Heather Cox Richardson tells us of founders of the United States I hadn't heard of: On this date in 1776, after United States Patriots beseiged Boston for months, the British were forced to evacuate, showing that "a ragtag bunch of countrymen and women, working together, could beat the military might of the British army and navy when it turned against its own people." Credit: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/march-16-2026 Read her Letter from an American for the whole story! But I want to focus on two ordinary people who became key figures in the American Revolution: In 1773, Henry Knox was a 23-year-old bookseller in Boston, fascinated by military strategy and tactics. He considered himself a loyal British subject until he saw his rights denied. He had witnessed the Boston Massacre in 1770. Knox met 17-year-old Lucy Flucker when she came to his bookshop. She was the well-educated daughter of wealthy Boston Loyalists. They married in 1774 despite her parents' objections. They allowed the marriage but disowned her. After the battles of Lexington and Concord, Massacusetts militiamen laid siege to Boston. The British still supplied British Loyalists in Boston by sea, so the city hung on. Townspeople like Henry and Lucy Knox had to decide whether to remain loyal to Britain or join the Patriots. Henry fled Boston to join the Patriots, and Lucy chose to follow him, leaving her family behind. Soon they were separated, Henry with the siege, Lucy unsettled, in the homes of friends and rented rooms in Worcester. The Patriots knew the British Fort Ticonderoga had heavy cannon but was only lightly guarded. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress authorized Benedict Arnold of Connecticut to raise men to capture the fort. The Patriots succeeded and seized more than 180 cannons and other weapons. Henry developed a plan to retrieve the cannons from Fort Ticonderoga. In November, 1775, George Washington gave the order, and Henry made the 300-mile trip, in winter, arriving at Ticonderoga on December 5. He selected 59 cannons, mortars, and howitzers, and his men built barges to carry the weaponry across Lake George before it froze. Then they built "42 exceeding strong sleeds" to drag the weaponry to Albany. Easier over snow than in summer, but the sleds crashed through the ice on rivers. They recovered the weapons and continued what Knox called "a noble train of artillery" over the Berkshires, through the Connecticut River Valley, and on to Worcester, where Henry and Lucy got to see each other. Knox delivered the cannons to Washington in Cambridge in early March. The cannons were deployed to threaten British soldiers in Boston and British ships in Boston Harbor. The British, outgunned, loaded more than 10,000 soldiers and 1,000 Loyalists onto their ships and carried them away from Boston. Knox remained with the Continental Army, rising in the ranks and playing key roles. Lucy visited him at war camps as often as she could, but they were separated for months at a time. They exchanged hundreds of letters which survive as a historical record. After the war ended in 1783, they lived in Philadelphia and Rockland, Maine. Lucy bore thirteen children, but only three survived to adulthood. Henry died in 1806, age 56, and Lucy in 1824, at 67. Images: Public Domain https://collections.mfa.org/objects/30880/general-henry-knox https://www.knoxmuseum.org/ A short ride, as I needed to be back for a call. Just the steep climb up Fountaingrove and the steep (in places) climb back up to Varenna. I hope at least the climbing is beneficial. Cooler, in the 70s. I'm still not confident I'll be able to do any of the century rides I've signed up for, starting with the Wine Country Century May 2.