Remembering the Knox Trail - Markers, Memory and Re-Enactment
Details
In 1775, Henry Knox was commissioned by Continental Army commander George Washington 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.
They included 43 heavy brass and iron cannons, six cohorns, eight mortars, and two howitzers. Knox used sledges pulled by teams of oxen to haul these cannons, many weighing over a ton, crossing an icy Lake George in mid-winter. 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.
[— Wikipedia]
The presence of this artillery overlooking Boston Harbor forced the British to withdraw from Boston two months later on St. Patrick’s Day, now celebrated in the city as “Evacuation Day”.
Please join us as discuss the history of the Knox Trail with Jonathan Barkan and Ben Haley. 50 years ago, Barkan documented the trail and created a slide show of the 1976 Knox Trail re-enactment. In honor of the 250th Anniversary, he has updated it and created a new digital slide show with an updated soundtrack and narration. Haley works for the Massachusetts State Historical Commission and has lectured extensively on the history of the markers and memorials along the Knox Trail.
Contact Information
Susan Ashman
413-348-9477