Henry Knox
BOOKSELLER, SOLDIER, PATRIOT
BY ANITA SILVEY
PAINTINGS BY W ENDELL M INOR
CLARION BOOKS
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Boston New York 2010
CLARION BOOKS
215 Park Avenue South
New York, New York 10003
Text copyright 2010 by Anita Silvey
Illustrations copyright 2010 by Wendell Minor
All rights reserved. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
Clarion Books is an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
www.hmhbooks.com
The text of this book is set in Grit Primer.
The illustrations are acrylic on gessoed wood panels.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Silvey, Anita.
Henry Knox : bookseller, soldier, patriot / by Anita Silvey ; pictures by Wendell Minor.
p. cm. ISBN 978-0-618-27485-7
1. Knox, Henry, 17501806Juvenile literature. 2. GeneralsUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature.
3. United StatesHistoryRevolution, 17751783Artillery operationsJuvenile literature.
4. Boston (Mass)HistorySiege, 17751776Juvenile literature. I. Minor, Wendell. II. Title. E207.K74S56 2010
355.0092dc22 [B] 2009045353
Manufactured in Singapore
TWP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
4500226785
For Dinah Stevenson
dear friend and brilliant editor
A. S.
For Anita
W. M.
Henry Knox
Contents
1. A Very Young Bookseller
2. Learning to Be a Soldier
3. The Boston Massacre
4. London Book Store
5. Lucy Flucker
6. The Battles of Lexington and Concord
7. The Occupation of Boston
8. Guns for General Washington
9. Fort Ticonderoga
10. Across Lake Champlain
11. "A Noble Train of Artillery"
12. Traveling over the Ice
13. "All the Kingdoms of the Earth"
14. The Old Sow
15. Dorchester Heights
16. Entering Boston
Source Notes
Henry Knox Chronology
Bibliography
Suggestions for Further Reading
A Note from the Artist
WHARTON
& BOWES
BOOKSELLERS
1. A Very Young Bookseller
When other boys walked, Henry Knox bounced. Where others saw problems, he found possibilities.
In 1750 Henry was born into a working-class Boston family, the seventh of ten sons. His father, a ship captain, carried on trade with the West Indies. But then William Knox failed in business and left his family. At the age of nine Henry quit his studies so that he could help support his mother and siblings.
Although it was difficult for such a young boy to find full-time work, Henry managed to become a bookseller's assistant, at the firm of Wharton and Bowes in Boston. At night Henry read his way through the merchandisePlutarch's Lives, Greek and Roman classics in translation, books on the French language. He particularly enjoyed reading about engineering science and military history.
2. Learning to Be a Soldier
In his teenage years Henry had three main passions. He loved books; he loved cannons and other artillery; and he loved food, all kinds of food. Big boned and broad shouldered, Henry grew to be six feet tall and to weigh around 250 pounds.
Once Henry devoted himself to a cause, he gave himself to it wholeheartedly. Henry not only wanted to read about cannons, but also yearned to use them. For the protection of all the citizens, towns like Boston maintained local companies of soldiers, the local militia. Henry joined one of these groups, called the Train, made up of mechanics and shopkeepers from the South End. During the winter of 1766, British artillery officers, on their way to Quebec, drilled the company.
From these officers Henry learned valuable information about handling small artillery. He practiced on the 3-pound cannon (called this because it shot 3-pound cannon balls). Ten years later, during the American Revolution, he actually used two of the cannons he had been trained on against the British themselves.
3. The Boston Massacre
In 1770 about sixteen thousand people lived in Boston, one of the largest cities in America. Because the citizens objected to what they saw as unfair taxing by the British, England sent soldiers to keep the peace.
Small fights between the citizens and the British troops had been occurring for several months. On March 5, 1770, while returning from seeing friends, Henry came upon an angry mob by the Custom House on King Street. The Bostonians had armed themselves with shovels. Yelling "Drive out the lobster-backs!" and "Hang the redcoats," they hurled snow, ice, and other debris at the British soldiers in their bright red uniforms.
Henry implored the officer in command, Captain Preston, to withdraw. "Take your men back. If they fire, your life must answer for the consequences!" Henry shouted.
Then a townsperson struck a soldier with a club, and the British soldiers fired on the crowd. Five Boston men were killed in the fracas that followed, which the local press called the Boston Massacre.
Like most Bostonians, Henry blamed the British for these deaths.
4. London Book Store
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