The Education of Henry Knox

Posted on November 26, 2025

The Education of Henry Knox

There is no Revolutionary hero so connected with books as Henry Knox. A bookseller before the war, he is indelibly associated with the printed word’s relationship to military practice. This is ironic though, as Knox lacked virtually any formal military training or education. The popular image, and one perpetuated in subsequent histories, of the young Knox spending idle hours reading the stock on his shelves is inaccurate. Rather, Henry Knox’s learning reveals a thoughtful mind hungry for information who sought out that knowledge, despite his origin and education.(1)

Knox’s father died when he was 11 and needing to fend for the family he was unable to complete even grammar school. His trade however was bookselling which exposed him to the literary world, for a decade he worked in the shop of Wharton and Bowes in the heart of Boston. In 1771 an advertisement for the New London Bookstore established Henry Knox as a businessman in his own right, at the age of 21.(2)

Knox’s bookstore operated until 1775 when the British occupation, and his politics, ended the business. During that time he sold nearly 800 different titles, including many editions of both Scots and English bibles, in addition to blank books and ledgers, stationary such as paper, ink, penknives, sealing wax and wafers, even flutes, fifes, walking sticks, spectacles, and even coffee, sugar, and wine.(3)

With all this stock, however, very few were military books. With no regular army in America there simply wasn’t much demand for such volumes, at least outside those used to train the militia. Knox stocked 7 volumes of John Muller’s works on Mathematics, Fortifications, Artillery, and related topics. Written by the master instructor of Britain’s Royal Military Academy these were the most accessible English sources on these arts. In addition he carried a translation of Military Instructions to Young Officers by the King of Prussia, Pringles diseases of the Army, (likely of more interest to physicians than soldiers), and finally the Plan of the discipline of the Norfolk Militia, which was mandated for the colony’s militia until late 1774 (Fig. 1).(4)

This was the extent of his military titles, hardly an exhaustive course on the martial arts. As the war began in 1775 though, Americans were hungry for books that could help them get up to speed to meet the growing crisis. John Adams keenly felt this need. He wrote a friend then serving in the Continental Army seeking “to know what Books upon Martial Science are to be found in the Army” and noting that “If it is objected that Books are not to be had, Measures ought to be taken to procure them. To this End I wish to collect [a] perfect List of the best Authors,”(5) Adams also reached out to Knox, whose career he helped foster. In November he told Knox “I want to know if there is a compleat set of Books upon the military Art in all its Branches in the Library of Harvard Colledge, and what Books are the best upon those subjects.”(6)

The small matter of transporting 60 tons of artillery from Ticonderoga delayed his response, but after returning to the American camp Knox apologized and presented Adams with a detailed list of works that could transform the amateur American soldiers into something like professionals. Knox reading list reveals his erudition and the breadth of his own reading on military affairs, which went well beyond his own stock, his native tongue, and the typical extent of American military reading.(7)

Knox’s foremost recommendation to Adams was Marshal Saxe’s Reveries, or Memoires Concerning the Art of War, the product of perhaps the most successful French officer of the century (Fig. 2). Translated into English in the 1750s, Saxe’s broad ranging work covered a range of theoretical and practical ways to improve soldiering and combat effectiveness. Knox was so complimentary that he claimed Saxe “stalks a god in war.”

But Knox also suggested practical works such as Chevalier de Clariac’s Field Engineer, multiple translations of which had been produced in England and Ireland (Fig. 3) in addition to English works such as John Cleve Pleydell’s Field Fortifications and Francis Holliday’s Practical Gunnery. His recommendations for more detailed works on fortifications and siegecraft, combining both engineering and artillery as well as grand strategy, were from eminent French and Dutch authors. Among his recommendations were Count Pagan, Belidor, Blondel, Coehorn, and of course the inimitable Marshal Vauban whose work on siege warfare and fortifications was the most influential of the era. The only crossover with the stock of Knox’s own store were the works of John Muller, which, in fact, Knox admitted Muller “has compil’d principally from the above.”

As a reflection of Knox’s own reading his recommendations reveal an understanding of military science reflective of the broader Atlantic World, not just a provincial bookseller and his wares. Knox’s knowledge was the result of his concerted efforts to find and consume literature on the art of war, rather than a by-product of his business. This took time and effort, especially as he never attended college, even if he was able to use the library at Harvard as has been suggested. Knox developed a cosmopolitan military understanding that was informed by books and reading equal to professional soldiers, but not those most commonly consumed by Americans.(8)

Knox had already put this knowledge to use as a volunteer, helping lay out fortifications in the American lines outside Boston and earning the attention of a number of influential officers and politicians. At an October conference between Washington and representatives from New England Knox’s name was floated for a commission as Lieutenant Colonel of engineers.(9)

Even with no formal military training or higher education, Knox had the confidence in the knowledge gained through his extensive reading to request a full colonelcy, in command of the army’s artillery regiment in place of its old and unliked chief.(10)

For the present Knox had to be content with the mission to Ticonderoga, and although he left Boston in November only as “Mr Henry Knox,” the day after Washington issued his orders the Congress in Philadelphia approved his promotion to Colonel, following a recommendation from Washington himself. In 1779 Philadelphia printers Styner and Cist acknowledged Knox in the of their reprint of John Muller’s Treatise of Artillery, their dedication was a reflection of the experience that by then complimented Knox’s reading in this, the first book on artillery printed in the United States.

1. Jordan D. Fiore, “The Noble Train of Artillery” 200 Years Ago and Today (Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bicentennial Commission, 1976), 11.
2. “Henry Knox – Bookseller,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 61 (Oct., 1927 – Jun., 1928), 227; Joseph R. Riling, The Art and Science of War in America: A Bibliography of American Military Imprints (Alexandria Bay and Bloomfield: Museum Restoration Service, 1990), 2.
3. A catalogue of books, imported and to be sold by Henry Knox, at the London Book-store, in Cornhill, Boston (Boston: 1773).
4. Riling, The Art and Science of War in America; A catalogue of books, imported and to be sold by Henry Knox, at the London Book-store, in Cornhill, Boston (Boston: 1773); “To Be Ready At An Hour’s Warning” – The Massachusetts Militia System on the Eve of Lexington and Concord, https://historicalnerdery01.blogspot.com/2018/04/to-be-ready-at-hours-warning_12.html
5. “John Adams to William Tudor, 12 October 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-03-02-0099.
6. “John Adams to Henry Knox, 11 November 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-03-02-0152.
7. “Henry Knox to John Adams, 16 May 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-04-02-0081.
8. Sandra L. Powers “Studying the Art of War: Military Books Known to American Officers and Their French Counterparts during the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century” The Journal of Military History, Vol. 70, No. 3 (Jul., 2006), 781-814.
9. Minutes of the Conference, 18–24 October 1775, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-02-02-0175-0003.
10. “Henry Knox to John Adams, 26 October 1775,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-03-02-0133.

Figure 1. The Norfolk militia exercise detailed the manual of arms and basic maneuvers that remained the extent of most formal American military knowledge until the Revolution. (Fort Ticonderoga Museum Collection)

Figure 2. The title page of a London translation of Saxe’s Reveries, one of the most influential military works of the 18^th century and highly regarded by Knox. (Fort Ticonderoga Museum Collection)

Figure 3. The practical value of Clairac’s Field Engineer made it a popular resource for officers on both sides. General Richard Montgomery owned a copy in French and this edition was carried into the field by General Simon Fraser in 1777. It was pilfered from the baggage of the retreating British after Fraser was killed at the Battle of Bemis Heights. (Fort Ticonderoga Museum Collection)