USA > Maine > Biographical encyclopedia of Maine of the nineteenth century > Part 28
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of rebels passed beyond the right of the Thirtieth, and penetrated almost in rear of the centre of the army, capturing for a short time a regular battery. It was not until both flanks were enveloped and the whole regiment in danger of being cut off that the soldiers of the Thirtieth in obedience to orders yielded the ground. Colonel Fessenden rallied the regiment on the flank of the advancing supports, and the Thirtieth shared in the charge which drove the enemy from the field. At the commencement of the action the brigade commander, Colonel Benedict, was killed, and Colonel Fessenden received orders to take command of the brigade. The heaviest losses in this battle were in the Third Brigade, which had borne the first onset of the enemy, and the killed and wounded in the Thirtieth Maine amounted to one half the loss of the whole brigade. The disaster of the 8th and the low stage of water in Red River, combined with the difficulty of bringing up supplies, prevented advantage being taken of the victory at Pleasant Hill, and compelled the retirement of the army to Natchitoches. Colonel Fessenden commanded the brigade in the retreat to Natchitoches, where the army remained till the 20th of April, constructing intrenchments and preparing to retreat to Alexandria. On the night of the 21st the brigade moved out several miles from camp, and marching all day on the 22d, arrived at sunset in the vicinity of Montell's Bluffs, where the road from Natchitoches crosses old Red River on its way to Alexandria. While the army lay at Natchitoches the enemy had taken possession of this crossing on the line of retreat, and the morning of the 23d of April found him in strong force on the bluffs of the opposite bank, and commanding the crossing. General Emory, who had with him the Nineteenth Corps and detachments of the Thirteenth Corps, immediately attacked the enemy in front with his artillery, and directed General Birge to ford the river above with detachments of the Thirteenth Corps, his own brigade, and the brigade of Colonel Fessenden, and drive the rebels from their position. The troops retraced their steps, forded the river through water which came up to the breasts of the soldiers, and after several hours spent in toiling through the woods and clearings, emerged into the presence of the enemy. The latter occupied a position of great strength on the crest of a steep hill in the edge of the woods, protected in front by fences and covered on one flank by the river and on the other by an impassable swamp. It could be approached only in front over ground swept by the enemy's fire. The position was pro- nounced by the commanding-general to be as difficult of access as Port Hudson or Vicks- burg. General Birge directed Colonel Fessenden to take this position by assault. Forming his regiments for attack, he led them against the enemy. The brigade swept gallantly over the heavy fences, across an open field and up the hill, in the face of a murderous fire, and took the position. The regiments which made this difficult assault were the Thirtieth Maine Veterans, the One Hundred and Sixty-second, the One Hundred and Sixty-fifth, and the One Hundred and Seventy-third New York Volunteers. The enemy attempted to make another stand, but retreated at the advance of the brigade and disappeared. The victory
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in this action opened the line of retreat to Alexandria, which the army reached two days afterward. The regiments suffered heavily, losing many brave officers and men in killed and wounded. Colonel Fessenden himself was badly wounded, being struck on the right leg by a Minie-ball, which shattered the bone and obliged him to be carried from the field. Two years later, General Emory, in his testimony before the Army Retiring Board, stated that he "considered the success of his movement that day greatly if not entirely owing to the gallantry and good conduct of General Fessenden. In consequence of the severe character of this wound and the inflammation which accompanied it, it was found necessary to amputate his leg. The Secretary of War, upon receiving the dispatch from the com- manding-general in Louisiana announcing the victory at Montell's Bluffs, and that Colonel Fessenden had been wounded, immediately nominated him to the Senate as a brigadier- general, and he was unanimously confirmed, without the usual reference to the Military Committee. Having recovered enough to travel, he was sent North, and on arriving in Portland he was honored with a public reception by the civil authorities, the military, and the people of the city.
In September, 1864, General Fessenden was ordered to Washington, and not having sufficiently recovered to take the field, he was assigned to duty in Washington. In the spring of 1865 he applied for active service, and was placed in command of the First Infan- try Division of the Department of West Virginia, with headquarters at Grafton. This divi- sion held West Virginia, and covered the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. At this time the Government was raising a corps of picked men, to be known as the First Corps of Veterans, which was to be commanded by the gallant Hancock. Great care had been exercised to make it a select body of veteran soldiers. One division only was raised, and the close of the war caused it to be discharged from service. General Fessenden was selected to command the First Brigade in this division, and remained with it until the fall of 1865, when it was broken up. During the summer he was also a member of a board for the examination of officers, and a member of the military commission which tried Captain Wirz, the Andersonville jailer, for cruelties perpetrated upon Northern soldiers in viola- tion of the laws of war.
In November, 1865, General Fessenden was appointed major-general of volunteers, and was on duty in the Department of Washington. He afterward commanded the Dis- trict of Maryland, West Virginia, and the valley of the Shenandoah in the Bureau of Refu- gees, Freedmen, and abandoned lands, until September, 1866, when at his own request he was mustered out of the volunteer service. In the army of the United States he had been breveted major and lieutenant-colonel for gallant and distinguished services; colonel and brigadier-general for gallant and meritorious services in the field, and major-general U. S. Army for gallant and meritorious services during the war. Upon the reorganization of the U. S. Army in 1866 he was appointed a lieutenant-colonel in the infantry, which he declined
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on account of disabilities caused by wounds received in battle, and asked to be ordered before a retiring board, of which Major-General Meade was president. By the recommen- dation of the board he was placed on the retired list, with the rank of brigadier-general. He returned to his home in Portland, was admitted a member of the bar, and practised his profession till 1874 in partnership with his brother General James D. Fessenden and Hon. M. M. Butler. In 1876 he was elected Mayor of Portland, and served one year, declining a renomination.
General Fessenden was married on the 26th of August, 1863, to Ellen W. Fox, the only daughter of Hon. Edward Fox. They have one child, Edward F. Fessenden, born April 22, 1866.
NOX, HENRY, of Thomaston, Maine, Major-General in the Revolutionary Army of the United States. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 25th of July, 1750.
The paternal ancestors of this, one of the greatest of the Revolutionary heroes, were originally found under the name of Knox in the Lowlands of Scotland. A place bearing that designation is within the Barony of Renfrew, on the southern border of the Clyde. John Knox, the immortal reformer of Scotland, was of this family. In the reign of James I. many of the Knoxes settled in the North of Ireland. Thence some of them emigrated to America. Stanch Presbyterians, they were no less stanch lovers of liberty, and were ardent patriots in the prolonged disputes and troubles that ended in national independence of Great Britain. Some of these emigrants landed at Boston in 1729, and established the religious society which developed into the Federal Street Church-an edifice made remarkable by the eloquence of its minister, Dr. Channing. The tradition in the family of Henry Knox was that its forefathers came from the vicinity of Belfast, Ireland; and that William Knox, his father, was a native of St. Eustatia, one of the West India islands. William Knox married Mary, daughter of Robert Campbell of Boston, on the IIth of February, 1735 (O. S.). William Knox was a ship-master, and owned property in Boston, which he lost by misfortune. In 1759 he returned to St. Eustatia, and died there on the 25th of March, 1762. His widow died in Boston, Decem- ber 14, 1771.
Henry Knox was the seventh of ten sons, of whom only four reached maturity, and lived with his parents in the family home on Sea Street, opposite the head of Drake's Wharf, until 1758. Losing his father about the time that he had completed his grammar- school course, young Knox was compelled to assume the care of his widowed mother, and younger brother William. Finding employment in the store of Wharton & Bowes, book-
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sellers in Cornhill, his morals were closely watched by the excellent Nicholas Bowes, who strove to train him in the strictest and best habits of industry and regularity. His kind- ness was afterward gratefully repaid by Knox in attentions to his widow. Inquisitive and athirst for knowledge, Knox availed himself of the opportunity to acquire mastery of the French language. Plutarch's Lives was a favorite book with him. His fondness for study- ing its pages "gave early presages of future eminence." Robust and athletic, he was fore- most in the contentions between the North and South Ends, two rival sections of Boston, who indulged in a pitched battle on every 5th of November, that day being the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot. Present at the affray of the 5th of March, 1770, which was afterward known as "The Boston Massacre," he endeavored to keep the crowd away from the soldiers; took Captain Preston " by the coat, and told him for God's sake to take his men back again, for if they fired his life must answer for the consequence. He replied that he was sensible of it, and seemed in great haste and much agitated." The result of that conflict was to intensify the hatred of the citizens toward the " bloody backs," as they termed the soldiers, who were afterward, at the demand of the people, removed from the town to the castle.
No sooner had Henry Knox attained his majority than he began business on his own account, on July 29, 1771. Knox's store was a great resort for the British officers and . Tory ladies, who were the ton at that period. Intelligent, amiable, and patriotic, he was a general favorite, and in a fair way to become a prosperous merchant. Political clouds darkened his prospects. The Boston Port Bill put a stop to the prosperity of the town and to that of the young bookseller. James Rivington of New York, the Tory bookseller and editor, was one of his business correspondents. His first invoice of books, purchased of Thomas Longman & Sons of London, England, dated April 22, 1771, amounted to £340. By December, 1772, his total purchases had reached the sum of £2066. Trade then fell off in consequence of political agitations. His store was robbed and pillaged during the occupation of the town by the British forces. Long after the war he honorably paid the Longmans a portion of his indebtedness, but from his grave financial embarrass- ments the remainder was unsettled at the time of his decease.
The spoliation of Knox's store by the British was due to the fact that he had patrioti- cally joined the besieging American army. His strong natural bent had led him to join a military company when-only eighteen years of age. When the Boston Grenadier Corps was organized, he was one of the founders, and was second in command. Knox, in com- mon with all the members, volunteered as a guard for the tea-ships. Conversation with the British officers who frequented his book-store, earnest study of military authors, and careful observation of the soldiery in Boston, soon gave him great proficiency in the theory and practice of the military art. On the 24th of July, 1773, while gunning on the islands in Boston harbor, he lost the two smaller fingers of his left hand by the burst-
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ing of his fowling-piece. This defect he was accustomed to cover by the folds of a hand- kerchief. Uncommonly handsome and of fine military bearing, he attracted the sympa- thetic attention of his future wife, who formed his acquaintance by visiting his store. Acquaintance ripened into love, and that resulted in true and happy marriage. The young lady's parents, who were ardent loyalists, were strongly averse to her union with a possible rebel. But mutual love triumphed over all obstacles, and the marriage was celebrated on the 16th of June, 1774. The young couple commenced housekeeping. But the fateful 19th of April, 1775, interfered with its continuance. One year from the day of his mar- riage Knox quitted Boston in disguise. Gage had forbidden his departure. Mrs. Knox accompanied him, carrying in the lining of her cloak her husband's sword. Large promises had been held out to induce Knox to adhere to the king's cause ; but he was too conscien- tiously and passionately attached to liberty to hesitate for a moment to identify himself with the determined patriots.
Reporting himself at the headquarters of General Ward at Cambridge, he was engaged in reconnoitring service on the 17th of June, and on his reports the General's orders were issued. After the battle Knox assisted in planning and constructing works of defence for the various camps around the beleaguered town. He also acquired skill as an artillerist. His activity attracted the notice of Washington only three days after he had taken command of the army. John Adams had known and esteemed him long prior to that event, and on the Ist of October, 1776, wrote to Knox, requesting his opinions upon a plan for the establishment of a military academy for the army. Young officers of merit next unanimously requested Knox's appointment to the colonelcy of the artillery regiment. Washington recommended him, and he was accordingly commissioned on the 17th of November, 1775. But the commission did not reach him until after his return from Fort Ticonderoga, whither he had been sent- at his own suggestion-by Washington, to transport the needed cannon and stores, on boats and sleds, to the camp at Cambridge. In accomplishing this task he received the cordial assistance of General Schuyler, and reached camp on January 24, 1776, happy in success, and in the congratulations of the commander-in-chief. "This achievement," says Francis S. Drake, in his "Life of Henry Knox," "stamped the character of Knox for boldness, enterprise, fertility of resource, and genius ; supplied the means for fortifying Dorchester Heights, and vindicated the judg- ment of Washington in selecting him for the important and responsible duties of the artillery and ordnance departments." But for his timely suggestion and effective action the fortunes of the war might have had a very different termination. On his way north- ward on that memorable trip he was an inmate of the same cabin on the border of Lake George, and even of the same bed, with the unfortunate André, who had been captured by Montgomery at St. John's, and was on his way to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to remain
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therc until exchanged. The twain, so singularly alike in many particulars, parted on the morrow with strong mutual regard and good-will.
The 4th of March, 1776, was an eventful one in Boston. Knox's batteries on Cobble Hill, Lechmere's Point, and Dorchester kept up a furious cannonade, under cover of which General Thomas seized and fortified Dorchester Heights, which commanded the town and harbor of Boston. So strongly was he posted, that General Howe, the British commander, dared not attack him. The necessitated evacuation of Boston followed on the 17th. Knox's engineering talents were next called into requisition in Connecticut and Rhode Island, and after that in New York and its vicinity. His habits at that time are worthy of note. Writing to his wife, he says : " I generally rise with or a little while before the sun, and immediately with a part of the regiment attend prayers, sing a psalm, and read a chapter in [the Bible at] the Grand Battery. General Putnam constantly attends." Knox's quarters were at the battery near those of Washington, with whom in the dis- charge of his duty he daily crossed the East River to Long Island. He accepted defcat with philosophic resignation, and gathered his energies for greater effort. Resisting, so long as resistance was possible, he was one of the last to leave New York, and only escaped capture by seizing a boat, and making his way by water to Harlem, where he was greeted with a shout of welcome and an embrace from Washington. "Nothing less," he insisted, " than the infatuation of the enemy and the almost immediate interpo- sition" of Divine "providence has saved this rabble army." The indecisive action of White Plains followed. The loss of Fort Washington on the 16th of November was a serious blow to the patriot cause. Knox's artillery regiment lost about a hundred men, including Captain Pierce. Then followed the retreat of Washington's little army through the Jerseys. The time was critical. Even the commander's steadfast soul trembled for · the freedom of his country. Knox never desponded. He superintended the subsequent passage of the Delaware, his stentorian voice making the orders of his chief heard in the fury of the blast, and, surprising the post at Trenton, captured the entire garrison.
Had Congress known of his splendid triumph, it would still more willingly have made him a general officer. But tidings of the great deed of December 26 had not reached that body on the 27th-the date of the commission which made him a brigadier, with the entire command of the artillery. The victory of Princeton followed. How he regarded it appears in one of his letters to his wife : "For my part, my Lucy, I look up to heaven, and most devoutly thank the great Governor of the Universe for producing this turn in our affairs." It should induce the people " at all times and under all circumstances never to despair of the Commonwealth." John Knox of Scotland could not have been more devout.
After the army had been quartered at Morristown, General Knox was sent to the East to see to the casting of cannon and the establishment of laboratories. In so doing he visited
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his wife at Boston. In the ensuing May he was associated with General Greene in planning the defences of the North River. He then rejoiced in the improved aspect of affairs, but added, " I am sorry to say it-we seem to be increasing most rapidly in impiety." In July, 1777, the apprehended appointment of Ducoudray, a French officer, to the head of the artillery and ordnance department decided General Knox to resign his commission if the appointment were made. General Washington himself wrote to the President of Congress that the appointment of Ducoudray would cause the retirement of General Knox, " one of the most valuable officers in the service, and who, combating almost innumerable difficul- ties in the department he fills, has placed the artillery upon a footing that does him the greatest honor." He further characterized Knox as " a man of great military reading, sound judgment, and clear conceptions." The appointment of Ducoudray was not made.
Germantown was another reverse which, like that of Brandywine, did not damp his ardor. It rather roused his desire for another trial. Fort Mercer, at Red Bank, New Jersey, for whose security he had been sent to provide, fell after a brave defence on the 18th of November. In December he judiciously opposed the scheme of an attack on the enemy's lines at Philadelphia. Leaving the army wintered at Valley Forge, he again visited his wife at Boston.
Mrs. Knox herself joined the army at Valley Forge, on May 20, 1778, soon after the news of the alliance with France had been received, and remained with it until it was dis -. banded. At the battle of Monmouth, on June 28th, Knox reconnoitred in front, rallied the retreat, and brought up the rear with a brisk fire from one of his batteries planted in the night. Washington in general orders says that he " can with pleasure inform General Knox and the officers of the artillery that the enemy has done them the justice to acknowledge that no artillery could have been better served than ours." Knox, in his correspondence, notes that "desertion prevails exceedingly" in the enemy's " army." "The number of de- serters since they left Philadelphia must exceed eight hundred."
Fortunate as General Knox was in his military operations, he was a frequent loser in. his privateering speculations ; " vessel after vessel in which he had a share being captured by the enemy, some of them with valuable cargoes, and just as they were entering port."
In July, 1780, the French army, under the Count de Rochambeau, arrived at Newport to co-operate with the Americans. On the 21st of September, Knox, with Washington and Lafayette, visited the French Admiral and General De Ternay, at Hartford, to concert the details of a plan of operations. Returning from this meeting, they received the tidings of Arnold's treason, and hastened at once to West Point. Knox was one of the board of general officers who tried and condemned Andre to death as a spy. This duty was es- pecially distasteful to him, in view of the warm friendship he had formed for that ill-fated officer in their chance meeting on the shore of Lake George. Duty, however, left him no alternative. Discipline became more rigid in the patriot forces in consequence of Arnold's
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infamous treason. The Chevalier de Chastellux, a major-general in Rochambeau's army, and a member of the French Academy, visited the American camp at New Windsor, and with Washington was received by General Knox at the head of his artillery-each gun- ner at his post ready to fire.
The dreadful circumstances of the Revolutionary Army at this time culminated in the mutiny of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey lines, and were graphically described by General Knox. Hunger, nakedness, and peril were borne with superhuman fortitude, until it was impossible to bear the burden longer. An active campaign was planned. Washington on February 16, 1781, wrote to Knox, instructing him to procure the articles necessary to "a capital operation against New York, or against Charleston, Savannah, Penobscot, etc., in case of inability to undertake the siege of the first and principal object." Knox promptly promised to do his best, but complained of the Board of War for neglect- ing his repeated requisitions. On the 19th of August, Washington, hearing of the expected arrival of the fleet of De Grasse, marched his army to the southward, in order to co-operate with the French naval and military forces against Lord Cornwallis in Virginia. Reaching Williamsburgh on September 14th, he arranged a plan of co-operation on board the Ville de Paris. De Grasse was impatient to put to sea in quest of the British fleet, but was fortunately prevailed upon by Knox and Lafayette not to do so, but to preserve his station.
In the siege of Yorktown Knox's artillery was used against the enemy with terribly destructive effect. At eight A.M. of October 19, 1781, he wrote to Mrs. Knox : "I have detained William [his brother] until this moment that I might be the first to com- municate good news to the charmer of my soul. A glorious moment for America! This day Lord Cornwallis and his army march out and pile their arms in the face of our vic- torious army. The day before yesterday he desired commissioners might be named to treat of the surrender of his troops, the ships, and everything they possess." More than seven thousand soldiers, one thousand seamen, forty vessels, two hundred pieces of cannon, and a great number of small arms were among the spoils. To this grand result Knox's genius and energy had wonderfully contributed. His skill and activity in providing and forwarding heavy cannon for the siege of Yorktown caused Washington to report to the president of Congress that "the resources of his genius supplied the deficit of means." He was complimented in general orders after the surrender, and recommended for promo- tion. Everything was said in praise of Knox, by friend and foe, that he could have wished.
In March, 1782, Knox and Gouverneur Morris were appointed commissioners to ar- range a,cartel for the general exchange of prisoners, to liquidate the expenses of their main- tenance, and to provide for their future subsistence. Knox's commission as major-general was dated on the 15th of November, 1781, but was not received by him until the following spring. In July, 1782, he reported, after due inspection, on the deficiencies of West
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