Veterans Day - November 11th, 2010
This year, I'd like to look back in history to pay tribute to a man seldom mentioned in the formation of our great country, but whose name we see all the time!
He was known as "Fat" Henry Knox!
Picture a poorly fed and poorly clothed Continental Army. George Washington's ragtag army occupied the hills overlooking Boston Harbor, and the British held the city.
A clumsy, 300 pound, pale young man who ran a book store came to General Washington with sketches of how the rebel breastworks could be improved. Washington was so impressed that he immediately put the changes into effect!
Now having the general's ear, the young man went on to warn General Washington that the redcoats could still overrun the rebel's positions, as the Continental's had no artillery pieces, and reminded the general there were abandoned cannons sitting up in Fort Ticonderoga in New York.
Fort Ticonderoga had been deserted for quite a while; but since it was over 300 miles away, and it was Winter, Washington did not believe it possible to retrieve them. The young man volunteered to make the effort against all of Washington's officers advice. They all thought it would be the end of "Fat" Henry.
Departing with a large contingent of volunteers; 56 days later, "Fat" Henry Knox delivered 59 mortars and cannons. He and his men had dragged over 60 tons of artillery through the blizzards and impossible mountains!
Confronted with the new armament, the British left for Canada. After our constitution was adopted, he became President Washington's Secretary of War.
Fort Knox in Kentuck and Fort Knox in Maine were both named after our hero, and Knox Hall at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, home of the Field Artillery Center and Field Artillery School, is also named after him. Knoxville, Tennessee was named in his honor, and there are many counties throughout the country that also carry his name.
Here's to the memory of Henry Knox!
L'EST WE FORGET!
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