| Citizens and Soldiers examines the Revolutionary War career of Henry Knox. In 1775, this Boston bookseller assumed command of the Continental Army's first artillery regiment. By early 1777, Congress promoted him to brigadier general with the command of all Continental artillery, eventually including four regiments. Knox became a major general in 1782 and commanded the army following George Washington's retirement at war's end. In 1785, he became the head of the war department, a position he retained for the next decade.;This dissertation attempts to examine Henry Knox's public life and military contributions to the fledgling nation, with a primary focus on the War of Independence. During that eight-year struggle, Knox experienced the trials and tribulations of waging war against the world's most powerful kingdom. As head of the Continental artillery, he attempted to draw upon his past training, the colonies' martial tradition, and the most recent developments in the military art to meet the very practical demands imposed by war. His role in the Revolutionary struggle was therefore important in shaping his postwar views about the nation's security needs, its military institutions, and its civil-military relations. His professional life following the war in many respects constitutes an effort to apply the lessons culled from the fight for American independence.;While examining the wartime service of Henry Knox, this study also tries to set Knox's military ideas and actions in a broader context by highlighting their sources and their relevance to contemporary political and military developments. The dissertation, then, offers a fuller understanding of an important and influential individual and sheds additional light on the various cultural, political, social, historical, and personal forces shaping military developments in the Revolutionary and Early National periods of American history. |
