Knox’s Noble Train of Artillery

The Heritage Wayside sign for Knox’s Noble Train of artillery showing a map of the route taken, an image of the task along the trail, an image of Henry Knox, and a sketch of the British preparing to leave Boston.

Knox’s Noble Train of Artillery

During the Battle of Boston Heights in the fall of 1775, American General George Washington recognized that installing artillery at Dorchester Heights would provide a tactical advantage against the British entrenched in Boston. More than 150 cannons had been seized by rebels that spring when they captured forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga. Washington dispatched Colonel Henry Knox, commander of the American artillery, to retrieve the guns. It proved to be a laborious effort filled with frustrations.

With the arrival of winter, the snow and cold weather actually assisted Knox’s men. When the temperature dropped, the ground and river froze enabling them to cross the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, but a mid-winter thaw caused temperatures to fluctuate and impeded their progress. Knox wrote to Washington, “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 [Albany].” It was an arduous journey, but the hard work paid off.

Knox’s men brought the guns to Washington’s army by the end of January 1776, which the Americans used to force the British to evacuate Boston on March 17. Knox’s historic march is commemorated with a trail of 56 markers — roughly the same number of days it took Knox to trek between Ticonderoga and Boston.

A 1784 portrait of Henry Knox in his dark blue and yellow colonial uniform.

Henry Knox

by Charles Wilson Peale c. 1784.

An insurance company marketing calendar image with a drawing of Henry Knox on horseback overlooking the army’s progress as they are driving oxen and sleds over snow covered hills to get to Cambridge Massachusetts.

Arrival of Colonel Knox with Artillery

at Cambridge, 1776. From the Home Insurance Company Calendar, February 1876. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

A map showing the route taken from Ticonderoga, in the Adirondacks, south to Albany then eastward over the Berkshire mountains across Massachusetts to Boston.

Map illustrating the route

of Colonel Knox. Courtesy of the Lake George Mirror

An image of Boston harbor with Lord Howe, on horseback, overseeing the loading of materials and people on to a ship in preparation for the British evacuation of Boston in March of 1776.

Lord Howe Evacuating Boston

by J. Godfrey after M.A. Wageman c. 1861. Courtesy of Library of Congress