First, the background: The National Archives website describes Fort Ticonderoga as “a major control point overlooking a strategic lake that could be used to transport goods.” But it also had artillery the Americans needed.
In the spring of 1775, the Green Mountain Boys, under the command of Ethan Allen, headed into mountainous New York with the intention of capturing Fort Ticonderoga and its artillery. Along the way, they met Benedict Arnold, in command of 400 men with the same mission. The two forces joined and captured the fort on May 10, 1775. [See: Ethan Allen profile, Architect of the Capitol website.]
A logistical problem: Washington was in Boston. The artillery he needed was in New York. In 1775, with winter approaching, Washington wanted to push the British out of Boston. The Americans occupied high ground above the city but lacked the artillery to take advantage of that position, according to MassMoments.org, a website of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities.
Knox's idea: The bookish Knox had impressed John Adams, according to North Callahan in the book, George Washington's Generals and Opponents, edited by George Athan Billias (DaCapo Press; 1994). Knox embarks on the journey: The determined Knox, in the company of his 19-year-old brother, left Boston in November, according to the Fort Ticonderoga website. He arrived Dec. 4, 1775, and the next day wrote Washington a letter describing the task ahead:
“The garrison at Ticonderoga is so weak, the conveyance from the fort to the landing is so difficult, the passage across the lake so precarious, that I am afraid it will be ten days at least before I can get them on this side. When they are here, the conveyance from hence will depend entirely on the sledding; if that is wood, they shall immediately move forward; without sledding, the roads are so much gullied that it will be impossible to move a step.”
But Knox kept at it. He would be hauling 58 mortars and cannon, weighing at least 120,000 pounds, according to McCullough’s book.
The first leg: The first leg of the trip was across Lake George. The weather had been good -- up until then. Shortly after the journey began, Knox and his men found themselves rowing against a New York wind. One of the scows ran aground and had to be dug up. (See the account on the Knox Trail website). The group made it to the southern end of the lake as it was beginning to freeze.
The next leg: By mid-December, the guns were on the southern end of the lake. Focused immediately on the next leg of the journey, Knox went about the business of getting oxen and sleds to pull the artillery over land. On Dec. 17, he again wrote Washington, spelling out the difficulties but staying upbeat:
“I have made forty-two exceeding strong sleds & have provided eighty yoke of Oxen to drag them as far as Springfield where I shall get fresh cattle to carry them to camp.”
He would need a “fine fall of snow,” Knox noted, and “if that should be the case I hope in 16 or 17 days to be able to present to your Excellency a Noble train of Artillery.”
The uncooperative weather: Knox had been counting on snow. The plan was to use sleds and oxen to pull all that weight across the Hudson River and then east, crossing the Berkshire Mountains to Boston. At first, the weather wasn’t cooperating. On Jan. 5, 1776, Knox wrote this from Albany:
"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 exceedingly, as my mind is fully sensible of the importance of the greatest expedition in this case.”
Knox arrives: The noble train arrived in Cambridge, outside Boston, on Jan 24, 1776. In early March, Washington ordered cannon from Ticonderoga placed on Dorchester Heights. By the middle of the month, the British, along with Loyalists, evacuated the city.
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