Knoxville's namesake, Henry Knox, was a real firecracker

Of all the towns I’ve called home, none loves its fireworks better than Knoxville. Our motto: The more and the louder the better.

Fourth of July celebrations give us an occasion to get our boom on. And that makes me think of Henry Knox.

It’s coincidental but fitting that Knoxville is named for a guy who loved booms. If Henry were around today, he would embrace our fireworks extravaganza.

Lighting fuses and launching loud projectiles were Knox’s specialty. He was an artillery commander.

And a masterful one. Knox’s artillery and logistical expertise helped us win our war of independence from England – and thus celebrate with fireworks in 2023.

Our city was named Knoxville in 1791 by William Blount, appointed to organize the region by our first president, George Washington. Blount’s superior was Secretary of War Henry Knox.

So Blount maybe was flattering his boss. He deserved it. There are cities named for Knox in six states and Knox counties in nine states. And, of course, Fort Knox, in Kentucky.

If we were to name an All-Revolutionary War honors squad, Henry Knox would be consensus first team.

He was at General Washington’s side through the war, from the beginning in Boston to the finish in Yorktown.

“There is,’’ Washington wrote, “no man in the United States with whom I have been in habits of greater intimacy; no one whom I have loved more sincerely, nor any for whom I have had a greater friendship.’’

Who was this guy?

He was born in Boston. When his father died (or abandoned?), Knox quit school at age 9 to work in a bookstore to support his mother. In the passing years he taught himself French, literature, math, philosophy – and military history.

At 18 he joined an artillery battery. He opened his own bookstore and, at 24, married above his station. Wife Lucy’s family was loyal to the crown and encouraged Henry to join the British army.

He declined. When hostilities began in 1775, Knox sought the fledgling Continental army.

A portly 6-foot-3, Knox cut quite a figure for his era. Early in the war, he caught Washington’s eye. Here’s how:

Henry proposed and executed a mission to Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York, transporting 120,000 pounds of captured British artillery across 300 miles of frozen roads, rivers and mountains back to Boston in the dead of winter. It took six weeks.

It was one of the great feats of the war. With the artillery, Washington chased the British army and navy out of Boston.

When Washington famously crossed the Delaware River in December 1776 to surprise and rout the British in Trenton, New Jersey, Knox supervised the logistics of the risky operation.

Fast forward to 1781, at Yorktown, Virginia. When Washington’s army, with French support, besieged the British army and forced surrender to end the war, Knox’s artillery again was on the spot raining pinpoint hell on the Redcoats.

Said the French General Lafayette to Knox at Yorktown: “Sir, the development of your artillery has been the wonder of the war.’’

Knox wasn’t done. He was our first Secretary of War, serving 1785-1794. He drafted plans for a peacetime military and the creation of training academies for the army (West Point) and navy (Annapolis).

He left government service, moving to Maine, but it didn’t go well. Knox was bankrupt when he died at age 56 in 1806, probably from swallowing a chicken bone that perforated his intestine, causing a fatal infection.

Heck of a story, our city’s namesake.

Someone, maybe Lin-Manuel Miranda, ought to write a hit Broadway musical about it.

Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a weekly sports column for Shopper News.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville fireworks a fitting tribute to namesake Henry Knox