Competence in government, particularly the difference that talented people can make if given the authority and the resources, is the theme of today’s #stampoftheday (actually #stampsoftheday).

The three stamps themselves honor three major Revolutionary War milestones. The first is a 3-cent stamp, issued in 1955, commemorating the capture of Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain by American forces on May 10, 1775. The second is a 21/2- cent stamp issued in 1959 to honor the Battle of Bunker Hill which occurred on June 17, 1775. And the third is a 2-cent stamp, issued in 1931, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Yorktown, the last major battle of the Revolution, which ended on October 19, 1781.

The stamps are grouped together today because Henry Knox, who was born on July 25, 1750, played key roles in the events honored by these stamps. Knox himself was portrayed on an 8-cent stamp issued in 1985, a time when my father was still collecting but wasn’t actively curating his collection (i.e. he was throwing stamps into large manila envelopes; I didn’t find the Knox stamp among them.)

So who is the person who played a role in so many important events? Born and raised in Boston, Knox went to Boston Latin School and then worked in (and later owned) a bookstore, where he avidly read about military history and strategy. After witnessing an impressive military demonstration the 18-year old Knox decided to join his local artillery company and later went on to co-found the Boston Grenadier Corps.

In 1770, Knox witnessed the Boston Massacre (and, in fact, he had tried to tamp down the tensions that led to it). Though his bookstore had many British patrons, Knox supported the actions of the anti-British Sons of Liberty. While it’s unknown if he participated in the Boston Tea Party, he did serve as a guard for one of the ships, ensuring the tea wasn’t unloaded before the uprising. When war broke out the next year, Knox and his wife snuck out of Boston and Knox joined the local militia that was besieging the city. Working under General Artemas Ward, he developed fortifications for the city and directed rebel cannon fire at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

When General George Washington arrived in July 1775 to take command of the army, he was impressed by the work Knox had done. The two also immediately developed a liking for one another, and Knox began to interact regularly with Washington and the other generals of the developing Continental Army, ultimately getting a commission as a colonel of the army’s artillery regiment.

As the siege of Boston wore on, Knox suggested that the Americans could turn the tide if they could bring cannons recently captured at the fall of forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point in upstate New York to Boston. Washington agreed, and put him in charge of an expedition to bring them to Boston. Reaching Ticonderoga on December 5, Knox commenced what came to be known as the noble train of artillery, hauling 60 tons of cannon and other armaments by ox-drawn sled across some 300 miles of ice-covered rivers and steep snow-draped mountains. In the end, what Knox had expected to take just two weeks actually took more than six, but he completed what historian Victor Brooks later wrote “one of the most stupendous feats of logistics” of the entire war. (Knox’s effort is commemorated by a series of plaques marking the Henry Knox Trail in New York and Massachusetts.) Washington immediately deployed cannons on the recently captured Dorchester Heights and their presence was so commanding that in March 1776 the British withdrew their fleet and troops from Boston.

Knox was with Washington through most of the rest of the war. He was in charge of logistics in the critical crossing of the Delaware River that preceded the Battle of Trenton on December 26, 1776. (This was honored in a 1976 stamp also issued after my father stopped collecting in a serious way). In 1788, Knox established the Continental Army’s first school for artillery and officer training, a facility that was the precursor to the United States Military Academy at West Point. In 1781 Knox participated in the decisive Siege of Yorktown, where he directed the placement and aiming of the artillery. The Marquis de Chastellux, the key liaison between French and American forces at that battle, later wrote “we cannot sufficiently admire the intelligence and activity” that Knox brought to his work. In 1782, Knox became the army’s youngest major general and in 1783, when Washington stepped down, Knox took over as the Army’s senior commander.

After the war, Knox returned to Massachusetts where he established a home in Dorchester and began assembling a multi-million acre real estate empire in Maine. In 1785, when the US was governed under the Articles of Confederation he was appointed secretary of war. In that position, he oversaw the fight against Shay’s Rebellion. And while he wasn’t a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, he played a major role in getting Washington to attend it and provided Washington with a draft proposal for a government that was very close to what ultimately was adopted. When the constitution was adopted and Washington elected as the first president, Knox became Secretary of War. In this role, Knox saw that new coastal fortifications were established, demanded better training of the local militias, and settled disputes in the western part of the new nation.
Knox retired in January 1795 to spend more time with his family in what is now Thomaston, a town in mid-coast Maine. In his final years, he embarked on a number of business ventures including real estate, cattle farming, shipbuilding, and brick making. In 1806, he swallowed a chicken bone which caught in his throat and became infected. Three days later, on October 25, 1806, he died and was later buried with full military honors.

Knox’s stories, like so many others of its time (notably Alexander Hamilton, who was a longtime friend of Knox’s), speak to so many things that we seem to lack at the moment, most notably the power and importance of recognizing and encouraging talent (as Washington clearly did) but also the need for rigorous and professional training for those entrusted with important jobs (as Knox did in developing training programs for soldiers). These are lessons we need to relearn as we find our way out of our current crises.

Be well, stay safe, fight for justice and work for peace.