Lessons of History #2 – What a pity it is that our soldiers are not as numerous as our officers.
Lessons of History #2
What a pity it is that our soldiers are not as numerous as our officers.
Gary Hunt
Outpost of Freedom
June 29, 2014
In January 1776, Colonel Henry Knox was returning to Boston with the cannon he had acquired from the British at Fort Ticonderoga. From the book, “Bunker Hill”, by Nathaniel Philbrick (pages 270-271):
That night in Westfield [Massachusetts] an appreciative crowd gathered around the twenty-five year old colonel [Knox] at the town’s inn. Many of the men were members of the Westfield militia and, like most town militias throughout New England, there were a disproportionate number of officers. This imbalance had made it necessary for Washington to reduce the officer corps in the Continental Army, a move that inevitably angered many former officers and contributed to the reenlistment crisis. Now in Westfield, as Knox was introduced to officer after officer, he could appreciate firsthand one of the many difficulties his commander in chief had been forced to confront while he had been overseeing the transportation of cannons from Fort Ticonderoga. Once the introductions had been completed in the Westfield tavern, Know smiled broadly and said, “What a pity it is that our soldiers are not as numerous as our officers.”