Henry Knox
Visionary General of the American Revolution
-
-
4.6 • 7 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
Mark Puls delivers a compelling portrait of the Revolutionary War general who played a key role in all of George Washington's battles.
During the Siege of Boston, Henry Knox's amazing 300 mile transport of forty nine cannons from Ticonderoga saved the city. Building upon his talent for logistics, Knox engineered Washington's famous Christmas night passage to safety across the Delaware River. And it was the general's tactical successes that made the final victory at Yorktown possible. With riveting battle scenes, inspiring patriotism, and vivid prose, Puls breathes new life into the American Revolution and firmly re-establishes Knox in his deserved place in history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this brisk, informative biography, journalist and author Puls (Samuel Adams: Father of the American Revolution) celebrates Gen. Henry Knox, "a remarkably ubiquitous presence during America's founding generation," who has been "curiously overlooked by historians." At age 18, Knox (1750 1806) joined the local Boston militia and became a self-taught "skilled engineer and military tactician." Once the American Revolution began, General Washington appointed Knox to build and lead the army's artillery corps. Knox remained at Washington's side and supervised the 1776 Christmas Day crossing of the Delaware. He went on to command the Yorktown artillery in 1781. The then "youngest major general in the American army" retired to become secretary at war and to lay the basis for a visionary citizen army. Knox later sanctioned the American navy and promoted the creation of a military academy at West Point. His private life was burdened by years of separation from his wife and the untimely deaths of nine of their 12 children. In 1806 Knox died unexpectedly from an infection caused by a chicken bone lodged in his throat. Puls's authoritative and absorbing account of Knox's life is a fitting tribute to General Washington's "indispensable man."
Customer Reviews
Henry Knox
Read this when first released and again now. Amazing portrait of a bookstore owner turned invaluable revolutionary war hero. Knox was one of the few true set of shoulders Washington leaned on during the war. The book tells the Knox story in an entertaining way that makes you feel like you're there, watching all the action in person.