America. Their marriage, which, from the opposition alluded to, wanted little of an elopement, took place on the sixteenth day of June, 1774. The stirring events which soon occurred gave little opportunity for domestic enjoyment. Boston was held by an armed force; private property received slight protection, and the store of Knox, with many others, was broken into, and pillaged.

From this eventful period the career of Knox belongs to his country, and presents him in three several and separate relations to society. We shall survey him in these different relations. We shall see him first as the soldier, of high military attainments, then, after a series of successes, as a statesman, in the councils of Washington, organizing an important department of the government, and finally, as the beloved and respected citizen of our own state, passing the closing years of his life in the retirement of his own home.

The battle of Lexington was a signal of war. Regular forces were at once raised by the Provincials, and an army of twenty thousand men soon appeared in the environs of Boston, blocking up the enemy from outward intercourse, except by sea. Great inducements to follow the royal standard had been held out to Knox, but he disregarded them all, and embarked heart and hand in the patriot cause. Not intimidated by the proclamation of General Gage, which denounced the penalty of martial law on all who should be found aiding or abetting such unpardonable rebels as Hancock and Adams, or who dared to leave Boston without permission, Knox quitted the town in disguise, accompanied by his wife, who had concealed in her cloak the sword with which the future general was to win his subsequent renown. on the evening preceding the battle of Bunker Hill. Repairing at once to the headquarters of General Ward at Cambridge, he offered himself as a volunteer, and participated in that memorable conflict. The transition from the bookseller to the soldier was an easy one. Knox had made himself master of elementary tactics, and brought to the army a valuable stock of military knowledge. But the department, which most attracted his attention, was that in which the Americans were most wantingthe department of engineers. The only officer who possessed adequate skill in planning and constructing works of defence

This was

for the various camps around the beleaguered town was Colonel Gridley, a veteran of the old French war, but too infirm for this. Knox immediately supplied his place. His skill and activity won the confidence of Washington only three days after the latter had assumed command of the army, and inaugurated the friendship, which ever remained unbroken between these two eminent men.

Great gloom and despondency prevailed during the autumn of 1775. The term of enlistments was approaching a close, nearly six months had elapsed since the battle of Bunker Hill, and yet nothing had been done, decisively, to change the relations in which the belligerents stood toward each other. Our army was without provisions, without pay, without clothing. Desertions became frequent, and new quotas were tardily raised. The commander-in-chief was filled with the deepest anxiety. In a letter to Joseph Reed, he wrote: "Such a dearth of public spirit and such want of virtue; such stock-jobbing and fertility in all the low arts to obtain advantages of one kind or another in this great change of military arrangement, I never saw before, and I pray God's mercy that I may never be witness to again. Could I have foreseen what I have experienced and am likely to experience, no consideration upon earth should have induced me to accept this command." To increase his embarrassments, there was a deficiency of powder and artillery. Without further supplies the seige of Boston could not be much longer continued.

In this time of his troubles and perplexities, no one drew nearer to Washington than Knox. Realizing the necessity of heavy ordnance, Knox conceived the desperate expedient of obtaining it from Ticonderoga on the Canadian frontier, and volunteered his services for that purpose, an offer which Washington gladly accepted. This was the turning point in Knox's military career. He was supposed to possess qualities of a high order; now was the time to prove them. IIis manly bearing and sound judgment had inspired confidence; here was the occasion to justify it. Early in the winter he commenced the difficult undertaking almost unattended, relying solely for success on such aid as he might procure from the thinly scattered inhabitants of the dreary region through which he had to pass. Every obstacle of season, roads and climate, was surmounted by his determined

perseverance; and a few weeks, scarcely sufficient for a journey so remote, saw his return to camp with a long train of sledges drawn by oxen, bringing more than fifty cannon besides other munitions of war. The zeal which he had displayed in his wintry expedition across frozen lakes and through snowy forests, and the intelligence with which his commission was fulfilled, elicited high encomiums from Washington. The command of the artillery, of which he had thus laid the foundation, was at once bestowed upon him. In this command he continued until peace was declared, and his name is connected with all subsequent movements of the main army.

Among the incidents that occurred during his Canadian expedition, was his accidental meeting with the unfortunate Major André, whose subsequent fate was so deeply deplored by every person of sensibility in both countries. André had been taken prisoner in Canada by Montgomery, and was then under parole. Chance compelled the two young men to pass a night in the same cabin on the banks of Lake George, and even in the same bed. There were many points of resemblance in their personal history. Their ages were alike; each had renounced the pursuits of trade for the profession of arms; each had made a study of his new occupation, and their literary tastes and habits were similar. Much of the night was consumed in conversation, and the intelligence and refinement displayed by André left an indelible impression upon the mind of Knox. The respective condition of the two was not mutually communicated until just as they were about to separate. A few years later, when Knox was called upon to join in his condemnation to death, the memory of this interview with the young British officer gave additional bitterness to that painful duty.

With the cannon supplied by Knox, Washington invested Dorchester Heights, which commanded both Boston and the enemy's ships in the harbor. Nothing now remained for the British but to abandon the town or to dislodge the Provincials. General Howe chose the former alternative, and on the seventeenth of March, in less than two months after Knox returned from Ticonderoga, the King's troops, with many loyal Americans, embarked for Halifax. Among the latter were the relatives of

Mrs. Knox, who subsequently went to England, and she never saw them again.

Soon after the delivery of Boston, the greater part of the American forces occupied New York, upon which an attack was expected to be made. In the protection of that city the engineering skill of Knox was put in requisition, and his artillery. were stationed on the surrounding hills. But in a few months, after general exultation at the Declaration of Independence had been manifested, the battles of Long Island and of White Plains, so disastrous to our arms, the evacuation of New York and the retreat into the Jerseys, rendered the prospects of the American cause more doubtful than at any period of the war. The year 1776 and its campaign were closing amidst universal despondency; and Knox, with his brave companions, was compelled to lament that the equipments of our army were inadequate to the heroic spirit of its soldiers. In this crisis, when hope had almost yielded to despair, and Washington trembled for his country's freedom, Knox, almost alone of all his generals, remained unshaken, and by cheering words and encouraging action revived the drooping spirits of the commander-in-chief. It was then that the boldest. stroke of the Revolution was made. The American forces crossed the half-frozen Delaware under a bitter storm and surprised and defeated the enemy at Princeton; thus changing the entire aspect of affairs, and reviving the depressed courage of the colonists. Knox superintended the passage of the Delaware. The night was dark and tempestuous; the drifting ice drove the boats out of their course, and threatened them with destruction. The value of his services on this occasion was recognized in complimentary terms. A commission from Congress, creating him a general officer, second only to Washington in command, soon followed.

After the battle of Princeton the Americans retired to winter quarters at Morristown. Such was their destitution, that many of the soldiers were without shoes and their naked feet marked each step over the frozen ground with blood. Knox, however, did not remain inactive during the winter months. He was sent on a mission to the eastern states to arrange for the casting of cannon, and the establishment of laboratories. When the spring

opened, we find him at West Point, associated with Greene in planning defences on the Hudson.

The principal events in which the main army participated during 1777, were the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, both of which proved adverse to our cause. These disasters were counterbalanced by General Stark's successes in Vermont, followed by the surrender of Burgoyne's army at Saratoga. At the close of the year, Washington was forced to place his army at Valley Forge, where Knox also passed the winter, amidst the hardships and sufferings of that sad encampment.

Brighter prospects dawned the following year. Early in May intelligence reached Congress that our Commissioners at Paris had negotiated treaties of alliance and commerce with France. This measure induced the British to abandon Philadelphia, and to concentrate their forces at New York. With a reorganized army, Washington started in pursuit, and intercepted them at Monmouth, where a battle took place. The day was intensely hot, and many of the soldiers perished from fatigue alone. Although the result of the engagement could hardly be called a victory, it was a decided advantage in our favor. The British troops retreated by night, and Washington, crossing the Hudson, resumed his former position at White Plains. "In the hard-fought contest of Monmouth," wrote Dr. Thacher, "no officer was more distinguished than Knox. In the front of the battle he was seen animating his soldiers and directing the thunder of their cannon. His skill and bravery were so conspicuous, that he received the particular approbation of the commander-in-chief, in general orders issued by him the day succeeding the battle, in which he says that the enemy have done us the honor to acknowledge that no artillery could be better served than ours." The great exertions of Knox on that occa sion seriously affected his health.

In the summer of 1780, the Count de Rochambeau, with a French army, arrived at Newport, and Knox, with Washington. and Lafayette, visited the Commander, to arrange future operations. While returning from this interview, the treason of Arnold was discovered. Knox formed one of the board of general officers who condemned Major André to death as a spy. This sentence, which the usages of war compelled them to pronounce,