Highlights
- More than 3,000 items, written by Henry Knox, detail almost every aspect of the birth and founding of the United States. As chief of artillery during the American Revolution and the first secretary of war, Henry Knox witnessed more key battles and events than almost any other man of his day. Documents also mention the mental illness and treatment of Henry Knox’s brother, William, and detail early bookselling in New England.
- 282 letters written to and from Lucy Knox give uncensored details of battles, the plight of loyalists, and hardships on the home front. Most of the letters are between Lucy and her husband, Henry Knox, George Washington’s chief of artillery.
- The papers of English historian Catharine Macaulay Graham demonstrate the key role played by intellectual women—in America, Britain, and France—in defining and influencing the conflict. Her correspondence of 190 items includes letters from such luminaries as John Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, John Dickinson, and Richard Henry Lee.
- More than 120 items detail the surrender of British General Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga in 1777 and the plight of the “convention army.” These documents include a breakdown of the nationality of the captured soldiers, the number of sick and wounded, the types and number of artillery and small arms captured, and other details.
- Nearly 70 documents discuss experiences of African Americans as both soldiers and enslaved people during the American Revolution.