The Massive Guns of Fort Ticonderoga...

The following passage is from the novel, "Then...A Patriot I'll Be". It recounts the arduous task that was performed by Henry Knox, to retrieve the captured cannon from Fort Ticonderoga, and deliver them to Dorchester Heights; thus forcing the British to evacuate Boston....

Henry Knox's Artillery Train From Ft. Ticonderoga to Dorchester Heights

....Struggling with the idea of how to get sufficient canon to Dorchester Heights for Washington’s fortifications, another war counsel was called. The officers met up and kicked around different ideas on where they would get the canons from. Now, they knew that they had some canon from when Captain John Manley captured the British supply vessel Nancy earlier, but that was not enough. They needed more guns, and they needed bigger ones too. It would do no good to stage small canon on the heights. From that distance, a small gun might not even be able to hit a target across the water in Boston. Big canon was the necessity, but Washington and his men struggled with the problem of where to get them from. Finally, the idea came to them. They remembered that Fort Ticonderoga had been captured from the British by Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen in May of 1775. There was a massive stockpile of canon available at the fort. There was mortar, howitzers, and field guns stored there. Some of the guns were the big guns that Washington needed so badly; twenty-four pounders.

Realizing that there was a supply of canons available to the Continental Army, the counsel was positive about making the fortification effective. Finally, after all the waiting and planning, Washington could now begin his offense. There was however one very big problem facing Washington and his war counsel. Having the guns at his disposal was an extremely uplifting premise. However, the issue at hand now was how to get the guns from Fort Ticonderoga and transport them to Dorchester Heights. That is where Henry Knox would come in. The new friend of General Washington volunteered to take on the epic journey in the cold and snowy conditions. He proposed to Washington that he could make the trip and be back with the cannon in about two weeks. Washington allowed him to undertake this journey. It was the only choice that he had to fortify the heights. The Continental Congress believed in him so strongly that they granted Knox a colonel’s commission. However, the commission did not reach him before he left. He embarked on his quest in mid November, not yet knowing he was now a colonel. Firstly, he would stop in New York City to pick up the supplies he needed for the trip. From there, he made his way to Fort Ticonderoga. It was a treacherous trip through the cold and snow filled forests and mountains. He arrived at Fort Ticonderoga in early December. He made pretty decent time considering how treacherous the trip had been. No sooner had he stepped foot into the fort, he immediately got to work inventorying the guns and preparing the logistics for their transport back to Dorchester.

Once inventorying the guns was completed, he narrowed down what pieces he would be actually taking with him on the journey. He chose to take roughly sixty cannon back with him. Among these cannon were the twenty four pounders that Washington so badly needed. He also decided to take with him various mortars and howitzers; all of which could prove their weight in gold during a bombardment. He had the guns pulled on sleds by teams of oxen from the fort up to the northern end of Lake George. From there, they were loaded on ships that he had already prepared to be there waiting for him. They then began the journey across to reach the southern end of Lake George. On the way to the southern end of the increasingly icy lake, a ship carrying some of the guns sunk. Luckily though, enough of the ship was left above the water line, and she was successfully bailed out and re-floated. A few days later, the flotilla of vessels reached Fort George safely at the southern end of the lake. His first portion of the journey was a success. However, he had much more to go.

Departing Fort George, Knox had over forty more strong duty sleds built and supplied additional yoke of oxen (I have heard upwards of eighty) to pull the sleds through the heavy snow. When the “artillery train” began to move, Knox took off and went ahead of it. He made his way to Albany and met up with General Philip Schuyler. Together, the two men were able to find more equipment and personnel to send north toward the artillery train to assist with the movement. The train lumbered its way through the dense snow toward the Hudson River. Being as cold as it was, the hope was that the river would be sufficiently frozen over with ice to allow the heavy train to cross. Reaching the Hudson however, it was realized that the ice was too thin to support the massive artillery train. Knox and his men decided to assist the river in its freezing. The men began pouring water on the already hardened ice with the hopes of thickening it. To their amazement, it worked, and the train made it safely to Albany. Departing from Albany and heading toward Massachusetts, the train once again had to cross a different portion of the Hudson River. This time, the river would not be tricked into hardening enough, and a few of the heavy cannons crashed through the thin ice and went to the river bottom. Fortunately, with the fusion of manpower and oxen power alike, the guns were able to be retrieved from the river bottom. This was definitely a setback, but Knox knew how important it was to reach the heights with as many pieces of cannon as possible. Once the cannon were recovered from the river, the train mounted up and moved on. Not long after, they finally made it over the Hudson River, for the second time.

The train continued its trek toward Dorchester Heights. Word got around, and it wasn’t too secret of a mission that Knox and his guns were on their way toward Boston. As they passed through various towns, many of the local residents would come out of their homes into the cold and cheer the artillery train on as it went through. In one instance, the train received such a glowing reception by the residents of Westfield that Knox himself loaded up one of the bigger cannon with powder and fired it off. The gathered crowd responded with great applause and huzzahs.

In mid January, Henry Knox and his much needed artillery train finally arrived in Cambridge, and reported to General Washington. The guns of Fort Ticonderoga had finally arrived. They took considerably longer than the original estimate of two weeks to reach their destination. The lumbering train took ten weeks to reach Cambridge. As late as the guns were, Washington was sure relieved that they had arrived at all. Henry Knox had come through. He had delivered the cannon as promised. Upon arrival to Cambridge, he received the news that he had been commissioned as a colonel during his journey. The next step was for the newly commissioned colonel to meet with Washington and the rest of the war counsel. It was time to put together the plan of fortifying Dorchester Heights....