Knox Trail

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General Henry Knox

The Knox Trail was named after General Henry Knox, who was born in Boston in 1750 and was the seventh of ten children. Knox supported the American cause, and as early as 1772, he became a member of the Boston Grenadier Corps. He became a minuteman in June 1775 at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He served under General Ward, who was in charge of the colonials around Boston. In 1775, Washington arrived in Boston, taking command of the young American army. There he met and developed a friendship with Knox, a friendship that would last a lifetime.

Washington realized the need for artillery in the American forces and found Knox to be well versed on the subject. Washington asked Knox his opinion on what the army should do. Knox devised a plan to use the cannons captured from Fort Ticonderoga to drive the British out of Boston Harbor. Thereafter, Knox was commissioned Colonel, placed in charge of all artillery, and given the task to bring the cannons from Ticonderoga to Boston by way of oxen and sled. Knox successfully transported fifty cannons to the city of Boston traveling the now famous Knox Trail.

An ox team hauls cannon toward Boston

On December 5, Knox commenced what came to be known as the noble train of artillery, hauling by ox-drawn sled 60 tons of cannon and other armaments across some 300 miles (480 km) of ice-covered rivers and snow-draped Berkshire Mountains to the Boston siege camps.

The Knox Trail from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston

The Knox Expedition, was an expedition led by Continental Army Colonel Henry Knox to transport heavy weaponry that had been captured at Fort Ticonderoga to the Continental Army camps outside Boston, Massachusetts during the winter of 1775–1776.

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Henry's Big Kaboom Read Aloud by Mary Ames Mitchell

For children of ages, this sing-along ballad tells the amazing Revolutionary War story of Henry Knox fetching 58 cannon and other heavy artillery from Fort Ticonderoga in Upstate New York and transporting them over rivers and through the snow to Cambridge, then Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston. The cannon scared the British out of Boston, allowing Gen. George Washington his first victory in the American Revolution. Mary Ames Mitchell wrote and illustrated this lyrical poem for her three grandsons. Knox was their great-x-7 grandfather. General Knox stood by Washington as the Head of Artillery throughout the war. He was Washington's best friend. Knox later became Secretary of War in Pres. Washington's first cabinet. While establishing an army, Knox founded the United States Military Academy at West Point. But this tactical achievement is his claim to fame.

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Knox Trail Inn

The Knox Trail Inn is located in the town of Otis Massachusetts in the beautiful hills and mountains of the Berkshires. The Knox is a great restaurant for dining, a pub for everyone to gather, and offers live music all year long.