"Big Guns For Washington" Topic

"Knox was one of those providential characters which spring up in emergencies, as if they were formed by and for the occasion.

By the time Washington took command of the American Army at Cambridge in July, 1775, his troops had dug fortifications on the hilltops ringing Boston. The British, who had occupied the city for over a year, were pinned down but could not be starved out as long as their navy kept the port open. The Americans lacked siege guns and trained storm troops. On the other hand, General Gage, the British commander, had been made cautious by the mauling his infantry had received on the Concord expedition and at Bunker Hill.

American artillery could threaten British shipping only on one of the two heights situated at opposite tips of the crescent formed by the American lines: Bunker Hill, north of Boston, and Dorchester Heights, across the bay to the southeast. Bunker Hill had been won by the British and neither side was yet ready to fight for Dorchester Heights—the British because of Gage's reluctance to risk the loss of more troops difficult to replace; the Americans because they lacked the artillery to take advantage of the superior location once it had been occupied…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Henry Knox, a self-educated artilleryman, made the Continental artillery into a potent organization that started a tradition that has lasted to the present day.

Thanks Kevin.

Amicalement
Armand

One of the great moments of the war was undoubtedly Washington telling him to "shift your ass, Henry, and trim the boat."