Benedict Arnold

Cannons of Ticonderoga
and Crown Point

by David W. Tschanz

While Montgomery was conferring with Arnold before Quebec, another drama was unfolding in New York. Henry Knox, the tall, 25 year old, 280 pound former aide-de-camp of General George Washington was traveling north with a small force. Knox, now Colonel of Artillery for the Continental Army was on his first mission – recovery of the cannons that Arnold had captured at Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point the previous summer and their transport to Boston. The task facing them was a daunting one.

Because the British fleet made transport by ship impossible, Knox's men would have to move the over 100 tons of artillery through 200 miles of forests, mountains, waterways, and other wilderness. Because hard ground was needed to move the equipment, Knox was forced to conduct the entire operation during a howling, bitter northeast winter.

Knox's operation represents one of the truly great logistical feats of American military history. Utilizing 43 sleds and 82 yoke of oxen, Knox and his teamsters sledded, dragged, and muscled the cannon through the wilderness in the dead of winter, enduring bitter cold, blizzards, freezing rain and mud. At one point in the march, he was forced to stop on the frozen Hudson River and winch out guns that had broken through the ice.

Knox reached Boston at the end of January with the entire complement of 44 cannon, 14 mortars and 1 howitzer. After refitting the artillery pieces and training the men, the guns were moved into position onto Dorchester Heights on March 3, 1776. The guns could now fire on the city at will and wreak havoc on the British forces gathered there.

The British commander, General Sir William Howe bowed to the inevitable and, under flag of truce, sent word to Washington that he intended to withdraw from the city. On March 17th, the last British soldier boarded the last British transport and sailed from the city. The colonials had driven the British out of Boston.

The withdrawal sent ripples across the body politic. The British Crown was embarrassed by its defeat by what it had portrayed to the world as a rag-tag rabble. The British Army was chagrined by its ignominious withdrawal before the much smaller American force. Across the English Channel, the French government sat up and took notice. The capture of Boston had added legitimacy to the rebel cause and French officials made the decision to support the colonial cause, at least clandestinely. For the rebels the victory buoyed spirits and firmed their resolve.

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© Copyright 1998 by David W. Tschanz.
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