Henry and Lucy Knox collection, 1777-1807

Summary

Creator:

William L. Clements Library

Abstract:

The Henry and Lucy Knox collection contains miscellaneous letters and documents related to Henry Knox, Continental Army officer and 1st United States secretary of war, and his wife Lucy Flucker Knox. The bulk of the collection is comprised of War Department documents concerning the American forces on the Ohio Frontier between 1791 and 1794.

Extent:

50 items

Language:

English

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Philip Heslip, June 2011

Background

Scope and Content:

The Henry and Lucy Knox collection (50 items) contains miscellaneous letters and documents related to Henry Knox, Continental Army officer and 1st United States secretary of war, and his wife Lucy Flucker Knox. The bulk of the collection is comprised of War Department documents concerning the American forces on the Ohio Frontier between 1791 and 1794.

The collection contains 4 items related to the American Revolution, including three letters to Benjamin Lincoln concerning military intelligence and prisoner exchange with the British (1780-1781), and a draft of an 11-page letter to General George Washington, in which Knox discussed possible courses of action for the Continental Army to take after their winter training at Valley Forge (April 23, 1778).

Material related to Knox's activities in the War Department comprise the bulk of the collection. These document his decisions regarding military provisioning (food and arms), recruiting, troop payments and pensions, and logistics, and his leadership role under the Continental Congress and President Washington. Of note are 20 letters from Henry Knox to Quartermaster Samuel Hodgdon concerning preparations for war with the Western Indian Confederacy of the Miami River Valley in the Ohio Territory (1791-1794).

Items of note include:

• September 28, 1789: Knox to Arthur St. Clair concerning a bill about troops is postponed; Senate postponed treaty with Six Nations; advised president to ratify treaty with Wyandot
• June 27, 1792: Henry Knox to Joseph Brant, inviting Brant, a Mohawk, to a treaty with the Six Nations
• February 28, 1793: Henry Knox to William Hull concerning American relations with Indians and a council with hostile Indians to negotiate peace. Discusses arrangements that need to be made with Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada John Simcoe
• May 3, 1794: Henry Knox to Samuel Hodgdon regarding the inspection of articles for the United States Army and complaints made by General Anthony Wayne

The collection contains six items related to Lucy Flucker Knox. These include one letter from Henry to Lucy, four from Lucy to Henry, and one from Lucy to Henry Jackson.

• May 13, 1777: Lucy Knox to Henry Knox, discussing the prices of local goods, the health of their child, and advice on attacking Boston and the attitudes of the people of Danbury, Connecticut, toward the war
• October 25, 1777: Lucy Knox to Henry Knox expressing tenderness, love, and concern for the effect the war will have on him: "I fear I greatly fear, that in the soldier I shall lose the lover, the tender, delicate engaging friend…"
• June 11, 1780: Lucy Knox in Morristown, New Jersey, to Henry Knox, discussing Dr. Shippen's treatment of her poor health, news of their children, her lack of tea and spirits [liquor], and waiting for a black servant to arrive
• August 11, 1806: Henry Knox to Lucy Knox discussing business matters and the Thomas O. Selfridge and Benjamin Austin affair
• February 17, 1807: Lucy Knox to General Henry Jackson, discussing her recovery from an illness, and news of her son Henry Jackson Knox
• Undated: From Lucy Knox in Boston during the Revolution to Henry Knox, relating her recent stiff neck, her growing anxiety over not hearing from him, and her plan to join him soon in New York

Biographical / Historical:

Henry Knox (1750-1806) was born in Boston to William Knox and Mary Campbell. He married Lucy Flucker (1756--1824) in 1774. They had 12 children, but only three lived to adulthood. Before his military career, Knox owned a bookstore in Boston. He joined the local militia, and at the outbreak of the American Revolution, befriended General George Washington and served as his civilian military advisor. In November 1775, Washington appointed Knox chief of artillery for the Continental Army. Knox participated in many key events in the Revolution. He headed the mission to bring the arsenal at Fort Ticonderoga to Cambridge, Massachusetts, which Washington used in the siege of Dorchester Heights. He accompanied Washington in the campaigns in New York and New Jersey (1776-1777); trained troops and officers in the use of artillery at Pluckemin, New Jersey (1778-1779); and was a member of John André's court martial in 1780. He was promoted major general in 1782, and established a headquarters at West Point.

The Continental Congress appointed Knox secretary of war on March 8, 1785, and he retained the post until 1794. Knox focused much of his attention on managing Indian affairs in the Ohio territory. He was in charge of supplying the frontier forces, and involved in the decision-making that lead to Brigadier General Josiah Harmar's defeat at Fort Washington in 1790, St. Clair's defeat (Battle of the Wabash) in 1791, and the ongoing negotiations with the Western Indian Confederacy (the Miami, Shawnee, and Delaware Indians) between 1792 and 1794. Knox left the War Department in 1794 and retired to a mansion called Montpelier, in Thomaston, Maine, which Lucy Knox had inherited. Henry speculated heavily in land and various local industries, such as lumber, shipbuilding, brick making, and quarrying. His investments all failed and debtors forced him to sell much of his land. Knox died in 1806 from an infection after swallowing a chicken bone.

Lucy Flucker Knox was born in Boston to Thomas Flucker, the royal secretary of Massachusetts Bay. Her family, who had strong Loyalist ties, disapproved of her marriage to Henry, and became estranged from her after the Revolution. During the war, Lucy split her time between staying with friends and living with Henry at various military camps. After Henry's death, Lucy was forced to sell much of her belongings to pay off outstanding debts. She remained in Montpelier until her death in 1824.

Acquisition Information:

1931-2011. M-123, M-342, M-500, M-920, M-921, M-1047, M-1058, M-1069, M-1073, M-1074, M-1076, M-1094, M-1102, M-1105, M-1162, M-1214, M-1227, M-1328, M-1923, M-4868.1 .

Custodial History:

The bulk of Henry Knox's War Department manuscripts, related to the Old Northwest, came to the Clements Library through a generous donation of John H. Martin, 2011.

Processing information:

Cataloging funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the "We the People" project.

Arrangement:

This collection is organized chronologically.

Rules or Conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Related

Additional Descriptive Data:

Related Materials

The following Clements Library collections contain approximately 300 letters by or to Henry Knox between them:

• The Henry Clinton papers: Henry Knox et. al. to William Greene
• The Nicholas Fish papers: Between Henry Knox and Nicholas Fish (7 items, 1785-1786)
• The Nathanael Greene papers: Between Henry Knox and Nathanael Greene (8 items, 1780-1784), from Henry Knox to Catherine Greene (4 items 1787-1790)
• The Josiah Harmar papers: To and from Henry Knox (174 items, 1784-1793)
• The James McHenry papers: Between Henry Knox and James McHenry (August 5, 1798, March 28, 1800, and April 19, 1800), Henry Knox to Clarke (May 18, 1793), and between Henry Knox and Anthony Wayne (9 letters 1792-1794)
• The Schoff Revolutionary War collection: Anthony Wayne to Henry Knox (December 25, 1789)
• The William Petty, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne, 2nd Earl of Shelburne papers: Andrew Elliot's description of a conversation with Knox (Volume 68, October 9, 1782)
• The John Graves Simcoe papers: Henry Knox to Joseph Brant (June 27, 1792 and enclosure) and draft letter to Knox (1792)
• The George Washington collection: George Washington to major generals William Heath and Henry Knox (September 23, 1782)
• The Washingtoniana collection: Henry Knox to Thomas Smith (January 10, 1792)
• The Anthony Wayne papers: To and from Henry Knox (30 items, 1790-1795)
• The Abraham Whipple papers: Henry Knox to James B. Germain (December 22, 1783)

The Benjamin Bussey collection contains two letters from Lucy Knox to Benjamin Bussey (December 26, 1813 and January 20, 1822)

Knox Portraits in the Clements Library Graphics Division:

• Edwin, David, and Charles Willson Peale. General Knox. 18--.
• Phillibrown, Thomas, and Alonzo Chappel. Major General Henry Knox: From the Original Picture In the Possession of the Publishers. New York: Johnson, Fry & Co., 1857.
• Prud'homme, John Francis Eugene, and James Herring. Maj. Gen. Henry Knox: From the Original Picture by Stuart In Faneuil Hall, Boston. New York, 1834.
• Smith, Henry Wright, and Edward Savage. Knox. 18--.
• Whitechurch, Robert. Maj. Gen. Henry Knox. New York: G.P. Putnam & Co., 18--.

Broadsides and Printed Material:

• St. Clair, Arthur. The Causes of the Existing Hostilities between the United States and Certain Tribes of Indians North-west of the Ohio: Stated and Explained from Official and Authentic Documents, and Published in Obedience to the Orders of the President of the United States. Philadelphia: Printed by D.C. Claypoole, 1792.
• Knox, Henry. The Committee, Directed to Report on Such of the Ports and Harbors of the United States, as Require to be Put in a State of Defence, With an Estimate of the Expense Thereof, Report as Their Opinion: That the Following Ports and Harbors Ought to Be Put in a State of Defence, to Wit... [Philadelphia: Printed by Francis Childs and John Swaine, 1794.

Bibliography

Ward, Harry M. "Knox, Henry." American National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2000.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Indians of North America--Ohio.
Indians of North America--Wars--1790-1794.
Kekionga, Battle of, Ohio, 1791.
Wayne's Campaign, 1794.

Formats:

Letters (correspondence)
Orders (military records)

Names:

United States. War Dept.
Hodgdon, Samuel, 1745-1824.
Selfridge, Thomas O. (Thomas Oliver), d. 1816.
Fish, Nicholas, 1758-1833.
Knox, Henry, 1750-1806.
Knox, Lucy Flucker, d. 1824.
Mentges, Francis, d. 1805.

Places:

Northwest, Old--History--1775-1865.
United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783.