Steven E. Siry |
Review of Mark Puls, Henry Knox: Visionary General of the
American Revolution. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Pp. vi, 282. ISBN
978-1-4039-8427-2. |
Mark
Puls, a former journalist for The Detroit News,[1] has
written the most detailed biography of Henry Knox in the past
half-century. "If George Washington was the indispensable man of
the Revolution," he asserts, "then ... Knox was his indispensable
man" (251). Using skill, innovation, and determination, he
essentially created the artillery arm of the Continental Army and
played a significant role in each of Washington's victories. In the
postwar years, Knox as secretary of war advocated military reforms
that shaped the long-term development of America's defense
structure. However, according to Puls, for two centuries historians
have overlooked Knox's important accomplishments.[2]
Henry Knox, a descendant of Scottish reformer John Knox, experienced
a childhood of hardships and substantial responsibilities. Forced
to work for a Boston bookseller at age nine, when Knox's father
abandoned the family, he eventually owned his own bookstore, where he
read many military manuals, as well as books on the history of war. In 1775, after several years in a militia artillery company, Knox
served as a volunteer at the siege of Boston, impressing George
Washington with his engineering and organizational skills. On
Washington's recommendation, the Continental Congress promoted the
twenty-five-year-old Knox to colonel and appointed the self-taught
artillerist as head of the almost nonexistent Continental artillery
corps. This was the beginning of Knox's meteoric rise in the
American army, as the Revolutionary War opened up great
opportunities for young and inexperienced soldiers. In December
1776, the Congress appointed him brigadier general.
In
clear and direct prose but without any maps, Puls covers Knox's
service in the War of Independence. In an epic winter trek, Knox
brought fifty-nine cannons from Fort Ticonderoga to the American
lines near Boston, which forced the British to evacuate the city. He subsequently rendered valuable service during the retreat from
New York City and at the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine,
and Monmouth. However, he suffered a major setback at the Battle of
Germantown, when his artillerists spent precious time in a failed
effort to take control of the Chew House, which contributed to the
breakdown of Washington's complicated plan of attack.
"Throughout the war, he remained at Washington's side in a
supporting role. As a strategist, he was well read and by all
accounts possessed strong judgment. In planning for battle at
councils of war, he leaned on the side of caution. Even when faced
with tremendous political pressure, Knox insisted that the American
army refrain from staking all in one decisive battle" (254). Indeed,
in those councils of war, Knox, Nathanael Greene, and other generals
prevented Washington from launching a
suicidal attack on Boston in February 1776 and advised the
commander-in-chief against a very risky attack on Philadelphia in
October 1777. They also convinced him to retreat from Manhattan
Island when facing encirclement by the British army and navy in
September 1776.[3]
As
the war progressed, Knox developed a system of field, siege, and
garrison artillery of 3- to 32-pounders. His leadership of the
Continental artillery reached its apex with the successful siege of
Yorktown in October 1781, as the American and French guns outdueled
the British artillery and forced the surrender of Lord Cornwallis's
army. Promoted to major general at age thirty-two, Knox succeeded
Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army when the
Virginian resigned in December 1783.
In
his well-paced narrative, Puls additionally covers Knox's postwar
career as secretary of war in the Articles of Confederation
government and the Washington administration. Knox again
demonstrated very good administrative skills as he expanded the
army, called for frontier fortifications in the west, negotiated
several treaties with Indian tribes, established defenses along the
East Coast, and started the U.S. Navy. Puls also asserts
that Knox's failures, such as the two military expeditions he sent
against the Indians in the Northwest Territory, were caused by incompetent subordinates.
Furthermore, Puls emphasizes Knox's far-sighted leadership when he proposed a small regular army of soldiers
devoted to the defense of American liberty, an academy to train
officers, and a national militia of adult male citizens. As a
staunch nationalist, Knox was also one of the first leaders after
the Revolutionary War to advocate a new constitution to create a
stronger national government. And he drafted the plan that created
The Society of the Cincinnati,[4]
a postwar fraternal organization for the Continental Army's officer
corps, with membership that could be passed to the eldest male
descendant. Critics, however, saw this as an effort to create an
aristocratic order opposed to republican values.
Puls's narrative is especially strong on personal relationships. He
weaves into the military drama Knox's wartime relationship with his
wife, Lucy, daughter of a leading Boston loyalist, and their
enormous grief as nine of their twelve children died before reaching
adulthood. He also traces his close relationship with Washington,
who took an instant liking to Knox's jovial personality and enjoyed
his friendship throughout the war and for many years afterward. The
friendship, however, broke down during the Quasi-War with France in
1798 when Washington wanted Alexander Hamilton, instead of Knox, to
be selected as the highest-ranking major general in the army.
Missing from this portrait of Knox is any indication of the
ideological world in which he emerged as a dedicated rebel leader.
In the past fifty years, historians have written extensively on the
ideological origins of the American Revolution.[5]
Had Puls used this scholarship to provide a fuller context for many
colonists' opposition to Britain's imperial legislation and their
concomitant support for revolution, he could also have shown how
ideological issues continued to influence men, including Knox,
involved in the postwar government.
Just
months before his death at age fifty-six, Knox wrote: "Years roll
away, and soon we shall be numbered among those who have been atoms
upon this atom of a globe and very soon after, it will be forgotten
that we had here any existence" (246). Indeed, despite Knox's
impressive military and civilian careers, Puls argues that historians have
for 200 years overlooked his accomplishments. Although
that overstates the case, Knox has in fact received less recognition than he
deserves. Several factors explain this. Most significantly,
according to Puls, the reputation of George Washington simply
overshadows Knox and other important rebel leaders. Moreover, the
Founding Fathers receiving the most attention are signers of the
Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. And, too, the
destruction of all the U.S. War Department records by fire in 1800
has limited research on Knox's postwar career.
Puls's life of Knox offers solid judgments but not a new
interpretation. His conclusions largely echo those of North
Callahan a half century ago.[6]
Nevertheless, this is a convincing portrait of a
distinguished citizen-soldier who, by his great accomplishments,
well served the young American republic.[7]
Baldwin-Wallace College
steven_siry@sbcglobal.net
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