Henry Knox

You may not believe it, but this is actually a post about a costume I made 2 years ago. In my quest to unearth past Halloween costume pictures, I realized that in 2008, I did not make any Halloween costumes. That September/October I ended up with big tummy trouble that put me in the ER and GI doc's office for a Halloween colonoscopy that saved my life, and the lives of 3 of my siblings. But that is a post in and of itself. This one is about a costume I made earlier in 2008 for Abram for his school's Walk Through History. Each 8th grader had to choose a person from American history and make a set, wear a costume, and give a speech to anyone who would stop and listen. There were hundreds of kids lining the halls of the school. Of course, Abram was the best. And he was Henry Knox.

Have you heard of Henry Knox? Probably not. He is my favorite hero of the American Revolution. Well, there are a lot of great guys and gals from that era that helped our country give the boot to King George; but as much as I love George Washington, I also love Henry Knox. I could swear that I have blogged about my admiration of this man before, but apparently I have not.

Knox was one of the bravest, smartest, and war-savvy, imaginative men who have ever lived. Sure, if you have heard of Henry Knox, it was probably just a sentence in a history book acknowledging that he was our country's first Secretary of War. He and George Washington were BFFs. But what happened to make them so? Let me tell you.

Here's the short version. The best rendition is told by David McCullough in "1776." Read it! The story of the guns of Ticonderoga and the British quickly departing Boston is a tear-jerker.

In 1772, Knox left his life as a bookstore owner, and joined a local militia unit. Later, at the outbreak of the War for Independence, he volunteered for service at Bunker Hill (June 1775), where he served with distinction. Knox caught Washington's eye and received an immediate appointment as an artillery colonel in the Continental Army. In the winter of 1775-76, Knox suggested the genius idea that the cannons of recently-captured Fort Ticonderoga could help turn the fortunes of the Colonists. Washington told Knox to take as many men as he needed and to get the cannons to Boston. In a truly remarkable trek, Knox and his men managed to transport 59 pieces of artillery on oxen-drawn sleds over 300 miles of snow and ice to Washington’s waiting army. They didn't lose even one cannon--even the one that fell through the ice into a river they managed to recover.

The artillery pieces were stealthily installed in the darkness of night and cover of fog on Dorchester Heights, overlooking the British-occupied city of Boston below. The British woke up in the morning surrounded by cannons that had not been there when they had all said nighty-night. The British were under the mistaken impression that the colonists had no artillery in America. When they saw 59 cannons and 20 hastily-constructed sticks-over-rum-barrel forts (which appeared as real log-construction dwellings) that morning on Dorchester Heights, the British peacefully and rather quickly bid farewell to Boston before the sun had set that same day.

Henry Knox lived a happy and busy life, continuing to serve his country as the first secretary of war under Washington, and then retired to live a quiet life of a gentleman farmer in Montpelier. His life was cut short at age 56 when he choked on a chicken bone at a family get-together. Poor Henry.

To turn a scrawny 116-pound, 5 ft. 5 in. 8th grader into a 300-pound, 6'4" man was no easy task. I made a revolutionary-era costume in the largest possible size. And then I took a big square of 1" foam and cut it into a circle. I cut pie-shaped wedges out and then glued the edges together to give it a nice, big convex belly shape. Abram's set was complete with a cushy chair, a sign for his book store, and a pewter platter with a chicken on it. Luckily, he didn't choke while he talked and ate chicken at the same time.

How does Henry Knox impact society today? For one thing, Bostonians celebrate Evacuation Day on March 17th every year. Also, ever heard of Fort Knox? And who can't live without my favorite--the Ticonderoga pencil? You know, the one with the eraser that actually works? The guy on the package IS Henry Knox. Plus, we all have our country because of this guy. Seriously, the colonists were on the verge of losing Boston and giving up when this big hunk stepped in to save the day.

I dream of going along the Henry Knox trail some day just to see what kind of insane trek this hero made. Thank you, Henry.