Henry Knox by Mark Puls Read Free Book Online Page A

business, was gone. As he rowed the boat across the river, the couple soon became enveloped in darkness, unable to see Boston behind them or the future in front of them.

NINE
CONFEDERATION SECRETARY
    Congress declared an end to hostilities with Great Britain on April 11, 1783, bringing the American Revolution to a close after eight arduous years of fighting. Even before the soldiers laid down their muskets, Henry Knox was already envisioning the future of the U.S. Army in a peacetime America. In the coming months, thousands of troops would return home, and many political leaders wanted to dismantle the army completely, believing that a strong but idle military posed a threat to republican government and democracy.
    After watching the Continental army struggle to train officers and soldiers during the Revolution, Knox felt that it would be foolish to tear apart the force and all that the soldiers had built only to resurrect it when inevitable war clouds threatened. Just six days after Congress declared peace, he submitted a detailed blueprint for a standing peacetime army, including the recommendation for a United States Military Academy at West Point.
    Calling the West Point fort "the key to America," Knox wrote to George Washington on Thursday, April 17, stressing that the post was vital to keep open even during peace. To save money, he recommended the dual purpose of locating a forty-student military school on the grounds and devising a curriculum that embraced "the whole theory of the art of war as practiced by the most enlightened nations.“ 1 He also laid out a complete plan to raise state militias that might be used as building blocks for a national army in time of war.
    Washington wholeheartedly supported Knox's plan and sent it with his endorsement to Congress. Although delegates did not immediately act on Knox's proposals, most of his recommendations were eventually enacted.
    Knox wanted to maintain the wartime relationships in the American and French armies. In April 1783, he drafted a plan for an organization he called "The Society of Cincinnati," named after a Roman soldier who gave up military power. The first meeting of the Society of Cincinnati was chaired by Alexander Hamilton and held at Fishkill, New York on the evening of Tuesday, May 13. Knox was elected secretary of the society, and Washington was named president in his absence.
    The society was opposed by many civilian leaders such as Thomas Jefferson, Elbridge Gerry, and John and Samuel Adams, who believed the group represented the beginnings of a noble class of soldiers.
    The pace of life in a peacetime army gave Knox more time to spend with his family. He was thankful that after missing the births of several children during the war, he was with his family on Wednesday, July 6, when Lucy gave birth again. She bore a son whom they christened Marcus Camillus, the same name as that of the infant who had died the previous year. Knox was thrilled to write to friends that both Lucy and the children were in a perfect state of health.
    Washington placed Knox in charge of the army in August while he visited Congress to pave the way for his return to Mount Vernon. In weighing his return to civilian life, Knox was apprehensive about his own prospects. Unlike Washington, he had no profitable estate to which to return. Henry could not imagine himself returning to the humble life of a store owner.
    Knox decided to attempt to create a position for himself in the government as "master general of ordnance." Writing to Washington on Wednesday, September 17, 1783, he stressed the need to maintain the country's military stores and offered himself as a candidate for the job: "Although my expectations and wishes are for private life, yet if any office similar to the above, should be formed upon the broad scale of national policy, I might if thought worthy, find it convenient to give it my zealous assistance.“ 2
    He also sought a more prestigious national office. Benjamin