Our stories of America should be remembered. Here is my favorite from the Revolutionary War.
Combat actually started before the famous Declaration of Independence was signed in July of 1776. George Washington was commissioned to head up the "army" of the colonials a whole year earlier.
In June of 1775, he assumed command of the Continental Army at the Siege of Boston. The British were bottled up in Boston Bay and the standoff lasted many months.
Washington's young officers were inexperienced but dedicated patriots. One of them, Henry Knox, was a 25-year-old bookseller whose credentials were only that he had read a few military books. But he was confident and bold.
British-held Fort Ticonderoga, about 300 miles north of Boston, had been captured. The British had abandoned their artillery. Knox suggested that Washington send him north to bring it all down to Boston. Washington agreed.
So Knox took off as winter started in November, with animals and wooden sleds, over 300 miles of mountain trails, to bring back 59 cannons to his commander in Boston.
(cont'd tomorrow)
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