Happy Noble Train of Artillery Day!

[bondsman333]

On this day in 1775, Henry Knox started transporting 119,000 pounds of artillery from upstate New York to Massachusetts, by boat, horse, and ox sled, through frozen lakes and snow storms.

Eight months into the Revolutionary War, we were holed up in Boston, under siege by the British army. Outgunned, outmanned, we were at a stalemate, holding on by sheer scrap and willpower.

Henry Knox, bookseller in peace, military strategist in war, knew just what American forces needed: the 59 cannons and other artillery American forces had seized from the English. That’s right: we had a plan to turn stolen British guns on the redcoats. The only problem was that they were 300 miles away, at Fort Ticonderoga.

Great video from Senator Ben Sasse: (I could only find it on FB)


View: https://www.facebook.com/SenatorSasse/videos/1450222305075710/?hc_ref=ARQIZ2DFXj0PnKf-ujrVkzQRKx45dYdd_kyAP0GEKWGte9qiI69qxrI0mlOm1IfxvaU&pnref=story

 

[Boris]

very nice vid, actually winter was probably a plus since many rivers and marshlands were frozen. In absence of roads, sleighs are more efficient than wheels trying to roll through bush. Of course the kicker is that they were transported to Cambridge

 

[not new guy]

At least they could just roll them down the bike lane for the last few miles.

 

[FPrice]

Knox was quite an individual. I don't think that he gets the recognition he deserves except for those of us who really get into the details of the War for Independence.

 

[Picton]

For sheer audacity and perseverance, the single most impressive Colonial achievement of the whole war.

Deserves to be much better known.

 

[Obie1]

Dupe (just kidding)

https://www.northeastshooters.com/x...knox-and-the-noble-train-of-artillery.195891/

 

[noddaduma]

Great achievement, although you have the siege backwards: it was the British which were confortably holed up in Boston and under an American siege strong enough to keep the British garrison in place, but too weak to take Boston. When the British awoke to see the Americans had positioned the cannon, they realized they couldn't hold onto Boston, and had to abandon the town and evacuate via the sea to Nova Scotia.

 

[MisterHappy]

First, my ancestors were chased out, by those damned rebel cannon!
(Family came back in time for the Civil War, and have been on the winning side, since)

Second, the actual route is not known. There is an historical marker at Edgell Road and Route 9 in Framingham (across from FSU), that notes Pleasant St as the path (can't prove otherwise). I live ~100 yards from the (possible) path of the artillery that chased my ancestors to Nova Scotia.

I find it ironic.