mary, daughter of 
 Robert Campbell ; was a ship-master, and the owner of a 
 wharf and a small estate on Sea Street, near Summer, 
 
 BIRTHPLACE OF GENERAL KXOX. 
 
 which he was in 1756 compelled by misfortune to relin- 
 quish, and in 1759 went to St. Eustatia, where he died 
 March 25, 1762, aged fifty years. His widow, Mary, died 
 in Boston, Dec. 14, 1771, aged fifty-three. 
 
 Henry, the seventh of ten sons, of whom only four 
 attained to manhood, was born July 25, 1750. His two 
 elder brothers, John and Benjamin, went to sea, and never 
 returned, but were believed to be living in 1769. William, 
 the youngest, born in 1756, some time consul at Dublin, 
 was afterward a clerk in the employ of his brother while 
 Secretary of War, and died insane about the vear 1797. 
 
10 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 The house in which Knox was born is still standing, and 
 is opposite the head of Drake's Wharf, on Sea Street. It 
 has the gambrel roof common to houses of that period, 
 and was once surrounded by a garden, which has since 
 given place to dwellings. Some changes have taken place 
 in it, as will be observed upon comparing its present ap- 
 pearance with the engraving, which is copied from an old 
 drawing, and preserves its former features. At present a 
 portion of the old house is covered by a modern structure : 
 the doorway has been altered, and a low wooden building 
 intervenes between it and the street. Here the family 
 resided until 1758. 
 
 Losing his father about the time when he had completed 
 his grammar-school course, young Knox, upon whom the 
 care of his widowed mother and younger brother now 
 devolved, was fortunate in being employed by Messrs. 
 Wharton & Bowes, booksellers, in Cornhill.* 
 
 The excellent Mr. Nicholas Bowes supplied the place of 
 a father to him, keeping a strict eye upon his morals and 
 forming him in early life to habits of industry and regu- 
 larity. Long afterward he was enabled to repay a portion 
 of his debt to his early benefactor, the widow of Mr. 
 Bowes having become the recipient of his bounty. Among 
 the many estimable traits of Knox's character, that from 
 which in after life he derived the purest satisfaction was 
 the recollection of his attentive and affectionate solicitude 
 for his widowed mother. 
 
 Possessing an inquisitive mind and an ardent thirst for 
 knowledge, Knox was not slow in availing himself of the 
 advantages around him for its acquisition, and thus ob- 
 tained a knowledge of the French language and also of 
 
 * In 1761 they took the stock and stand of Daniel Henchman, situated on 
 the south corner of what is now State and Washington Streets. Wharton 
 died about 1768 ; Bowes, in 1790. 
 
BOSTON MASSACRE. 11 
 
 military science, for which he early developed a strong 
 inclination. He was also fond of studying the illustri- 
 ous examples of antiquit} r in the pages of Plutarch, and, 
 as Dr. Eliot tells us, " gave early presages of future 
 eminence." 
 
 Of a robust and athletic frame, and an enterprising and 
 resolute character, he was foremost in the contests between 
 the North and South Ends, two rival sections of Boston, to 
 the latter of which he belonged ; and it is related that 
 once, during the celebration of Pope's Night, the wheel of 
 the carriage which sustained the cumbrous pageant having 
 given way, Knox, to prevent the disgrace sure to result 
 from its non-appearance and the consequent triumph of 
 the adverse party, substituted his own shoulder and bore 
 the vehicle without interruption through the conflict.* 
 
 On the evening of the affray of the 5th of March, 
 1770, which took place in King Street, known as " The 
 Boston Massacre," Knox endeavored to keep the crowd 
 away from the soldiers, and when Captain Preston came 
 upon the ground, " took him by the coat and told him for 
 God's sake to take his men back again, for if they fired 
 his life must answer for the consequence ; he replied he 
 was sensible of it, and seemed in great haste and much 
 agitated." Knox saw nothing to justify the use of fire- 
 arms, and with others remonstrated against the use of 
 them. One result of this lamentable affair was to intensify 
 the hatred of the citizens toward the " bloody backs," as 
 
 * The 5th of November was set apart for these pageants, which are thus 
 described : An effigy of the Pope and another of the Devil were borne 
 through the streets by a mock procession, and finally were committed to the 
 flames amid the shouts of the surrounding multitude. The rival processions 
 always encountered one another, usually in or about Union Street, and 
 engaged in a pitched battle, ending in the capture of one of the popes and 
 the rout of his supporters, the rival effigies being finally made a bonfire of. 
 The Revolution put an end to these displays. 
 
12 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 they styled the red coats, two regiments of whom were 
 upon the demand of the people removed from the town 
 to the castle. 
 
 Having attained the age of twenty-one, Knox quitted 
 his employer and began business on his own account. 
 From Edes and Gill's " Gazette " of July 29, 1771, we 
 take the following : " This day is opened a new Lon- 
 don Bookstore by Henry Knox, opposite Williams' Court 
 in Cornhill, Boston, who has just imported 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 pub- 
 lished soon,) and to be sold as cheap as can be bought 
 at any place in town. Also a complete assortment of 
 stationery." 
 
 " Knox's Store," says General Henry Burbeck, a con- 
 temporary, " was a great resort for the British officers and 
 Tory ladies, who were the ton at that period," and Harrison 
 Gray Otis long afterward described it as " one of great 
 display and attraction for young and old, and a fashion- 
 able morning lounge." Intelligent, amiable, and patriotic, 
 he was a general favorite, and seemed in a fair way to 
 become a prosperous merchant. The gathering storm of 
 the Revolution, however, loomed dark and threatening in 
 the sky ; and ere long the Boston Port Bill, which put a 
 sudden stop to the prosperity of the town, involved also 
 that of our young bookseller. 
 
 One of Knox's business correspondents was James 
 Rivington, the Tory bookseller and editor of New York, 
 who sent him (28 July, 1774) five chests of tea, which he 
 understands is very scarce in Boston, and begs him " to 
 put them into such hands in the deepest confidence [this 
 tea had paid no duty, hence the injunction of secrecy], 
 as may be able to complete the sale of them as soon as 
 
JAMES RIVINGTON.— LONGMAN. 13 
 
 convenient." Knox declined the commission, and in Sep- 
 tember Rivington orders its delivery to a Mr. Palfrey. 
 
 Rivington, having sent him three hundred " Other Side 
 the Question" (an answer to the " Friendly Address "), 
 under date of 1 Dec. 1774, writes thus : — 
 
 " ' The Friendly Address' I do not send to you, for fear of hurting 
 your interest: it was forwarded to Messrs. Mills & Hicks to be 
 printed. My reasons for not troubling you with these very warm, 
 high-seasoned pamphlets is that your very numerous friends on 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 
 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 
 attention to you." 
 
 As Knox was thoroughly identified with the ardent sons 
 of liberty, we can easily imagine his reply. 
 
 His first purchase of books of Thomas Longman and 
 Sons of London, dated 22 April, 1771, amounted to .£340, 
 and up to December, 1772, they had reached a total of 
 .£2,066. After this there was a great falling off from 
 political causes, concerning which he writes Longman in 
 November, 1774, as follows : — 
 
 "Sir, — I have received yours per Captain 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 oppor- 
 tunity, but shall do it very soon. This whole continent have entered 
 into a general non-importation agreement until the late acts of par- 
 liament respecting this government, &c, are repealed, which will 
 prevent my sending any orders for books until this most desirable 
 end is accomplished. I cannot but hope every person who is con- 
 cerned in American trade will most strenuously exert themselves, 
 in their respective stations, for what so nearly concerns themselves. 
 I had the fairest prospect of entirely balancing our account this fall ; 
 
 3 
 
14 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 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 busi- 
 ness 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 unhappy differences between Great Britain and the Colonies 
 be speedily and finally adjusted. The influence that the unlucky 
 and unhappy mood of politics of the times has upon trade is my only 
 excuse for writing concerning them. The magazines and new pub- 
 lications concerning the American dispute are the only things which 
 I desire you to send at present." 
 
 During the occupancy of the town by the British, and 
 while Knox was with the besieging army, his store, with 
 many others, was robbed and pillaged ; and though long 
 after the war he honorably paid Longman a portion of his 
 debt, yet, owing to grave financial embarrassments, a part 
 remained unsettled at his decease. Upon making this last 
 payment of 11,000 guilders (about £1,000), Knox, under 
 date of 15 Dec. 1798, writes thus : — 
 
 " It is but justice to myself to say, that while I experience the 
 strongest sensations of gratitude for your forbearance and liberality, 
 that 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 of 
 the measure, you should long ago have received the amount due." 
 
 At the age of eighteen, Knox, in obedience to a strong 
 natural bent, joined a military company ; and when the 
 " Boston Grenadier Corps " was formed by Captain Joseph 
 Peirce, he was one of its founders and was second in 
 command. The splendid uniform, military appearance, 
 drill and efficiency of this corps, which made its first 
 parade June 8, 1772, under Captain Peirce, gave it 
 high renown, and elicited the warm encomiums even of 
 
BOSTON GRENADIER CORPS. 15 
 
 the British officers. Its members, Knox included, had 
 volunteered as a guard over the tea ships ; and Governor 
 Gage had been struck by their martial bearing on the 
 occasion of his public entry into Boston in May, 1774. 
 Knox was aided in drilling and disciplining the corps by 
 its orderly sergeant, Lemuel Trescott, afterward a major, 
 and one of the best officers in the Continental Army ; and 
 each man was from five feet ten to six feet in height. By 
 conversing with the British officers who frequented his 
 bookstore, by earnest study of military authors and by 
 careful observation of the soldiery in Boston, he soon 
 attained great proficiency in the theory and practice of 
 the military art. 
 
 While on a gunning excursion among the islands in 
 Boston harbor (24 July, 1773), he lost, by the bursting of 
 his fowling-piece, the two smaller fingers of his left hand, 
 a defect he was accustomed to cover up by the folds of a 
 handkerchief, and which, in Stuart's half-length portrait in 
 Faneuil Hall, is skilfully concealed by resting the hand on 
 a cannon.* 
 
 It was about a month after this occurrence that Knox, 
 who was an uncommonly good-looking officer, and pos- 
 sessed also a fine military bearing, attracted the attention 
 of his future wife. This is related, on the authority of 
 General Burbeck, as having taken place " at the next par- 
 ade of the corps, when Lieutenant Knox appeared with the 
 wound handsomely bandaged with a scarf, which of course 
 
 * Other portraits of Knox are that by C. W. Peale and the one by- 
 Edward Savage, from which the engraving accompanying this volume is 
 taken. Concerning this picture,. Savage writes to Knox from London, Jan. 
 22, 1792: — 
 
 " Agreeable to your request, I have sent by Mr. West the half-dozen 
 prints from the original portrait which you did me the honor to sit for. . . . 
 I was much flattered by Mr. West, historical painter to his Majesty, as he 
 knew it to be my first performance on copper, and without any assistance. 
 
 " No. 29 Charles Street, Middlesex Hospital.'- 
 
16 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 excited the sympathy of all the ladies." The good im- 
 pression thus made was improved by the young lady's 
 visits to his bookstore, and an acquaintance soon sprung 
 up, which ripened into mutual love and esteem, and 
 resulted in a true and happy union.* Her father, Thomas 
 Flucker, Esq., " a high-toned loyalist, of great family pre- 
 tensions," and Secretary of the Province of Massachusetts 
 Bay, was exceedingly averse to the match, as indeed were 
 all of the young lady's aristocratic connections, who were 
 Tories, while Knox's sympathies were, as was well known, 
 strongly enlisted in behalf of his countrymen. Indeed, 
 the match is said to have wanted little of an elopement on 
 this account, her friends regarding her social prospects as 
 ruined by her wedding one who had embraced the rebel 
 cause. 
 
 The consequences were depicted to her in lively colors, 
 and without any softening of the shades. She was told 
 that, while her sisters were riding in their coaches, she 
 would be eating the bread of poverty and dependence ; 
 that there could be but one issue to the conflict ; and that 
 the power of Great Britain was overwhelming. Disre- 
 garding all these well-meant warnings, the young lady, 
 who had fully adopted the views and feelings of her future 
 husband, resolved to follow the fortunes of him to whom 
 her heart had been given. Here is a brief glimpse of 
 their courtship : — 
 
 KNOX TO MISS FLUCKER. 
 
 " Monday Evening, March 7, 1774. 
 " What news ? Have you spoken to your father, or he to you, 
 upon the subject ? What appearance has this [to us] grand affair 
 
 * Mr. Otis, whom we have before quoted, says : " Miss Flucker was dis- 
 tinguished as a young lady of high intellectual endowments, very fond of 
 books, and especially the books sold by Knox, to whose shelves she had 
 frequent recourse." 
 
MARRIAGE.— JOINS THE ARMY. 17 
 
 at your house at present ? Do you go to the ball to-morrow evening ? 
 I am in a state of anxiety heretofore unknown. I wish the medium 
 of our correspondence settled, in order to which I must endeavor 
 to see you, when we will settle it." 
 
 Love, as usual, triumphed over all obstacles ; and in the 
 " Gazette " of June 20, 1774, the marriage was thus an- 
 nounced : — 
 
 "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." 
 
 The young couple at once commenced housekeeping, 
 but their domestic enjoyments were seriously interrupted 
 by the events of the 19th of April, 1775 ; and just one 
 year from the day of his marriage Knox quitted Boston 
 in disguise (his departure having been interdicted by 
 Gage), accompanied by his wife, who had quilted into the 
 lining of her cloak the sword with which her husband was 
 to carve out a successful military career. Large promises 
 had been held out to Knox to induce him to follow the royal 
 standard, as it was thought of consequence to prevent so 
 talented a young man from attaching himself to the pro- 
 vincials ; but his patriotism was as sincere as it was ardent, 
 and he did not for a moment hesitate, but embarked heart 
 and hand in the patriot cause. 
 
 Repairing at once to the head-quarters of General Ward 
 at Cambridge, he was actively engaged in reconnoitring 
 service on the memorable 17th of June, and upon his 
 reports the general's orders were issued. After the battle, 
 his wife having been safely bestowed at Worcester, Knox, 
 while declining any particular commission, lent his aid in 
 planning and constructing works of defence for the various 
 camps around the beleaguered town, at the same time 
 acquiring skill as an artillerist, and was thus occupied for 
 
18 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 some months. In this employment, the comparative profi- 
 ciency he had acquired, by seizing every chance occasion 
 for mastering that branch of military science, was of sen- 
 sible service to his country, then greatly in need of skilled 
 engineers ; and it also proved the stepping-stone to his 
 future distinction. The chief work constructed by him 
 was the strong redoubt crowning the hill in Roxbury, 
 known as Roxbury Fort, the site of which is now covered 
 by the Cochituate Stand Pipe. A few extracts from his 
 letters to his wife and to his brother during the siege are 
 here given, from the first of which it appears that his 
 skill and activity had attracted the notice of Washington 
 only three days after he had taken the command of the 
 army : — 
 
 " Roxbury (Lemuel Childs's), 
 " Thursday Morning, 6 o'clock (July 6, 1775). 
 
 " 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." 
 
 " Watertown, July 9. 
 
 " General Washington fills his place with vast ease and dignity, 
 and dispenses happiness around him. General Lee will become 
 very popular soon. I am obliged to go to Cambridge to wait on 
 General Washington, and promised to be there by seven o'clock. I 
 am now half past that time." 
 
 "Monday, July 11. 
 
 " I go to Roxbury and Cambridge in the morning, and return 
 here every evening for the sake of Mr. Jackson's company. We 
 are here in a very decent private house, — Mr. Cook's, near the 
 bridge. . . . You heard, I suppose, by our neighbor Curtis that our 
 people burnt Brown's houses on Boston Neck, except the store ? It 
 was a brave action, and well performed. The regulars were in 
 such trepidation in Boston and on the lines that I perfectly believe 
 750 men would at that time [have] taken the full possession of the 
 
SIEGE OF BOSTON. 19 
 
 town. The new generals are of infinite service in the army. They 
 have to reduce order almost from a 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." 
 
 " August 9, 1775 
 "(General Thomas's Head-quarters, Roxbury). 
 
 " I was yesterday at Cambridge. Generals Washington and Lee 
 inquired after you. I dined at General "VV.'s. While I was there, 
 the navy prisoners whom I wrote to you about yesterday came there 
 on- horses. There were seven; viz.. one lieutenant, t one doctor, one 
 master, and four midshipmen, — all handsome, genteel-looking men. 
 The officers were disposed of genteelly for the present, and are soon 
 to be sent into the country." 
 
 To his brother William, 25 Sept. 1775 : — 
 
 " Last Friday Lucy [Mrs. Knox] dined at General Washington's. 
 Last Saturday, let it be remembered to the honor and skill of the 
 British troops, that they fired 104 cannon-shot at [our] works, at 
 not a greater distance than half point blank 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." 
 
 On page eighty-six of John Adams's autobiography, he 
 says : " Colonel Knox had been a youth who had attracted 
 my notice by his pleasing manners and inquisitive turn of 
 mind, when I was a man in business in Boston ; " and on 
 the same day (Oct. 1, 1776) he writes to Knox, request- 
 ing his sentiments upon a plan for the establishment of a 
 military academy in the army. The following letter, writ- 
 
 * A phrase in Gage's irate proclamation of June 12, which caused much 
 merriment in the American camp. 
 
 t John Knight, afterward an admiral. They were taken at Machias ; 
 and the question as to the treatment to be accorded them led to the memo- 
 rable correspondence upon the subject between Washington and the British 
 commander, Gage. 
 
20 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 ten while in attendance upon Congress, still further evinces 
 Mr. Adams's appreciation of him : — 
 
 JOHN ADAMS TO KNOX. 
 
 "Philadelphia, Nov. 11, 1775. 
 
 " 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 endeavored, both at camp, at Watertown, and at Phila- 
 delphia, 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 1 should be minutely informed of every 
 thing which passes at the camp while I hold a place in the great 
 Council of America ; and therefore I must beg the favor 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, — I 
 mean every honest and able one ; but more especially of every 
 officer who is best acquainted with the theory and practice of forti- 
 fication and gunnery. What is comprehended within the term 
 Engineer ? and whether it includes skill both in fortifications and 
 gunnery ; and what skilful engineers you have 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." 
 
 On Nov. 2, Washington writes to Governor Trumbull 
 respecting the want of competent engineers, and says : 
 " Most of the works which have been thrown up for the 
 defence of our several encampments have been planned 
 
APPOINTED COLONEL OF ARTILLERY. 21 
 
 by a few of the principal officers of the army, assisted by 
 Mr. Knox, a gentleman of Worcester." 
 
 And to the President of Congress on the 8th of the 
 same month : — 
 
 "The council of officers are unanimously of opinion that the com- 
 mand of the artillery should no longer continue in Colonel Gridley ; 
 and knowing of 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 consideration of 
 Congress." 
 
 Gridley, a veteran of the French war, was incapacitated 
 by age and infirmity for active service ; and the next in 
 rank, David Mason, offered to serve as lieutenant-colonel 
 of the artillery regiment if Knox might be appointed 
 colonel. There were a number of young officers of merit 
 in that branch,* but they joined unanimously in making 
 this request ; and he was accordingly commissioned by 
 Congress colonel of the artillery regiment on Nov. 17, 
 1775. His commission did not reach him, however, until 
 after his return from Ticonderoga.f 
 
 The want of heavy ordnance, with which to drive the 
 
 * Many of these officers, among whom were John Crane, Ebenezer Stevens, 
 Winthrop Sargent, and others, who became distinguished, were trained in 
 Paddock's artillery company, formed in 1763 by David Mason. Paddock, 
 who succeeded him in the command in 1768, brought it to a high state of 
 efficiency ; but being a Tory left Boston with the British troops, and died in 
 the Isle of Jersey, 25 March, 1801, aged seventy-six. 
 
 t It seems not a little singular that one who had never been even a private 
 of artillery, nor had the advantages of a military school, should have been 
 selected for the eminently practical role of chief of artillery of the army. His 
 fitness for the position was, however, conceded at once and without question, 
 and was afterward abundantly manifested. 
 
 A return of the artillery regiment, consisting of twelve companies, dated 
 3 March, 1776, gives 635 men. 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. 
 
 4 
 
22 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 enemy from Boston, was felt to be one of serious concern ; 
 and to the enterprising and fertile mind of Knox belongs 
 the credit of having conceived and successfully executed 
 a project by which the besieging army was supplied with 
 the means for effecting that important object. This plan, 
 which was approved by Washington, was to procure from 
 Fort Ticonderoga the needed cannon and stores, and to 
 transport them on boats and sleds to the camp at Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 Armed with the necessary instructions from the com- 
 mander-in-chief, and accompanied by his younger brother, 
 William, then nineteen years of age, and who was of great 
 service to him in this enterprise, Knox left the camp at 
 Cambridge on Nov. 15, and, after a brief visit to his wife 
 at Worcester, reached New York on the 25th. After 
 transacting his business there, he started northward on the 
 28th, "glad," as he writes in his diary, "to leave New 
 York, it being very expensive." He reached Albany Dec. 
 1, and Ticonderoga on the 5th. From this place he began 
 his laborious and difficult journey homeward on the 9th, 
 having put on board some small craft, such ordnance and 
 stores as were essential and could be safely transported. 
 He was assisted in his arduous labors by General Schuyler, 
 and after undergoing much hardship and suffering, and 
 encountering numerous obstacles as well as the annoy- 
 ances and vexations incident to so hazardous an enter- 
 prise in the midst of a severe winter, he finally had the 
 satisfaction of reaching camp on Jan. 24, 1776, and of 
 receiving the congratulations of the commander-in-chief 
 upon the important service he had thus rendered the army 
 and the country. While crossing the Hudson on the ice, 
 one of the cannon fell into the river near the landing. It 
 was recovered on the following day, with the assistance of 
 the people of Albany, in return for which service Knox 
 christened her " The Albany." 
 
ENCOUNTERS ANDRE. 23 
 
 This achievement stamped the character of Knox for 
 boldness, enterprise, fertility of resource and genius, sup- 
 plied the means for fortifying Dorchester Heights, and vin- 
 dicated the judgment of Washington in selecting him for 
 the important and responsible duties of the artillery and 
 ordnance departments.* 
 
 A memorable incident of this journey was his encounter 
 with the gallant but unfortunate Andre. The latter, who 
 had been taken prisoner by Montgomery at St. John's, 
 was on his way to Lancaster, Pa., to remain there until 
 exchanged, while Knox was pursuing his way northward. 
 Chance made them one stormy winter night inmates of the 
 same cabin on the border of Lake George, and even of the 
 same bed. Though of opposite political attachments, they 
 had much in common. Their ages were alike ; each had 
 given up the pursuits of trade for the military profession, 
 of which each had made a study ; and their tastes and aims 
 were similar. They parted on the morrow with strong 
 mutual sentiments of regard and good-will, and their inter- 
 view left an indelible impression on the mind of Knox. 
 The respective condition of the two was not mutually 
 made known until just as they were about to part ; and 
 when Knox, a few years later, was called on to perform 
 the painful office of a judge upon that tribunal which con- 
 demned Andre to death, the memory of their meeting gave 
 additional bitterness to that unpleasant duty. 
 
 To Washington he wrote on Nov. 27, from New York, 
 earnestly recommending that cannon for the army be cast 
 there, "where it can be expeditiously and cheaply done." 
 
 * "For expenditures 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 barrel of flints, and 23 boxes of lead, back to camp (includ- 
 ing expenses of self, brother, and servant), £520.15.8f." — Knox's Account- 
 book. (For schedule of cannon, &c, see Appendix.) 
 
24 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 And on Dec. 17, from Fort George : — 
 
 "I returned to this place on the loth, 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 getting them over 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, from thence to Great Barrington, and down to 
 Springfield. I have sent for the sleds and teams to come here, and 
 expect to begin to move them to Saratoga on Wednesday or Thurs- 
 day next, trusting that between this and then we shall have a fine 
 fall of snow, which will enable us to proceed further, and make the 
 carriage easy. If that shall be the case, I hope in sixteen or seven- 
 teen days' time to be able to present to your Excellency a noble 
 train of artillery." 
 
 From Albany, 5th Jan. 1776 : — 
 
 " I was in hopes that we should have been able to have had the 
 cannon at Cambridge by this time. The want of snow detained us 
 some days, and now a cruel thaw hinders from crossing Hudson 
 River, which we are obliged to do four times from Lake George to 
 this town. The first severe night will make the ice on the river 
 sufficiently strong ; till that happens the cannon and mortars must 
 remain where they are. These inevitable delays pain me exceed- 
 ingly, as my mind is fully sensible of the importance of the greatest 
 expedition in this case. . . . General Schuyler has been exceedingly 
 assiduous in this matter. As to myself, my utmost endeavors have 
 been, and still shall be, used to forward them with the utmost des- 
 patch." 
 
 And on the same day he writes to his wife : — 
 
 "... A little about my travels. New York is a place where I 
 think in general the houses are better built than in Boston. They 
 are generally of brick, and three stories high, with the largest kind 
 
■) 
 
 APPEARANCE OF NEW YORK. — ALBANY. 25 
 
 of windows. Their churches are grand ; their college, workhouse, 
 and hospitals most excellently situated, and also exceedingly com- 
 modious ; their principal streets 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 are inimitable ; in their profaneness, 
 which is intolerable ; in the want of principle, which is prevalent ; 
 in their Toryism, which is unsufferable, and for which they must 
 repent in dust and ashes. The country from New York to this city 
 [Albany] is not very populous, — not the fifth part so much so as in 
 New England, and with much greater marks of poverty than there. 
 The people of this city, of which there are about 5,000 or 6,000, 
 
 are, I believe, honest enough, and many of them sensible people, 
 
 much more so than any other part of the government which I've 
 seen. There are four very good buildings for public worship, with 
 a State House, the remains of capital barracks, hospital, and fort, 
 which must in their day have been very clever. (It is situated on 
 the side of a hill.) 
 
 "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 
 from this for Pennsylvania yesterday, among whom was General 
 Prescott, who has by all accounts behaved exceedingly ill to Colonel 
 Allen of ours, who was taken at Montreal. Here is also 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 amazingly at this advanced season of 
 the year. It is now past twelve o'clock, therefore I wish you a 
 good night's repose, and will mention you in my prayers." 
 
 On the night of the 4th of March, 1776, under cover of 
 a furious cannonade from Knox's batteries at Cobble Hill, 
 
26 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 Lechmere's Point, and Roxbury, General Thomas took 
 possession of Dorchester Heights commanding the town 
 and harbor of Boston, which he so strongly fortified that 
 Howe, the British commander, though he made prepara- 
 tions to attack him on the following day, dared not do so, 
 and was consequently obliged to evacuate Boston on the 
 17th.* 
 
 Reinforcements were immediately sent to the northern 
 army ; and the remainder of Washington's force was, early 
 in April, moved to New York, which was soon to become 
 the theatre of active operations. 
 
 Knox's engineering talents were now called into re- 
 quisition in Connecticut and Rhode Island ; and previous 
 to his arrival in New York, on the 30th of April, he wrote 
 to Washington and to Mrs. Knox several letters, from 
 which we extract as follows : — 
 
 TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 "Norwich, 21 April, 1776. 
 
 " In passing through Providence, Governor Cooke and a number 
 of the 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 everj part of the continent, I conceived it to be my 
 duty to act in conformity to your wishes, especially as I could get 
 to Norwich as soon as the stores which set out on the 14th. Accord- 
 ingly I went to Newport, and marked out five batteries, which, from 
 the advantageous situation of the ground, must, when executed, 
 render the harbor 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 
 
 * The Fluckers accompanied the royal troops to Halifax, and sailed 
 thence to England, where the father and mother of Mrs. Knox both died : 
 the former, in March, 1783 ; the latter, in December, 1785. 
 
INSPECTS NEW LONDON HARBOR. 27 
 
 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." 
 
 TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 " New London, April 24, 1776. 
 
 "Sir, — In consequence of your Excellency's directions, I am 
 employed in looking at and getting the necessary information re- 
 specting the harbor, in which I shall spare no pains. I mentioned 
 to your Excellency Newport harbor, which, in conjunction with 
 this, will, when fortified, afford a safe retreat to the American navy 
 or their prizes in any wind that blows. They are equally con- 
 venient for ships coming from sea ; and if the wind is not fair to go 
 into one harbor, they may go into the other. The artillery and 
 stores are all embarked, together with the remaining company of 
 my regiment, and have been waiting for a fair wind two days. 
 
 " Admiral Hopkins is still in this harbor, and I believe will be 
 obliged to continue here some time. He has this day received in- 
 telligence 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 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." 
 
 In a letter to his wife he thus describes Admiral 
 Hopkins : — 
 
 " I have been on board Admiral Hopkins's [ship], and in company 
 with his gallant son who was wounded in the engagement with the 
 1 Glasgow.' The admiral is an antiquated figure. He brought to 
 my mind Van Tromp, the famous Dutch admiral. Though anti- 
 quated 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." 
 
 * This officer remained in Massachusetts and never rejoined the regiment. 
 He was many years commander at Castle William, and died in Boston, 22 July, 
 1785, aged sixty-nine. 
 
28 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 To protect New York city, Washington was compelled 
 to hold Kingsbridge, Governor's Island, Panlus Hook, and 
 the Heights of Brooklyn. For all these posts, separated by 
 water, some of them fifteen miles apart, he had, early in 
 August, but about 10,000 men fit for duty, beside Knox's 
 regiment of artillery. Most of the cannon in the field- 
 works were of iron, old and honey-combed, broken and 
 defective.* 
 
 On July 11th Knox writes to his brother : — 
 
 " 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 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 was 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 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 
 tiring, the troops repairing to their posts, and every thing in the 
 [height] of bustle ; I not at liberty to attend her, as my country 
 calls 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." 
 
 To Mrs. Knox, at Norwalk or Fairfield, 13th July : — 
 
 " 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 
 
 * On June 10, Knox reported to Washington that there were mounted, 
 and fit for action in the city and neighboring posts, 121 heavy and light can- 
 non, requiring for their service 1,210 men. His regiment, present and fit for 
 duty, numbered (including 50 officers) 520. He therefore recommends that 
 it be immediately raised to the required number by draught from the other 
 battalions. 
 
BATTLE OF LONG ISLAND. 29 
 
 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 accidents, and 
 a number wounded. This affair will be of service to my people : it 
 will teach them to moderate their fiery courage." 
 
 August 11th, he again writes her : — 
 
 u 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 reg- 
 iment 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, &c. ; 
 but I am mortified that I haven't had them to dine with me in 
 return. However, that cannot be. I go to bed at nine o'clock or 
 before, every night." 
 
 Knox's quarters were at the battery near those of Wash- 
 ington, with whom he crossed over to Long Island daily, 
 in the discharge of his duty. He thus writes to his wife 
 of the disaster of Aug. 27th: — 
 
 "About two o'clock in the morning (yesterday) the enemy 
 attacked 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 
 about 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 pris- 
 oners, among whom are General Sullivan and Lord Stirling. Gen- 
 eral 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." 
 
 5 
 
30 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 To the same Sept. 5th: — 
 
 " 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 every thing 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 a great people. One or two drubbings will" be of 
 service 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." 
 
 On the 15th of September the army of General Howe 
 effected a landing at Kip's Bay, about three miles above 
 the city, the evacuation of which, already in progress, was 
 hurriedly completed by the Americans. Knox, who had 
 for some days been engaged in removing the ordnance 
 and stores, left the city about twelve o'clock to join 
 General Washington. Encountering Silliman's brigade, 
 retreating in great confusion in the vicinity of Corlaer's 
 Hook, he lost time in attempting to rally the fugitives, 
 with whom he then threw himself into Fort Bunker Hill, 
 an unfinished work near the site of the present Centre 
 Market, where he " thought only of a gallant defence." 
 Colonel Aaron Burr, who was one of Putnam's aids, riding 
 up, assured the troops that a retreat was practicable, and 
 led them in safety to the Bloomingdale road, near what 
 is now 60th Street. Knox, who was almost the last to 
 leave the city, escaped capture only by seizing a boat and 
 making his way by water. His arrival at Harlem, where 
 great anxiety was felt for his safety, was greeted with a 
 shout of welcome, and by an embrace from Washington. 
 
 To his brother he writes on the 19th: " My constant 
 fatigue and application to the business of my extensive 
 department has been such that I have not had my 
 
HOWE'S BAD GENERALSHIP. 31 
 
 clothes off once o' nights for more than forty days." 
 And again : — 
 
 " Heights of Harlem, 8 miles from New York, 
 Sept. 23d. 
 
 "You, with our other friends at Boston, are anxious for our sit- 
 uation and wish to know it exactly. It is my lot, and it has been 
 so invariably since I have been in the army, to be in an exceeding 
 busy department. This I mention not by way of dislike, but as 
 an excuse for any seeming negligence or remissness in writing to 
 you. . . . The general leading features or outlines of what has already 
 happened have, almost ever since I have been this way, been fully 
 impressed on my mind. Islands separated from the main by nav- 
 igable waters are not to be defended by a people without a navy 
 against a nation who can send a powerful fleet to interrupt the com- 
 munication. We had one chance to defend New York. I don't 
 know whether to call it a whole chance. I think I cannot with 
 propriety : it was only part of a chance, which was by being com- 
 pletely victorious on Long Island. Even had this event taken place, 
 they could have burnt the town by their shipping : this is indis- 
 putable, in my opinion. They in their first attack on Long Island, 
 lost us by our own fault in not guarding the passes, made such 
 lodgement near our works, that they were not obliged to leave more 
 than five thousand men to guard them. This would have left fifteen 
 thousand men at least to have made a push up the North River, 
 and landed in our rear and fortified. Had they taken this measure, 
 which in good policy they ought to have done, they might at one 
 stroke have reduced the whole army to the necessity of becoming 
 prisoners without being able to fight in the least. But in this and 
 several other capital matters they have not acted the great war- 
 riors : indeed I see nothing of the vast about them either in their 
 designs or execution. But, good God, if they are little, thou 
 knowest full well we are much less, and that nothing less than the 
 infatuation of the enemy and the almost immediate interposition 
 of thy providence has saved this rabble army. 
 
 " The general is as worthy a man as breathes, but he cannot do 
 every thing nor be everywhere. He wants good assistants. There 
 is a radical evil 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 
 
32 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 are a parcel of ignorant, stupid men, who might make tolerable 
 soldiers, but [are] bad officers ; and until Congress forms an estab- 
 lishment to induce men proper for the purpose to leave their usual 
 employments and enter the service, it is ten to one they will be 
 beat till 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 other encouragement possible given to draw persons into the 
 army that may give a lustre to our arms. As the army now stands, 
 it is only a receptacle for ragmuffins. You will observe I am 
 chagrined, not more so than at any other time since I've been in 
 the army; but many late affairs, of which I've been an eve-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 affair of last Monday (battle of Harlem Plains) has had 
 some good consequences towards raising the people's spirits. They 
 find that if they stick to these mighty men they will run as fast as 
 other people. We pursued them nearly two miles. About fifteen 
 hundred of our troops engaged ; of the enemy, about the same num- 
 ber. The grounds on which we now rest are strong, I think we 
 shall defend them : if we don't, I hope God will punish us both in 
 this world and the world to come, if the fault is ours. Pay Mrs. 
 Crane, wife to Major Crane, fifty dollars, and inform her that the 
 Major is in a fair way to do well. He is in high esteem in the 
 army, and the loss of his services much regretted by me.* The 
 
 * Crane had, a few days before, been wounded in the foot by a shot from 
 Captain Wallace's frigate, which he was cannonading. John Crane was born 
 at Braintree, Mass., 7 December, 1744, and died at Whiting, Me., 21 August, 
 1805. He was a housewright ; was one of the " Tea Party," and lived 
 in a house still standing in Tremont Street, Boston, opposite Hollis Street. 
 He removed to Providence in 1774, and there raised a company of artillery, 
 with which he joined Gridley's regiment in the summer of 1775, with the 
 rank of major. He received the same commission in Knox's regiment, Jan. 
 1, 1776, and raised in the following year and commanded throughout the 
 war a regiment of continental artillery. Colonel Crane was one of the mem- 
 bers of Paddock's artillery company before the war, and distinguished him- 
 self upon several occasions during the contest, being honorably mentioned by 
 General Sullivan during the Ehode Island expedition. After the war he 
 carried on the lumber business in Washington County, Me. 
 
FORT WASHINGTON. — GREENE'S LETTER. 33 
 
 scoundrel Hessians took my baggage-cart, with the great part of 
 my necessary matters, which I find very difficult to replace at 
 present." 
 
 He writes him also an account of the action of Oct. 
 28th : — 
 
 " Near White Plains, 32 miles from New York, 
 1 Nov. 1776. 
 
 " Last Monday, the enemy with nearly their whole force ad- 
 vanced 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 
 attack on a hill (Chatter-ton's) on our right, where we had about 
 one thousand posted under General McDougall, which they carried 
 with considerable 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 on 
 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 I think they are somewhat our superiors." 
 
 The loss of Fort Washington, which took place on Nov. 
 16th, was a serious blow to the Americans. General 
 Greene's mortification at the event, as well as his reasons 
 for endeavoring to hold that post, are given for the first 
 time in this highly interesting letter to his friend Knox : — 
 
 "Fort Lee, Nov. [17], 1776. 
 "Your favor 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 
 demand of the surrender of the garrison in the general's name, but 
 was answered by the commanding officer that he should defend it 
 
34 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 to the last extremity. Yesterday morning, General Washington, 
 General Putnam, General Mercer, and myself went to the island to 
 determine 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 fortifica- 
 tions 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 head-quarters, 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 enemy'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 capit- 
 ulated in an hour. I was afraid of the fort : the redoubt 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. 
 
 " No particulars of the action as yet has come to my knowledge. 
 [Mem. on the back.] I have not time to give you a description of 
 the battle. 
 
 [Addressed :] 
 To Coll Henry Knox, 
 
 White Plains. 
 
CONFIDENCE OF KNOX. 35 
 
 In this unfortunate affair, the artillery regiment lost 
 about one hundred men, including Captain Pierce. Then 
 followed the evacuation of Fort Lee and the memorable 
 retreat of Washington's little army through the Jerseys, 
 " protracted for eighteen or nineteen days in an inclement 
 season, often in sight and within cannon-shot of his 
 enemies, his rear pulling down bridges and their van build- 
 ing them up," delaying them till midwinter and impas- 
 sable roads should close the campaign. On Dec. 13th, 
 Howe, believing that the American force would melt away 
 at the near expiration of their engagements, returned to his 
 winter quarters in New York, leaving Colonel Donop with 
 his Hessians and the 42d Highlanders to hold the line from 
 Trenton to Burlington. 
 
 At this critical moment, when even the calm soul of 
 Washington trembled for his country's freedom, Knox was 
 one of those who strengthened his hand and encouraged 
 his heart ; and his letters written in the darkest periods of 
 the war show that he never yielded to despondency, but 
 confidently anticipated its triumphant issue. 
 
 Washington now resolved to strike a blow that should 
 cripple his enemy and revive the sinking spirit of his 
 countrymen. He crossed the Delaware, Knox superin- 
 tending its passage, and by his stentorian voice making 
 audible the orders of his chief above the fury of the 
 blast, and surprising the post at Trenton captured the entire 
 garrison. After this victory, Knox and Greene were in 
 favor of following it up by marching upon New Bruns- 
 wick. Washington was inclined to adopt this course, but 
 the generality of the other officers opposed it, an opposi- 
 tion they afterward regretted. His account of this and 
 the subsequent brilliant affair at Princeton is given in the 
 following letters to Mrs. Knox : — 
 
36 EIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 " Delaware River, near Trenton, 
 
 Dec. 28, 1776, near 12 o'clock. 
 
 "My dearly beloved Friend, — You will before this have 
 heard of our success on the morning of the 26th instant. The 
 enemy, by their superior marching, had obliged us to retire on the 
 Pennsylvania side of the Delaware, by which means we were obliged 
 to evacuate or give up nearly all the Jerseys. Soon after our retiring 
 over the river, the preservation of Philadelphia was a matter exceed- 
 ingly precarious, — the force of the enemy three or four times as 
 large as ours. However, thev seemed content with their success 
 for the present, and quartered their troops in different and distant 
 places in the Jerseys. Of these cantonments Trenton was the most 
 considerable. 
 
 " Trenton is an open town, situated nearly on the banks of the 
 Delaware, accessible on all sides. Our army was scattered along the 
 river for nearly twenty-five miles. Our intelligence agreed that the 
 force of the enemy in Trenton was from two to three thousand, with 
 about six field cannon, and that they were pretty secure in their 
 situation, and that they were Hessians, — no British troops. A 
 hardy design w r as formed of attacking the town by storm. Accord- 
 ingly a part of the army, consisting of about 2,500 or 3,000, passed 
 the river on Christmas night, with almost infinite difficulty, with 
 eighteen field-pieces. The floating ice in the river made the labor 
 almost incredible. However, perseverance accomplished what at 
 first seemed impossible. About two o'clock the troops were all on the 
 Jersey side ; we then were 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 good order. 
 
 " They arrived by two routes at the same time, about half an hour 
 after daylight, within one mile of the town. The storm continued 
 with great violence, but was in our backs, and consequently in the 
 faces of our enemy. About half a mile from the town was an 
 advanced guard on each road, consisting of a captain's guard. These 
 we forced, and entered the town with them pell-mell ; and here 
 succeeded a scene of war of which I had often conceived, but never 
 saw before. The hurry, fright, and confusion of the enemy was 
 [not] unlike that which will be when the last trump shall sound. 
 They endeavored to form in streets, the heads of which we had 
 previously the possession of with cannon and howitzers ; these, in 
 
SURPRISE OF THE HESSIANS. 37 
 
 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. Finally they were driven through 
 the town into an open plain beyond. Here they formed in an 
 instant. During the contest in the streets measures were taken for 
 putting an entire 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 them- 
 selves completely 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 colors, &c. A Colonel Rawle com- 
 manded, who was wounded. The number of prisoners was above 1,200, 
 including officers, — all Hessians. There were few killed or wounded 
 on either side. After having marched off the prisoners and secured the 
 cannon, 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 2,000 men, to-day another body, and to-morrow the whole 
 army will follow. It must give a 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 
 honor of thanking me in public orders in terms strong and polite. 
 This I should blush to mention to any other than to you, my dear 
 Lucy ; and I am fearful that even my Lucy may think her Harry 
 possesses a species of little vanity in doing [it] at all." 
 
 " Trenton, 2d Jan. 1777. 
 " 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 
 waut 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?* 
 
 * His commission was dated Dec. 27, 1776, the day following the victory 
 of Trenton, but before the news had reached Congress. That body had 
 previously resolved to augment the artillery to a brigade of four regiments. 
 
38 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 If so, I shall be happy. It was unsolicited on my part, though I can- 
 not say unexpected. People are more lavish in their praises of my 
 poor endeavors than they deserve. All the merit I can claim is 
 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 hap- 
 piness. 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." 
 
 " Morristown, Jan. 7, 1777. 
 
 " My dearest Love, — I wrote to you from Trenton by a Mr. 
 Furness, which I hope }ou have received. I then informed you 
 that we soon expected another tussle. I was not out in my conject- 
 ure. About three o'clock on the 2d 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 pell- 
 mell, 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 
 Trenton completely. Here it was our army drew up, with thirty 
 or forty pieces of artillery in front. The enemy pushed our small 
 party through the town with vigor, though not with much loss. 
 Their retreat over the bridge was thoroughly secured by the artil- 
 lery. After they had retired over the bridge, the enemy advanced 
 within reach of our cannon, who saluted them with great vocifera- 
 tion and some execution. This continued till dark, when of course 
 it ceased, except a i'aw 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 a 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. 
 
BATTLE OF PRINCETON. 39 
 
 " 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 a number 
 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 
 discovered such large columns marching up. They could not pos- 
 sibly 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 resistance totally put to the rout. The 17th regiment used 
 their bayonets 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 between three and four hundred prisoners, all British 
 troops. They must have lost in this affair nearly five hundred 
 killed, wounded, and prisoners. We lost some gallant officers. 
 Brigadier-General 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, &c. 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 honors of war. 
 
 " After we had been about two hours at Princeton, word was 
 
 * Mercer's wound proved mortal, and he died on the 12th. 
 
40 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 brought that the enemy were advancing from Trenton. This they 
 did, as we have since been informed, in a most infernal sweat, — run- 
 ning, 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 
 Jerseys. 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 endeavor 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 most 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 peo- 
 ple chosen of Heaven, not to give way to despair, but at all times 
 and under all circumstances never to despair of the Common- 
 wealth." 
 
 After the battle at Princeton, Knox recommended the 
 march to Morristown, which he had observed to be a good 
 position. The army would be on the enemy's flank, and 
 might easily change its situation if requisite. His earnest 
 importunities prevailed, and winter quarters were there 
 
PLANS DEFENCES OF THE NORTH RIVER. 41 
 
 established. lie was then sent on a mission to the east- 
 ward, to see to the casting of cannon and the establish- 
 ment of laboratories, during which he visited his wife at 
 Boston, whence he writes to the commander-in-chief, under 
 date of Feb. 1st : — 
 
 " After my letter to General Greene from Springfield of the 
 26th ult., I set out for this place, in order to provide such materials 
 as were necessary to carry on the various branches connected with 
 the laboratory and ordnance establishment. Upon my arrival here, 
 I was much surprised at the very extraordinary bounty offered by 
 the State ($86§) for recruits for the service. Part of a regiment, 
 consisting 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 a councillor of the Massachu- 
 setts or a continental general is difficult to say. There must be one 
 battalion of artillery raised in this State ; for all the old artillery- 
 men, who have been two years in the service, and acquired some 
 experience, are from this town and colony. If the Congress should 
 still adhere to Brookfield in preference to Springfield, it will delay 
 every thing for three or four months. I wrote General Greene 
 from Springfield that it was the best place in all the four New Eng- 
 land States for a laboratory, cannon foundry, &c, and I hope your 
 Excellency will order it there." 
 
 In the following May we find him associated with Greene 
 in planning the defences of the North River. On the 
 eighth, Mrs. Knox writes him from Sewall's Point (Brook- 
 line, near Boston), where she with her babe had been 
 undergoing inoculation for the small pox: — 
 
 " I have no company here but Madame Heath, who is so 
 stiff it is impossible to be sociable with her, and Mr. 
 Gardner the treasurer, so that you may well think what I 
 feel under my present anxiety." And a few days later 
 she writes from Boston : — 
 
42 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 "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 
 head-quarters to take command, that he is a major-general and a 
 deal of it. Who knows hut I may have my Harry again ? This I 
 am sure of, he will never suffer any one to command him in that 
 department. If he does, he has not the soul which I now think him 
 possessed of." 
 
 To his wife, Knox writes from Morristown, on May 
 20th : — 
 
 " 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 
 ammunition 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. . . . Though your 
 parents are on the opposite side from your Harry, yet it's very 
 strange 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." 
 
 Again from Camp Middlebrook, 21st June, 1777 : — 
 
 "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 some- 
 thing 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 per- 
 haps they may plague us more. The inhabitants here appeared as 
 one man, and as 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 
 
MONSIEUR DUCOUDRAY. 43 
 
 that Mr. Deane has exceeded his commission, and that they cannot 
 ratify his treaty with Mr. Ducoudray. Pretty this ! — to bring a gen- 
 tleman 1,200 leagues to affront him." 
 
 " Camp Pompton Plains, 13 July, 1777. 
 u The letter which I wrote to Congress, to know whether they had 
 appointed Mr. Ducoudray, has, in conjunction with the letter 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 impro- 
 priety.' 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. 1 am determined to con- 
 tribute my mite to the defence of the country, in spite of every 
 obstacle." 
 
 These officers neither resigned nor made the required 
 apology ; and Congress having decided not to ratify Mr. 
 Deane's engagement, the difficulty was removed. Wash- 
 ington had written to the President of Congress and to 
 Mr. R. H. Lee, a member of that body, that the appoint- 
 ment of Ducoudray would cause the retirement of General 
 Knox, " one of the most valuable officers in the service, 
 and who, combating almost innumerable difficulties in the 
 department he fills, has placed the artillery upon a footing 
 that does him the greatest honor; " and he further charac- 
 terizes him as '" a man of great military reading, sound 
 judgment, and clear conceptions." 
 
 The opening movements of Sir William Howe's cam- 
 paign for the acquisition of Philadelphia are thus described 
 in Knox's letter to his intimate friend and life-long corre- 
 spondent, Harry Jackson, at Boston : — 
 
 " Camp Middlebrook, 21 June, 1777. 
 " General Howe on the 14th put his whole army in motion, lie 
 had for a long time past been collecting his force from Rhode Island, 
 
44 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 New York, Staten Island, &c. The boats upon which he designed 
 to cross the Delaware as a bridge were fixed on wagons, besides 
 which he had a large number [of] flat-bottom boats fixed on wag- 
 ons to transport to the Delaware. These boats with the necessary 
 apparatus, wagons to convey the baggage and the ammunition 
 wagons, &c, swelled the number of his wagons to perhaps 1,000 
 or 1,100, 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 precarious, and to attack us in camp was an event much 
 to be wished. However, something v\as to be done. General Sul- 
 livan was posted at Princeton, with a force pretty respectable iu 
 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 Sullivan's communications at least ; but, our intel- 
 ligence being pretty good, the general directed Sullivan to take 
 post about four miles from Princeton, in such a manner that the 
 surrounding 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 
 officer commanding particularly obeyed. Matters were thus sit- 
 uated 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 quick.' 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 unnec- 
 essary, for instead of immediately pushing for the Delaware, distant 
 about twenty-five miles, or attacking General Sullivan, he set down 
 on the ground and instantly began to fortify in a very strong posi- 
 tion ; but it was not till the next day that we discovered their 
 works. Their conduct was perplexing. It was unaccountable that 
 people who the day before gave out in very gasconading 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 imperfect with respect 
 to their numbers to warrant an attack on troops so well disciplined, 
 
HOWE'S RETROGRADE MOVEMENTS. 45 
 
 and posted as they were. We also in the course of a day or two 
 discovered that they had not moved with any baggage, even tents 
 and the most necessary, but had come out with an intention of 
 drawing us into the plain ; had left their immense number of wag- 
 ons 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 had 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 
 19th, 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 ; and 
 beset them in such a manner, assisted by the militia, that Mr. Howe, 
 instead of inarching to Philadelphia, found himself almost block- 
 aded in an open flat country. Nothing could exceed the spirit 
 shown on this occasion by the much injured people of the Jerseys. 
 Not an atom of the lethargic spirit that possessed them last winter, 
 — all fire, all revenge. The militia of Pennsylvania likewise turned 
 out universally, so that had Sir William put his attempt into exe- 
 cution, we should probably had twenty-five or thirty thousand 
 militia upon his back, besides the most respectable body of conti- 
 nental 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 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 conduct. 
 
 " The militia, light-horse, and riflemen exhibited the greatest marks 
 of valor, 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 lieuten- 
 ants of grenadiers of the 55th, and a cornet of light-horse, and a 
 number killed, two sergeants taken. This little march of General 
 
 7 
 
46 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 Howe's fully proves that no people or country can be permanently 
 conquered where the inhabitants are unanimous in opposition. 
 
 " What his next manoeuvres may be I can't say, but we suppose 
 the North River ; there I believe he will be also disgraced. The 
 motive for belief that the North River will be the scene of his 
 operations is, that intelligence is received that Mr. Burgoyne is 
 about crossing the lakes to Ticonderoga, and General Howe must 
 make an attempt to push for a junction. The enemy from all 
 appearances and advices are upon the eve of evacuating the Jer- 
 seys. Times are much altered for them from last fall. The people 
 are unanimous in opposing them : just now four thousand marched 
 off to harass the enemy ; as many more will go down towards 
 Brunswick this afternoon." 
 
 The subsequent events of the campaign of 1777 in the 
 vicinity of Philadelphia are detailed by Knox in the fol- 
 lowing letters to his wife and others of his correspondents 
 at Boston: — 
 
 TO MRS. KNOX. 
 
 " Beverhout, 8 miles north of Morristown, 
 26th July, 1777. 
 
 " 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 in 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 master, to go either up the North River or the eastward, and 
 endeavor to form a junction with Burgoyne: therefore (if he is not 
 a fool) he will operate accordingly ; but we are bound to Philadel- 
 phia upon this supposition, and it's very reasonable." 
 
 "Derby, 7 miles below Philadelphia, 
 25th Aug. 1777. 
 
 " The army yesterday marched through the city of Philadelphia. 
 Their excellent appearance and marching astonished the Tories, 
 who are very downcast on the respectability of the army. I was so 
 
HOWE LANDS AT THE HEAD OF ELK. 47 
 
 unhappy as to be absent at this time. General Greene and myself 
 begged the favor 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 
 at four o'clock in the afternoon, and arrived 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 inhabi- 
 tants seem to vie with each other in humility and brotherly kind- 
 ness. We joined the army, after a most fatiguing jaunt of a hundred 
 miles yesterday, about an hour after they had passed through Phila- 
 delphia." 
 
 "Wilmington, Del., 1 Sept. 1777. 
 " The enemy have landed at the head of 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 the enemy 
 intend for Philadelphia ; if so, they will meet with a stout opposi- 
 tion. I am at this moment president of a court-martial to try an 
 officer of General Howe for recruiting in the Jerseys." 
 
 " Camp near Schuylkill, 13 Sept. 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 on us in a degree. 
 We were obliged to retire after very considerable slaughter of the 
 enemy : they dared not pursue a single step. If they advance, we 
 shall fight them again before they get possession of Philadelphia ; 
 but of this they will be cautious. My corps did me great honor : they 
 behaved like men contending for every thing that's valuable." * 
 
 * " The regiment of artillery with their general behaved with their usual 
 coolness and intrepidity. Some of them could scarce be prevailed on to quit 
 their guns, even when surrounded by the enemy and forsaken by our in- 
 fantry. The Boston boys did themselves great honor. I rode up to Captain 
 Allen in the beginning of the action. Young Cooper was with him at the 
 same gun, and a number of our Boston lads : they seemed in high spirits." — 
 Extract of a Letter from a gentleman of distinction in Philadelphia, Ind. Chronicle, 
 2 Oct. 1777 
 
48 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 We insert here the account of the battle of Brandy- 
 wine, written by Knox to the President of the Council of 
 
 Massachusetts : — 
 
 " Camp near Schuylkill, 13th Sept. 1777. 
 
 " Sir, — I do myself the honor to transmit to you an account of 
 an action which happened between the American and the British 
 troops, the 11th 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 endeavor 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 11th a 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 General 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 300 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, notwith- 
 standing his utmost exertions to obtain intelligence, had very con- 
 tradictory accounts of the numbers and destination of this column 
 until it had crossed the creek six miles to our right. He imme- 
 diately 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 divisions, 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 
 
BATTLE OF BRANDYWLNE. 49 
 
 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 Wayne, with a division of the Penn- 
 sylvania troops, having 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 un perceived on 
 the right of the battery, on the ground which was left unoccupied 
 by the withdrawal of Nash's brigade. 
 
 " A very severe action immediately commenced between General 
 Wayne and the enemy, who had now got possession 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 Excellency 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. 
 
 * In a letter to Rev. Dr. Gordon, then about leaving for England, where 
 his History of the American Revolution was to be published, Knox, under 
 date of New York, 11th March, 1786, gives the composition of Weedon's 
 brigade, which behaved with conspicuous gallantry at Brandy wine. In it 
 were Colonel Walter Stewart's Pennsylvania regiment, and the Virginia 
 regiments of Colonel Spotswood (3d), Lieutenant-Colonel Hendricks (6th), 
 Colonel Ed. Stevens (10th), and (14th) Colonel Lewis, who was afterward 
 wounded at Guilford, where he commanded a brigade of militia. Knox fur- 
 nished the Doctor with other materials for his work, and closes his letter 
 thus : " I observe," he says, " the printers are exceedingly angry with you 
 at Boston for the intention of printing it [Gordon's History] in Great Britain, 
 and some of the squibs are republished here." 
 
50 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 '• It is a common practice in war to diminish our own loss and 
 magnify that of our enemy ; but, from my own observation and the 
 opinion of others, their loss must be much greater than ours." 
 
 TO MRS. KNOX. 
 
 Pottsgrove, 24 Sept. 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 
 declined ; 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, con- 
 sisting of above 400,000. This was a most terrible stroke to us, 
 and owing entirely to the badness of the cartouch-boxes which had 
 been provided for the army. 
 
 " This unfortunate event obliged us to retire, in order to get 
 supplied with so essential an article as cartridges, after which we 
 forded the Schuylkill, in order to be opposite to the enemy ; accord- 
 ingly we took post at a place called Flatland Ford. 
 
 u A defensive war is the most difficult to guard against, because 
 one is always obliged to attend to the feints of the enemy. To 
 defend 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 opposition. 
 We fought one battle for it, and it was no deficiency in bravery that 
 lost us the day. Philadelphia, it seems, has been their favorite 
 object. Their shipping has not joined them there. They will first 
 have to raise the chevaux 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, 
 
ANOTHER BATTLE EXPECTED. 51 
 
 will join us to-day and to-morrow. This day we shall move towards 
 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 
 situated 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 con- 
 sequence 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." 
 
 TO COLONEL HENRY JACKSON.f 
 
 " Camp at Metuchin, 20 miles from Philadelphia, 
 3d Oct. 77. 
 "My dear Harry, — The enemy are now encamped at Phila- 
 delphia 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 
 erecting 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, &c, since the late action. I hope 
 for better success in the next ; and an action we shall most assuredly 
 have before they or we go into winter quarters." 
 
 * His brother William had joined him in July, as his secretary, and 
 behaved with spirit a few days later at Germantown. 
 
 t Jackson had been appointed colonel of one of the additional continental 
 battalions to be raised in Massachusetts, and numbered tbe 16th. He was 
 born in Boston in 1748, and died there 4 Jan. 1809 ; commissioned colonel 
 12 Jan. 1777 ; distinguished at Monmouth, in Sullivan's Rhode Island cam- 
 paign, and at Springfield, N.J. ; and commanded tbe last body of continental 
 soldiers disbanded in 1784 ; major-general first division Massachusetts militia, 
 1792-96 ; and, as United States agent, superintended the construction of the 
 frigate " Constitution." Jackson was the intimate friend and correspondent of 
 Knox, for whom he acted as a business agent in many important transactions. 
 Many of his letters, which are exceedingly interesting, are preserved in the 
 Knox Papers. 
 
52 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 Washington having been reinforced by troops from 
 Peekskill on the Hudson, and knowing that Howe had 
 weakened his army by detachments for the reduction of 
 the posts on the Delaware, resolved to attack his main 
 division at Germantown. 
 
 The following account of the battle of Germantown was 
 written by Knox to Hon. Artemas Ward, President of the 
 Council of Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 "Artillery Park, Perkeomy Creek, Oct. 7, 1777 
 (27 miles from Philadelphia). 
 
 " Sir, — I shall endeavor to give you a short authentic account 
 of an attack made by our army on the British army, lying at Ger- 
 mantown, 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 
 respective 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's 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 exces- 
 sively 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 im- 
 possible 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 
 
BATTLE OF GERMANTOWN. 53 
 
 general. The enemy followed with caution, and we came off with- 
 out the loss of a single piece of cannon or any thing else, except 
 one empty ammunition wagon, the engagement from beginning to 
 end being about two hours and forty minutes. 
 
 u Our loss in killed, wounded, and missing, is not fully ascertained, 
 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 ; ana" 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 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 expe- 
 rience, and our army have a certain proof that the British troops 
 are vulnerable/' 
 
 In a letter to Mrs. Knox he says : " To tins cause [the 
 fog], in conjunction with the enemy's taking possession of 
 some stone buildings in Germantown, is to be ascribed the 
 loss of the victory. We brought off the greater part of 
 our wounded." 
 
 TO MRS. KNOX. 
 
 " Camp, 24 miles from Philadelphia, 13th Oct. 1777. 
 ..." I send you this by Captain Randall, who has the misfor- 
 tune to be again made a prisoner, after being slightly wounded in 
 seven or eight places. 
 
 " The matter you mention about rations cannot be complied with* 
 
 8 
 
54 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 and I thank God I have too much reliance on his divine providence 
 to have any of those misgivings and forebodings of which my dear 
 Lucy seems so apprehensive. I trust the same Divine Being who 
 brought us together will support us. The enemy have not yet re- 
 duced our obstacles in the river Delaware below Philadelphia, and 
 consequently have not got their shipping up to the town. They have 
 made several efforts, but hitherto in vain, in one of which we took 
 two officers and fifty-six privates prisoners. If the enemy cannot 
 get their shipping up, Philadelphia is one of the most ineligible 
 places in the world for an army surrounded by rivers which are 
 impassable, and an army above them. We have been pretty quiet 
 since the action of the 4th ; but we have yet tolerable prospects 
 and hopes to winter in Philadelphia. I mean our army ; for how- 
 ever clouded the prospect may be, yet I have sanguine hopes of 
 being able to live this winter in sweet fellowship with the dearest 
 friend of my heart. Ere you receive this, you will receive the 
 account of the loss of Fort Montgomery, which I own to you is in 
 my opinion exceedingly heavy, but it must stimulate us to make 
 greater exertions. America almost deserves to be made slaves for 
 her non-exertions in so important an affair. . . . 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 kindness of 
 Providence towards us as I am of my own existence." 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " Camp, 10 miles from Philadelphia, Nov. 3, 1777. 
 . . . . " 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 the 22d at Red Bank, they 
 have appeared quite silent in deeds, but not so in words. They have 
 been very angry for our feux de joie, which we have fired on the 
 several victories over Burgoyne, and say that by and by [we] shall 
 bring ourselves into contempt with our own army for propagating 
 such known falsehoods. Poor fellows ! nothing but Britain must 
 triumph." 
 
OPPOSES AN ATTACK ON PHILADELPHIA. 55 
 
 On the 15th of November, after the fall of Fort Mifflin, 
 Knox, with De Kalb and St. Clair, was sent to provide for 
 the security of Red Bank. This post, known as Fort 
 Mercer, fell, however, after a brave defence on the 18th. 
 
 In the council of war on Oct. 26, and again on Dec. 
 3d, Knox opposed the project of an attack on the enemy's 
 lines at Philadelphia, giving on the day last named these 
 reasons : " Our entire want of clothing ; the impossibility 
 and impracticability of surprising 10,000 veteran 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 uncertainty of obtaining a suffi- 
 cient number of militia to warrant the enterprise." He 
 proposed that the army go into winter quarters, with the 
 right at Lancaster and the left at Reading, provided a 
 sufficiency of houses and good cover could be had there ; 
 if not, that it should be hutted about thirty miles from 
 Philadelphia, near the Schuylkill. The army wintered at 
 Valley Forge, somewhat nearer the city ; and Knox took 
 advantage of the cessation of active operations to visit his 
 wife at Boston. A picture of the privations of the army 
 during this memorable winter is given in the following 
 letter from Greene to Knox : — 
 
 " Camp, Valley Forge, 26th Feb. 1778. 
 
 " The army has been in great distress since yon left it. The 
 troops are getting naked ; they were seven days without meat, and 
 several days without bread. Such patience and moderation as 
 they manifested under their sufferings does the highest honor to 
 the magnanimity of the American soldiers. The seventh day they 
 came before their superior officers, and told their sufferings in as 
 respectful terms as if they had been humble petitioners for special 
 favors. They added that it would be impossible to continue in 
 camp any longer without support. Happily relief arrived from the 
 
56 LIFE OF HENKY KNOX. 
 
 little collections I and some others had made, and prevented the 
 army from disbanding. We are still in danger of starving. Hun- 
 dreds of our horses have already starved to death. The committee 
 of Congress have seen all these things with their own eyes. They 
 have been urging me for several days to accept the quartermaster- 
 general's appointment, his Excellency also presses it upon me 
 exceedingly. I hate the place, but hardly know what to do. I wish 
 for your advice in the affair, but am obliged to determine imme- 
 diately." 
 
 Mrs. Knox arrived in camp at Valley Forge on May 20, 
 1778, soon after the news of the alliance with France had 
 been received. She was attended from New Haven by 
 General Arnold, who was of great service to her dur- 
 ing her journey, and remained with the army until it 
 was disbanded. 
 
 At the battle of Monmouth, which occurred on June 
 28th, and of which he ever after spoke with much pride, 
 Knox reconnoitred in front, rallying the retreat, and bring- 
 ing up the rear with a brisk fire from a battery planted in 
 the night, directed by his brigade adjutant, the chevalier 
 Mauduit Duplessis. Of the services of this arm, Wash- 
 ington, in general orders, says he " can with pleasure 
 inform General Knox and the officers of the artillery that 
 the enemy has done them the justice to acknowledge that 
 no artillery could have been better served than ours." 
 
 To his brother and to his wife, Knox wrote the partic- 
 ulars of this battle, and of the events which preceded 
 it: — 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER WILLIAM. 
 
 Hopewell Township, New Jerset, 
 
 4 o'clock a.m., 25th June, 1778. 
 
 "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 southeast of Princeton, and we are at about six 
 
HOWE EVACUATES PHILADELPHIA. 57 
 
 miles north [of] Princeton, so that the two armies are now 
 about 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 harassing and teasing them on all quarters. 
 Desertion prevails exceedingly in their army, especially among the 
 Germans. Above three hundred German and English have de- 
 serted since they left Philadelphia. Had we a sufficiency of num- 
 bers, we should be able to force them to a similar treaty with 
 Burgoyne ; but, at present, 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 commander, the man [to whom], under God, 
 America owes her present prospects of peace and happiness." 
 
 TO MRS. KNOX. 
 
 " 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 engage- 
 ment with the Britons. Yesterday, at about nine o'clock a.m., our 
 advanced 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 fight- 
 ing, 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, 
 and a considerable number of others. Colonel Ramsay, Mrs. Ram- 
 say'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 intrepidity, and the army gave 
 the corp^ of artillery their full proportion of the glory of the day. 
 
 " Indeed, upon the whole, it is very splendid. The capital army 
 of Britain defeated and obliged to retreat before the Americans, 
 
58 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 whom they despised so much ! I cannot ascertain either our or the 
 enemy's loss, but I really think they have lost three times the 
 number 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 precipitation, 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 Phila- 
 delphia, must exceed eight hundred. The march has proved to 
 them a most destructive one, and is very ill-calculated to give Sir 
 II. Clinton any eclat. 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 [«.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." 
 
 TO HIS BROTHER WILLIAM. 
 
 " Camp Brunswick, 3d July, 1778. 
 
 ..." The enemy inclined more to their right than we expected, 
 and took the road to Sandy Hook, instead of the supposed one to 
 South Amboy. 
 
 " A body of Jersey militia, amounting to near 2,000, had en- 
 deavored to retard them, by taking up the bridges, felling trees, and 
 harassing their flanks and rear. Beside these, his Excellency 
 General 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 cover- 
 ing 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 
 
BATTLE OF MONMOUTH. 59 
 
 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 circumstances, 
 which are not yet sufficiently explained, it was thought proper by 
 General Lee to retire until it met the main army, which it effected 
 without much loss. The army was drawn up on advantageous 
 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 
 honor 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." 
 
 From letters to his brother at various times we extract 
 as follows : — 
 
 " Camp, White Plains, 14th Sept. 1778. 
 ..." We wish to know where Lord Howe is, as it might be 
 some clew to the designs of the enemy ; though as to dangerous de- 
 signs, they have none, I am persuaded, nor never 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 perfectly disqualified, by a total and profound 
 ignorance of every thing that ought to constitute the characters of 
 leaders of an army to conquest. I beg you not to imagine that by 
 depreciation of their abilities I mean to exalt our own. God forbid ! 
 I shall say nothing about it but only this, that we never set our- 
 selves 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." 
 
60 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 " Philadelphia, 3 Feb. 1779. 
 ..." 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 neighboring towns, and at what price. I 
 wish you to make the inquiry, or rather to get some person to make 
 it for you, as the gentlemen speculators may suspect from your con- 
 nection that you want it for the public, and advance their prices in 
 proportion. Write me the result 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 everywhere, — 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 in this place." 
 
 "Feb. 13. 
 ..." 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 of them can be proven. He has 
 returned to Philadelphia, and will, I hope, be able to vindicate 
 himself from the aspersions of his enemies." 
 
 " Pluckemin, 28 Feb. 1779. 
 ..." You wish to know my business to Philadelphia. It was 
 merely to get the ordnance department better regulated. Besides 
 the satisfaction of having the business of the public done better, 
 the only advantage that will result to me will be some pay expressly 
 for the management of the ordnance department in the field. I 
 undoubtedly might have at first stipulated for some pecuniary ad- 
 vantages for myself; but I know not how it is, I do not approve of 
 money obtained in the public service : it does not appear to me, in 
 a war like ours, to be right, and I cannot bring myself to think 
 differently, although poverty may be the consequence. We had at 
 the Park [of artillery], on the 18th, a most genteel entertainment 
 given by self and officers. Everybody allowed it to be the first of 
 the kind ever exhibited in this State at least. We had about 
 seventy ladies, all of the first ton in the State, and between three 
 and four hundred gentlemen. We danced all night, — an elegant 
 
PRIVATEERING SPECULATIONS. 61 
 
 room. The illuminating, fireworks, &c., were more than pretty. It 
 was to celebrate the alliance between France and America." 
 
 " March 13. 
 "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 to you to try something, by way of adventure, in the 
 1 General Arnold.' She is a good vessel and commander. ... I 
 am exceedingly 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- 
 citizens with that conscious integrity, the felicity of which I often 
 anticipate." 
 
 Knox seems to have been unfortunate in his privateer- 
 ing speculations, vessel after vessel in which he had a 
 share being captured by the enemjr, some of them with 
 valuable cargoes and just as they were entering port. 
 
 " Pluckemin, N.J., 7 May, 1779. 
 " 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 they 
 will exterminate us this campaign. However that may be, we at 
 present have but little apprehensions of it, although, from a variety 
 of corroborating circumstances, we expect we shall have a much 
 more active campaign than the last." 
 
 In a later letter he says : — 
 
 "The whole army have moved up to this place [Middlebrook] 
 to cover the almost 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 the 
 posts at King's Ferry in its fall. The enemy expect reinforce- 
 ments, and we, with the blessing of Heaven, expect to baffle their 
 utmost efforts. We expect every thing from the discipline and good- 
 ness of our troops ; but probably we shall want some assistance from 
 our brethren." 
 
 9 
 
62 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 Of the warmth of Knox's affection for his friend Gen- 
 eral Lincoln, his letters give ample evidence. Here is an 
 extract from one written just after the capture of Charles- 
 ton by Sir Henry Clinton, where Lincoln and his army 
 became prisoners. 
 
 " The great defence made by you and your garrison in field for- 
 tifications 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 II. Clinton 
 and his army, would give me more pleasure than to see you. He 
 is now in force at Springfield, below Morristown." 
 
 And at a later period he writes : — 
 
 " 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." 
 
 The French army under the Count de Rochambeau, des- 
 tined to co-operate with the Americans, arrived at Newport 
 in July, 1780 ; and on Sept. 21st, Knox, with Washington 
 and La Fayette, visited the French general and admiral, de 
 Ternay, at Hartford, to concert the details of a plan of 
 operations. , While returning from this meeting, they 
 heard of Arnold's treason, and immediately hastened to 
 West Point. 
 
 Knox was one of the board of general officers which 
 tried and condemned Major Andre to death as a spy, a 
 sentence which the usages of war compelled them to pro- 
 nounce, but which was especially distasteful to him since 
 
CHASTELLUX VISITS THE CAMP. 63 
 
 that chance meeting on Lake George, narrated on a pre- 
 vious page, when they had made each other's acquaintance 
 under such peculiar circumstances. 
 
 In the latter part of November, the Chevalier de Chas- 
 tellux, a major-general in Rochambeau's army and a mem- 
 ber of the French Academy, visited the American camp 
 at New Windsor. From his Travels, published a few years 
 later,, we extract the following interesting particulars of 
 this visit. 
 
 In the morning while at breakfast, horses were brought 
 and orders given for the men to get under arms, and the 
 chevalier and Washington repaired to the camp, where 
 they were received by General Knox at the head of his 
 artillery. This was exhibited in fine order, formed in the 
 foreign manner, each gunner at his post ready to fire. 
 Knox politely apologized for not firing a salute, on account 
 of the troops on the other side of the river, which had 
 been put in motion by a previous order, and whom he was 
 afraid of giving some alarm. 
 
 Returning from a subsequent tour to visit the general 
 officers of the line at their respective quarters with La 
 Fayette, they met with Knox, who brought them back to 
 head-quarters by the nearest way through a wood, where 
 they fell into a road leading to his retired residence. This 
 was a little rural spot where Mrs. Knox had passed part 
 of the campaign ; and here the chevalier found what he 
 called a real " family," formed besides the general and his 
 wife of a little girl of three years and an infant of six 
 months. 
 
 The wretched situation of the army at this time, 
 which culminated in the mutiny of the lines of Pennsyl- 
 vania and New Jersey, is graphically described in this 
 extract from Knox's letter to his brother, dated Dec. 2, 
 1780: — 
 
64 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 " We depend upon the great Author of Nature to provide sub- 
 sistence and clothing for us through 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 naked- 
 ness, 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 
 superhuman. The country must be grateful to these brave fellows. 
 It is impossible to admit of the idea of an alternative." 
 
 In January, 1781, he was sent by Washington to the 
 Eastern States to represent the suffering condition of the 
 troops with a view to their relief, and on the 14th ar- 
 rived at Boston with the news of the mutiny of the Penn- 
 sylvania line. 
 
 An active campaign was now planned which, with the 
 aid of our allies, it was hoped would be decisive. Wash- 
 ington, on Feb. 16, wrote to Knox, instructing him to 
 procure the articles necessary to a " capital operation 
 against New York, or against Charleston, Savannah, Pen- 
 obscot, &c, in case of inability to undertake the siege of the 
 first and principal object." Knox in reply promised his 
 utmost efforts to obtain the requisite supplies, but details 
 the great want of proper material for such an operation, 
 and complains of the Board of War for neglecting his 
 repeated requisitions. " Powder," he says, " is an article 
 of which we are so deficient that, when a reasonable quan- 
 tity shall be appropriated for the use of the important 
 posts in the highlands (which ought and will be furnished 
 under all circumstances), there will literally none remain." 
 
 The following letters and extracts of letters throw 
 light upon the occurrences of this eventful campaign. 
 
CONFERENCE WITH ROCHAMBEAU. 65 
 
 TO WILLIAM KNOX. 
 
 " Wetiiersfield, 20 May, 1781. 
 "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 con- 
 sequence. We came here last night. The French gentlemen will 
 be here to-morrow, and we shall probably depart in two days after." 
 
 And on the 25th he writes him : — 
 
 " We have not finished our business until this morning. Count 
 Rochambeau left us yesterday, and we shall set out in about one 
 hour, and shall expect to reach New Windsor to-morrow evening." 
 
 At this important meeting the plan of the subsequent 
 campaign was discussed, and as far as possible decided on, 
 the primary object being New York. 
 
 WASHINGTON TO KNOX. 
 
 " Head-quarters, New Windsor, May 28, 1781. 
 
 " As you are perfectly acquainted with the measures which have 
 been concerted with the Count de Rochambeau, I have only to 
 request that you will be pleased to make all the necessary estimates 
 of articles wanted in your department, and also put the whole busi- 
 ness for the operation (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 east- 
 ward rather than from the southward." 
 
 TO WILLIAM KNOX. 
 
 " CAMr at Phillipsburg, 10 miles from King's Bridge, 
 20 July, 1781. 
 
 " Lucy, with her sweet children, has gone up the river 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 ac- 
 
66 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 commodating 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 re- 
 stored. . . . 
 
 The vile water-gruel governments which have taken place in 
 most of the States are totally 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 yesterday retired without effecting any thing of consequence." 
 
 TO MRS. KNOX. 
 
 " Camp, near Dobbs Ferry, 3 Aug. 1781. 
 
 ..." Yesterday was your birthday. I cannot attempt to show 
 you how much I was affected by it. I remembered it, and humbly 
 petitioned 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 im- 
 mortality. 
 
 ..." 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 more at 
 present than we believe." 
 
 FROM WILLIAM KNOX. 
 
 ''Boston, 22 Aug. 1781. 
 " I suppose, from necessity, you are obliged to speak much French, 
 which, you having long since learnt the theoretic part, I should 
 imagine, from a little practice, would come easy to you. 
 
GREENE'S LETTER. 67 
 
 " If I recollect, the Compte Rochambeau doesn't speak a word of 
 English, nor do the two brothers Viomenil, Marquis Laval, or 
 Compte St. Maime. The two counts Deux Pouts, on the other 
 hand, speak [it] pretty well ; and the most amiable General 
 Chastellux, a merveille. If you have opportunity, I am sure you 
 must be very intimate [with] General C., if the two characters of 
 the man of letters and 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 three 
 when 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 recommended strangers ; but the evening circle is 
 always selected." 
 
 FROM GENERAL GREENE. 
 " Headquarters, High Hills, Santee, Aug. 17, 1781. 
 
 "My dear Friend, — If accounts 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 besieged must make a terrible rattling. 
 The splendor of such a siege will sink our puny operations into 
 nothing. But, after you have done at New York, it is to be hoped 
 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 that insulted 
 it so grossly at Morristown ? The story is told even in this country ; 
 and I declare, upon my honor, I did not bring it here. 
 
 " Where is the noble Earl [Stirling] ? 1 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 partic- 
 ulars. We have had a report here that General Howe and he had 
 had a duel, but I did not believe it. Honest fellows, what have they 
 to quarrel about ? 
 
68 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 " 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 
 regards ; and I hope you will not get in the way of a four-and- 
 twenty pounder, but will return to her with whole bones. My com- 
 pliments to honest Shaw." 
 
 And again : — 
 
 "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 pros- 
 pect 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. 
 
 '" 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 
 an 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 down 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." 
 
 On the 19th of August, Washington, learning of the 
 expected arrival of the fleet of De Grasse, marched his 
 
CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA. 69 
 
 army to the southward, having abandoned the attempt 
 upon New York, in order to operate, in conjunction with 
 the French military and naval forces, against Lord Corn- 
 wallis in Virginia. He reached Williamsburg on Septem- 
 ber 14, and, accompanied by Rochambeau, Chastellux, 
 Knox, and Duportail, immediately repaired to the fleet 
 of De Grasse, and a plan of co-operation was arranged 
 on board the " Ville de Paris." Expecting an attack from 
 a British fleet not much inferior to his own, and thinking 
 his station within the Chesapeake unfavorable for a naval 
 combat, the French admiral a few days later designed to 
 put to sea with his fleet in quest of the British. This 
 alarmed the American commander, who despatched La 
 Fayette and Knox to entreat him to preserve his station, 
 in which they fortunately prevailed. 
 
 The following letters, relating to the investiture and 
 siege of Yorktown, are not uninteresting, that to Mr. Jay, 
 our minister to Spain, giving a full account of the Virginia 
 campaign : — 
 
 TO WILLIAM KNOX. 
 
 " Head of Elk, 8 Sept. 1781. 
 
 " I rob my business of one moment to inform you that our army 
 is here, and will, with all its stores, proceed down the Chesapeake 
 in three days. Our prospects are good ; and I shall hope to inform 
 you, in fifteen days, that we have had Cornwallis completely in- 
 vested. The Count de Grasse's squadron is a noble one, and will 
 prevent the enemy's escape by water. I hope we shall do it by 
 land. 
 
 " Lucy leaves her daughter in Philadelphia, and in five or six 
 days will set out for Virginia to reside with Mrs. Washington." 
 
 TO MRS. KNOX AT MOUNT VERNON. 
 
 " Camp before York, 1 Oct. 1781. 
 
 " We came before York on the 28th, on the 29th nearly com- 
 pleted the investiture; but yesterday the enemy evacuated their 
 
 10 
 
70 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 outposts, which gives us a considerable advantage in point of time. 
 Our prospects are good, and we shall soon hope to impress our 
 haughty foe with a respect for the continental arms." 
 
 TO MRS. KNOX. 
 
 "Camp before York, eight o'clock a.m., 19 Oct. 1781. 
 " I have detained William until this moment that I might be the 
 first to communicate good news to the charmer of my soul. A glorious 
 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 every thing 
 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 honors as the garrison of Charleston ; that is, they will not 
 be permitted to unfurl their colors, or play Yankee Doodle. We 
 know not yet how many they are. The General has just requested 
 me to be at head-quarters instantly, therefore I cannot be more 
 particular." 
 
 TO JOHN JAY. 
 
 " Camp before York, in Virginia, 21 Oct. 1781. 
 
 " The enemy's operations in these States, though not carried on 
 with great armies, compared with those of 177G 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 appears, 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 
 Y r ork. The dispositions were made on the Hudson's River for the 
 attack of Lord Cornwallis in Virginia, and every thing has suc- 
 ceeded 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 
 
SIEGE OF YORKTOWN. 71 
 
 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 render 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 
 incursions 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, un- 
 discovered. 
 
 "The first parallel, four redoubts, and all our batteries were 
 finished by the 9th, at two o'clock p.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 
 redoubts which the enemy had in advance of their maiu works. 
 The gallant troops of France under the orders of Baron de Vio- 
 menil, and the hardy soldiers of America under the Marquis de 
 la Fayette, attacked separate works and carried them in an in- 
 stant. This brilliant stroke was effected without any great loss 
 on our side : the enemy lost between one and two hundred. This 
 advantage was important, and gave us an opportunity of perfecting 
 our second parallel, into which we took the two redoubts. On the 
 1 6th, 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 cannon were soon cleared; and the same day our 
 batteries in the second parallel began the fire, and continued without 
 intermission until nine o'clock in the morning of the 17th October, 
 ever memorable on account of the Saratoga affair, when the enemy 
 sent a flag, offering to treat of the surrender of the posts of Y^ork 
 and Gloucester. The firing continued until two o'clock, when com- 
 missioners on both sides met to adjust the capitulation, which was 
 
72 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 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 
 honors only as were granted to our garrison at Charleston, — their 
 colors 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 harbor, 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 
 colors are among the trophies of this decisive stroke. The prisoners 
 are to be sent into any part of this State, Maryland, or Pennsyl- 
 vania. 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." 
 
 Knox's skill and activity in providing and forwarding 
 heavy cannon for the siege of Yorktown caused Washing- 
 ton to report to the President of Congress that " the 
 resources of his genius supplied the deficit of means ; " 
 and he was complimented in general orders after the sur- 
 render, and recommended for promotion. Chastellux, in 
 his " Travels in North America," also pays him a high 
 compliment. " We cannot," he says, " sufficiently admire 
 the intelligence and activity with which he collected from 
 different places and transported to the batteries more than 
 thirty pieces of cannon and mortars of large calibre, for 
 the siege." Again he says: "The artillery was always 
 very well served, the general incessantly directing it and 
 often himself pointing the mortars : seldom did he leave 
 the batteries. . . . The English marvelled at the exact 
 fire and the terrible execution of the French artillery ; and 
 we marvelled no less at the extraordinary progress of the 
 
CONGRATULATIONS OF GREENE. 73 
 
 American artillery, and at the capacity and instruction of 
 the officers. As to General Knox, but one-half has been 
 said in commending his military genius. He is a man of 
 talent, well instructed, of a buoyant disposition, ingenuous 
 and true : it is impossible to know him without esteeming 
 and loving him." In a letter to Knox, of March 30, 1782, 
 he thus manifests the warmth of his friendship : — 
 
 " 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 onr 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 pledge my honor that no interest 
 in the world can prevail over the warm and firm attachment with 
 which I have the honor to be De Chastellux." 
 
 General Greene thus congratulates his friend upon the 
 victory at Yorktown : — 
 
 " Head-quarters at the Round 0, 10 Dec. 1781. 
 
 " My dear Friend, — Your favor of the 1st November has just 
 come to hand. Whatever sweet things may be said of me, there 
 are not less said of you. Colonel Lee, who lately returned from 
 the Northern army, says you are the genius of it, and that every 
 thing is said of you that you can wish. I will not wound your deli- 
 cacy by repeating his remarks. Your success in Virginia is brilliant, 
 glorious, 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 prin- 
 ciples and sentiments the same. A long distance separates, and 
 alas ! I fear, with you, we fhall not have a happy meeting for a long 
 time to come. But be assured my esteem and affection are neither 
 lessened 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 
 
74 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 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." 
 
 In March, 1782, Knox and Gouverneur Morris were 
 appointed commissioners to arrange a cartel for a general 
 exchange of prisoners ; to liquidate the expenses of their 
 maintenance ; and to provide for their subsistence in 
 future. 
 
 They met the British Commissioners — General William 
 Dalrymple, whom Knox had formerly known as com- 
 mander of the 14th Regiment in Boston, and Andrew 
 Elliot, Esq. — at Elizabethtown, N. J., on the 30th ; but the 
 differences upon essential points were so great, no arrange- 
 ment could be effected, notwithstanding the earnest and 
 persevering exertions of the American agents. They 
 transmitted the account of their proceedings to Washing- 
 ton, who thus replied : — 
 
 '•I should do injustice to my own feelings on this occasion if I 
 did not express something beyond my bare approbation of the atten- 
 tion, address, and ability exhibited by you, gentlemen, in the course 
 of this tedious and fruitless negotiation. The want of succeeding 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 occasion, 
 and for which, I entreat, you will be pleased to accept my most 
 cordial thanks." > 
 
 In the following letter ' to Washington, Knox refers 
 to the obstacles the commissioners had encountered, and 
 acknowledges his obligations to him for his promotion as 
 a major-general, which took place on the 22d of March, 
 1782, dating from 15 November, 1T81 : — 
 
APPOINTED TO COMMAND AT WEST POINT. 75 
 
 KNOX TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 11 Baskenridge, 21 April, 1782. 
 
 " We have at last left P^lizabethtown. Our stay there was 
 unreasonably protracted by the frequent references to New York. 
 
 "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 shall obtain justice or equal treatment 
 from the enemy but when [we are] in a situation to demand it. 
 
 ..." Your Excellency knows the importance and value of the 
 intelligence you obtain through the medium of Elizabethtown. In 
 my opinion, nothing but the importance of this would counter- 
 balance the evils which arise from continuing a post there. If all 
 exchanges of prisoners were made by the North River, it would be 
 better, and prevent much improper communication, which unavoid- 
 ably prevails at present. 
 
 "I have received a letter from General Lincoln, informing that 
 Congress have been pleased to promote me in the manner most 
 flattering to my wishes, founded upon your Excellency's letter from 
 Yorktown. 
 
 u I cannot express how deeply I am impressed with a sense of 
 your kindness, and the favorable 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." 
 
 In July, Knox, who had been inspecting the fortifica- 
 tions of West Point, informed Washington by letter of its 
 inability to stand a siege, and of the deficiencies in its 
 magazines, buildings, &c. ; and, on being appointed to the 
 command of that post on Aug. 29, set himself vigorously at 
 work to strengthen and complete the works. In his letter 
 of instructions, Washington thus evinces his appreciation 
 of Knox : " I have so thorough a confidence in you, and 
 so well am I acquainted with your abilities and activity, 
 that I think it needless to point out to you the great out- 
 lines of your duty." 
 
76 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 The discontent of the army respecting the arrearages of 
 its pay was increased by the prospect of its being ere long 
 disbanded, without adequate provision by Congress for a 
 settlement ; and it manifested itself in audible murmurs 
 and complaints, which threatened serious consequences. 
 
 In December, 1782, a committee of officers was chosen 
 to draft an address and petition to Congress. This was 
 drawn up by Knox, its chairman, and contained a state- 
 ment of the amounts due them ; a proposal that the half- 
 pay for life should be commuted for a specific sum ; and a 
 request that security should be given by the government 
 for the fulfilment of its engagements. 
 
 General McDougall, with Colonels Brooks and Ogden, 
 were deputed to bear this memorial to Congress, which 
 body, in January, 1783, passed resolves concerning it, 
 indefinite in their character and unsatisfactory to the 
 officers. The disappointment and irritation felt at this 
 result produced the famous " Newburg Addresses," by 
 which the feelings of the officers were wrought up to 
 the highest pitch. 
 
 At this point the strenuous exertions of Knox were 
 joined with those of Washington, in composing the dis- 
 contented and mutinous spirit which appeared ; and at 
 tl^e meeting of officers held March 15th, at which Wash- 
 ington by a patriotic and impressive address allayed the 
 storm which threatened the peace of the country, Knox 
 moved the resolutions thanking him for the course he had 
 pursued and expressive of their unabated attachment, and 
 also declaring their unshaken reliance on the good faith of 
 Congress and their country, and a determination to bear 
 with patience their grievances till, in due time, they should 
 be redressed. The subject was again considered in Con- 
 gress, and the commutation and other provisions asked for 
 in the memorial were granted. 
 
DISCONTENT OF THE ARMY. 77 
 
 The extracts from Knox's letters, given below, present a 
 faithful picture of his sentiments and those of the army 
 upon this subject, and upon the still more important one, 
 — a stronger and more responsible government. 
 
 TO GENERAL LINCOLN. 
 
 " 20 Dec. 1782. 
 " 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 period of sufferance upon that head has 
 arrived. To attempt to lengthen it will undoubtedly occasion com- 
 motions. 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." 
 
 TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. 
 
 " 21 Feb. 1783. 
 
 " The army generally have always reprobated the idea of being 
 thirteen armies. Their ardent desires have been to be one conti- 
 nental body looking up to one sovereign. This would have pre- 
 vented 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 general consti- 
 tution ; . . . but they must be directed in the mode by the proper 
 authority. 
 
 "It is a favorite 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 conven- 
 tion of the States to form a better Constitution ? This appears to us, 
 
 11 
 
78 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 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." 
 
 TO GENERAL M^DOUGALL. 
 
 " West Point, 21 Feb. 1783. 
 
 " I 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 every 
 thing 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. 
 
 " Posterity will hardly believe that an army contended incessantly 
 for eight years under a constant pressure of misery to establish the 
 liberties 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, aggre- 
 gately, are to recognize our dues and to place them upon such prin- 
 ciples as to promise some future benefit. Much has been said about 
 the influence 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 is a point beyond which there is no sufferance. I pray sin- 
 cerely 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 together upon this subject, because, as no decision has been 
 made, nothing they can say will, in the least, forward the matter. I 
 ardently wish you may be able to fix the rate of commutation, and 
 
OPPOSES VIOLENT MEASURES. 79 
 
 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." 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 " West Point, 3 March, 1783. 
 
 " The army are impatiently waiting the result of your mission. 
 I earnestly wish it may produce more than it at present seems to 
 promise. I am certain nothing is wanting on your part to bring 
 the matter to a happy termination. 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 
 p resent^ XlonsJitution. 
 
 " Your view of the sentiments of the people on a prospect of 
 peace is a just representation of what we are to expect after that 
 event. However, let them first do the army justice, and we shall 
 demand a very small pittance of their gratitude, and little shall we 
 find it. 
 
 To McDougall he again writes on the 12th, two days 
 after the appearance of the " Newburg Addresses : " — 
 
 u I sincerely hope we shall not be influenced to actions which 
 may be contrary to our uniform course of service for eight years. 
 The men who, by their illiberality and injustice drive the army to 
 the very brink of destruction, ought to be punished with severity. 
 
 " The measures we can take to remedy our evils are not known 
 to me. I know not how by any violence we can obtain a settle- 
 ment of accounts, and have the half-pay placed upon proper prin- 
 ciples, except by the applications we have made. Endeavor, 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." 
 
 TO GENERAL LINCOLN. 
 
 " West Poixt, 3 March, 1783. 
 "I most earnestly conjure you to urge that every thing respect- 
 ing the army be decided upon before peace takes place. No time 
 
80 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 ought to be lost. Let the public only comply with their own prom- 
 ises, and the army will return to their respective homes the lambs 
 and bees of the community. But if they should be disbanded pre- 
 vious to a settlement, without knowing who to look to for an adjust- 
 ment of accounts and a responsibility of payment, they will be so 
 deeply stung by the injustice and ingratitude of their country as to 
 become its tigers and wolves.' , 
 
 And again, on the 12th: — 
 
 "The officers are waiting impatiently the result of General 
 McDougall's mission. Their impatience is almost heightened into 
 despair. Papers have been distributed by unknown persons, call- 
 ing the body of the officers together yesterday in the new building, 
 accompanied by an address calculated to rouse the officers to re- 
 dress their own grievances. The Commander-in-chief requested 
 that the meeting might be postponed until next Saturday. What 
 will be the result, God only knows. Congress ought not to lose a 
 moment in bringing the affairs of the army to a decision. Push the 
 matter instantly, my dear sir, with all your might and main." 
 
 On the 16th he writes : — 
 
 "The meeting was had yesterday. The occasion, though in- 
 tended for opposite purposes, has been one of the happiest circum- 
 stances 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 proceeding of the army must call it forth. 
 For these reasons, I think the proceedings ought to be published. 
 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 at this time that Knox, in order to perpetuate 
 the friendships formed by the officers of the army, so soon 
 to be disbanded, and at the same time to create a fund for 
 their indigent widows and orphans, founded the Society of 
 the Cincinnati, each officer upon joining contributing to 
 
FOUNDS THE CINCINNATI SOCIETY. 81 
 
 its treasury one month's pay. Washington was chosen 
 its President, and Knox Secretary ; and the French ad- 
 mirals, generals, and colonels who had served in America 
 were also constituted members. 
 
 Its Institution, which was the work of Knox, was car- 
 ried into effect, with some slight amendments, in May, 
 1783. One of its features aroused considerable hostility, 
 and gave rise to much discussion. This was the provision 
 by which the eldest male heir succeeded to a vacant mem- 
 bership, and which was vehemently assailed as introducing 
 an order of nobility into the republic. Time has refuted 
 the calumnies to which the Society was subjected ; and its 
 career of beneficence, still active, testifies to the wisdom 
 as well as to the benevolence of its founder. Knox con- 
 tinued its secretary until the year 1800, and in 1805 
 became vice-president. He was also vice-president of the 
 Massachusetts branch in 1783. 
 
 Knox had been left by Washington in command of the 
 army on August 26, and in November he began the deli- 
 cate and arduous task of disbanding it. The evacuation of 
 New York by the enemy gave rise to the following cor- 
 respondence between the respective commanders : — 
 
 WASHINGTON TO KNOX. 
 
 "Rocky Hill, 23 Oct. 1783. 
 
 " The arrival of the definitive treaty and the evacuation of New 
 York have been so long delayed as to interfere very materially with 
 our arrangements for the celebration of peace. ... I think, there- 
 fore, that it will be best to defer it until the British leave the city, 
 and then to have it at that place, where all who choose to attend 
 can find accommodation. 
 
 " Sir Guy Carleton some time since informed me, through Mr. 
 Parker, that he should leave New York, in all, next month, prob- 
 ably by the 20th ; and that when the transports which were gone 
 to Nova Scotia returned, he should be able to fix the day. This 
 
82 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 notice may be short ; and, as it is best to be prepared, I wish you to 
 confer on the subject with Governor Clinton, and have every neces- 
 sary arrangement made for taking possession of the city on their 
 leaving it. You will please to report to me the arrangements you 
 may agree on. 
 
 " Enclosed I transmit you copy of a proclamation of Congress for 
 the dissolution of the army : you will please to publish it to the 
 troops under your orders." 
 
 KNOX TO SIR GUY CARLETON. 
 
 " West Point, 9 Nov. 1783. 
 "Sir, — By your Excellency's verbal message, transmitted 
 through Mr. Parker to his Excellency General Washington, ex- 
 pressing your expectations of being able to withdraw his Brittauic 
 Majesty's troops from New York in the course of the present month ; 
 and by recent reports from there, it appears probable that the period 
 is fixed for that event. In this case, I natter myself your Excel- 
 lency will see how necessary it may be for the protection of the 
 city and its inhabitants, that it should be immediately occupied by 
 some American forces. I have received his Excellency General 
 Washington's directions on this head, and I have consulted with his 
 Excellency Governor Clinton, who is too unwell to take any meas- 
 ures himself, but is exceedingly desirous that every arrangement 
 should be made which would induce to good order until the civil 
 authority of the State should be established. 
 
 " Having the command of the military in this quarter, and being 
 assured of your Excellency's perfect disposition to insure the safety 
 of the city, I have taken the liberty to address you upon this point, 
 and to request the honor that you would favor me in season with 
 the information of the precise time when you may please to relin- 
 quish the jurisdiction of the posts now in your possession, as the 
 troops for the before-mentioned purpose would principally be drawn 
 from the neighborhood of this post. I hope it will be a sufficient 
 apology for requesting five or six days' notice previous to the em- 
 barkation of the last of your corps. 
 
 " Captain Lillie, my aide-de-camp, will have the honor to deliver 
 this letter and receive your Excellency's answer." 
 
EVACUATION OF NEW YORK. 83 
 
 SIR GUY CARLETON TO KNOX. 
 
 " New York, 12 Nov. 1783. 
 
 " Sir, — I have this day communicated to his Excellency General 
 Washington, by letter, my 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 the possession of Herrick's 
 and Hampstead with all to the eastward on Long Island, on the 
 same day ; and, if possible, to give up this city with Brooklyn on 
 the day following, and Paulus Hook, Dennys's, and Staten Island 
 as soon after as may be practicable, reserving only with respect to 
 New York that, if any of our ships should happen to want repairs 
 after the town is evacuated, we shall still have the free and unin- 
 terrupted use of the Ship Yard, under the direction of such officer 
 as the Admiral shall appoint, as long as it may be requisite for that 
 purpose. 
 
 " Major Beckwith, my oldest aide-de-camp, who waits upon you 
 with this letter, will communicate such other particulars as may be 
 necessary for your further information." 
 
 On the 25th of November the British army evacuated 
 the city ; and Knox, at the head of the American troops, 
 took possession. The principal officers of the army yet 
 remaining in service assembled, on Dec. 4, at Fraunce's 
 Tavern to take a final leave of their beloved chief. Wash- 
 ington entered the room where they were all waiting, and 
 taking a glass of wine in his hand 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 
 honorable." Having drunk, he continued : " I cannot 
 come to each of you to take my leave, but shall be obliged 
 to you if each will come and take me by the hand." Knox 
 who stood nearest to him turned and grasped his hand ; 
 and while the tears flowed down the cheeks of each, the 
 Commander-in-chief kissed him. This he did to each of 
 his officers, while tears and sobs stifled utterance. 
 
84 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 Upon his return to West Point, Dec. 18th, Knox was 
 officially thanked by Governor Clinton and the Council for 
 Ids attention to the rights of the citizens of the State of 
 New York, and for his zeal in preserving peace and good 
 order since the evacuation. 
 
 The following letter to Washington explains itself : — 
 
 " West Point, 29 Sept. 1783. 
 
 "Sir, — I beg leave to state to your Excellency, and through 
 you to the honorable Congress, that the unavoidable expenses aris- 
 ing 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. 
 
 "That it has uniformly been customary, from the peculiar 
 expenses of the command, to allow the emoluments of a major- 
 general commanding in a separate department, and that said allow- 
 ance was withdrawn a short time previous to your Excellency's 
 ordering me on the command. It may be unnecessary to enter 
 into a detail of circumstances which have rendered my com- 
 mand as expensive as that of my predecessors. It is sufficient 
 that I can easily prove that it has been so. I therefore honestly 
 hope to have the same compensation. 
 
 u I pray that your Excellency would have the goodness to place 
 this request before Congress in the mauner that you may think it 
 deserves." 
 
 In consequence of this application, Congress, on the 
 30th of October, allowed him the pay of a major-general in 
 a separate department, during his command at West Point. 
 This gave him an additional sum of ninety dollars per 
 month from Sept. 1st, 1782, amounting to $1,350. He 
 retained command of that post until early in January, 
 1784. 
 
 With Washington he continued to keep up an active 
 
MASTER GENERAL OF ORDNANCE. 85 
 
 correspondence, which terminated only with the death of 
 his chief, whose efforts were not wanting when, as in the 
 present case, it seemed likely that they could be of service 
 to his friend who desired to continue to serve his country 
 in the capacity in which he could be most useful. 
 
 KNOX TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 " West Point, 17 Sept. 1783. 
 
 "My dear General, — I cannot refrain from communicating 
 the joy I feel, and the pleasure manifested by the officers in gen- 
 eral, upon the noble testimony of gratitude exhibited by Congress 
 in their resolve concerning the Equestrian Statue. This permanent 
 evidence of their sense of your services will illustrate their virtue 
 and honor more than whole columns of panegyric. 
 
 u I am daily solicited for information 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 fron- 
 tiers, and form a strong barrier against the barbarians. 
 
 " 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 endeav- 
 oring 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 should think proper 
 for the dignity or 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 profound peace. 
 
 " Congress have evinced so much wisdom and magnanimity in 
 their conduct, that it cannot be doubted that they will make the 
 most substantial arrangements for future exigencies consistent with 
 their revenues and the nicest economy. 
 
 12 
 
86 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 " The abundant experience I have had of your Excellency's 
 kindness and friendship has induced me to communicate this in 
 confidence. 'I beg leave at the same time to remark, that, although 
 my expectations and wishes are for private life, yet if any office 
 similar to the above should be formed upon the broad scale of 
 national policy, I might, if thought worthy, find it convenient to 
 give it my zealous assistance. I mention this matter more readily 
 from a remembrance of your favorable recommendations for the 
 office of Secretary at War." 
 
 WASHINGTON TO KNOX. 
 
 "Rocky Hill, 2d Nov. 1783. 
 " General Lincoln's resignation has been offered, and accepted by 
 Congress. ... I have conversed with several members of Congress 
 upon the propriety, in time of peace, of uniting the offices of Secre- 
 tary at War and Master of Ordnance in one person, and letting him 
 have the command of the troops on 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 wishes to serve you 
 in it you need not doubt, being with much truth 
 
 " Your most affectionate 
 
 " George Washington." 
 
 knox to washington. 
 
 " West Point, 3d Jan. 1784. 
 
 ..." I have discharged all the troops but those specified in the 
 enclosed return. I believe I did not mention to your Excellency 
 my ideas of the pay for the offices that might be associated ; viz., 
 the duties of the Secretary at War, Master of Ordnance, and 
 charge or command of any troops which might be retained in ser- 
 vice. It appears to me, and I hope that I fairly estimate the 
 expenses and trouble, that the pay 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 honor me with an offer of these offices associated together, 
 I should be willing to accept them upon the above terms ; but I 
 
COMMISSIONER TO THE PENOBSCOT INDIANS. 87 
 
 should do injustice to myself and family to accept of any employ- 
 ment which would not prevent my involving myself. 
 
 " Having brought the affairs here nearly to a close, I shall soon 
 depart for Boston, for which place Mrs. Knox and her little family 
 set out from New York on the 10th ult. 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 instances of your 
 kindness and attention to me. And, although I can find no words 
 equal to their warmth, I may venture to assure you that they will 
 remain indelibly fixed. I devoutly pray the Supreme Being to con- 
 tinue to afford you his especial protection." 
 
 In January r 1784, Knox arrived at Boston, and took up 
 his residence in Dorchester.* 
 
 With General Lincoln and George Partridge he was in 
 June appointed by the General Court of Massachusetts a 
 commissioner to treat with the Penobscot Indians, in order 
 to induce them to relinquish their lands from the head of 
 the tide forty miles up the river. They were also in- 
 structed to examine whether the people under the govern- 
 ment of Nova Scotia had encroached upon the territories 
 of Massachusetts, and to settle the Eastern boundary line, 
 a dispute having arisen as to which was the river St. Croix 
 intended by the treaty with Great Britain. The commis- 
 sioners having performed the duty assigned them made 
 their report a few months later. 
 
 From Paris La Fayette writes to Knox on Jan. 8, 
 
 1784 : — 
 
 " 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 
 
 * The house in which Knox lived may still be seen a short distance 
 beyond the Second Congregational Church, on the upper road to Milton. It 
 was formerly owned by a Mr. Jones. It has long heen the property of the 
 Welles family, bankers of Boston and Paris, and was for one or more years 
 the summer residence of Daniel Webster. P 
 
88 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 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 we 
 have warmly loved and confidentially intrusted each other. The 
 remembrance 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 
 commerce. What I can do must be entirely done before the spring, 
 when 1 intend embarking for my beloved shores of Liberty. My 
 delays in Europe are owing to motives of American public ser- 
 vice. . . . Dunkirk, L'Orient, Bayonne, and Marseilles have been 
 declared free ports of America." 
 
 When the gallant Frenchman visited Boston in October, 
 1784, he was met at Watertown, on the 15th, by a number 
 of the officers of the late continental army, headed by 
 Knox ; and together they sat down to an elegant repast 
 provided for the occasion. On the following day he was 
 waited on by them with an address by Knox, to which the 
 marquis made a suitable reply. A more general welcome 
 was extended by the citizens on the 19th, when a public 
 dinner, was given in his honor, at Faneuil Hall, at which 
 many persons of distinction, among them seventy-live 
 officers of the Revolutionary army, were present. 
 
 Congress having, on March' 4, 1785, fixed the salary of 
 the Secretary of War for the future at $2,450, proceeded 
 on the 8th to elect Knox to that office. He thus replies 
 to the letter of the Secretary notifying him of his elec- 
 tion : — 
 
 TO CHARLES THOMSON, ESQ., SECRETARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 " Boston, 17 March, 1785. 
 
 " Sir, — I have had the pleasure to receive your favor of the 
 9 th instant, informing of the honor conferred on me by the 
 
APPOINTED SECRETARY OF WAR. 89 
 
 United States in Congress assembled, in electing me Secretary of 
 War, and enclosing the ordinance for ascertaining the powers and 
 duties of the office, the act establishing the salary, and the minute 
 of the election. 
 
 " I have the most grateful sentiments to Congress for this distin- 
 guishing mark of their confidence ; and I shall, according to the best 
 of my abilities, attempt to execute the duties of the office. I shall 
 have a perfect reliance upon a candid interpretation of my actions, 
 and I shall hope that application to business and propriety of inten- 
 tion may, in a degree, excuse a deficiency of talents. 
 
 " My affairs here will require my personal attention the latter end 
 of May and beginning of June, and I hope to be indulged with a 
 few weeks' absence at that time, provided it can be granted without 
 public injury. In the mean time, I shall endeavor to be at New 
 York about the 12th of next month.'" 
 
 And from Boston he wrote to Washington on the 24th, 
 acquainting him with his appointment, from which letter 
 we extract as follows : — 
 
 " 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 about the loth of next month. 
 From the habits imbibed during the war, and from the opinion of 
 my friends that I should make but an indifferent trader, I thought, 
 upon mature consideration, 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 cer- 
 tificates given for my services ; but neither of these is productive, 
 and require a course of years to render them so. In the mean time, 
 my expenses are considerable, and require some funds for their sup- 
 ply. 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 in reply, under date of June 18th, says : 
 " Without a compliment, I think a better choice could not 
 have been made." 
 
90 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 It is impossible to read without emotion the following 
 lines from a letter written by General Greene a short time 
 before his death, which occurred on June 19th. It bears 
 Knox's indorsement : " This is the last letter I ever 
 received from my truly beloved friend, General Greene." 
 The first paragraph refers to two pieces of cannon pre- 
 sented to him by order of Congress, upon which Knox had 
 caused appropriate inscriptions to be engraved. Its closing 
 request received Knox's earnest and friendly attention : — 
 
 " Mulberry Grove, 12 March, 1786. 
 " I thank you for the polite attention you are paying to my pub- 
 lic trophies ; but I have been so embarrassed and perplexed in my 
 private affairs for a long time past, which originated in the progress 
 of the war, that I have but little spirit or pleasure on such subjects. 
 My family is in distress, and I am overwhelmed with difficulties ; 
 and God knows when or where they will end. I work hard and 
 live poor, but I fear all this will not extricate me. . . . Please to 
 give me your opinion upon sending George [his son] to the Marquis 
 La Fayette, agreeable to his request. Let your answer be as candid 
 as I trust your friendship is sincere." 
 
 The disturbances in Massachusetts having assumed a 
 serious aspect, in October we find Knox at Springfield, 
 providing for the security of the arsenal there. To a 
 request from General Shepard of the State militia for per- 
 mission to use the arms and stores of the United States 
 there collected, Knox replies on Jan. 27, 1787, that in case 
 the insurgents should demonstrate an intention of seizing 
 the arsenal or any of the stores, and it could not other- 
 wise be successfully defended, " part might be taken for 
 the protection of the remainder, to be returned the instant 
 the danger should subside." 
 
 With Washington, Rufus King, Stephen Higginson, 
 General Lincoln, Nathaniel Gorham, and other prominent 
 Federalists, he kept up an active correspondence ; and 
 in the letters which follow he describes vividly the state 
 
TROUBLES IN MASSACHUSETTS. 91 
 
 of feeling in Massachusetts, during the period of Shays's 
 insurrection, the formation of the Federal Constitution 
 and its adoption by that State, a period of intense excite- 
 ment, especially to one possessing his ardent temper and 
 strong convictions upon the great questions at issue. 
 
 TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 " New York, 23 Oct. 178G. 
 
 ..." I have lately been far eastward of Boston on private busi- 
 ness, and was no sooner returned here than the commotions in Mas- 
 sachusetts hurried me back to Boston on a public account. 
 
 " Our political machine, composed of thirteen independent sover- 
 eignties, 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 
 government 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 remote 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. 
 
 " Their creed is, that the property of the United States has been 
 
92 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 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, 
 and have agrarian laws, which are easily effected by the means of 
 unfunded paper money, which shall be a tender in all cases what- 
 ever. 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 prob- 
 ably commit overt acts of treason, which will compel them to embody 
 for their own safety. Once embodied, they will be constrained to 
 submit 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 prop- 
 erty 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 endeavor 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 lib- 
 erty shall form the basis, — liberty resulting from an equal and firm 
 administration of law. 
 
WANTED, — A STRONG GOVERNMENT. 93 
 
 " 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 
 ithat a progression in this line cannot be productive of happiness, 
 private or public. Something is wanting, and something must be 
 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 
 liberty of his country is bound to reflect, and step forward to pre- 
 vent the dreadful consequences which shall result from a govern- 
 ment 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 
 mention the idea of strengthening government as confidential. But 
 the State of Massachusetts requires the greatest assistance, and 
 Congress are fully impressed with the importance of supporting 
 her with great exertions." 
 
 TO STEPHEN HIGGINSON. 
 
 " New York, 28th Jan. 1787. 
 
 " The zeal of the people of Boston and the lower country in favor 
 of government is a good sign, and will probably produce the results 
 expected from it. But, supposing the present disorders quieted, 
 some measures will be necessary to prevent a repetition of them. 
 Although the patriotism of individuals may restore [to] government 
 its former tone, some more certain principle than zeal will be re- 
 quisite to retain it. Massachusetts, by an exertion in the present 
 instance, may even acquire a temporary vigor ; but the poor, poor 
 federal government is sick almost unto death. 
 
 " But one feeble sign of life for upwards of two, almost three 
 months past. No Congress but for part of one day. How things 
 are to be worked up so as to produce by its ordinary operations a 
 remedy for the numerous existing disorders, or be made adequate to 
 
 13 
 
94 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 the great purposes of a nation, which, considering its vast resources, 
 ought to be a dignified one, it is difficult, if not impossible, to con- 
 jecture. 
 
 " A convention is proposed by Virginia, and acceded to by Penn- 
 sylvania, Jersey, probably New York and South Carolina, to consult 
 on some plan to prevent our utter ruin. Perhaps this convention 
 originated, and has been imbued with ideas, far short of a radical 
 reform. Let this have been the case, may it notwithstanding be 
 turned to an excellent purpose ? Our views are limited in all things, 
 we can only see from point to point at a time. If men — great 
 men — are sent to the convention, might they not assist the vision of 
 the Southern delegates in such a manner as to induce the adoption 
 of some energetic plan, in the prosecution of which we might rise to 
 national dignity and happiness ? 
 
 " 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 a request that 
 State conventions might be assembled for the sole purpose of choos- 
 ing 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 em- 
 braced. 
 
 " The Southern States are jealous enough already. If New Eng- 
 land, and particularly Massachusetts, should decline sending delegates 
 to the convention, it will operate in a duplicate ratio to injure us by 
 annihilating the rising desire in the Southern States of effecting 
 a better national system, and by adding to their jealousies of the 
 designs of New England. 
 
 " I have dwelt on this subject to you, in order that if your senti- 
 ments should correspond with mine, that you should influence a 
 choice of delegates of such characters as would possess the ability 
 of pointing out the road to national glory and felicity." 
 
FEDERAL CONVENTION PROPOSED. 95 
 
 TO GENERAL LINCOLN. 
 
 "New York, 14 Feb. 1787. 
 
 " While I thank you for your kind communication of the 5th 
 inst., I most heartily congratulate you on the successful events con- 
 tained therein [the suppression of the Shays] insurrection. Were 
 not your military reputation already highly established, your ma- 
 noeuvres would have elevated it ; but, circumstanced as you are in 
 the opinion of your friends and the world, Shays's rebellion is not a 
 field in which you could gather fresh laurels. It will be a sufficient 
 satisfaction to you that you have dissipated a cloud that threatened 
 a violent storm. 
 
 "The convention proposed by the commercial convention last 
 September, to meet in Philadelphia in May next, engrosses a great 
 portion of the attention of the men of reflection. Some are for 
 and some 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 exec- 
 utors of a certain system. If what they should think proper to 
 propose, 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 choos- 
 ing delegates to represent them in a continental convention, in order 
 to consider and finally decide on a general constitution, and to pub- 
 lish the same for observance. If a differently constructed repub- 
 lican government should be the object, the shortest road to it will be 
 found to be the convention. I hope, therefore, that Massachusetts 
 will choose, and that you, Mr. King, and Mr. Higginson should be 
 three of the delegates." 
 
 TO RUFUS KING. 
 
 "New York, 15th July, 1787. 
 " I am happy the convention 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 important purposes on another occasion. 
 
96 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 "The conduct of France in .establishing provincial assemblies is 
 seized with great eagerness by the advocates for the State systems, 
 as a reason against any alterations. But they do not bring into 
 view the strong cement of the royal authority supported by 200,000 
 soldiers. 
 
 , " 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 
 governments are sources of pollution, which will contaminate 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. 
 
 "Eight States in Congress, — they yesterday passed with great 
 unanimity a system of government for the western territory." 
 
 TO LA FAYETTE. 
 
 " New York, 24 Oct. 1787. 
 
 " You will have received, long before this period, the result of 
 the convention which assembled in Philadelphia during the month 
 of May. These propositions being essentially different in many 
 respects from the existing confederation, and which will probably 
 produce different national effects, are contemplated by the public at 
 large with an anxious attention. The discussions are commenced 
 in the newspapers and in pamphlets, with all the freedom and liber- 
 ality which characterize a people who are searching, by their own 
 experience, after a form of government most productive of hap- 
 piness. To speak decisively at this moment of the fate of the 
 proposed constitution, characterizes effectually the person giving the 
 opinion. Habituated as I have been for a long time to desire the con- 
 solidation of the powers of all parts of this country, as an indispen- 
 sable requisite to national character and national happiness, I receive 
 the propositions as they are, and from my soul I wish them God 
 speed ! The transition from wishing an event, to believing that it 
 will happen, is easy indeed. I therefore am led to a strong per- 
 suasion that the proposed government will be generally or univer- 
 sally adopted in the course of twelve or fifteen months. 
 
 " In desiring that the proposed government may be adopted, I 
 would not have you believe that I think it all perfect. There are 
 several things in it that I confess I could wish to see altered. But 
 
STATE OF PARTIES IN MASSACHUSETTS. 97 
 
 I apprehend no alterations can he effected peaceably. All the 
 
 States represented agreed to the constitution as it stands. There 
 
 are substantial reasons to believe that such an agreement could not 
 again be produced even by the same men." 
 
 TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 " New York, 14 Jan. 1788. 
 
 "The Massachusetts convention were to meet on the 9th. The 
 decision of Connecticut will influence, in a degree, their determi- 
 nation, and I have no doubt the constitution will be adopted ; but 
 it is at this moment questionable whether with a large majority. 
 There are three parties existing in that State at present, not exceed- 
 ingly different in their respective numbers, but greatly differing in 
 wealth and ability. 
 
 " The first is the commercial part of the State, to whom are added 
 all the men of considerable property, the clergy, the lawyers, in- 
 cluding all the judges of all the courts; and all the officers of the 
 late army, and the neighborhood of all the great towns, are of this 
 party. Its strength in point of numbers may include three-sevenths 
 of the whole State. This party are for the most vigorous govern- 
 ment. Perhaps many of them would have been more pleased with 
 the new constitution, had it been still more analogous to the British 
 Constitution- 
 
 " The second party are the Eastern part of the State, lying beyond 
 New Hampshire, and formerly the province of Maine. This party 
 are mostly looking toward the erection of a new State ; and the 
 majority will adoj^t or reject the new constitution, as it may facilitate 
 or retard their designs, without much regard to the great merits of 
 the question. This party may not be far less than two-sevenths of 
 the State. 
 
 " The third party are the insurgents and their favorers, the great 
 majority of whom are for an annihilation of debts, public and pri- 
 vate, and therefore cannot approve the new constitution. This 
 party may be more than two-sevenths. 
 
 " If the first and second party agree, as will be most probable, and 
 also some of the party stated as in the insurgent interest, the con- 
 stitution will be adopted by a great majority, notwithstanding all 
 exertions to the contrary. 
 
 " Mr. Samuel Adams has declared that he will oppose it, to the 
 
 l 
 
98 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 very great disgust of the people of Bos'ton, his constituents. It is 
 said Boston was about to take some spirited measures to prevent 
 the effect of his opposition. It is probable the debates will be 
 lengthy, and that the convention will sit one month before they 
 decide." 
 
 The following from Rufus King to Knox sheds new 
 light on the history of the adoption of the Federal Con- 
 stitution in Massachusetts, which event took place on 
 February 6th. By it we see that the Federalists in the 
 Convention, under the able leadership of Rufus King and 
 Theophilus Parsons, secured the support of Governor 
 Hancock, who also presided over the deliberations of that 
 body, by an adroit appeal to the special foible of the gov- 
 ernor, — vanity. Upon such apparently trivial causes do 
 the destinies of nations sometimes turn ! 
 
 " Boston, 3 Feb. 1788. 
 
 "Dear General, — Hancock has committed himself in our 
 favor, and will not desert the cause. Saturday's ' Centinel ' will 
 give you an idea of his plan. The Federalists are. united in that 
 system ; and, as Adams has joined us on this plan, we are encour- 
 aged to think our success is probable. 
 
 " Gerry keeps close at Cambridge, and his adherents have made 
 no motion for his recall. Mr. Hancock's propositions were yester- 
 day committed to a committee of two members from each county : 
 they meet to-day, and we hope favorably from their deliberations, 
 a majority being Federalists. 
 
 " 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 ice tell 
 him that if Virginia does not unite, which is 'problematical, that he 
 is considered as the only fair candidate for President?' 
 
 In a letter to La Fayette, dated New York, 26 April, 
 1788, Knox, after reciting the facts and probabilities 
 respecting the adoption of the Federal Constitution, goes 
 on to say : — 
 
EDUCATION OF GENERAL GREENE'S SON. 99 
 
 " As to Rhode Island, no little State of Greece ever exhibited 
 greater turpitude 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. 
 
 " Mrs. 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 honorably and indus- 
 triously employed in the education of her children. Colonel Wads- 
 worth is anxious George should be sent to France, to which Mrs. 
 Greene consents. It is possible the young gentleman may be ad- 
 dressed to your care in the course of one or two packets hence." 
 
 On the 15th of May, he writes to him again upon this 
 subject, as follows : — 
 
 "Mr. Barlow of Connecticut, author of the poem entitled the 
 ' Vision of Columbus,' whom I recommend to your kindness, will 
 deliver you this letter, and also he will present to you the son of 
 our late esteemed friend, General Greene. 
 
 "I am perfectly impressed with the belief that you will place 
 him in such a situation as will at the same time inrpress the best 
 morals and the most enlarged information. 
 
 " The classics and modern languages, as being the work of mem- 
 ory, will probably constitute his first studies, together with learning 
 the necessary personal exercises to form his manners. Mathematics, 
 geography, astronomy, and the art of drawing will follow of 
 course. 
 
 " I flatter myself that, by being entirely removed to a new sphere, 
 he will necessarily imbibe the habits which are in circulation there, 
 and that he will be formed on such a' scale as to be an honor to the 
 memory of his father, and the pride of his mother and his other 
 friends. 
 
 " Ilis disposition is good, and in my opinion, with a proper edu- 
 cation, he promises to make a worthy character : certain I am that 
 under your auspices he will possess the best chances for hap- 
 piness." 
 
100 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 One of his early playmates and friends, Rev. David 
 McClure, writes as follows : — 
 
 " East Windsor, Dec. 22, 1788. 
 
 "Dear Sir, — On the footing of that juvenile friendship and 
 acquaintance with you with which I have been honored, and which 
 was kept alive to our riper years, I now do myself the pleasure to 
 address a line to you, to assure you of my respectful and affection- 
 ate remembrance of you, and of the satisfaction with which I some- 
 times call to mind those scenes of innocent amusement and play 
 in which we were mutually engaged when we were boys. 
 
 " I have often thought of our attempts to imitate the man who 
 flew from the steeple of the North Church, by sliding down an oar 
 from the small buildings in your father's house-yard at Wheeler's 
 Point ; and by letting fly little wooden men from the garret win- 
 dow on strings. Have you forgotten that diversion ? 
 
 " I have often rejoiced with gratitude that the Supreme Disposer 
 of all events has preserved you through the dangers you have 
 encountered, and made you so great a blessing to your country, for 
 whose happiness and glory your labors have been directed. May 
 you ever possess that increasing esteem and affection from your coun- 
 try which your services and merits entitle you to. 
 
 " I am settled agreeably in this place, five miles from Hartford, 
 in which I have lived more than two years, and to which I removed 
 from my former parish in Hampton, New Hampshire." 
 
 To which Knox replies : — 
 
 " New York, 25 Jan. 1789. 
 
 "My dear Sir, — Your esteemed favor of the 22d ult. gave 
 me the most sensible pleasure. Our juvenile sports, and the joy- 
 ful sensations they excited, are fresh in my mind ; and what to me 
 renders the remembrance peculiarly precious is, that I always flat- 
 tered myself that our hearts and minds were similarly constructed. 
 
 " 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 
 with the great scale of intelligent being ; leading them by all the 
 powers of persuasion to happiness and humble adoration of the 
 
MRS. KNOX A LEADER OF SOCIETY. 101 
 
 Supreme Head of the universe ; while I have been but 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. 
 
 " My brother William, who is with me, is the only one beside 
 myself left of my father's family." * 
 
 During Knox's career as Secretary of War, Mrs. Knox 
 was one of the leaders of fashionable society at the seat 
 of government, and as such attracted considerable notice. 
 From the manuscript Journal of Dr. Manasseh Cutler, 
 under date of July 7, 1787, we extract as follows. The 
 worthy doctor was evidently unaccustomed to the coiffure 
 of the fashionable lady of that day. 
 
 " Dined with General Knox [at New York], introduced to his lady 
 and a French nobleman, Marquis Lotbiniere. Several other gentle- 
 men dined with us. Our dinner was served in high style, much in 
 the French taste. Mrs. Knox is very gross, but her manners are 
 easy and agreeable. She is sociable, and would be agreeable, were 
 it not for her affected singularity in dressing her hair. She seems 
 to mimic the military style, which to me is very disgusting 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 to her back. Her hair behind is a large braid, and 
 confined with a monstrous crooked comb." 
 
 * This brother writes from London (26 June, 1783) : " I have a very 
 respectable set of acquaintances in this country as well as in France. 
 Among the number here is the very respectable and venerable General 
 Oglethorpe. I passed Sunday and Monday with his family at their country 
 house. He desired me through you to make his very particular compliments 
 to General Washington, of whose virtues and talents I have the pleasure to 
 find he has the highest opinion." 
 
 William Knox soon afterward became subject to occasional fits of derange- 
 ment, and died about 1797. 
 
 14 
 
102 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 "July 19. 
 " Dined with General Knox ; about forty-four gentlemen, officers 
 of the late continental army, and among them Baron Steuben. 
 General Knox gave us an entertainment in the style of a prince. 
 Every gentleman at the table was of the ' Cincinnati' except my- 
 self, and wore his appropriate badge." 
 
 Mrs. William S. Smith writes from New York in 1788 
 to her mother, Mrs. John Adams : — 
 
 " General and Mrs. Knox have been very polite and 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 
 w r hen 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." 
 
 From Griswold's " Republican Court " we take the fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 " Mrs. Knox had been one of the heroines of the Revolution, 
 nearly as well known in the camp as her husband. She and her 
 husband were, perhaps, the largest couple in the city, and both were 
 favorites, he for really brilliant conversation and unfailing good 
 humor, and she as a lively and meddlesome but amiable leader of 
 society, without whose co-operation it was believed by many be- 
 sides 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. The house of the Secretary was in 
 Broadway, and it was the scene of a liberal and genial hospitality." 
 
 Upon the formation of the new government in May, 
 1789, Knox was continued in his post of War Secretary 
 by Washington.* " To his past services and an unques- 
 tioned integrity," says Judge Marshall, " he was admitted 
 to unite a sound understanding ; and the public judgment 
 as well as that of the chief magistrate pronounced him in 
 
 * His commission bears date Sept. 12, 1789. 
 
PLAN FOR A MILITIA. 103 
 
 all respects competent to the station he filled." One of 
 his first acts was to provide for his friend, General Lin- 
 coln, to whom, on August 4, he wrote as follows : " Al- 
 though I do not conceive the office of Collector to 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." 
 
 The framing of a militia sj^stem for the country received 
 the early attention of the Secretary. He had, in April, 1783, 
 communicated to Washington his ideas upon this subject, to 
 the effect that there should be a uniform system and annual 
 encampments ; each State to have an arsenal and a suffi- 
 cient quantity of arms and ammunition ; that the United 
 States should have some troops for the security of the 
 frontiers, and at West Point, " the key to America, which 
 has been so advantageous in the defence of the United 
 States, and is still so important in that view, as ivell as of 
 preserving the Union ; " that a complete system of military 
 education should be formed and adopted ; that there 
 should be three military academies where the United States 
 arsenals are, — one in the Northern, one in the Middle, and 
 one in the Southern States ; and that a code of military 
 laws should be framed and inspectors appointed by Con- 
 gress, who should annually examine the academies and 
 report to Congress. 
 
 Knox's " Plan for the General Arrangement of the 
 Militia of the United States," reported to Congress 18 
 March, 1786, provided for the embodiment of all male 
 citizens from eighteen to sixty, into three classes, — " The 
 Advanced Corps," " The Main Corps," and " The Re- 
 served Corps ; " the form to be that of the legion ; each 
 legion to consist of 153 commissioned officers and 2,880 
 non-commissioned officers and privates, and to be com- 
 manded by a major-general. The failure of this plan is 
 
104 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 partly attributable to the unpropitious circumstances of 
 the times. 
 
 Of that prepared by him in January, 1790, similar in its 
 general features to the preceding one, his friend, General 
 Lincoln, gave him, at his request, this opinion : — 
 
 " Though it would make ours the strongest militia in the world, 
 the people will not adopt it here, if I know Massachusetts. The ex- 
 pense, pay of officers, no pay of men, the burden on masters, calling 
 the youth indiscriminately, disfranchisement for a time in certain 
 cases, officers excluded from actual service, subjection to a draft for 
 a service of three years, &c, will be magnified here, and damn the 
 bill." 
 
 Colonel Jackson also informed him that his plan was not 
 very well received in Massachusetts. The opinion of mili- 
 tary men abroad seems to have been favorable to Knox's 
 plan, as is seen in this extract from a letter from General 
 Miranda, the South American patriot, whose acquaintance 
 he had made in Boston in 1784 : * — 
 
 "London, Feb. 2, 1791. 
 
 " I thank you for your estimable letter of the 6th September, 17'JO, 
 that your brother delivered to me here. I am very happy to see 
 the flourishing state to which North America is grown, and wish 
 that my own poor miserable country in the South could say the 
 same. They can only answer : — 
 
 i Video meliora prorogue, deteriora sequor.' 
 
 " I have seen with great pleasure your plan for the establishment 
 of a militia, &c. General Melville, and some other professional men 
 here that have considered the same subject, admired it very much ; 
 and I perfectly agree with you, that the form of the Roman Legion 
 
 * Francisco de Miranda was born in Caracas about 1750. He travelled on 
 foot through a great part of America and Europe ; was a general of division 
 under Dumouriez, in 1792-93 ; was afterward engaged in abortive attempts 
 to shake off the Spanish yoke from his native province, and having been 
 betrayed by Bolivar to the Spaniards ended his days in a dungeon at Cadiz, 
 in 1816. 
 
INDIAN AFFAIRS. 105 
 
 is infinitely superior to any other organization or military arrange- 
 ment Ave know yet." 
 
 The legionary formation was for a time adopted as the 
 regular establishment of the United States; but the plan 
 for the militia, though it had the approval of Washington, 
 was not regarded with favor, and a system less onerous as 
 well as less energetic was at length adopted. 
 
 The policy to be pursued towards the various Indian 
 tribes of the United States demanded a large share of 
 Knox's attention, and in it he was guided by enlarged and 
 liberal views. In the minutes which he furnished for the 
 President's speech, in October, 1791, he advocates an impar- 
 tial administration of justice towards them, suggests that the 
 mode of alienating their lands should be properly defined 
 and regulated, and that the advantages of commerce and 
 the blessings of civilization should be extended to them ; 
 and that proper penalties should be provided for such law- 
 less persons as shall violate the treaties with them. " A 
 system," he goes on to say, " producing the free operation 
 of the mild principles of religion and benevolence towards 
 an unenlightened race of men would at once be highly 
 economical and honorable to the national character." 
 
 A treaty with the Creek Nation of Indians was signed 
 on Aug. 7, 1790, by Knox, as sole commissioner, in behalf 
 of the United States ; and by Alexander McGillivray and 
 twenty-three chiefs, in behalf of the Creek nation, by 
 whom an extensive territory claimed by Georgia was re- 
 linquished to that State. McGillivray was at the same 
 time commissioned a brigadier-general in the army of the 
 United States. 
 
 The unsuccessful expeditions of Harmar in 1790, and 
 of St. Clair in 1791, against the North-western Indians, 
 were followed, in 1794, by the victorious campaign of 
 Wayne, and by the treaty of Greenville in August, 1795, 
 
106 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 by which peace was established, and the post of Detroit, 
 together with a considerable tract of land, ceded to the 
 United States. 
 
 The friends of Jefferson then Secretary of State, and 
 the partisans of the French Revolution, assailed with malig- 
 nant hostility the administration of Washington ; and Knox 
 as its firm supporter, and while the operations against the 
 Indians were yet unsuccessful, came in for a large share of 
 vituperation and calumny. Among the many ardent and 
 devoted friends of Knox was Major Samuel Shaw, a fel- 
 low-townsman, and his aide and secretary during the war, 
 and who was deservedly held by him in the highest esteem. 
 "When Major Shaw returned [from a foreign voyage], 
 in 1792," says his biographer, Hon. Josiah Quincy, " and 
 witnessed the assaults party spirit was making upon his 
 early patron and constant friend, a man he so loved and 
 respected, his indignation, heightened by the sentiment of 
 gratitude, was irrepressible, and on April 15th he wrote 
 Knox as follows : — 
 
 " What shall we say, my dear friend, to a certain publication, 
 which, under the title of ' Strictures, fyc.,' fabricated in Boston, is 
 now circulating here, and no doubt has made its appearance with 
 you ? The shameful violation of decency and truth, the virulence 
 and rancor of his remarks on the Secretary at War, show the 
 wickedness and malice of the author of this production in such 
 glowing colors, as must expose him to general contempt and de- 
 testation. Happy must you feel, — thrice happy am I in the re- 
 flection, — that so long as the American name shall last, yours will be 
 handed down with distinction in the list of the * valued file ; ' and the 
 artillery, which formed under your auspices equalled every exigence 
 of war, will ever be regarded as the child of your genius. Well do 
 I remember the honorable testimony of the gallant La Fayette 
 amidst the thunder of our batteries on the lines at Yorktown. ' We 
 fire,' exclaimed he, with a charming enthusiasm, ' better than the 
 French' (and faith we did too). To this I made a suitable objec- 
 tion. His reply was, — * Upon honor, I speak the truth ; and the 
 
PROPOSES TO RETIRE. 107 
 
 progress of your artillery is regarded by everybody as one of the 
 wonders of the Revolution.' Shame, then, to this infamous scrib- 
 bler! and let his heart burst under the idea that your country has 
 derived the most substantial benefit from your services ; that the 
 good and wise acknowledge your merit ; and that Humphreys was 
 not less just than poetical in characterizing by a single line the man 
 to whose abilities he had been witness in the various events of a long 
 and trying war : — 
 
 ' Ere Steuben brought tbe Prussian lore from far, 
 And Knox created all the stores of war.' " 
 
 Under date of May 10, 1794, Knox writes to Jackson : — 
 
 ..." I am extremely anxious that it # should be completed in 
 the course of the year, although I have fears that I shall not be able 
 to go there this summer. The new corps of artillery, the frigates, 
 the fortifications, — all new business added to my former employ- 
 ments, together with the incessant application indispensably required 
 by the political state of affairs in which I have more share than I 
 am well qualified for, — form to a cloud which almost obscures my 
 prospect of getting away in any thing like due season. I cannot 
 leave my situation in this critical state of affairs. The services of 
 my whole political life would serve, in the opinion of those who I 
 esteem, in no degree to form a counterbalance to my quitting at 
 this crisis. I therefore must stay until the storm shall have passed, 
 or I be wrecked in the general catastrophe threatened by various 
 causes. 
 
 "You mention the commissary of military stores. This office 
 Mr. Hodgdon has been possessed of in a different shape for several 
 years, and has it now. I should hope something may occur which 
 would be agreeable to you ; but my own opinion is, that neither you 
 nor I ought to be in public life, but [should] make some exertions 
 whereby we may better our fortunes. Whether I shall ever have 
 
 * Alluding to his mansion-house at Thomaston, begun in 1793, and fin- 
 ished the next year, at a cost of not far from $15,000. Local tradition, usually 
 unreliable, has greatly exaggerated this, as well as other facts connected with 
 the mansion and its occupants. Eor instance, it said, among other things, 
 that the house cost #50,000; that one hundred beds were made, an ox and 
 twenty sheep often slaughtered in a week ; and that twenty saddle horses 
 and corresponding carriages were kept to accommodate guests and sojourners. 
 
108 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 sufficient time to lay a practical scheme for such an undertaking I 
 cannot tell, but certainly not while I remain in public life." 
 
 Knox succeeded in procuring for his old friend the ap- 
 pointment of United States naval agent, and, as such, he 
 superintended the building of the " Constitution," one of 
 the six frigates the construction of which was ordered by 
 the Act of 27 March, 1794. 
 
 The outrages of the pirates of the Mediterranean on 
 the persons and property of our citizens, together with the 
 importance of providing defences for our extensive sea- 
 board, forcibly impressed Knox's mind with the necessity 
 of a naval force. Jefferson and himself were the only sup- 
 porters in the cabinet of the establishment of a navy, but 
 his endeavors were at length carried into effect by his san- 
 guine confidence in its success and his strenuous efforts for 
 its accomplishment. The result soon vindicated the wis- 
 dom of the measure, and our navy has ever since been 
 identified with the glory and prosperity of the country. 
 Knox performed the duties of both departments with equal 
 zeal and ability until the imperious claims of private in- 
 terest compelled him to turn his attention to the long- 
 neglected concerns of his family. 
 
 The expenses of his open hospitality far exceeded the 
 limited compensation of his office, and he had for some 
 time been determined to retire from public life. As early 
 as in September, 1792, writing to his daughter Lucy re- 
 specting this subject, he says : — 
 
 " Having arrived, or nearly so, at the summit of human age and 
 vigor, and being ere long to slope my down-hill course, objects 
 appear exceedingly different to my view from what they used to 
 do in my ascent. . . . All my life hitherto I have been pursuing 
 illusive bubbles which burst on being grasped, and 'tis high time I 
 should quit public life and attend to the solid interests of my family, 
 so that they may not be left dependent on the cold hand of charity ; 
 
RESIGNS THE SECRETARYSHIP OF WAR. 109 
 
 and in order to retire with reputation, it was indispensably neces- 
 sary that I 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." 
 
 The President had expressed a desire that he would re- 
 main with him till the close of his own official career, and 
 had from time to time induced him to continue, but at 
 length reluctantly accepted his resignation. The follow- 
 ing correspondence ensued : — 
 
 KNOX TO WASHINGTON. 
 
 "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 Depart- 
 ment of War will cease. 
 
 " I have endeavored to place the business of the department in 
 such a train that my successor may without much difficulty com- 
 mence 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 
 greatest portion of which under your immediate auspices, it is with 
 extreme reluctance I find myself constrained to withdraw from so 
 honorable 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 fervor and purity of affection of 
 which a grateful heart can be susceptible." 
 
 15 
 
110 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 WASHINGTON TO KNOX. 
 
 " Philadelphia, Dec. 30, 1794. 
 
 " Sm, — The considerations which you have often suggested to 
 me, and are repeated in your letter of the 28th instant, as requiring 
 your departure from your present office, 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 
 exertions, while it authorizes 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." 
 
 Leaving Philadelphia on June 1, 1795, he visited his 
 native town, where, on the 12th, he was invited to a pub- 
 lic dinner by his friends and fellow-citizens. Continuing 
 his journey, he was publicly welcomed on the 22d by the 
 people of Thomaston, where he had fixed bis future resi- 
 dence. He at once applied himself to the cultivation and 
 improvement of an extensive tract of land in the then dis- 
 trict of Maine, called the Muscongus or Waldo patent, 
 part of which Mrs. Knox inherited from her grandfather, 
 General Waldo, and the residue of which he had bought of 
 the other heirs. . It lay between the Kennebec and Penob- 
 scot rivers, included those of Muscongus and St. George, 
 and comprised a large portion of what are now the counties 
 of Lincoln, Waldo, and Penobscot. As much of this land 
 was in the possession of squatters, it was a task of no little 
 difficulty to quiet their pretensions ; but his firm yet con- 
 ciliatory course eventually overcame all obstacles. His 
 liberality and beneficence, together with the improvements 
 
RESIDENCE AT MONTPELIER. Ill 
 
 which he suggested and carried into effect, soon rendered 
 his residence among them a blessing felt and acknowledged 
 by all. 
 
 Prior to his removal, a splendid mansion had been 
 erected at the head of St. George's River, having a de- 
 lightful prospect in front, extending eight or ten miles 
 down that river ; and in this charming spot, to which he 
 gave the name of Montpelier,* in the society of his wife 
 and children, and of the distinguished visitors who from 
 time to time enjoyed his hospitality, Knox enjoyed a larger 
 share of happiness than he had probably ever known 
 before. His wife, who was truly his congenial spirit, was 
 also well satisfied to retire from scenes of gayety and 
 fashion to the privacy of domestic life and the loved society 
 of her children. She is described as having been, even in 
 her latter days, when upwards of sixty, a remarkably fine- 
 looking woman, with brilliant black eyes, and a blooming 
 complexion. Her style of dress, which was somewhat 
 peculiar, and her dignified manners, gave her the appear- 
 ance of being taller than she really was. 
 
 " Mrs. Knox," says the Duke de la Rochefoucauld 
 Liancourt, " is a lady of whom you conceive a still higher 
 opinion the longer you are acquainted with her. Seeing 
 her in Philadelphia, you think of her only as a fortunate 
 player at whist ; at her house in the country you discover 
 that she possesses sprightliness, knowledge, a good heart, 
 and an excellent understanding." Of her daughter (after- 
 ward Mrs. Thatcher), he says, that " at their house in 
 Maine she lays aside her excessive timidity, and you 
 admire alike her beauty, wit, and cheerfulness ; " and of 
 the General, " he is one of the worthiest men I have ever 
 known : lively, agreeable ; valuable equally as an excel- 
 
 * This elegant residence is no longer standing, and its site is now occu- 
 pied by the station of the Knox and Lincoln Railway. 
 
112 LITE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 lent friend and as an engaging companion." Among his 
 distinguished guests were Senator Bingham and his family, 
 and several French refugees of celebrity, such as Louis 
 Phillipe, Talleyrand, the Count de Beaumetz, and the 
 Duke de Liancourt. The latter, whose wardrobe was re- 
 plenished by the munificence of Knox, is said to have ex- 
 claimed despondingly one day while here, as he struck his 
 forehead with his hand, " I have three dukedoms on my 
 head, and not one whole coat on my back." Knox wrote 
 him as follows from Boston, in July, 1797, and the duke 
 responded by again visiting him the next September : — 
 
 "My dear Duke, — I have received with peculiar sensibility 
 your kind letter of the 2d of this month. 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 magnanimity 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 resent- 
 ment of France against this country : it cannot be for their happi- 
 ness or ours that we should quarrel. ... I have been detained here 
 by a variety of circumstances until this time, but more particularly 
 in attending our legislature, who have unintentionally wronged me 
 out of nearly 40,000 acres of my best land high up Penobscot River. 
 I have succeeded with one branch, but could not quite succeed with 
 the other ; but I shall finish the affair next session. I shall go [to 
 St. George's] in five days. My affairs there flourish, but want my 
 presence there for the summer. I cannot express how delighted 
 and charmed I should be by having the happiness of receiving you 
 there." 
 
 Knox entered largely into brickmaking, and the manu- 
 facture of lime and lumber, and also carried on an exten- 
 sive mercantile business under the management of Captain 
 Thomas Vose, a gallant officer of artillery, at first as clerk, 
 and afterward as partner. These and other varied indus- 
 
PECUNIARY TROUBLES. 113 
 
 tries which he carried on brought to the place and gave 
 employment to large numbers of mechanics and other emi- 
 grants, who became permanent residents of Thomaston, 
 and who stimulated the growth of the town. He also 
 attempted to introduce improved breeds of cattle and 
 sheep ; and as early as 1796 undertook the business of 
 ship-building, and several coasters were launched and kept 
 running in his employ. To facilitate his lumber opera- 
 tions, Knox purchased the right to improve the navigation 
 of George's River, and completed locks of sufficient capac- 
 ity for the passage of rafts and gondolas at the several 
 falls in Warren, opening the navigation of the river as far 
 up as the mills in Union. His plans and projects of im- 
 provement were more suited to his expansive mind than 
 to his actual resources, he being for the most part of the 
 time while there greatly embarrassed by want of money ; 
 and they consequently resulted more advantageously to 
 others than to himself. These pecuniary troubles culmi- 
 nated in 1798, and caused for a short time some distress to 
 his indorsers, Generals Lincoln and Jackson, who were, how- 
 ever, amply secured from loss by assignments of valuable 
 land. A few extracts from his later letters will afford some 
 glimpses of passing events, and of his domestic life and 
 feelings. Thus to his friend Jackson, under date of July 
 9, 1795, only a few days after his arrival at St. George's, 
 he writes, " We had a small company on the 4th of July 
 of upwards of fixe hundred people ! " On this occasion 
 a general invitation had been given to the people of the 
 town and neighboring settlements to inspect the General's 
 mansion and partake of its hospitalities. Tables were set 
 in the piazzas, and " the house and grounds were vocal 
 with music and conversation." 
 
 To Washington, under date of Boston, 15 January, 1797, 
 he writes : — 
 
114 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 ..." The loss of two lovely children on which you condole in your 
 letter has been recently renewed and increased by the death of our 
 son [Washington], of seven years old. Unfortunate, indeed, have 
 we been in the loss of eight children, requiring the exercise of our 
 whole stock of philosophy and religion. 
 
 " We have lately come from St. George's to pass the winter in 
 this town. Indeed, this is our general plan : we may, however, as 
 we grow older, find it inconvenient. We are distant about two 
 hundred miles by land, which we may easily ride in six days when 
 the snow is on the ground ; or with wheels, with a very little im- 
 provement of a small part of the road. I am beginning to experi- 
 ence the good effects of my residence upon my lands. I may truly 
 say that it is more than doubled in its value since I determined to 
 make it my home. The only inconvenience we experience is the 
 want of society : this will probably lessen daily. Our communica- 
 tion by water to this town is constant and cheap. We can obtain 
 transportation here cheaper than the same article can be carted from 
 my store to the vessel. This egotism would require an apology to 
 any other than you." 
 
 His last letter to Washington is elated 22d December, 
 1799, eight days after that illustrious man had breathed his 
 last : — 
 
 " I am here [Thomaston], and should be more happy in my 
 pursuits than I have ever been, were some embarrassments entirely 
 dissipated. But this will require time. My estate with indulgence 
 is competent, and greatly more, to the discharge of every cent I owe. 
 All who are here unite with me in presenting to Mrs. Washington 
 our affectionate remembrance. I may not wish you the greatest 
 blessing by wishing you a long life, because I believe that while you 
 continue here you are detained from a much better condition. But 
 I pray fervently that your days on earth may be days of felicity, 
 without clouds, sickness, or sorrow." 
 
 TO GENERAL DAVID COBB. 
 
 "Moxtpelier, 22 March, 1800. 
 " Returning from Boston on the 14th, I found your letter. I per- 
 ceive no cause of regret at the departure of our old chief. He 
 
BRIGHTER PROSPECTS. 115 
 
 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. . . . 
 
 " You mention that your spirits are not good. For God's sake 
 bear up against the devil of Gloom. Put yourself in motion. 
 Visit even me if you can find nothing better. Get Willich, a new 
 author on diet and regimen ; but, above all, get — on horseback. 
 
 " I was in Boston twelve days. My affairs progress well. I shall 
 have bright days yet. My daughter had been there for two months. 
 She returned with me. Mrs. K. and Caroline stayed at home, 
 which to me is, 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." 
 
 TO MRS. KNOX AT BOSTON. 
 
 " Moxtpelier, 20 Nov. 1801. 
 " Whether your not getting a house is good or bad, I will not 
 determine. With my habits, a lodging-house will be execrable, and 
 yet feelings must give way to judgment. In either case we must be 
 economists. Although our prospects will be greatly brightened by 
 the revolution of our settlers, yet very little ready money at present. 
 Therefore prenez garde as to expenses. Although the throng of 
 our visitors have passed, yet we generally have eight or ten per day, 
 and commonly from five to ten at night. Our son * is a cause of 
 infinite solicitude. He is not here, nor have I received a line from 
 him. At present the proposition of sending him to the East Indies 
 or Canton appears like giving him a passport to eternity or to in- 
 finite misery." 
 
 Upon the declaration of war with France, in 1798, under 
 the Presidency of John Adams, Washington, who was ap- 
 
 * Henry Jackson Knox, his only surviving son, was a midshipman in the 
 navy in 1798-1800. He was nominated as a lieutenant by President Adams 
 in June, 1799, but was not confirmed by the Senate. 
 
116 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 pointed lieutenant-general, named as his seconds Hamilton, 
 C. C. Pinckney, and Knox, in the order mentioned. The 
 latter was greatly mortified at being placed after those 
 who, during the war, had been his juniors in rank, and 
 declined to serve. He wrote to Washington a remon- 
 strance, which the latter sent to Hamilton, with a letter, 
 delicately intimating a disposition favorable to Knox. 
 Hamilton, in reply, reluctantly acquiesced in " any ar- 
 rangement which Washington might deem for the general 
 good ; " and at a later period endeavored, in a letter to 
 Knox, from which we make an extract, to throw the re- 
 sponsibility upon others. Warm-hearted and placable, 
 Knox cherished no animosity against him, and when he 
 heard of his death broke out into violent and uncontrol- 
 lable emotion. 
 
 HAMILTON TO KNOX. 
 
 " New York, March 14, 1799. 
 " My judgment tells me 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 deprived 
 the public of your services or occasioned to you the smallest dis- 
 satisfaction. 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 attachment for you 
 and the impression of duty. This sounds, I know, like affectation, 
 but it is nevertheless the truth. In a case in which such great 
 public interests were concerned, it seemed to me the dictate of 
 reason and propriety not to exercise an opinion of my own, but to 
 leave that of others who would influence the issue to take a free 
 course. In saying this much, my only motive is to preserve, if I 
 may, a claim on your friendly disposition towards me, and to give 
 you some evidence that my regard for you is unabated." 
 
 Neither the absorbing nature of his private affairs nor 
 the pecuniary and other obstacles which constantly im- 
 
PUBLIC DUTIES.— DEATH. 117 
 
 peeled his extensive plans for the improvement and set- 
 tlement of the country around him, could prevent his 
 performance of those public duties which his fellow-citi- 
 zens from time to time imposed upon him. We find him 
 appointed, April 6, 1796, a commissioner for the United 
 States for settling the Eastern boundary on the true river 
 St. Croix ; from the year 1801 a member of the General 
 Court; and on June 2, 1804, he was appointed one of the 
 council of Governor Strong, by whom he was much con- 
 sulted in important affairs, and like whom he was inde- 
 pendent and firm in political sentiment, while at the same 
 time conciliatory and tolerant. 
 
 General Knox was exceedingly fond of the society of 
 men of learning, talent, and wit, and had an extensive 
 correspondence with many of the eminent men of his time 
 both in Europe and America. At the time of his decease 
 he had a handsome collection of not less than 1,585 vol- 
 umes, 364 of which were in the French language. Next 
 to that of Benjamin Vaughan, Esq., of Hallo well, his was 
 the largest and best private library in the district of Maine. 
 • He received the honorary degree of Master of Arts, from 
 Dartmouth College, in 1793 ; and 16 December, 1805, was 
 made a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and 
 Sciences. 
 
 AVe come now to the close of the career of this truly 
 noble and estimable man. Had he been permitted to at- 
 tain the usual age of man, which his vigorous constitu- 
 tion seemed to render probable, the cloud that rested upon 
 the latter part of his life would undoubtedly have been 
 dispelled ; and the rise in the value of his property would 
 have enabled him to realize all his anticipations, and to 
 have left his family in opulence. It was otherwise or- 
 dained. A sudden and unlooked-for accident cut him off 
 in the midst of his usefulness, to the sincere regret of all 
 
 16 
 
118 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 who knew him. His neighbors mourned his loss as a 
 public benefactor ; but to his immediate family the stroke 
 was unexpected and overwhelming. 
 
 The event occurred on Saturday, Oct. 25, 1806, after 
 an illness of a few days. It was occasioned by his having 
 swallowed a chicken bone, which caused a mortification, 
 and was from its nature incurable. He was entombed 
 on the following Tuesday with military honors, amid the 
 largest concourse of citizens ever seen in that vicinity, and 
 a eulogy was pronounced by the Hon. Samuel Thatcher. 
 The House of Representatives of Massachusetts, on Jan. 
 10, 1807, unanimously passed resolutions of respect to his 
 memory, which, with a letter of condolence from the 
 speaker, Hon. Perez Morton, was sent to the widow. 
 
 Mrs. Knox died June 20, 1824. Out of twelve chil- 
 dren, nine of whom died in childhood or infancy, only 
 three survived their father : Lucy F., b. 1776, d. 12 Oct. 
 1854, who m. Ebenezer Thatcher (H. U. 1798) ; Henry 
 Jackson, b. 24 May, 1780, d. Thomaston, Me., 1830 ; and 
 Caroline, who m., 1st, James Swan, of Dorchester; 2d, 
 Hon. John Holmes, of Maine. Both the latter died with- 
 out issue. The surviving children of Mrs. Thatcher are 
 Admiral Henry Knox Thatcher, and Caroline F., widow 
 of Benjamin Smith, of Newburg, N.Y. 
 
 The personal and mental characteristics of General Knox 
 are thus described by William Sullivan in his " Familiar 
 Letters: " — 
 
 " He was a large, full man, above 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 powdered 
 and queued. His forehead was low ; his face, large and full below ; 
 his eyes, rather small, gray, and brilliant. The expression of his 
 face altogether was a very fine one. 
 
 " When moving along the street, he had an air of grandeur and 
 
PERSONAL HABITS AND TRAITS. 119 
 
 self-complacency, but it wounded no man's self-love. lie carried a 
 large cane, not to aid his steps, but usually under his arm ; and 
 sometimes, when he happened to stop and engage in conversation 
 with his accustomed ardor, his cane was used to flourish with, in aid 
 of his eloquence. He was usually dressed in black. In the summer, 
 he commonly carried his light silk hat in his hand when walking in 
 the shade. When engaged in conversation, he used to unwind and 
 replace 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 
 expression. His conceptions 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 
 fact, no more to be questioned than his own earthly existence. He 
 said that he had through life left his bed at the dawn, and had been 
 always a cheerful, happy man." 
 
 Says Timelier in his " Military Journal," in speaking of 
 Knox : — 
 
 " 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 conver- 
 sation 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 conceptions were lofty, and no man ever possessed the power 
 of embodying his thoughts in more vigorous language : when ar- 
 dently engaged, they were peculiarly bold and original, and you 
 inevitably felt in his society that his intellect was not of the ordinary 
 
120 LIFE OF HENRY KNOX. 
 
 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. His feelings 
 were strong and exquisitely tender. In the domestic circle they 
 shone with peculiar lustre ; and if at any time a cloud overshadowed 
 his own spirit, he strove to prevent its influence from extending to 
 those that were dear to him. He was frank, generous, and sincere, 
 and in his intercourse with the world uniformly just." 
 
 " The conversation of General Knox," says another 
 writer, " was itself a feast. He was affable without 
 familiarity, dignified without parade, imposing without ar- 
 rogance." 
 
 His features were regular, his Grecian nose prominent, 
 his complexion florid, his hair naturally dark, and his eyes 
 sharp and penetrating, seldom failing to recognize a coun- 
 tenance they had once rested upon. His frame was well 
 proportioned and muscular, inclining to corpulency ; and 
 while at West Point, in August, 1783, he weighed 280 
 pounds. 
 
 A firm believer in the truths of Christianity, and a lib- 
 eral supporter of its institutions, he regarded the future 
 as a progressive state of existence, and held in slight 
 esteem the distinctions of creeds and sects; "for," says 
 Dr. Thacher, " his charity was as diffusive as the globe, 
 and extensive as the family of man." He could hear 
 others praised without envy, and delighted to enumerate 
 the good qualities of men in public life. 
 
 His public spirit was displayed by encouraging schools, 
 locating and repairing roads, promoting the erection of a 
 place of public religious worship, and by exciting an at- 
 tention to agriculture among his neighbors. He gave the 
 piece of land which is now the principal cemetery in 
 Thomaston ; a large pulpit Bible, still in use by the Con- 
 
CONCLUSION. 121 
 
 gregational Church there ; and the first bell that ever 
 called together the worshippers of that town, and which 
 is still hanging in the First Baptist Church. 
 
 Of his numerous private charities we record but one. 
 On June 23, 1797, he drew up and headed with fifty 
 dollars a subscription for the daughters of the French ad- 
 miral, Count de Grasse, who had been driven from their 
 estates in the West Indies, and who were then in Boston 
 in a state of destitution. It must be borne in mind that 
 at this time he was himself in great distress for money. 
 
 We have thus sketched, briefly and imperfectly it is 
 true, the principal events and the leading characteristics in 
 a career well worthy the study and imitation of mankind. 
 One of its lessons is so especially applicable to our own 
 times, that we commend it to those of our countrymen 
 occupying stations of public trust. It is found in the letter 
 to his brother William (ante, p. 61), in which he says: 
 " You know my sentiments with respect to making any 
 thing out of the public : I abominate the idea. I could not 
 [otherwise], at the end of the war, mix with my fellow- 
 citizens with that conscious integrity, the felicity of which 
 I often anticipate." 
 
 Many have been as courageous in the field, many as wise 
 and patriotic in council, but few have united to these the 
 still rarer virtues, a spotless integrity, and a noble out- 
 spoken manliness of character, in a higher degree than 
 the subject of this brief memoir. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THE FLUCKER FAMILY. 
 
 Capt. James Flucker, of London, mariner, m. Elizabeth Luist at 
 Charlestown, Mass., 30 May, 1717 ; he was taxed there from 1727 to 1756, 
 and d. 3 Nov. 1756. She d. Sept. 1770. Their children were — 
 
 Rebecca, bapt. Charlestown, 9 Mar. 1718, m. 22 July, 1742, to Rev. 
 John Fowle of Hingham. 
 
 Thomas, b. Charlestown, 9 Oct. 1719. 
 
 James, b. Charlestown, 23 Sept. 1721 ; prob. d. between 1770 and 
 1773. 
 
 Isaac, b. Charlestown, 25 Jan. 1724-25. 
 
 Jane, b. CharlestoAvn, 25 Jan. 1724-25, m. 9 May, 1758, Dr. Isaac 
 Rand, and d. 23 Mar. 1805. 
 
 Robert, b. Charlestown, 26 Dec. 1727, d. 10 Oct. 1730. 
 
 Elizabeth, b. Charlestown, 31 Dec. 1730, m. Jona. Smith of Lex- 
 ington. 
 
 Ann, b. and d. 5 Jan. 1732. 
 
 Thomas, the son, last Secretary of Massachusetts Bay, was a merchant 
 in Boston, and owned an estate on Summer Street. He was commis- 
 sioned a Justice of the Peace, 14 Sept. 1756 ; was a member of the Coun- 
 cil in 1761-68; a Selectman of Boston, in 1766; succeeded Andrew 
 Oliver as Secretary, 12 Nov. 1770 ; was made a Mandamus Councillor, 
 9 Aug. 1774; left Boston for Halifax with other Tories in March, 1776 ; 
 afterward went to London, where he Avas a member of the " Brompton 
 Row Tory Club," — or association of Loyalists, who met weekly for con- 
 versation and a dinner, — and died there 16 Feb. 1783. His daughter 
 Lucy (Mrs. Knox) writes to her husband on July 17, 1777: "By a 
 letter from Mrs. Tyng to Aunt Waldo, we learn that papa enjoys his 
 £300 a year as Secretary of the province. Droll, is it not? " In 1765, 
 he was a member of a committee of the Council to consider and report 
 what could be done to prevent difficulties in the proceedings of the courts 
 of justice ; and, in 1768, he assisted in drafting an address of that body to 
 the King. 
 
 He m. 1st, 12 June, 1744, Judith, dau. of Hon. James Bowdoin; 2d, 
 
 17 
 
126 PADDOCK'S ARTILLERY COMPANY. 
 
 14 Jan. 1751, Hannah, dau. of Gen. Samuel Waldo, who d. Dec. 1785. 
 They had — 
 
 Thomas, a lieut. in the British army (2d bat., 60th, at St. Augustine, 
 in 1777), H. U. 1773; d. 1783. 
 
 Hannah, m. 2 Nov. 1774, James Urquhart, captain 14th reg. ; from 
 whom she was divorced, and subsequently m. Horwood. 
 
 Lucy, b. 2 Aug. 1756 (Mrs. Knox). 
 
 Sally Flucker, who performed in Burgoyne's " Maid of the Oaks," in 
 private theatricals given by the British officers in Boston, was a natural 
 daughter of Thomas. She accompanied the family to England ; m. Mr. 
 Jephson, a member of the Irish Parliament, and d. early. Copley painted 
 her portrait. 
 
 PADDOCK'S ARTILLERY COMPANY. 
 
 Prior to the organization of this company by Captain David Mason in 
 1763, the only military companies in Boston were "The Ancient and 
 Honorable Artillery Company, 11 the first regularly organized company in 
 America, instituted in 1638; and the "Cadets, 11 instituted about 1754, 
 called also the " Governor's Guards, 11 composed of the elite of the citi- 
 zens, and forming the escort on all occasions of ceremony or commem- 
 oration. The " Train, 11 as it was then called, was attached to the Boston 
 regiment; and on Captain Masons removal to New Gloucester, Me., its 
 command passed, in 1768, to Lieut. Adino Paddock. The latter, who 
 was a chair-maker on Common (now Tremont) Street, opposite the 
 Granary, was a " complete artilleryman, 11 and made of his company a 
 celebrated military school, which furnished many excellent officers to 
 the Revolutionary army. It was composed chiefly of mechanics, was 
 considered equal to any that afterward entered the service, and con- 
 tinued to a recent period, being latterly known as the " South End " 
 Artillery Company. 
 
 " In the fall of 1766 a company of British artillery, 1 ' says Gen. Henry 
 Burbeck, avIio was himself a member of Paddock's company, " bound to 
 Quebec, was too late to enter the river St. Lawrence, and put into Bos- 
 ton, where they remained in the barracks at Castle William until the 
 May following. From them Paddock's company derived instruction in 
 the knowledge and science of field artillery. Major Paddock bought two 
 light brass three-pounders. My father (Col. Wm. Burbeck) gave a plan 
 or draft for the carriages, and supplied the company with every thing, 
 such as ammunition, port-fires, and every appointment necessary for the 
 field. I was a member of Paddock's company seven years before the 
 war. 11 
 
 Paddock attached to his company as pioneers, and to man the drag- 
 
PADDOCK'S ARTILLERY COMPANY. 127 
 
 ropes, a number of German emigrants, whose uniform consisted in part 
 of white frocks and hair caps, and who wore broadswords. The com- 
 pany was, for the purposes of manoeuvring, divided into two sections, 
 each taking two field-pieces, and upon such occasions went through all 
 the evolutions of an active engagement. 
 
 " The fourth of June, 1768, being the king's birthday, was celebrated 
 with much spirit. . . . The Governor's Troop of Guards, under Col. 
 Phipps ; the regiment of the town, under Col. Jackson ; with the train of 
 artillery, under Capt. Paddock, — all mustered in King Street, where the 
 troop and regiment fired three rounds, and the artillery responded with 
 their new pieces." * These pieces were, on the breaking out of the Revo- 
 lutionary war, kept in a gun-house at the corner of West Street. A 
 school-house was the next building ; and a yard, enclosed with a high 
 fence, was common to both. Paddock, who was a Tory, had expressed 
 an intention of surrendering these guns to Governor Gage, who had 
 begun to seize the military stores of the province and disarm the inhabi- 
 tants. His design was frustrated by a few patriotic young men, among 
 whom were Abraham Holbrook, the school-master, Nathaniel Balch, 
 
 Samuel Gore, Moses Grant, Jeremiah Gridley, and Whiston, who, 
 
 while the attention of the sentinel stationed at the door of the gun-house 
 was taken off by roll-call, crossed the yard, entered the building, and, 
 removing the guns from their carriages, concealed them in the school- 
 house, whence they were subsequently conveyed in a boat to the Amer- 
 ican lines. The guns were in actual service during the whole war; and 
 in 1788 General Knox, while Secretary of War, caused a suitable inscrip- 
 tion to be placed upon them. They were named the "Hancock" and 
 " Adams," and are now suspended in the chamber at the top of Bunker 
 Hill Monument. 
 
 The Committee of Safety, 23 Feb. 1775, voted that Dr. Joseph 
 Warren ascertain how many of the men who had been under Paddock's 
 command could "be depended on to form an artillery company when the 
 Constitutional Army of the Province should take the field, and that 
 report be made without loss of time." In March, 1776, Major Paddock 
 embarked for Halifax with the Royal Army ; sailed for England in June ; 
 and from 1781 until his decease, 25 March, 1804, aged seventy-six, 
 resided on the Isle of Jersey, where for several years he held the office 
 of Inspector of Artillery Stores, with the rank of Captain. 
 
 The following list of members of Paddock's company is quite incom- 
 plete. Those starred were subsequently officers in the regiments of 
 Gridley, Knox, or Crane, in the Revolutionary army : — 
 
 * Probably the brass three-pounders brought from London in the brigantine 
 " Abigail," which ai rived about Feb. 1. They had been cast for the town from two 
 old cannon sent over by the General Court for that purpose. Upon them were 
 engraved the arms of the Province. — Drake's History of Boston. 
 
128 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS FOR HENRY KNOX, ESQ. 
 
 Adino Paddock, Capt. with rank of Major. 
 
 Christopher Clark, 
 
 1st Li( 
 
 JUt. 
 
 Thomas Crafts, 
 
 ,, , 
 
 
 Jabez Hatch, 
 
 »> > 
 
 
 John Sullen, 
 
 
 
 George Trott, 
 
 
 
 Thomas Bumstead, 
 
 
 
 Samuel Sellon, 
 
 2d , 
 
 
 Edward Tuckerman, 
 
 3d , 
 
 
 *John Crane, 
 
 private. Col. 
 
 •Ebenezer Stevens, 
 
 >5 
 
 Lieut. -col. 
 
 ♦John Popkin, 
 
 » * 
 
 ■> » 
 
 ♦William Perkins, 
 
 1 » 
 
 Major. 
 
 ♦Henry Burbeck, 
 
 >> 
 
 Captain. 
 
 *John Lillie, 
 
 1 ) 
 
 » « 
 
 ♦William Gridley, 
 
 »» 
 
 ,, 
 
 ♦William Stevens, 
 
 5> 
 
 »> 
 
 *John Callender, 
 
 ,, 
 
 » > 
 
 ♦David Cook, 
 
 > > 
 
 ,, 
 
 ♦Thomas Seward, 
 
 5 » 
 
 ,, 
 
 ♦Joseph Thomas, 
 
 5> 
 
 j> 
 
 •Thomas Jackson, 
 
 ,, 
 
 ,, 
 
 *Thos. Waite Fostei 
 
 1 ? J 
 
 >» 
 
 ♦Edward Crafts, 
 
 > > 
 
 > » 
 
 ♦Dimond Morton, 
 
 » » 
 
 ,, (brother of Hon. Perez). 
 
 ♦John Johnston, 
 
 ?> 
 
 »> 
 
 ♦John Gridley, 
 
 >» 
 
 Capt.-lieut. 
 
 ♦Jotham Horton, 
 
 > 5 
 
 > » 
 
 ♦David Allen, 
 
 J> 
 
 »» 
 
 ♦Joseph Loring, 
 
 J> 
 
 »> 
 
 ♦Samuel Treat, 
 
 » » 
 
 (killed at Fort Mifflin) 
 
 ♦James Hall, 
 
 ? 1 
 
 >> 
 
 ♦David Bryant, 
 
 ,, 
 
 ,, (killed at Brandywine) 
 
 ♦John Hiwill, 
 
 * > 
 
 Lieut. 
 
 ♦Thomas J. Carnes, 
 
 »» 
 
 ?> 
 
 INSTRUCTIONS FOR HENRY KNOX, ESQ. 
 
 You are immediately to examine into the state of the artillery of this 
 army, and take an account of the cannon, mortars, shells, lead, and am- 
 munition that are wanting ; when you have done that, you are to pro- 
 ceed in the most expeditious manner to New York ; there apply to the 
 
AN INVENTORY OF CANNON, ETC. 129 
 
 president of the Provincial Congress, and learn of him whether Col. 
 Reed did any thing, or left any orders respecting these things, and get 
 him to procure such of them as can possibly be had there. The presi- 
 dent, if he can, will have them immediately sent hither ; if he cannot, you 
 must put them in a proper channel for being transported to this camp 
 with despatch before you leave New York. After you have procured as 
 many of these necessaries as you can there, you must go to Major-Gen- 
 eral Schuyler and get the remainder from Ticonderoga, Crown Point, or 
 St. John's ; if it should be necessary, from Quebec, if in our hands. 
 The want of them is so great, that no trouble or expense must be spared 
 to obtain them. I have wrote to General Schuyler, he will give every 
 necessary assistance, that they may be had and forwarded to this place 
 with the utmost despatch. I have given you a warrant to the Paymaster- 
 General of the Continental Army, for a thousand dollars, to defray the 
 expense attending your journey and procuring these articles, an account 
 of which you are to keep and render upon your return. 
 
 Given under my hand at head-quarters at Cambridge this ICth day 
 of November, Annoque Domini, 1775. 
 
 G. Washington. 
 
 Endeavor to procure ) 
 
 what flints you can. S 
 
 AN INVENTORY OF CANNON, &c, BROUGHT FROM TICON- 
 DEROGA, DECEMBER 10, 1775, AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR 
 THEIR TRANSPORTATION. 
 
 MORTARS AND COHORNS. 
 
 Bras* 
 
 Iron 
 
 Iron 
 
 
 
 
 Ft. & ins. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dim. of bore. 
 
 of length. 
 
 
 Weight. 
 
 Total w'ht. 
 
 / 2 Cohorns 
 
 ^0 
 
 1—4 
 
 
 150 
 
 300 
 
 4 
 
 do. 
 
 
 1—1 
 
 
 100 
 
 400 
 
 1 mortar. 
 
 8i 
 
 2—0 
 
 
 300 
 
 300 
 
 1 
 
 do. 
 
 7 t 
 
 2—0 
 
 
 300 
 
 300 
 
 V 8 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 r l 
 
 do. 
 
 H 
 
 1—10 
 
 
 600 
 
 600 
 
 l 
 
 do. 
 
 10 
 
 3— 6 
 
 
 1800 
 
 1800 
 
 l 
 
 do. 
 
 10 i 
 
 3— 6 
 
 
 1800 
 
 1800 
 
 3 
 
 do. 
 
 13 
 
 3 (average) 
 
 2300 
 
 G'JOO 
 
 , 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 HOWITZERS. 
 
 
 
 
 ( 1 
 
 
 8 
 
 3—4 
 
 15 
 
 .2.15 
 
 15.2.15 
 
 ! 1 
 
 
 8i 
 
 3—4 
 
 15 
 
 .2.15 
 
 15.2.15 
 
 2 (16) 
 
130 
 
 KNOX'S ARTILLERY REGIMENT. 
 
 
 
 
 
 CANNON 
 
 
 
 7 S 
 
 Brass 1 \ 
 
 I 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 18 
 24 
 
 sounders 
 do. 
 do. 
 do. 
 
 6ft 
 
 3- 
 4- 
 
 8- 
 5- 
 
 -6 
 -6 
 -3 
 -6 
 
 Iron > 
 
 (6 6 do. 
 
 4 9 do. 
 10 12 do. 
 
 7dblefortif.l8do. 
 L 3 18 do. 
 
 3t 7 o 
 
 4t 4 o 
 4f 
 
 '->2 
 
 9- 
 8- 
 9 
 9 
 11 
 
 -7 
 -4 
 
 To. can., 43 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mortars, 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 350 
 
 2800 
 
 600 
 
 1800 
 
 2000 
 
 2000 
 
 16.3.18 
 
 1800 
 
 2500 
 
 15,000 
 
 2500 
 
 10,000 
 
 2800 
 
 28,000 
 
 4000 
 
 28,000 
 
 5000 
 
 15,000 
 
 total weight, 119,900 
 
 By all means endeavor that the heavy cannon and mortars go off first. 
 
 Let the touch-holes and vents of all the mortars and cannon be turned 
 downwards. The lead and flints are to come as far as Albany, which 
 will serve to make up a load. Observe that 2 pairs of horses be [put] to 
 between 2 or 3 thousand weight, and 3 or 4 pair for the 4000 weight, and 
 4 span for those of 5000 weight ; but Mr. Schuyler the D. Q. G. will 
 see more particularly to this affair. The one span will take above 1000 
 weight. They are to receive seven £ per ton for every 62 miles, or 12s. 
 per day for each span of horses. Write to me by every slay the quantity 
 that is upon that slay. When a number of slays go off together, one 
 letter will serve for the whole, mentioning the cannon that each have par- 
 ticularly, and the people's names. All to be delivered at Springfield or 
 Boston. 
 
 KNOX'S ARTILLERY REGIMENT, AS ARRANGED 
 16 MARCH, 1776. 
 
 Henry Knox, Col., com. 
 William Burbeck, 1st Lieut.-col. ,, 
 David Mason, 2d ,, ,, 
 
 John Crane, 1st Major ,, 
 
 John Lamb, 2d ,, ,, 
 
 7 Nov 
 
 . 1775. 
 
 1 Jan. 
 
 1776. 
 
 1 „ 
 
 »? 
 
 1 „ 
 
 5 » 
 
 1 „ 
 
 ft 
 
 Edward Crafts. 
 Thomas Pierce. 
 Thos. Waite Foster. 
 Edward Burbeck. 
 
 CAPTAINS. 
 
 William Perkins. 
 Dimond Morton. 
 Stephen Badlam. 
 Eliphalet Newell. 
 
 William Dana. 
 Ebenezer Stevens. 
 Jotham Drury. 
 
INTERVIEW WITH HOWE'S ADJUTANT-GENERAL. 131 
 
 Benj. Eustis. 
 Wni. Tread well. 
 Benj. Frothingham. 
 Timothy Stow. 
 
 CAPT.-LIEUTS. 
 
 Jotham Horton. 
 Edward Rumney. 
 David Allen. 
 Winthrop Sargent.', 
 
 John Johnston. 
 Thomas Seward. 
 Asa Rowson. 
 Benajah Carpenter. 
 
 Thomas Randall. 
 David Briant. 
 Henry Burbeck. 
 Wm. Stevens. 
 
 FIRST LIE UTS. 
 
 Jona. Welch Edes. 
 Samuel Treat. 
 John Bryant. 
 
 Isaac Packard. 
 
 David Cook. 
 John Sluman. 
 
 Thomas Wells. 
 John Lillie. 
 Joseph Loring. 
 Thos. Vose. 
 David Preston. 
 Thomas Dean. 
 Thomas Jackson. 
 James Furnivall. 
 
 SECOND LIE UTS. 
 
 Peter King. 
 Joseph Savage. 
 Joseph Thomas. 
 Samuel Shaw. 
 Daniel Parker. 
 Hardy Peirce. 
 Isaiah Simmons. 
 Oliver Brown. 
 John Chandler. 
 
 Thos. Machin. 
 Joseph Blake. 
 John Bull. 
 James Steel. 
 T. J. Carnes. 
 Samuel Doggett. 
 Jeremiah Freeman. 
 Jeremiah Kiles. 
 
 INTERVIEW WITH HOWE'S ADJUTANT-GENERAL. 
 
 KNOX TO HIS WIFE. 
 
 "New York, July 15, 1776. 
 " Lord Howe yesterday sent a fiig of truce up to the city. They 
 came within about four miles of the city, and were met by some of Col. 
 Tapper's people, who detained them until his Excellency's pleasure 
 should be known. Accordingly, Col. Reed and myself went down in the 
 barge to receive the message. Whan 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. Wash- 
 ington." * Sir,' says Col. Reed, ' we have no person in our army with 
 that address.' • Sir,' says the officer, ' will you look at the address.' 
 He then took out of his pocket [a letter] which was thus [addressed] 
 " ' George Washington, Esq., 
 " ' New York. 
 " 'Howe.' 
 
 " * No sir,' says Col. Reed, ' I cannot receive that letter.' ' I am very 
 sorry,' says the officer, ' and so will be Lord Howe, that anv error in the 
 
132 INTERVIEW WITH HOWE'S ADJUTANT-GENERAL. 
 
 superscription should prevent the letter being received by General 
 Washington.'' ' Why, sir,' says Col. Reed, ' I must obey orders.' ' Oh, 
 yes, sir ! you must obey orders, to be sure.' Then, after giving him a 
 letter from Col. Campbell to General Howe, and some other letters from 
 prisoners to their friends, we stood off, after 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. Col. Reed said, ' You are sensible, sir, of the rank of 
 General Washington 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 of a military one. He laments exceedingly that he 
 was not here a little sooner ; ' which we supposed to allude to the decla- 
 ration of independence : upon which we bowed, and parted in the most 
 genteel terms imaginable." 
 
 "July 22, 1776. 
 
 " 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 endeavor to persuade General 
 Washington to receive a letter directed to George Washington, Esq., 
 &c, &c. 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 
 Col. I'aterson,* a person we do not know. He said the &c, &c. im- 
 plied every thing. ' It does so,' said the General, ' and any thing.' He 
 said Lord and General Howe lamented exceedingly that any errors in the 
 direction should interrupt 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 considerable deal 
 of talk about the good disposition of Lord and General Howe, he asked, 
 ' lias your Excellency no particular commands with which you would 
 please to honor me to Lord and General Howe ? ' ' Nothing, sir, but 
 my particular compliments to both ; ' — a good answer. General Wash- 
 ington was very handsomely dressed, and made a most elegant ap- 
 
 * James Paterson was made lieutenant-colonel G3d foot, 15 June, 1763; colonel 
 in the army, 20 Aug. 1777; major-general, 10 Nov. 1782; and does not appear in 
 the army list after 1787. He was appointed adjutant- general in America, 11 July, 
 1776; and was sent home with despatches after the battle of Monmouth. 
 
DISPOSITION OF TROOPS AT NEW YORK. 133 
 
 pearance. Col. 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 collation provided, in which I 
 lamented most exceedingly the absence of my Lucy. The General's ser- 
 vants did it tolerably well, though Mr. adjutant-general disappointed us. 
 As it grew late, he even excused 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." 
 
 DISPOSITION OF TROOPS AT NEW YORK AFTER AUG. 9, 
 AND BEFORE THE BATTLE OF AUG. 27, 1776. 
 
 Brigadiers 
 
 Major-Gen. Putnam. Stations. 
 
 James Clinton (late Heath's) . . On the North River above 
 
 The Furnace. 
 
 John M. Scott The City. 
 
 | John Fellows From the Glass House to 
 
 L Greenwich. 
 Major-Gen. Heath. 
 
 Brio-adiers ^ Th ° S ' Mifflin Mount Washington. 
 
 I George Clinton King's Bridge. 
 
 Major-Gen. Spencer. 
 
 "Samuel H. Parsons From the Ship Yard to 
 
 Jones's Hill, including 
 Brigadiers -{ a redoubt on the plain. 
 
 James Wadsworth On the East River in the 
 
 city. 
 Major-Gen. Sullivan. 
 
 Brigadiers \ Lord Stirlin S As a reserve near Bay- 
 
 l A. McDougall ard's Hill. 
 
 Major-Gen. Greene. 
 Nixon .... 
 Heard ands. 
 
 ■> John Nixon Long; and Governor's Isl- 
 
 -brigadiers 
 
 ORDER OF MARCH TO TRENTON. 
 
 Each brigade to be furnished with two good guides. Gen. Stephen's 
 brigade to form the advance party, and to have with them a detachment 
 of the artillery without cannon, provided with spikes and hammers to 
 
 18 
 
134 ORDER OF MARCH TO TRENTON. 
 
 spike up the enemies' cannon in case of necessity, or to bring them off 
 if it can be effected, the party to be provided with drag-ropes for the 
 purpose of dragging off the cannon. Gen. Stephen is to attack and 
 force the enemy's guards and seize such posts as may prevent them from 
 forming in the streets, and in case they are annoyed from the houses 
 to set them on fire. The brigades of Mercer and Lord Stirling, under 
 the command of Major-Gen. Greene, to support Gen. Stephen. This is 
 the 2d division or left wing of the army, and to march by the way of the 
 Pennington road. 
 
 St. Clair's, Glover's, and Sargent's brigades, under Major-Gen. Sulli- 
 van, to march by the river road. This is the first division of the army, 
 and to form the right wing. Lord Stirling's brigade to form the reserve 
 of the left wing, and Gen. St. Clair's brigade the reserve of the right 
 wing. These reserves to form a second line in conjunction, or a second 
 line to each division, as circumstances may require. 
 
 Each brigadier to make the colonels acquainted with the posts of their 
 respective regiments in the brigade, and the major-generals will inform 
 them of the posts of the brigades in the line. 
 
 Four pieces of artillery to march at the head of each column ; three 
 pieces at the head of the second brigade of each division; and two pieces 
 with each of the reserves. The troops to 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 
 following order under the direction of Col. Knox. 
 
 Gen. Stephen's brigade, with the detachment of artillerymen, to embark 
 first; Gen. Mercer's next; Lord Stirling's next; Gen. Fermoy's next, 
 who will march in to the rear of the second division, and file off from the 
 Pennington to the Princeton road in such direction that he can with the 
 greatest ease and safety secure the passes between Princeton and Tren- 
 ton. The guides will be the best judges of this. He is to take two 
 pieces of artillery with him. St. Clair's, Glover's, and Sargent's brigades 
 to embark in order. Immediately upon their debarkation, the whole to 
 form and inarch in subdivisions from the right. The commanding officers 
 of regiments to observe that the divisions be equal, and that proper 
 officers be appointed to each. A profound silence to be enjoined, and 
 no man to quit his ranks on the pain of death. Each brigadier to appoint 
 flanking parties ; the reserve brigades to appoint the rear guards of the 
 columns ; the heads of the columns to be appointed to arrive at Trenton 
 at five o'clock. 
 
 Capt. Washington and Capt. T , with a party of forty men each, 
 
 to march before the divisions and post themselves on the road about 
 three miles from Trenton, and make prisoners of all going in or coming 
 out of town. 
 
 Gen. Stephen will appoint a guard to form a chain of sentries round 
 
DEFENCES OF THE DELAWARE. 135 
 
 the landing-place at a sufficient distance from the river to permit the 
 troops to form, this guard not to suffer any person to go in or come out, 
 but to detain all persons who attempt either. This guard to join their 
 brigade when the troops are all over. 
 
 LETTER TO PRESIDENT HANCOCK RESPECTING 
 GENERAL DUCOUDRAY. 
 
 "Camp Middlebrook, 1 July, 1777. 
 " Sir, — From the 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 favor 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." 
 
 DEFENCES OF THE DELAWARE, 9 AUG. 1777. 
 
 It is the opinion of the subscriber that the batteries on Fort Island 
 (Fort Mifflin) ought to have an additional work thrown up upon its left, 
 and garrisoned with 12 pieces heavy cannon, 150 cannoneers, half as many 
 assistants, with 500 infantry. 
 
 Red Bank to be so constructed as to have 5 or 6 cannon on the land 
 side, and as many heavy towards the river, to prevent any ships coming 
 up the channel leading to it, in order to flank the galleys which may be 
 stationed for the defence of the cheveaux defrise near the fort. 
 
 Billingsport to be finished as at present contracted, or, if possible, 
 more so, so as to hold 300 men, exclusive of 150 cannoneers and 75 
 assistants, to work 12 pieces heavy cannon, which ought to be in this work. 
 The galleys to lie opposite to it at the head of the low island, in order 
 
 * This talented engineer was, on 11 Aug. 1777, appointed inspector-general, rank 
 of major-general; and made superintendent of the works on the Delaware. While 
 hastening as a volunteer, on 11 Sept. 1777, to the battle of Brandywine, his horse, 
 becoming restive while on board a ferry-boat crossing the Schuylkill, plunged with 
 him into tbe river, and he was drowned. 
 
136 OPINION KELATIVE TO TAKING 
 
 to assist the fire of Billingsport. These galleys would be for this purpose 
 preferable to the floating batteries, as they can be most easily moved in 
 case of an accident to Billingsport. 
 
 If much depends on the fire-ships, an enclosed battery ought to be con- 
 structed on some advantageous piece of ground near Derby's Creek, and 
 something higher up the river than where the present defective battery 
 is : this, in order to prevent any of the enemy's ships mooring at the 
 mouth of the western channel, so as to prevent the fire-ships being sent 
 round into the main ship-channel ; and between this western channel is 
 thought to be most commodious for the free operation of the fire-ships, 
 either in the channel leading to Billingsport or further down the river. 
 The galleys ought also to lie in the western channel if their retreat is 
 perfectly secure, as the commodore (Hazlewood) says, as well in order 
 to protect the fire-ships as to annoy any of the enemy's frigates which 
 may be opposed to Billingsport. But the two floating batteries, which 
 from their unwieldiness cannot be easily moved, together with the frigates 
 and xebeks, ought to lie behind the second row of cheveaux de frise upon 
 a line with Fort Island. 
 
 If there should be time enough, a strong enclosed work ought to be 
 thrown up on Fort Island capable of containing 400 or 500 men, and 
 advantage may be taken of part of the stone work already erected, and 
 which in its present state would be infinitely detrimental to any body of 
 men who may seek shelter from it. 
 
 These sentiments are respectfully submitted by, sir, 
 
 Your most obedient, humble servant, 
 
 Henry Knox, 
 His Excellency General Washington. Brigadier- Gen. 
 
 OPINION AS TO THE FEASIBILITY OF TAKING PHILA- 
 DELPHIA BY STORM. 
 
 In Answer to Washington's Queries, given m 26 Nov. 1777. 
 
 Sir, — I exceedingly lament my want of ability and experience to fill 
 properly the important station in which I am, and am more particularly 
 distressed when such important questions are referred to my decision as 
 those which your Excellency gave us in charge last evening. The happi- 
 ness or misery of the people of America may be the consequence of a 
 right or erroneous judgment. 
 
 Much has lately been urged concerning the reputation of our arms, 
 as if we had long been a warlike nation, whose existence, like the ancient 
 Romans, depended on their military service. I confess I view the matter 
 differently, and cannot bring myself to believe (how much soever I may 
 
PHILADELPHIA BY STOPM. 137 
 
 wish it) that we are upon a par in military knowledge and skill with our 
 enemies. Indeed it is not possible, and the sensible part of mankind 
 will know it. . . . 
 
 The gentlemen who urge the desperate measure of attacking the ene- 
 my's lines, redoubts, and the city of Philadelphia, seem to forget the many 
 principles laid down by people experienced in the art of war against our 
 engaging in general actions upon equal terms ; against our risking our all 
 on the event of single battles. In the beginning of the contest our friends 
 in England urged the impropriety of such conduct, giving instances of 
 numbers of States who lost their liberties by means of them. It is an 
 invariable principle in war that it cannot be the interest at the same time 
 of both parties to engage. It is also another fixed principle that the 
 invaders of a country ought to bring the defenders of it to action as soon 
 as possible. But I believe there is not a single maxim in war that will 
 justify a number of undisciplined troops attacking an equal number of 
 disciplined troops strongly posted in redoubts and having a strong city 
 in their rear, such as Philadelphia. 
 
 It is proposed to attack the enemy's redoubts without being perfectly 
 acquainted with their number, strength, or situation, with troops of whom 
 we have had the experience of two capital actions, that it was impossible 
 to rally them after they were broken. By the mode of attack proposed 
 we are to stake the liberties of America on a single attempt in which the 
 probability of success is against us, and, if defeated, of sacrificing the 
 happiness of posterity to what is called the reputation of our arms. 
 
 It has been agreed that the enemy's force consists of 10,000 rank and 
 file fit for duty. It is said Lord Cornwallis has taken with him from 1500 
 to 3000, — suppose the number 2500, which is 500 more than I believe 
 he has, there remain 7500 rank and file fit for duty. Our returns are 
 8000. I say 8000, because I hold the militia in case of an attack of this 
 kind useless entirely, for we know they will not stand within the range 
 of a cannon-ball. We are to attack 75U0 strongly posted in redoubts, 
 having batteries and a strong city in their rear. In this instance the idea 
 that it is necessary among disciplined troops of having three to one to 
 storm works is laid aside, not because our troops are better disciplined 
 than their enemy's, but because from a concurrence of circumstances our 
 affairs are in a desperate situation, and we must retrieve them or perish. 
 
 Marshal Saxe says redoubts are the strongest and most excellent kind 
 of field fortifications, and infinitely preferable to extended lines, because 
 each redoubt requires a separate attack, one of which succeeding does 
 not facilitate the reduction of the others. Charles XII., with the best 
 troops in the world, was totally ruined in the attack of seven redoubts at 
 Pultowa, although he succeeded in taking three of them. 
 
 The character of the British troops in Europe is far above mediocrity, 
 and the experience we have had of their discipline and valor proves them 
 
138 OPINION KELATIVE TO TAKING PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 by no means contemptible. In the commencement of this war they 
 stormed an unfinished work on Bunker's Hill, but the experience gained 
 there has entirely prevented them from making any similar attempts. 
 Indeed, the Germans lately made an attempt on Red Bank, the event of 
 which will hardly give them a favorable opinion of the attack of redoubts 
 by storm. 
 
 The situation of the American army on Long Island, after the battle of 
 August 27th, was exceedingly ineligible, and the enemy must have known 
 it ; but they did not attempt to carry our redoubts by storm, although, 
 had they succeeded in one instance, and made a sufficient opening for 
 the introduction of a large column of troops, the greatest part of our 
 army then on the island must have fallen a sacrifice, or have been taken 
 prisoners. 
 
 From the experience derived from reading and some little service and 
 the knowledge of the strength of the enemy's works, my opinion is clearly, 
 pointedly, and positively against an attack on the enemy's redoubts, 
 because I am fully convinced a defeat would be certain and inevitable. 
 
 My opinion is to draw our whole force together, take post at, and 
 fortify Germantown, considering it as our winter quarters. When the 
 works there are in a tolerable state of defence, I should be for taking our 
 whole force (except one brigade to guard the works), and proceed upon 
 the enemy's line, offering them battle, which, if they declined, would in 
 the opinion of every rational man fully evince our superiority in point 
 of strength. If they should come out, fight, and defeat us, we have a 
 secure retreat and winter quarters. 
 
 I have thus offered my sentiments to your Excellency with freedom ; 
 but if a contrary disposition should take place, and an attack be resolved 
 upon, I shall endeavor to execute the part that may be assigned me to 
 the utmost of my ability. 
 
 I am with the most profound respect your Excellency's most obedient, 
 humble servant. H. Knox, 
 
 Brig. -Gen. Artillery. 
 Artillery Park, Camp Whitemarsh, 26th Nov. 1777. 
 
 His Excellency General Washington. 
 
 The question was, whether it would be advisable to attack the enemy's 
 redoubts and the city of Philadelphia by way of storm; to throw twelve 
 hundred troops into the city by the way of the Delaware, embarking 
 them in boats at Dunx's Ferry, sixteen miles above the city. 
 
ARRANGEMENT OF THE THIRD BATTALION. 
 
 139 
 
 ARRANGEMENT OF THE THIRD BATTALION OF ARTILLERY. 
 
 MoiiRiSTOWN, 16 April, 1780. 
 
 Col. John Crane 1 Jan. 1777. 
 
 Lieut.-Col. John Popkin ... 15 July, 1777. 
 
 Major, William Perkins ... 12 Sept. 1778. 
 
 Adjutant, James Gardner . . 1 Jan. 1777. 
 
 Paymaster, Charlks Knowles . 1 Jan. 1777. 
 
 Quartermaster, Samuel Cooper . 9 May, 1779. 
 
 Surgeon, Samuel Adams ... 14 May, 1778. 
 
 Captains. 
 
 William Tread well 1 Jan. 
 
 Benj. Frothingham 1 Jan. 
 
 Winthrop Sargent 1 Jan. 
 
 Thomas Seward 1 Jan. 
 
 Nathaniel Donnell 1 Jan. 
 
 Henry Burbeck . 12 Sept. 
 
 David Cook . . 14 Mar. 
 
 John Sluman . . 12 Sept. 
 
 John Lillie . . 1 Nov. 
 
 Thomas Vose . . 2 Dee. 
 
 Thomas Jackson . 22 Feb. 
 
 Samuel Shaw . . 12 Apr. 
 
 1st Lieut 8. 
 
 Capt. Lie ut s. 
 
 William Johnston 
 Thomas Barr . 
 John Callender . 
 Isaiah Bussey . . 
 .John Gridley . . 
 John Pierce 
 John George . . 
 Constant Freeman 
 Jacob Kemper 
 James Gardner . 
 Jacob Goldthwair 
 James Hall . . 
 
 1 Jan. 
 1 Jan. 
 1 Jan. 
 1 Jan. 
 1 Jan. 
 12 Sept. 
 1 Oct. 
 
 1 Oct. 
 
 2 Dec. 
 22 Feb. 
 
 G Mar. 
 12 Apr. 
 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1778. 
 1778. 
 1778. 
 1778. 
 1780. 
 1780. 
 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1778. 
 1778. 
 1778. 
 1778. 
 1780. 
 1780. 
 1780. 
 
 Charles Knowles . 
 Daniel McLane . 
 William Price 
 Daniel Jackson . 
 Samuel Jefferds . 
 Florence Crowley 
 Abijah Hammond 
 Joseph Driskill . 
 George Ingersoll 
 John Hiwill . . 
 Isaac Barber . . 
 Thomas Bayley . 
 
 1 Aug. 
 12 Sept. 
 12 Sept. 
 12 Sept. 
 
 lOct. 
 
 1 Oct. 
 
 2 Dec. 
 7 May, 
 
 10 June, 
 22 Feb. 
 6 Mar. 
 12 Apr. 
 
 1778. 
 1778. 
 1778. 
 1778. 
 1778. 
 1778. 
 1778. 
 1779. 
 1779. 
 1780. 
 1780. 
 1780. 
 
 2d Lieuts. 
 
 William Andrews 
 David Mason . 
 John Liswell . 
 Joseph Bliss 
 Samuel Cooper 
 Samuel Bass . 
 Benjamin Eaton 
 Elias Parker . 
 Moses Porter . 
 William Moore 
 Edward Blake . , 
 
 1 Feb. 
 1 Feb. 
 1 Feb. 
 1 Feb. 
 1 Feb. 
 lFeb. 
 lFeb. 
 13 Sept 
 1 Jan. 
 9 Sept. 1778 
 10 Sept. 1778 
 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1777. 
 1778. 
 
140 
 
 ORDNANCE FOR THE SIEGE OF YORKTOWN. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE ORDNANCE WHICH WILL BE AT- 
 TACHED TO THE AMERICAN ARMY IN THE INTENDED 
 OPERATIONS (SIEGE OF YORKTOWN) TO THE SOUTH- 
 WARD. 
 
 FIELD ARTILLERY. 
 
 BRASS. 
 
 2 12 pounders. 
 4 3 pounders. 
 6 6 pounders. 
 
 3 b% howitzers. 
 
 15 
 
 These with implements and car- 
 riages complete, and two hundred 
 rounds to each piece, with the 
 proper quantity of small stores. 
 
 FOR A SIEGE. 
 IRON. BRASS. 
 
 3 24 pounders. 2 8 inch mortars. 
 
 20 18 pounders. 3 8 inch howitzers. 
 
 10 10 inch mortars. 
 6 bh inch mortars. 
 The above complete with carriages, beds, and implements, powder, 
 shot, and shells, sufficient for five hundred rounds to each piece. 
 
 II. Knox. 
 Park of Artillery, 24th August, 1781. 
 His Excellency General Washington. 
 
 FRENCH ARTILLERY AND ENGINEERS AT THE SIEGE 
 OF YORKTOWN. 
 
 ARTILLERY. 
 
 One battalion of the Royal Corps of Artillery, D'Aboville, Col. ; Nadal, 
 Lieut. -Col. ; 25 officers, 631 men. 
 
 ENGINEERS. 
 
 Desandrouins. Col.; Gau, Commissary; and ten other officers. 
 
 Siege Artillery. 
 
 20 24 and 16 pounders. 
 4 6 a'nd 8 in. Howitzers. 
 12 8 and 12 in. Mortars. 
 
 Field Artillery. 
 8 12 pounders. 
 24 4 pounders. 
 4 6 in. Howitzers. 
 
DRAFT OF KNOX'S ADDRESS TO WASHINGTON. 141 
 
 "ROUGH DRAFT [BY KNOX] OF AN ADDRESS TO HIS 
 EXCELLENCY GEN. WASHINGTON, 14 NOV. 1783." 
 
 [See the Farewell Address, Washington's Writings, vol. viii. p. 491.] 
 
 " 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 profes- 
 sions of inviolable attachment and friendship. If your attempts to insure 
 them the just, the promised rewards 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 endeavors. But, while we 
 thank your Excellency for these exertions in favor of the troops you 
 have so successfully 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 with grateful joy shall we contemplate the glorious 
 conclusion of our labors. To that merit in the Revolution which, under 
 the auspices of Heaven, the army have displayed, posterity will do jus- 
 tice ; and the sons will blush whose fathers were their foes. Most gladly 
 would we cast a veil on every act that sullies the reputation of our 
 country. Never should the page of history be stained with its dishonor, 
 even from our memories should the idea be erased. We lament the op- 
 position 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 honor, 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 sufferings, we looked forward to the 
 end of our toils and dangers, to brighter scenes in prospect. There we 
 beheld the Genius of our country dignified by sovereignty and independ- 
 ence, supported by Justice, and adorned with every liberal virtue. 
 There we saw patient Husbandry fearless extend her cultured fields, and 
 animated 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 present us. Nor are we disappointed. 
 
 19 
 
142 THANKS OF NEW YORK COUNCIL TO KNOX. 
 
 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 honor, and dignity of the great and re- 
 spectable majority of the States. 
 
 " We are happy in the opportunity just presented of congratulating 
 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 citizens ; 
 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 magna- 
 nimity, you steadily persevered, under the pressure of every possible 
 difficulty and discouragement, 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 them has arrived so soon. In contemplating the 
 blessings of liberty and independence, the rich prize of eight years 1 hardy 
 adventure, past sufferings will be forgotten; or, if remembered, the rec- 
 ollection 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 valor exerted to save the oppressed, of patriotism 
 and disinterested virtue." 
 
 THANKS OF THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL OF NEW YORK 
 TO KNOX AND HIS COMMAND. 
 
 City of New York, Dec. 18, 1783. 
 State of New York, ss. 
 
 In Council, &c, &c. 
 
 Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be requested to present 
 the thanks of this Council to Major-General Knox, and the officers and 
 privates of the detachment under his command, for the attention they 
 have manifested to the rights of the citizens of this State, and for their 
 aid in preserving the peace and good order of the Southern District, 
 
LETTERS. 143 
 
 since the evacuation thereof by the forces of his Britannic Majesty ; to 
 assure them of* the grateful sense this Council entertains of their essen- 
 tial services, as well of those that they, as a part of the American army, 
 have rendered to the inhabitants of this State, in common with the other 
 citizens of America during the late long and arduous contest. 
 
 James M. Hughes, Sec'y. 
 
 The above was transmitted by Governor Clinton, with the following 
 note : — 
 
 " Sir, It gives me great pleasure to find my sentiments of the services 
 rendered by you and the officers and men under your command to the 
 inhabitants of this State, expressed by the Council ; and it is with pecu- 
 liar satisfaction that I obey their order in communicating the enclosed 
 resolution to you, and through you to the officers and privates who are 
 also objects of it." 
 
 LETTERS. 
 
 KNOX TO LA FAYETTE. 
 
 New York, 14th Dec. 1783. 
 
 I have written to you, my dear Marquis, several times, expressing 
 my affection for you, and informing you how dear you were to America in 
 general. These sentiments you must not regard as compliments, but the 
 language of sincerity. Our independence is now established, and we 
 feel the warmest gratitude for all the means which have contributed to 
 effect it. 
 
 We have been flattered with the hope of your visiting us again, but in 
 this we have not yet been gratified ; but in pursuance of the spirit which 
 accompanied us through the war we still hope on. /The English have at 
 last left us to ourselves with the full expectation that we shall not know 
 how to govern the ship of state, and that we must apply to the steady 
 and experienced pilots of Britain. Time, which matures all things, will 
 explain this matter. 
 
 Our much loved friend, the General, has gone from this city to Con- 
 gress, and from thence to Mount Vernon, attended with the entire bless- 
 ings of his country. How inexpressibly rich are his feelings ! Conscious 
 of having done well and at the same time to have his conduct universally 
 appreciated is a rare felicity. 
 
 I send this note by the Chevalier Villefranche, who is going with Major 
 Rochefontaine to France. They both are men of merit and deserve the 
 protection of all good men, therefore I am certain of their receiving your 
 countenance. 
 
144 LETTERS. 
 
 TO LA FAYETTE. 
 
 New York, 25 July, 1787. 
 
 My dear Makquis, — I thank you for your highly esteemed favor of 
 the 5th of May. The information is truly important [Knox here refers 
 to the meeting of the assembly of notables] , and convinces me that the 
 French nobility possess the true spirit of justice and liberality. Go on ! 
 you are on the right road, but remember that it is rough and full of dan- 
 gers. Integrity, intelligence, and perseverance will overcome, but you 
 must neither sleep nor slumber politically. I feel so extremely interested, 
 my dear Marquis, for your happiness, that I could not restrain the above 
 caution : you will attribute it solely to my affection. I know your 
 sagacity, and I also know your zeal. You have mighty difficulties to com- 
 bat: dissipate them, and you attain the summit of human fame. 
 
 Our friend General Washington is anxiously engaged in the business 
 of reforming the political machine. The Convention, in which is repre- 
 sented every State excepting Rhode Island, has been sitting upwards of 
 two months, and will probably continue together for two months to come. 
 They are secret in their councils, conceiving with great propriety that the 
 people ought not to see only half the plan at a time. Whether the prop- 
 ositions of the Convention will be as useful as the occasion may require 
 is a discovery only to be made by time. But from the characters who 
 compose the Convention it may be fairly presumed that the result of their 
 deliberations will be as wise as could be expected from men under the same 
 circumstances. Many of the members without absorbing all the talents 
 of the community are certainly men of the first abilities. 
 
 General Washington's judgment is on this great occasion, as it always 
 has been, the effect of great deliberation and reflection. It is mature 
 and wise. His attendance in the Convention adds, in my opinion, new 
 lustre to his character. Secure as he was in his fame, he has again com- 
 mitted it to the mercy of events. Nothing but the critical situation of 
 his country would have induced him to so hazardous a conduct ; but, 
 when its happiness is being endangered, he disregards all personal con- 
 siderations. 
 
 WASHINGTON TO KNOX. 
 
 Mount Vernon, 28 Feb. 1785. 
 
 I thank you for the particular account which you have given me of 
 
 the different rivers to which the British have given the name of St. Croix. 
 
 I shall be much mistaken if they do not in other matters as well as this 
 
 give us a good deal of trouble before we are done with them, and yet it 
 
LETTERS. 145 
 
 does not appear to me that we have -wisdom or national policy enough to 
 avert the evils which are impending. How should we, when contracted 
 ideas, local pursuits, and absurd jealousies are continually leading us 
 from those great and fundamental principles which are characteristic of 
 wise and powerful nations, and without which we are no more than a 
 rope of sand and shall as easily be broken ? 
 
 In the course of your literary disputes at Boston (on the one side to 
 drink tea in company and to be social and gay, on the [other] to impose 
 restraints which at no time even were agreeable, and in these days of 
 more liberty and indulgence never will be submitted to) , I perceived and 
 was most interested by something which was said respecting the compo- 
 sition for a public walk, which also appears to be one of the exception- 
 able things. Now, as I am engaged in works of this kind, I would thank 
 you if there is any art in the preparation to communicate it to me, 
 whether designed for carriages or walking. My gardens have gravel 
 walks (as you possibly may recollect), in the usual style, but if a better 
 composition has been discovered for these I should gladly adopt it. The 
 matter, however, which I wish principally to be informed in is whether 
 your walks are designed for carriages, and, if so, how they are prepared 
 to resist the pressure of the wheels. I am making a serpentine road to 
 my door, and have doubts (which it may be in your power to remove) 
 whether any thing short of solid pavement will answer." 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM KNOX 8 LETTERS TO WASHINGTON 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 
 tthose 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 not so much the fault of the members as a defect of the con- 
 
146 LETTERS. 
 
 federation. 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 endeavor to create in Congress as great 
 an influence as possible to favor particular views, &c. With a constitu- 
 tion productive of such dispositions, 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 not a doubt, it must be fol- 
 lowed by the most extensively 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 mak- 
 ing moves towards obtaining charters. We went to the eastern line of 
 this State, and found that the British had made excessive encroachments 
 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 con- 
 found the business, given the name of St. Croix. But the ancient St. 
 Croix is the eastern river. The British have settled and built a consid- 
 erable 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 miles distant 
 from each other ; and it is from the source the north line to the mountains 
 is to begin. The mountains are distant from the source about 80 or 100 
 miles ; so that the difference to this State is 100 miles square above the 
 heads of the rivers and the land between the rivers, which must be GO by 
 50 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 appointed 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 the next to St. John's. I have been par- 
 ticular in this narration, that you may know the precise state of this affair, 
 which it is probable will sooner or later occasion much conversation. 
 
 As to the Cincinnati, the objections against it are apparently removed. 
 But I believe none have yet applied for charters. In this State it is pretty 
 evident from communicating with the members of the legislature that we 
 should not succeed. However, we shall attempt it previous to our next 
 meeting in July. 
 
LETTERS. 147 
 
 (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 
 favor of the Convention, and I sincerely hope that it may be generally 
 attended. ... In my former letters I mentioned that men of reflection 
 and principle 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 gov- 
 ernment instead of an association of governments. 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 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 gflod behavior, 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 estab- 
 lish 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. 
 
 I have thus, my dear sir, obeyed what seemed to be your desire, and 
 given you the ideas which have presented 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. 
 
 New Yokk, 19 March, 1787. 
 As you have thought proper, my dear sir, to request my opinion 
 respecting your attendance at the Convention, I shall give it with the 
 utmost sincerity and frankness. 
 
148 LETTERS. 
 
 I imagine that your own satisfaction or chagrin, and that of your 
 friends, will depend entirely on the result of the Convention. For I 
 take it for granted that, however reluctantly you may acquiesce, that you 
 will be constrained to accept of the president's chair. Hence the pro- 
 ceedings of the Convention will more immediately be appropriated to 
 you than to any other person. 
 
 Were the Convention to propose only amendments and patchwork to 
 the present defective confederation, your reputation would in a degree 
 suffer. But, were an energetic and judicious system to be proposed with 
 your signature, it would be a circumstance highly honorable to your fame 
 in the judgment of the present and future ages ; and doubly entitle you 
 to the glorious republican epithet, " The Father of your Country." 
 
 But, the men generally chosen being of the first information, great 
 reliance may be placed^ on the wisdom and vigor of their councils and 
 judgments, and therefore the balance of my opinion preponderates greatly 
 in favor of your attendance. 
 
 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 proposi- 
 tions of the Convention. 
 
 I have never written to you concerning your intention of declining to 
 accept again the presidency of the Cincinnati. I can only say that the 
 idea afflicts me exceedingly. 
 
 That the Society Avas formed with pure motives you well know. In 
 the only instance in which it has had the least political operation the 
 effects have been truly noble. I mean in Massachusetts, where the 
 officers are still unpaid and extremely depressed in their private circum- 
 stances, but notwithstanding which the moment the government was in 
 danger they unanimously pledged themselves for its support, while 
 the few wretched officers who were against government were not of the 
 Cincinnati. The clamor and prejudice which existed against it are no 
 more. The men who have been most against it say that the Society is 
 the only bar to lawless ambition and dreadful anarchy to which the im- 
 becility of government renders us so liable, and the same men express 
 their apprehensions of your resignation. 
 
 Could I have the happiness of a private conversation with you, I think 
 I could offer you such reasons as to induce you to suspend your decision 
 for another period of three years. Suffer me then, my dear sir, to 
 entreat that you would come to Philadelphia one week earlier than you 
 would in order t» attend the Convention, and to cheer the hearts of your 
 old military friends with your presence. This would rivet their affections, 
 
LETTERS. 149 
 
 and entirely remove your embarrassment in this respect of attending the 
 Convention. 
 
 God, Who knows my heart, knows that I would not solicit this step, 
 were I of opinion that your reputation would suffer the least injury by it. 
 I fully believe that it would not. But I believe that should you attend 
 the Convention, and not meet the Cincinnati, that it would sorely wound 
 your sincere friends, and please those who dare not avow themselves 
 your enemies. 
 
 9 April, 1787. 
 
 . . . It is the general wish that you should attend. It is conceived to be 
 highly important to the success of the propositions of the Convention. 
 The mass of the people feel the inconveniences of the present govern- 
 ment, and ardently wish for such alterations as would remedy them. The 
 Convention appears the only means to elfect the alterations peaceably. 
 If that should be unattended by a proper weight of wisdom and character, 
 so as to carry into execution its propositions, we are to look to events 
 and force for a remedy. Were you not then to attend the Convention, 
 slander and malice might suggest that force would be the most agreeable 
 mode of recourse to you. When civil commotion rages, no purity of 
 character and services, however exalted, can entirely shield from the 
 shafts of calumny. 
 
 On the other hand, the unbounded confidence the people have in your 
 tried patriotism and wisdom would exceedingly facilitate the adoption of 
 any important alterations that might be proposed by a Convention of 
 which you were a member, and, as I before hinted, President. 
 
 ... I have a letter from the Marquis de la Fayette of the 7th of Feb- 
 ruary. He looks forward to military employment in this country for the 
 reduction of the western posts and Canada. But one might venture to 
 predict that no such operations will be undertaken until the government 
 shall be radically amended : at present we are all imbecility. 
 
 14th Aug. 1787. 
 
 . . . Although I frankly confess that the existence of the state govern- 
 ments is an insuperable evil in a national point of view, yet I do not well 
 see how in this stage of the business they could be annihilated ; and per- 
 haps, while they continue, the frame of government could not with pro- 
 priety be much higher toned than the one proposed. It is so infinitely 
 preferable to the present constitution, and gives such a bias to a proper 
 line of conduct in future, that I think all men anxious for a national gov- 
 ernment should zealously embracs it. 
 
 The education, genius, and habits of men on this continent are so 
 
 20 
 
150 LETTERS. 
 
 various, and of consequence their views of the same subject so different, 
 that I am satisfied with the result of the Convention, although it is short 
 )of my wishes and of my judgment. But when I find men of the purest 
 intentions concur in embracing a system which, on the highest delibera- 
 tion, seems to be the best which can be obtained under present circum- 
 stances, I am convinced of the propriety of its being strenuously supported 
 by all those who have wished for a national republic of higher and more 
 durable powers. 
 
 3d Oct. 1787. 
 
 . . . Every point of view in which I have been able to place the subject 
 induces me to believe that the moment in which the Convention assembled 
 and the result thereof are to be estimated among those fortunate circum- 
 stances in the affairs of men which give a decided influence to the happi- 
 ness of society for a long period of time. Hitherto every thing promises 
 well. The new constitution is received with great joy by all the commer- 
 cial part of the community. The people of Boston are in raptures with 
 it as it is, but would have liked it still better had it been higher toned. 
 
 I trust in God that the foundation of a good national government is 
 laid. A way is opened to such alterations and amendments from time to 
 time as shall be judged necessary ; and the government, being subjected 
 to a revision by the people, will not be so liable to abuse. The first 
 legislature ought to be the ablest and most disinterested men of the com- 
 munity. Every well-founded objection which shall be stated in the course 
 of the discussions on the subject should be fairly considered, and such 
 fundamental laws enacted as would tend to obviate them. 
 
 New Yokk, 10th Feb. 1788. 
 
 . . . The constitution has labored in Massachusetts exceedingly more 
 than was expected. The opposition has not arisen from a consideration 
 of the merits or demerits of the thing itself as a political machine, but 
 from a deadly principle levelled at the existence of all government what- 
 ever. The principle of insurgency expanded, deriving fresh strength and 
 life from the impunity with which the rebellion of last year was suffered 
 to escape. It is a singular circumstance that in Massachusetts the prop- 
 erty, the ability, and the virtue of the State are almost solely in favor of 
 the constitution. Opposed to it are the late insurgents and all those who 
 abetted their designs, constituting four-fifths of the opposition. A few, 
 very few indeed, well-meaning people are joined to them. The friends 
 of the constitution in that State, without overrating their own importance, 
 conceived that the decision of Massachusetts would most probably settle 
 the fate of the proposition. They therefore proceeded most cautiously, 
 
REMINISCENCES OF KNOX. 151 
 
 and wisely debated every objection with the most guarded good nature 
 and candor, but took no questions on the several paragraphs, and thereby 
 prevented the establishment of parties. This conduct has been attended 
 with the most beneficial consequences. It is now no secret that, on the 
 opening of the Convention, a majority were prejudiced against it. 
 
 KNOX'S ESTIMATE OF HIS ANNUAL FAMILY EXPENDI- 
 TURES IN NEW YORK, 1785, 1786, AND 1787. 
 
 {Knox, Mrs. Knox, his brother William, four or Jive children, two 
 female servants, one girl without wages, and two German boys, 
 indented servants.) 
 
 Daily food, averaged at 20s. York currency, per day . . . £365 
 
 House-rent and taxes, including £20 rent of stable . . . 215 
 
 Keeping 2 horses, 4s. per day ^3 
 
 Repairs of carriage and harness, and shoeing horses ... 15 
 
 AVine 100 
 
 2-1 extra dinners annually, £5 each 120 
 
 Servants, 2 women at $8 per month 38 8s. 
 
 2 men at the same (for clothing ind. servants) . . 38 8s. 
 
 Clothing for self and family 100 
 
 Schooling for my children C^ 
 
 Furniture &0 
 
 Contingencies, including charities, subscriptions, &c. ... 80 
 
 Firewood °0 
 
 £1,314 16s. 
 Salarv C J80 
 
 £334 li 
 27 Amr. 1787. 
 
 HON. HARRISON GRAY OTIS'S REMINISCENCES OF KNOX. 
 
 {Ex', act from a Letter to Hon. Charles S. Dxveis, 3 Nov. 1845.) 
 
 " I first became acquainted with him when I was nine years old. He 
 then kept the ' London Bookstore ' in (now) Washington Street, where 
 Brewer & Co. now keep a large druggist establishment.* . . . The oppo- 
 sition of her (Miss Flucker's) family to the connection was no secret in 
 
 * No. 02 Washington Street, where the " Globe " newspaper is now published. 
 
152 STRICTURES UPON GENERAL KNOX. 
 
 Boston. I learnt it in my mother's family circle, which moved in the 
 same clique with the Fluckers at times. 
 
 " From 1801 to the end of his life, my acquaintance with him was upon 
 the most intimate and cordial footing. . . . We were together in the 
 legislature of Massachusetts. He did not possess the talent of debate, 
 but was unaffectedly diffident of his oratorical powers. He was never- 
 theless a fluent and effective speaker. He had the gift of natural 
 eloquence ; his imagination was ardent, and his style sublimated perhaps 
 to a fault. He often inscribed his notes upon the backs of cards ; a few 
 of which he held in his lame hand, and shuffled them over as if sorting 
 them for a game of whist ; and no man commanded more attention and 
 respect than were willingly yielded by his auditors as a homage to his 
 unquestioned sincerity, magnanimitv, and grandeur of soul. But it was 
 in familiar conversation with friends, and in the social, commercial, and 
 polished circles of society that he figured to the best advantage. 
 
 "As Knox's matrimonial connection was a love-match, and both par- 
 ties 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 tree amantium, 
 though always followed by the integratio amoris, were not unfrequent ; 
 and that in those pt tty skirmishes our friend showed his generalship by 
 a skilful retreat. On one occasion, at a very large dinner-party at their 
 own house, the cloth having been removed, the General ordered the 
 servants to take away also the woollen cover, which madam with an 
 audible voice prohibited. He then instantly, addressing the whole circle, 
 observed: 'This subject of the under cloth is the only one on which 
 Mrs. Knox and I have differed since our marriage. 1 The archness and 
 good humor of this appeal to the company were irresistible, and pro- 
 duced, as was intended, a general merriment." 
 
 STRICTURES UPON GENERAL KNOX. 
 
 Mr. Parton, in his paper upon Washington's cabinet in the " Atlantic 
 Monthly " for Jan. 1873, does great injustice to the abilities of Knox. 
 
 He asserts that Knox was acquainted with only one subject (war) ; 
 that he was not a man of capacious or inquisitive mind ; that he was one 
 who must take his opinions from another mind or not have any opinions ; 
 that he was in the cabinet of Washington " the giant shadow of his 
 diminutive friend Hamilton ; " and that his original remedy lor the ills of 
 the Confederacy was to extinguish the State governments and establish 
 an imposing general government with plenty of soldiers to enforce its 
 decrees. 
 
STRICTURES UPON GENERAL KNOX 153 
 
 The question naturally arises, How came such a man in Washington's 
 cabinet? Did Washington read men so badly that after a fourteen years' 
 intimacy in camp and council, having had frequent occasion to test his 
 capacity not only as a soldier, but as a diplomatist in conferences with the 
 French generals and admirals ; with Carleton the British commander ; in 
 allaying the discontents of the army and in disbanding it ; and not only 
 that, but having witnessed his career as War Secretary for lour years 
 preceding his presidency, — that after all this experience he could have 
 been so egregiously deceived ? How came he to retain him in a position 
 for which, according to Mr. Parton, he was so signally unfit? 
 
 This problem admits, after all, of a simple explanation. It is found 
 in the hostility of Mr. Jefferson to Knox, arising solely from political 
 antagonism, and which Mr. Parton seems to have fully imbibed. This 
 bias may still further be accounted for by a habit into which Mr. Parton 
 has, perhaps unconsciously, fallen, of magnifying and overestimating his 
 heroes, and by way of contrast of belittleing and depreciating the char- 
 acter and abilities of their political rivals or opponents. The fact that 
 such an erroneous judgment could have been made shows conclusively 
 the existence of a want which we have endeavored, in the present vol- 
 ume, in some slight degree to supply. 
 
 The letters and papers of General Knox render it evident that he was 
 well informed not only upon military matters, but that upon such subjects 
 as politics, finance, and government, his opinions were sought and 
 valued by many of the best minds of the time. If Mr. Parton is right, 
 then Ruins King, Judge Marshall, Governor Strong, Alexander Hamil- 
 ton, and Washington were all wrong. As an illustration of the capacity 
 and originality of Knox, we commend to Mr. Parton's examination his 
 plan for a general government (ante, page 5.09). Many persons who 
 read this paper for the first time will be surprised to learn that practically 
 the leading outlines of this plan are embodied in our system of govern- 
 ment ; and they may also suspect that in those particulars wherein it 
 varies from the present form, as in the length of the presidential term 
 (seven years) and the choice of president by Congress, rather than by 
 the present perverted electoral college system, this narrow-minded man 
 of one idea saw nearly a century ago what we are now just beginning to 
 see. 
 
 That Hamilton and Knox, the two Federalists in the cabinet, should gen- 
 erally agree, is not at all strange; nor is it strange that such agreement 
 should occur with respect to measures to which Jefferson and his anti-federal 
 colleague, Randolph, were hostile. That they did not always agree was 
 evident upon the question whether the French Convention was a legiti- 
 mate body, and upon the more vital subject of the establishment of a 
 navy, upon both of which questions Knox carried his point against Ham- 
 ilton's opposition. It is most certainly true that Knox, in common with 
 
154 STRICTURES UPON GENERAL KNOX. 
 
 the great majority of the thinking men of the time, saw and depreeated 
 the weakness and imbecility of the Confederation, and earnestly desired 
 a government which could make itself respected at home and abroad, 
 and which could develop the resources of the country, and promote 
 national unity. To this end he labored assiduously ; and his letters, which 
 are replete with sound and practical views upon these great questions, 
 furnish a sufficient refutation of such ill-considered judgments as those 
 we have pointed out. 
 
I N D E X 
 
I N I) E X 
 
 Adams, John 19, 20 
 
 Adams, Samuel 97 
 
 Albany in 1775 25 
 
 Alliance, French 60 
 
 Andre, Major John 23, 62 
 
 Army 28, 30, 35, 42, 55, 64, 76, 83 
 
 Army, Disposition of in August, 1776 133 
 
 Army, order of march to Trenton 133 
 
 Arnold, Gen. Benedict 56, 60, 62 
 
 Artillery, 21, 24, 28, 29, 35, 37, 38, 41, 47, 56, 59, 63, 72, 73, 106, 126, 129, 140 
 
 Artillery, Arrangement of 130, 139 
 
 Assanpink, Cannonade at 38 
 
 Barlow, Joel 99 
 
 Bcaumetz, Count de 112 
 
 Bingham, Hon. William 112 
 
 Boston Massacre 11 
 
 Boston Military Companies 126 
 
 Boston Port Bill . 14 
 
 Boston, Siege of 17-26 
 
 Bowes, Nicholas 10 
 
 Brandy wine, Battle of 48 
 
 Burbeck, Gen. Henry 12, 15, 126 
 
 Burbeck, Lieut-Col. William 21, 26, 126 
 
 Burr, Col. Aaron 30 
 
 Campbell, Robert and Mary 9 
 
 Carleton, Sir Guy 81-83 
 
 Chastellux, Marquis de 63, 67, 69, 72, 73 
 
 Cincinnati Society 80, 102, 148 
 
 Clinton, Gov. George 84, 133 
 
 Cobb, Gen. David 114 
 
 Convention, Federal 94-98, 144-150 
 
 Convention, Massachusetts 97, 98, 150 
 
 Cornwallis, Marquis 69, 70 
 
 Crane, Col. John 21, 32, 139 
 
 Cutler, Dr. Manasseh 101, 102 
 
 Dairy mple, Gen. William 74 
 
 Deuxponts, Counts 67 
 
 Ducoudray, Gen. P. C. J. B. Tronson 42, 43, 135 
 
 Duportail, Gen. Louis Lebegue 65, 69 
 
 Elliot, Andrew, Esq 74 
 
 Erskine, Gen. Sir William 53 
 
 Fiucker family 26, 125 
 
 Flucker, Hon. Thomas 16, 26, 12-") 
 
 Fort Washington, Capture of 33 
 
158 INDEX. 
 
 Gage, Gov. Thomas 15, 17, 19 
 
 Gamble (Campbell?), Major 25 
 
 Germantovvn, Battle of 52 
 
 Glover, Gen. John 134 
 
 Gordon, Dr. William 49 
 
 Grasse, Count de ■ 68, 69, 71, 121 
 
 Greene, Gen. Nathaniel . . 33, 35, 41, 47, 49, 55, 56, 67, 68, 73, 90, 133, 134 
 
 Greene, George W 90, 99 
 
 Gridley, Col. Richard 21 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander 116 
 
 Hancock, John 98 
 
 Harlem, Battle of . 32 
 
 Heath, Madame 41 
 
 Henchman, Daniel 10 
 
 Hendricks, Lieut.-Col. J 49 
 
 Higginson, Stephen 93, 95 
 
 Holmes, Hon. John ' 118 
 
 Hopkins, Admiral Esek 27 
 
 Howe, Admiral Lord 29, 59, 131 
 
 Howe, Gen. Robert 67 
 
 Howe, Gen. Sir William 26, 30, 31, 43 
 
 Humphries, David 107 
 
 Indian affairs 105 
 
 Jackson, Gen. Henry 43, 51, 58, 68, 107, 108, 113 
 
 Kalb, Baron de 55 
 
 King, Rufus 90, 98 
 
 Knight, Admiral John 19 
 
 Knox family 9, 118 
 
 Knox, Caroline 118 
 
 Knox, Henry : ancestry, 8 ; bookseller's apprentice, 10 ; opens the New 
 London bookstore, 12 ; it is pillaged, 14 ; its location, 151 ; an officer 
 of grenadiers, 14; portraits of, 15 ; courtship and marriage, 15-17; 
 joins the army, 17 ; volunteer aid to Gen. Ward at Bunker's Hill, 
 17 ; serves as an engineer, 17 ; constructs Roxbury Fort, 18; made 
 colonel of artillery, 21, 130 ; brings ordnance from Ticonderoga, 22 ; 
 encounters Andre, 23 ; fortifies Newport, 26 ; inspects New London 
 harbor, 27 ; escapes from New York city, 30 ; superintends the 
 passage of the Delaware, 35 ; made brigadier general and com- 
 mander of the artillery, 37 ; recommends Springfield for a labora- 
 tory, 41 ; plans defences of the North River, 41 ; writes to the 
 President of Congress respecting Gen. Ducoudray, 43, 135 ; Wash- 
 ington's opinion of, 43 ; sent to provide for the security of Red Bank, 
 55; opposes attack on Philadelphia, 55; privateering speculations, 
 61 ; visits Rochambeau at Hartford, 62; one of the triers of Major 
 Andre', 62 ; mission to the Eastern States, 64 ; conference with Roch- 
 ambeau, 65; with De Grasse, 69 ; complimented and recommended 
 for promotion for services at Yorktown, 72 ; Chastellux's enco- 
 miums of, 72-73 ; congratulations of Greene, 73 ; commissioner for 
 exchange of prisoners, 74 ; promoted to major-general, 74; com- 
 mands at West Point, 75; petitions Congress in behalf of the 
 armv, and active in allaying its discontent, 76; founds the Cincin- 
 
INDEX. 159 
 
 rati, 80; commands the army until disbanded, 81 ; takes possession 
 of New York, 83 ; thanked by the Governor and Council of New 
 York, 84, 142 ; quits the army, and removes to Dorchester, 87 ; 
 commissioner to Penobscot Indians, 87; secretary of war, 88; plan 
 for a militia, 103; treats with the Creek Nation, 105 ; strictures on, 
 106, 152 ; establishes the navy, 108 ; retires from office, 109 ; settles 
 in Thomaston, 110; business affairs, 112-13; declines appointment 
 of brigadier-general, 116; public duties and literary honors, 117; 
 death and character, 118-121 ; interview with Howe's adjutant-gen- 
 eral, 131 ; report on defences of the Delaware, 135 ; opinion on 
 storming Philadelphia, 136 ; address to Washington, 141 ; plan of 
 a general government, 147 ; annual expenses in New York, 151. 
 
 Knox, Mrs 16,10,28,41,56,63,65,69,101,111,118 
 
 Knox, Henry Jackson 115, 118 
 
 Knox, Lucy (Mrs. Thatcher) 111,118 
 
 Knox, William 9, 22, 51, 101 
 
 La Layette 69, 71, 87, 88, 143, 149 
 
 Lee, Gen. Charles 18, 57, 58 
 
 Leslie, Capt. William 39 
 
 Liancourt, Duke de 111,112 
 
 Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin 62, 87, 95, 103, 113 
 
 Long Island, Battle of 29 
 
 Longman, Thomas 13, 14 
 
 Louis Phillipe 112 
 
 McClure, Rev. David 100 
 
 McDougall, Gen. Alexander 33, 67, 76, 80, 133 
 
 McGillivray, Gen. Alexander 105 
 
 Mason, Col. David 21, 27, 126 
 
 Mauduit, Duplessis 56 
 
 Maxwell, Gen. William 48 
 
 Mercer, Gen. Hugh 34, 39, 134 
 
 Militia, Plan for 103, 104 
 
 Miranda, Don Francisco de 104 
 
 Monmouth, Battle of 56-59 
 
 Morehead, Rev. John 8 
 
 Morris, Gouverneur 74 
 
 Muscongus patent 110 
 
 Nash, Gen. Francis 49, 53 
 
 Navy, Establishment of 108 
 
 New York in 1775 24 
 
 New York, evacuated by the British army 81-83 
 
 Newport fortified 26 
 
 Nixon, Gen. John 133 
 
 Officers, Want of 31 
 
 ( )glethorpe, Gen. James E 101 
 
 Otis, Hon. Harrison Gray 12, 16, 151 
 
 Paddock's Artillery Company 21, 126 
 
 Parsons, Gen. Samuel H 29, 133 
 
 Parton, James 152 
 
 Paterson, Col. James 132 
 
160 INDEX. 
 
 Peale, Charles Wilson . 15 
 
 Peiree, Capt. Joseph 14 
 
 Philadelphia, Campaign against 43-57 
 
 Pierce, Capt. Thomas 35 
 
 Pope's Night in Boston 11 
 
 Prescott, Gen. Richard 25 
 
 Princeton, Battle of 39 
 
 Putnam, Gen. Israel 29, 34, 133 
 
 Ramsay, Col. Nathaniel 57 
 
 Randall, Capt. Thomas 53 
 
 Reed, Col. Joseph 131 
 
 Rivington, James 12 
 
 Rochambeau, Count de 62, 65, 67, 69 
 
 Sargent, Col. Paul Dudley 134 
 
 Sargent, Winthrop 21, 131 
 
 Savage, Edward 15 
 
 Schuyler, Gen. Philip 22, 24, 25 
 
 Shaw, Major Samuel 68, 106 
 
 Shays's Rebellion 90-95 
 
 Shepard, Gen. William 90 
 
 Smallwood, Gen. William 50 
 
 Smith, Mrs. Caroline F 118 
 
 Smith, Mrs. William S 102 
 
 Spotswood, Col. Alexander 49 
 
 St. Clair, Gen. Arthur 55, 134 
 
 Stephen, Gen. Adam 48, 133 
 
 Stevens, Col. Ebenezer 21 
 
 Stevens, Gen. Edward 49 
 
 Stewart, Col. Walter 49 
 
 Stirling, Lord 29, 48, 67, 134 
 
 Stuart, Gilbert 15 
 
 Sullivan, Gen. John 29, 44, 48, 134 
 
 Swan, James 118 
 
 Talleyrand, visits Knox 112 
 
 Thatcher, Ebenezer 118 
 
 Thatcher, Admiral H. K 118 
 
 Thatcher, Hon. Samuel 118 
 
 Ticonderoga expedition 22-25, 128 
 
 Trenton, Battle of 36, 133 
 
 Trescott, Major Lemuel 15 
 
 Valley Forge, Privations of 55 
 
 Viomenil, Baron de ' 67, 71 
 
 Vose, Capt. Thomas 112 
 
 Waldo patent 110 
 
 Ward, Gen. Artemas 17, 41, 52 
 
 Washington, George . . 18,34,35,57,65,83,101,110,114,141,143,145 
 
 Wayne, Gen. Anthony 49, 105 
 
 Weedon, Gen. George 49 
 
 West, Benjamin 15 
 
 Wharton and Bowes 10 
 
 White Plains-, Battle of 33 
 
 Yorktown Campaign 68-73, 140 
 
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