Henry Knox Trail Explained

The Henry Knox Trail, also known as the Knox Cannon Trail, is a network of roads and paths that traces the route of Colonel Henry Knox's "noble train of artillery" from Crown Point to the Continental Army camp outside Boston, Massachusetts early in the American Revolutionary War.

History

Knox was commissioned by Continental Army commander George Washington in 1775 to transport 59 cannons from captured forts on Lake Champlain, 30 from Fort Ticonderoga and 29 from Crown Point, to the army camp outside Boston to aid the war effort there against British forces.[1] They included forty-three heavy brass and iron cannons, six cohorns, eight mortars, and two howitzers.[2] Knox, using sledges pulled by teams of oxen to haul these cannons, many weighing over a ton, crossed an icy Lake George in mid-winter.[2] He proceeded to travel through rural New York and the snow-covered Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, finally arriving to the aid of the beleaguered Continental Army in January 1776.[2]

Marker placement

In 1926, the 150th anniversary of Knox's march, the states of New York and Massachusetts both began installing commemorative plaques at 56 locations in the two states that trace the route the expedition passed through.[3] The exact nature of the collaboration between the two states is unclear, however the work was completed in 1927. The New York markers' bronze reliefs were designed by Henry James Albright, and the Massachusetts reliefs by Henry L. Norton.

In 1975, the marker locations between Kinderhook, New York, and Alford, Massachusetts, were updated after new research, confirming theories originally advanced by North Egremont, Massachusetts, postmaster Joseph Elliott, found Knox did not pass through Claverack, New York.[4] A new marker was added to the trail at Roxbury Heritage State Park in Boston in 2009, adjacent to a house owned by General John Thomas, who guided the weapons received from Knox to their final placement on Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston.[5]

Table of Knox Trail Markers

!Marker #!Year installed!Title!Address!Picture
NY-0Crown Point21 Grandview Dr, Crown Point, NY 12928https://www.hmdb.org/PhotoFullSize.asp?PhotoID=555508
NY-1Fort Ticonderoga102 Fort Ti Rd, Ticonderoga, NY 12883
NY-2Fort Ticonderoga102 Fort Ti Rd, Ticonderoga, NY 12883
NY-3Fort Ticonderoga Portage Road137 Montcalm St, Ticonderoga, NY 12883
Lake George651 Black Point Rd, Ticonderoga, NY 12883
Sabbath Day Point44 Sabbath Day Point Rd, Silver Bay, NY 12874
NY-6Bolton Landing19 Rogers Memorial Park Rd, Bolton Landing, NY 12814
NY-7Lake George Battlefield75 Fort George Rd, Lake George, NY 12845 (43°25'04.4"N, 73°42'25.9"W)
NY-8Bloody Brook1716 State Route 9, Lake George, NY 12845
NY-9Glens Falls626 Glen St, Queensbury, NY 12804
NY-10Hudson Falls220 Main St, Hudson Falls, NY 12839
NY-11Fort Edward219 Broadway, Fort Edward, NY 12828
NY-12Fort Miller1061 State Route 4, Greenwich, NY 12834
NY-13Northumberland107 Starks Knob Rd, Schuylerville, NY 12871
NY-14Schuylerville2 Broad St, Schuylerville, NY 12871
Ensign House513 Saratoga County Veterans Memorial Highway, Stillwater, NY 12170
NY-15Bemis Heights1173 Old Route 32, Stillwater, NY 12170
NY-16Stillwater75 Hudson Ave, Stillwater, NY 12170
NY-17Mechanicville6 S Main St, Mechanicville, NY 12118
NY-18Waterford55 1st St, Waterford, NY 12188
NY-19Klaus' Ferry1258 New Loudon Rd, Cohoes, NY 12047
NY-20Latham206 Old Loudon Rd, Latham, NY 12110
NY-21Albany350 Northern Blvd, Albany, NY 12204
NY-22Albany Riverside Park191 Broadway, Albany, NY 12202
NY-23Rensselaer30 Aiken Ave, Rensselaer, NY 12144
NY-24East Greenbush688 Columbia Tpke, East Greenbush, NY 12061
NY-25Schodack1972 Route 9, Castleton on Hudson, NY 12033
NY-26Kinderhook1 Hudson St, Kinderhook, NY 12106
NY-27West Ghent6 Snyder Rd, Ghent, NY 12075
NY-28Claverack1202 Harlemville Rd, Ghent, NY 12075
NY-29Old Nobletown40 Nobletown Rd, Hillsdale, NY 12529
NY-30 / MA-1Alford, MAMA-71179 Green River Valley Rd.[6]
MA-2North Egremont, MA223 Egremont Plain Rd.
MA-3Great Barrington, MA Intersection of Route 23 and Route 7
MA-4Monterey, MA Route 23
Otis, MA Route 23
MA-5Blandford, MARoute 23 & North Blandford Rd., Blandford, MA 01008
MA-6Russell, MAIntersection of General Knox Road and South Quarter Road
MA-7Westfield, MA Main Street at N 42° 07.252; W 072° 44.892
MA-8West Springfield, MA Route 20 [7]
MA-9Springfield, MABoston Post Rd. (State Street)
MA-10Wilbraham, MARoute 20 & Main Street
MA-11Palmer, MA1 Wilbraham Street
MA-12Warren, MARoute 67 (Main St.) at the intersection with Washington St.
MA-13Brookfield, MAState Route 9 at the intersection with State Route 148
MA-14Spencer, MAnext to 117 Main St.[8]
MA-15Leicester, MA1136 Main St., in front of the Leicester Public Library and Museum
MA-16Worcester, MAMain Street at Lincoln Square
MA-17Shrewsbury, MAMain St. at Shrewsbury Common
MA-18Northborough, MA63 Main Street (in front of Town Hall)
MA-19Marlborough, MA
MA-20Southborough
MA-21Framingham, MA
MA-23Wayland, MA Old Connecticut Path and Cochituate Rd.
MA-24Weston, MABoston Post Rd. and Town House Rd.
MA-25Waltham, MARoute 20 (Weston St.) & Main Street
MA-26Watertown481 Mt Auburn St, Watertown, MA 02472
MA-27Cambridge42° 22.593′ N, 71° 7.313′ W, Corner of Garden St and Mason St in the Cambridge Commons, Cambridge, MA[9]
MA-27.5Roxbury, MA
MA-28South Boston

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: New York State Education Department: The Knox Trail - Introduction. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100107021306/http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/services/KnoxTrail/. 2010-01-07.
  2. Web site: New York State Education Department: The Knox Trail - History. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080512151653/http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/services/KnoxTrail/kthistory.html. 2008-05-12.
  3. Web site: The Knox Trail – Monument Design . dead. http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20091211085459/http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/services/KnoxTrail/ktmonumentdesign.html . 2009-12-11 .
  4. Web site: New York State Education Department: Knox Trail map . dead. https://archive.today/20120805111036/http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/services/KnoxTrail/images/knoxtrailmap.gif . 2012-08-05 .
  5. Web site: The Knox Museum joins Evacuation Day celebration . Spring 2009 . General Henry Knox Museum . 15 December 2009 . dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110726083232/http://www.generalknoxmuseum.org/images/Spring09Newsletter.pdf . 26 July 2011 .
  6. Web site: Knox Trail Marker - Alford, MA - U.S. Revolutionary War Memorials on . Waymarking.com . 2013-08-22 . 2022-05-04.
  7. The site is where General Reidesel and his Hessian Soldiers encamped on October 30 and 31, 1777 on their way to Boston after British General John Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga.
  8. This location is close to a marker indicating that "Washington Slept Here"
  9. Web site: Gen. Henry Knox Trail Historical Marker.