movements and constructing fortifications attracted the admiration of Washington, who soon afterward raised him to the chief command of the artillery, a post he held to the close of the war. He was henceforward Washington's confidential friend and adviser, sharing the gloom and depression of that great heart, and suggesting many able schemes of the war. How few, comparatively, are aware of the fact that it was a stroke of Knox's bravery that caused the British to withdraw from Boston. He realized that the feeble land force of patriots could have but trifling effect on the Brit FORMERLY THE SERVANTS' HOUSE OF THE KNOX VILLA. sleds the plunder, which Washington directly utilized, erecting for the purpose a grand pedestal on Dorchester Height. The captured artillery comprised eight brass mortars, six iron mortars, two howitzers, thirteen brass cannon, twenty-six iron cannon, twenty-three hundred-weight of lead, and one barrel of flint-a mine of wealth to our infant army. Little wonder after this marvelous act that writers give him credit for having manufactured his artillery. It was on this trip that he spent a night with André, and so strong an attachment sprung up between the two soldiers that it caused Knox a deep sense of anguish to pass sentence for André's execution a few years afterward. The hasty retreat that followed the battle of Long Island came near being one of dire disaster to both our young artillerist and our young artillery, yet by dint of celerity and consummate skill they escaped the British dragoons, and as a consequence Knox was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general. A similar exhibition of military daring at Trentonthe only engagement in which Knox was wounded-and a few days later at Monmouth, the most severely contested battle of the war, won his promotion to the major-generalship, a rank second only to that of Washington. It is said that amid the din and roar of that battle his voice could be distinctly heard by his men, as he stood in their midst, a marvelous example of coolness that could not fail to inspire any faltering heart with courage. Yet his grandest military success was to come. At Yorktown the artillery, that never during the war had wavered, poured so steady and well-directed a volley as to occasion the highest commendation of all, even MONOGRAM ON THE KNOX SILVER- the enemy, who rarely extended compliments of this nature. Washington, in acknowledgment, selected Knox to receive Cornwallis' sword at the surrender; but a moment's reflection caused him to suggest that public appreciation was due Lincoln for his bravery at the South, and Knox generously resigned the honor in favor of the latter. The surrender of New York was also made to Knox, and following close in the tracks of this honor was the most painful duty he was ever required to perform that of disbanding the army at West Point. Every officer and private had been to him a friend through eight gloomy years, and he must separate them and send them unpaid to their homes of poverty; for the pittance allowed them by Congress had not then been obtained. He bent all his powers of argument as earnestly to infuse into them a feeling of patient forbearance as he formerly had to inspire them with energy and fearlessness in battle. Never was a sympathetic heart more sorely tried, and never was a severe and serious duty more marvelously well performed. The formation of the "Society of the Cincinnati" next occupied his mind, and to him is the credit mainly due that the brotherly love of these heroes was thus perpetuated. Lady Knox seemed alone in her sentiments regarding the close of the war. She had followed her husband from place to place and from battle to battle, seeming to enjoy the excitement and deprivations of camp life, and actually felt annoyed when peace was declared, and they were obliged to break camp and make ready for private life. Her subsequent career, however, was not destined to be one of light import or devoid of distinction. Knox was very soon appointed Secretary of War, in 1785, holding the office nine years, and Mrs. Knox was ere long almost indispensable to Mrs. Washington in doing the social honors that naturally devolve upon the leading lady of a nation. Knox was as unsuccessful at financiering as he was ingenuous at laying plans, and he was painfully conscious of his inability to overcome the misfortune. At one time, while he was in political office, he introduced a bill before the Legislature, and requested another party to offer the resolution for the required appropriation, saying, “ People already say I would bankrupt the nation." This weakness was more disastrous in private than in public affairs. His financial decline began with his Thomaston life. His business enterprises were both numerous and extensive, and his overtures to settlers too liberally extended to insure careful industry in return. He even bought parcels of his own land from the squatters in order to send them away in peace. He published advertisements extolling the country and offering favorable terms to new-comers; established stores of all kinds, markets, brick-yards, lime-kilns, etc., and built wharfs and ships, besides paying no little attention to the clearing of the forests and tilling of the soil. He filled a seat in the council board of the State, and was at one time talked of for governor. Cattle and game raising also interested him, but in all these schemes he reckoned without his host. Soon a volley of unpaid bills of merchandise, labor, etc., growing out of his enormous business attempts and expensive mode of entertaining, was hurled at him, and piece by piece of his estate was transferred, greatly under value, to meet these demands. One after another of his well-planned but half-completed undertakings were passed over to creditors, and he found his fortunes on a steady decline. Nevertheless, the handsome and generous style of living was maintained until his death, in 1806, from inflammation caused by swallowing a chicken-bone. His funeral was conducted under military regulations and was imposing in the extreme for so quiet a town. His remains were placed in a family tomb which Lady Knox had constructed on the spot from which, a few years previous, she had had the graves of the early settlers removed. A grey marble shaft, bearing the simple inscription and the couplet, "'Tis Fate's decree; farewell, thy just renown, was erected over the tomb. General Henry Jackson, a warm friend of Knox, visited here soon after the burial, and sat by the tomb of his former comrade until far into the evening, when a country neighbor, passing, mistook him for the ghost of Knox and directly knelt, terrified, into prayer. The mistake was explained, but Jackson found it impossible to recover the thread of his meditation. After the death of her husband, Lady Knox seemed to lose favor and influence in the estimation of many whose interest had really been in behalf of her noble-hearted husband rather than of herself. She terminated her annual visits to Boston, and remained quietly at home, striving to keep up former appearances with her extremely reduced income. One by one the out-buildings were sold and removed, building sites and town streets were laid out from the immedi ate grounds, private drives were con structed into public thoroughfares, and inroads were made upon every foot of the property save the mansion itself, one small stable, and the ser PRESENT BURIAL-PLACE OF THE KNOX FAMILY. [From a Photograph.] vants' house -the two latter yet in existence on the premises. In July, 1824, she died after a short but acute illness. Her two surviving daughters remained in possession of the mansion, striving with utmost economy to keep it in at nearly its former order as decay and poverty would allow. In 1854 the last of the children died and the spacious residence was left worse than a tomb. The will provided no fund for the management of the estate, but an annuity was allowed the executor by the other heirs, with the expectation that he would keep the house with what remained in it; yet, before the towns-people were fully aware of the movement, an auction sale was announced, and the richly carved furnishings, books, etc., sold to the clamorous public. |