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Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806) was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, and also served as the first United States Secretary of War from 1789–1794. Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, he owned and operated a bookstore there, cultivating an interest in military history and joining a local artillery company. When the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, he befriended General George Washington, and quickly rose to become the chief artillery officer of the Continental Army. In this role he accompanied Washington on most of his campaigns, and had some involvement in many major actions of the war. He established training centers for artillerymen and manufacturing facilities for weaponry that were valuable assets to the fledgling nation. Following the adoption of the United States Constitution, he became President Washington's Secretary of War. In this role he oversaw the development of coastal fortifications, worked to improve the preparedness of local militia, and oversaw the nation's military activity in the Northwest Indian War. He was formally responsible for the nation's relationship with the Indian population in the territories it claimed, articulating a policy that established federal government supremacy over the states in relating to Indian nations, and called for treating Indian nations as sovereign. Knox's idealistic views on the subject were frustrated by ongoing illegal settlements and fraudulent land transfers involving Indian lands. He retired to what is now Thomaston, Maine in 1795, where he oversaw the rise of a business empire built on borrowed money. He died in 1806 from an infection received after swallowing a chicken bone, leaving an estate that was bankrupt. ==Early life and marriage== Henry Knox's parents, William and Mary (née Campbell), were of Scotch-Irish origin.〔Stark's antique views of the town of Boston. 1901.〕 His father was a ship builder who, due to financial reverses, left the family for St Eustatius in the West Indies where he died in 1759 of unknown causes.〔Puls (2008), pp. 1–4〕 Henry was admitted to the Boston Latin School, where he studied Greek, Latin, arithmetic, and European history.〔Puls (2008), p. 3〕 Since he was the oldest son still at home when his father died, he left school at the age of 12 and became a clerk in a bookstore to support his mother. The shop's owner, Nicholas Bowes, became a surrogate father figure for the boy.〔Puls (2008), pp. 1, 3〕 However, Knox was also involved in Boston's street gangs, becoming one of the toughest fighters in his neighborhood.〔 Impressed by a military demonstration, he joined a local artillery company called The Train at 18.〔Callahan (1958), p. 19〕 On March 5, 1770 Knox was a witness to the Boston massacre. According to his affidavit, he attempted to defuse the situation, trying to convince the British soldiers to return to their quarters.〔Puls (2008), pp. 8–10〕 He also testified at the trials of the soldiers, in which all but two were acquitted.〔Puls (2008), p. 12〕 In 1771 he opened his own bookshop, the ''London Book Store'', in Boston "opposite William's Court in Cornhill."〔Boston News Letter, August 15, 1771〕〔Puls (2008), p. 13〕 Largely self-educated, he stocked books on military science, and also questioned soldiers who frequented his shop in military matters. In 1772 he cofounded the Boston Grenadier Corps as an offshoot of The Train, and served as its second in command. Shortly before his 23rd birthday Knox accidentally discharged a shotgun, shooting two fingers off his left hand. He managed to bind the wound up and reach a doctor, who sewed the wound up.〔Puls (2008), p. 14〕 Knox supported the Sons of Liberty, an organization of agitators against what they considered repressive British colonial policies. It is unknown if he participated in the 1773 Boston Tea Party, but he did serve on guard duty before the incident to make sure no tea was unloaded from the ''Dartmouth'', one of the ships involved.〔Puls (2008), p. 16〕 The next year he refused a consignment of tea sent to him by James Rivington, a Loyalist in New York.〔N. Brooks, p. 15〕 Henry married Lucy Flucker (1756–1824), the daughter of Boston Loyalists, on June 16, 1774, despite opposition from her father that was due to their differing political views.〔Puls (2008), p. 18〕 Lucy's brother served in the British Army, and her family attempted to lure Knox to service there.〔N. Brooks, p. 25〕 Despite long separations due to his military service, the couple were devoted to one another for the rest of his life, and carried on an extensive correspondence. Since the couple fled Boston in 1775, she remained essentially homeless until the British evacuated the city in March 1776. Even afterward, she often traveled to visit Knox in the field. Her parents left, never to return, with the British during their withdrawal from Boston after the Continental Army fortified Dorchester Heights, a success that ironically hinged upon Knox's Ticonderoga expedition.〔Puls (2008), p. 45〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Henry Knox」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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