Henry Knox was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 25 July 1750; upon his father?s death, left school at age twelve to work in a bookstore; joined a local military company at eighteen, was present at the Boston Massacre, 1770, and joined the Boston Grenadier Corps, 1772; married Lucy Flucker in 1774; joined the patriot cause and offered his services to General Washington, 1775; was commissioned colonel of the Continental Regiment of Artillery; led the expedition to transfer captured British guns from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston, 1776, a move that forced the British to evacuate the city; led the Delaware River crossing and participated in the battle of Trenton, 1776; was promoted to brigadier general and chief of artillery of the Continental Army, December 1776; participated in the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown in 1777 and Monmouth in 1778; sat on the court-martial of Major John Andr?, 1780; placed the American artillery at the Yorktown siege, 1781; commanded the West Point post, 1778?1783; organized the Society of the Cincinnati, 1783; was the senior officer of the United States Army, 23 December 1783?20 June 1784; served under the Confederation as secretary at war, 8 March 1785?11 September 1789; served under the Constitution as the first secretary of war, 12 September 1789?31 December 1794; prepared a plan for a national militia, advocated and presided over initial moves to establish a regular navy, urged and initiated the establishment of a chain of coast fortifications, and supervised Indian policy; returned to Thomaston, Maine, in 1796; engaged in lumbering, shipbuilding, stock raising, and brick manufacturing; died in Thomaston on 25 October 1806.