Later, in the
South, he rendered brilliant service which made possible the
final American victory at Yorktown.
Henry Knox, a Boston bookseller, had, like Greene, only slight
training for military command. It shows the dearth of officers to
fight the highly disciplined British army that Knox, at the age
of twenty-five, and fresh from commercial life, was placed in
charge of the meager artillery which Washington had before
Boston. It was Knox, who, with heart-breaking labor, took to the
American front the guns captured at Ticonderoga. Throughout the
war he did excellent service with the artillery, and Washington
placed a high value upon his services. He valued too those of
Daniel Morgan, an old fighter in the Indian wars, who left his
farm in Virginia when war broke out, and marched his company of
riflemen to join the army before Boston. He served with Arnold at
the siege of Quebec, and was there taken prisoner. He was
exchanged and had his due revenge when he took part in the
capture of Burgoyne's army. He was now at Valley Forge. Later he
had a command under Greene in the South and there, as we shall
see, he won the great success of the Battle of Cowpens in
January, 1781.
It was the peculiar misfortune of Washington that the three men,
Arnold, Lee, and Gates, who ought to have rendered him the
greatest service, proved unfaithful.
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