In 1926, New York State Historian Alexander C. Flick recommended to the State’s Advisory Board on Battlefields and Historic Sites, created earlier in the 1920s to oversee the marking and potential acquisition of historic sites, particularly those related to the American Revolution, that the historic route of Henry Knox‘s “Noble Train of Artillery” be marked for the public.
A series of stone monuments with bronze plaques were planned by a committee from New York and Massachusetts to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Knox’s expedition. The project – dubbed the Henry Knox Trail – was one of the earliest heritage trails in the United States.
The committees used Knox’s diary, correspondence, and an 1832 memoir from a participant to determine the route, though more recent research has shown that some of these markers, placed in 1926 and 1927, were located in the wrong spots.
The artillery train – which included 59 cannon from captured forts on Lake Champlain — 30 from Fort Ticonderoga and 29 from Fort Crown Point, left Fort Ticonderoga on December 5, 1775.
It traveled down Lake George to Fort George, through Queensbury on the Old Military Road to Fort Edward, then on to Fort Miller, Schuylerville, Stillwater, Mechincville, Waterford, Cohoes, Albany before making the east side of the Hudson River at what is now Rensselaer, through Greenbush, Schodack, Kinderhook, Ghent and Hillsdale, NY.
From Columbia County, the train of artillery began the most arduous passage, through the mountains of Berkshire County, MA including Alford, Egremont, Great Barrington, Monterey, and Otis (the exact routes here are not known due to shifting roads over time). They continued through Massachusetts, arriving at Cambridge after 57 days in January, 1776.
The New York monuments, which begin in Crown Point, feature identical bronze plaques designed by Albany painter and sculptor Henry James Albright (1887-1951), while the Massachusetts reliefs were designed by Henry L. Norton (1873-1932).
According to a recently revised list by the Wayland Museum, originally 55 identical monuments (though NY and MA markers are differing designs) were placed to mark the Henry Knox Trail, although at least five others have been added by local efforts, including one in Roxbury in 2009, based on the original design, and another at Crown Point in 2017.
The markers do not necessarily sit on the exact route, and some are located where Knox was known to have stayed. The one if Cambridge, MA, has a unique inscription noting the place where the artillery was delivered to George Washington.
The monument in Stillwater, NY is missing. The monument at Dorchester Heights National Historic Site in South Boston was placed on the side of the Monument with a modified design.
The final stop on the Henry Knox Trail is not a marker, but the Dorchester Heights Monument. This marks the site where Knox’s artillery was positioned, forcing the British evacuation of Boston in March 1776.
Several of the markers in Columbia County, were re-positioned in 1975 after North Egremont postmaster Joe Elliott’s research showed they had been incorrectly placed.
Upcoming Events
Warren County, NY is home to five markers. The Warren County commemorations on December 9, 2025 are scheduled at four of the monument sites as follows, with expected participants listed:
• 10 AM, Lake George Battlefield Park, Fort George Road
• 11 AM, Route 9 in Queensbury just north of Crandall Park
• Noon, Town pier/beach at Bolton Landing
• 1 PM, 44 Sabbath Day Point Road, Silver Bay
(The fifth Warren County monument, on Route 9 near the Queensbury-Lake George boundary, will not be the site of a ceremony because of heavy vehicular traffic in the area.)
A replica linstock, historically used to ignite cannons during 18th Century battles, will be a part of the ceremony to recall the functional importance of Knox’s artillery
transport. The public is welcome to attend the 15-minute ceremonies.
Podcast
This week’s “Lake George Battlefield Moments” podcast features Lake George Battlefield Park Alliance Trustees Bruce Venter and John DiNuzzo discussing the re-enactment on December 12 of Knox’s arrival at the head of Lake George in 1775, along with a series of tributes at the Knox monuments in Warren County earlier that week. You can listen here.
Illustrations, from above: A unique Henry Knox Trail marker Wayland, MA placed in 1967; The New York design marker in Roger’s Memorial Park, Bolton Landing; and the Massachusetts design marker in Framingham, MA.
