A New York State Designated "Quality Community"

Past Feature Articles     Looking for Info

Henry Knox Cannon Trail

Have you ever wondered what the granite marker commemorated at the intersection of Routes 9 and 20 in the town? Even if you did, it is almost impossible to read the marker as you drive by. It lies on a grassy island between the north and southbound lanes of Route 9 where it splits from Route 20.

The marker, Number 25, is one in a series of 30 New York State markers commemorating the trail that Colonel Henry Knox took during the American Revolution in the winter of 1775-76 to move 59 cannon over 300 miles from the forts on Lake Champlain to the Boston area.

At the end of 1775 the British army still controlled Boston. General George Washington knew he could dislodge the British from Boston if he attacked them from the heights above the city, but he lacked the artillery to do so. The artillery that Washington needed was at the British captured forts of Crown Point and Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. Washington asked Henry Knox to organize the transport of 59 captured cannon from Lake Champlain to Albany and then east to Boston.
 

The transport started in December of 1775 and arrived at Cambridge near the end of January of 1776. By March of 1776 the guns were ready to bombard Boston. British Lord William Howe quickly recognized that the evacuation of Boston was the only the way to save his army. On March 18, 1776, the American army recaptured the city of Boston.

In 1926 during the 150th anniversary of the American Revolution the state decided to mark the trail over which Henry Knox traveled. By 1927 thirty granite markers of the same pattern were cut and installed, each with a bronze tablet featuring a map of the trail, a heroic image in relief of cannon being dragged by ox sled through the snow and the words:

 
Through this place passed General Henry Knox in the winter of 1775-1776 to deliver to General George Washington at Cambridge the Train of Artillery from Fort Ticonderoga used to force the British army to evacuate Boston. Erected by the State of New York during the Sesquicentennial of the American Revolution.
 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts also erected markers of a different design from the New York State line to Boston. The Knox Cannon Trail is one of the earliest examples of an historic or heritage trail in the United States.

The Town of Schodack and the other towns along the Knox Cannon Trail participated in a reenactment of the cannon transport in winter of 1976 as part of the Bicentennial of the American Revolution. A January 13, 1976 article in The Sorensco Sun, a local newspaper at the time, documented the Town of Schodack's role in the reenactment. The local volunteers arrived from East Greenbush on January 4, 1976 on a bitterly cold day and camped at the Maple Hill High School parking lot. They were led by fifes playing Yankee Doodle. After local festivities, wagon train members stayed overnight with local residents and continued on to the Massachusetts state line the next day. There they met up with the contingent from Massachusetts that would continue on to the Boston area.

Re-enactment photos reproduced from The Sorensco Sun, 13 Jan 1976, about the 1976 Knox Cannon Trail Reenactment

On February 14, 2008 the Town of Schodack passed a resolution in support of restoration of the Henry Knox Cannon Trail monuments. The Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area will coordinate the efforts to clean and repair the monuments along the trail. More information can be found at their website and, about General Knox, at Knox's Headquarters; at Marist College's "Hudson River Valley Institute" or by using a search engine such as Google and entering Henry Knox Cannon Trail.

November 2008

Back to History Page

Diane Hutchinson,
Town Historian

Home Page   Contact Us   Maps