Knox (Henry) is born in Boston.

The son of Irish immigrants, Henry Knox is born near today’s 695 Atlantic Avenue, drops out of school at age 12 after his father’s death to become an apprentice bookbinder and then a clerk at a bookshop. He opens his own bookshop near today’s 238 Washington Street in 1771, marries Lucy Flucker, the daughter of a British officer in 1774,* studies military history, and goes on to play a crucial role in the Revolution in 1775.* An artillery advisor to Gen. George Washington during the Revolutionary War, Knox serves as commander of West Point and the first U.S. Secretary of War. He dies after swallowing a chicken bone at his home in Thomaston, Maine, in 1806.