Knox Trail Honor Walk Will Benefit Fort Ticonderoga
Two editors from “Patriots of the American Revolution” magazine plan to hike the entire Knox Trail, from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston, to honor Henry Knox and raise funds for Revolutionary War sites, Fort Ticonderoga included.
Benjamin Smith and Alex Culpepper will start their hike in April. Donations received by corporations and private individuals will be collected by the American Revolution Association and distributed directly and equally to Fort Ticonderoga, the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga, the Boston National Historical Park and the General Henry Knox Museum in Maine.
They will follow the same route traversed by Henry Knox in the winter of 1775 and 1776, when he and his men retrieved 60 tons of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga and delivered it to George Washington’s troops outside Boston.
According to local historian Nick Westbrook, , “The guns of Ticonderoga convinced the occupying British army to take ship and depart on Saint Patrick’s Day, 1776.”
Knox’s achievement is commemorated by monuments along the trail, including those at Fort Ticonderoga, Sabbath Day Point, Bolton Landing, Lake George and Queensbury.
Erected in 1926 and recently restored, the monuments contain identical bronze plaques that read: ”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.”
According to “Patriots of the American Revolution” magazine, Smith and Culpepper will leave Fort Ticonderoga on April 6, walking south along Lake George and the Hudson River to Kinderhook, New York, where they will veer east into Massachusetts, reaching Dorchester Heights in Boston National Historical Park on April 18. Along the way they will photograph the monuments and document their trip for the magazine.
Their goal, the magazine said, is promote the Knox Trail as an important American historical route and help the American Revolution Association raise funds to support the museums and parks connected to Henry Knox and the Knox Trail.
Anyone wishing to donate to the effort should send checks to American Revolution Association, Knox Trail Honor Walk, P.O. Box 838, Yellow Springs, Ohio, 45387.