Henry Knox (37 page)

Knox remarked on the divergent roads that their lives had taken in a letter of Sunday, January 25, 1789: "You have been deeply exploring the natural and moral world, in order to impress on the minds of your fellow-mortals their relative connection with the great scale of intelligent being; leading them by all the powers of persuasion to happiness and humble adoration of the Supreme Head of the universe; while I have been but too much entangled with the little things of a little globe. But, as it is part of my belief that we are responsible only for the light we possess.“
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Washington was elected as the nation's first president on Monday, April 6, 1789, by a unanimous vote of sixty-nine electors, and John Adams won the vice presidency with thirty-four votes. Secretary of Congress Thomson arrived at Mount Vernon to notify the president-elect on Tuesday, April 14. Washington answered with muted appreciation: "Silence can best explain my gratitude.“
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Thousands of spectators gathered outside Federal Hall in New York City, where Washington emerged on a small, half-enclosed portico overlooking Broadway and Wall Street. Congress had deemed that the swearing-in should be as public as possible. Knox stood behind Washington as he placed his hand on the Bible and took the oath from the chancellor of New York, Robert R. Livingston. Washington leaned over and kissed the Bible, and afterward returned to the House chamber to deliver his inaugural address. That evening, Knox hosted the president at his home, where they enjoyed fireworks. A week later, on May 7, a dinner honoring Washington was held at the Assembly
Room on the east side of Broadway, near Wall Street. As one of the city's leading socialites, Lucy Knox helped planned the ceremonials.

Knox had little time to enjoy a season of high society. Their son, George Washington Knox, was stricken with dysentery and grew weak to the point of death by early July. Henry and Lucy pushed aside everything to take him on a sea cruise in hopes of reviving his strength. The child's condition weighed on Knox as they returned and Henry was forced back into duty by the pressing need to gear up for the new government.

Congress was in the midst of creating the federal departments set forth in the U.S. Constitution, one of which gave Knox the mandate he needed to create a permanent, standing army. During the Confederation government, Knox had served merely as secretary at war, a title that denoted a temporary position that was expected to be terminated in peacetime. Congress created the Department of War on August 7, 1789, and Knox's title changed to secretary of war. (The U.S. Department of War would be merged into the U.S. Department of Defense in 1947.)

Some members of Congress in the new government under the U.S. Constitution, such as the anti-Federalist William Maclay, thought that the country had no urgent need for a war secretary.

The uneasy relationship between the branches of the government immediately became evident. Secretary Knox appeared with Washington at the Senate Chamber on August 22 to discuss problems arising from tensions between white settlers in North and South Carolina and Georgia and American Indian tribes. Knox thought that it was important to develop a good relationship with the Indian chiefs not only to preserve harmony and avoid war but as a buffer against encroaching European powers, such as Britain and Spain.

Washington and Knox thought it would be proper to ask the Senate for its advice and consent on the attempt to treat with the Indians, since the Constitution gave the Senate authority over treaties. As they appeared at the Senate door, Washington handed Vice President Adams a lengthy explanation of the problems and history of recent treaties with the hostile tribes, written by Knox. As Adams read the statement in the Senate chambers, several senators became irritated. The noise from carriages outside made it difficult to hear, and several congressmen felt the issues were new and complicated and needed to be sent to committee for further study. Washington, angry, said: "This defeats every purpose of my coming here."

Knox had appointed Benjamin Lincoln as an agent to deal with the problems between the state of Georgia and tribes along its border. One of
the senators asked Knox directly when Lincoln would arrive, and Henry responded "not till Saturday next.“
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This is still the only time in American history that a member of the president's cabinet was openly questioned before the full Senate. Washington had seen enough. To avoid getting entangled in tedious Senate discussions, he decided to address Congress in writing rather than appearing in person. Senators did, however, allocate $20,000 for an attempt to treat with the Indians as Knox had asked.

As Henry sat before the senators, his mind must have been elsewhere. The following day, he wrote to Henry Jackson that his son George Washington Knox had died. Once again, the Knoxes were plunged into anguish. The frequent deaths of their children had not made them numb to the pain of losing another child.

Henry Knox officially became the first United States secretary of war on September 12, and Congress established a standing 1,000-man army on September 29. John Marshall, the future chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, wrote in praise of Knox's appointment, noting two virtues that were often used in reference to Henry: honesty and judgment. Marshall observed: "To his past services and an unquestioned integrity, he was admitted to unite a sound understanding; and the public judgment as well as that of the chief magistrate pronounced him in all respects competent to the station he filled.“
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In putting together his cabinet, Washington tapped Knox along with Alexander Hamilton to head the Treasury Department, Thomas Jefferson, who would soon return from Paris, as his secretary of state, Edmund Randolph of Virginia as attorney general, and Samuel Osgood as postmaster general. Knox, the only carry-over from the Confederation government, was therefore the senior official in the nation's first cabinet.

His primary goal was to place the army on firm footing. He arranged the army into a legionary formation, which became the basis of the regular army for the United States, and once again he tried to get approval for a military draft for the state militias. Washington sent the plan to Congress on January 11, 1790, with his approval. But Congress, in no mood to enact an unpopular draft, dropped the idea.

America's failure to raise a formidable army caused its own set of problems. In dealing with hostile Indian tribes, Knox found that chiefs had little respect for the fighting force of the United States and had little reason to sign peace treaties. Knox thought that many of the tribes' complaints were completely justified and that they had been victimized by white settlers. But with-out
an army, he was powerless to prevent violence. He wrote Washington on January 12 that troops were needed to maintain harmony along the nation's borders: "The lawless whites, as well as Indians, will be deterred from the commission of murders when they shall be convinced that punishment will ultimately follow detection.“
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He drew up provisions to raise a 5,040-man army at a cost of $1,152,000 annually to put pressure on the Creek nation along the country's southwestern frontiers. Washington gave his approval for the plan on January 21, 1790, and Knox personally presented it to Congress on January 22. Senator Maclay, who sharply disagreed with any proposal to augment the size of the federal government, thought that Knox would eventually entangle the country in war if given an army. When Knox appeared before the Senate, Maclay noted in his journal: "In now came General Knox with a bundle of communications. I thought the act was a mad one, when a Secretary of War was appointed in time of peace. I can not blame him. The man wants to labor in his vocation.“
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Meanwhile, that spring the hostilities along the frontier grew more deadly. Brigadier General Josiah Harmar wrote to Knox on March 24 that settlers going up the Ohio River were being murdered or taken captive. Knox authorized Harmar to lead an expedition from Fort Washington (present-day Cincinnati) consisting of 1,700 militia and 400 federal troops at a cost of $156,000 to punish the Wabash and discourage further attacks. He wrote Harmar on June 7: "No other remedy remains, but to extirpate, utterly, if possible, the said banditti.“
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Yet Knox also used his personality as a tool to forge alliances. To entreat the hostile tribes of the Creek nation, he invited twenty-four leading chiefs to New York to meet with him and tour the capital. Tensions between white settlers and the Native Americans continued to rise as settlements further encroached on hunting grounds that were vital to the tribe's survival. The chiefs who arrived in New York commanded a powerful fighting force of 14,000 warriors. Henry thought that the Americans should emulate the British, who strengthened their bond with the chiefs by offering gifts and titles of distinction. Knox hosted the chiefs and, in not-so-subtle message, orchestrated a military parade of American soldiers for their entertainment. The top Indian leader was Alexander McGillivray, the son of a Scottish trader and a Native American mother. Knox told the chiefs that he felt their complaints were justified and promised that white settlers who committed crimes against them would be punished.

At a meeting with the chiefs in Federal Hall, Knox negotiated a historic treaty on August 7 that ended hostilities along the nation's southwest frontier and established boundaries between the state of Georgia and the territories of the Creek nation. The treaty demonstrated Knox's commitment to fairness in his dealing with the rights of American tribes and that he held their legal rights to be equal with whites. The agreement acknowledged that the Indians needed vast areas of land on which to hunt and stipulated that "[i]f any citizen of the United States, or other person, not being an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the Creeks' lands, such person shall forfeit the protection of the United States, and the Creeks may punish him or not, as they please.“
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The treaty also made provisions to supply the Creek with tools to develop agriculture so that they could survive on less land by tilling the soil. To further cement the bond, Knox designated McGillivray a brigadier general.

As Knox ended hostilities between settlers and American Indians in the South, more trouble erupted along the frontier borders in the Northwest. Knox ordered General Harmar's expedition to use coercion to deal with the belligerent Miami and Shawnee Indians in the Ohio Territory who were killing whites and refusing to treat with the U.S. government.

More than 1,450 men marched from Fort Washington on September 30, 1790, on a mission to bring order to the region. As they progressed, the Indians abandoned their camps and disappeared into the forest. The Miami and Shawnee sent runners to tribes throughout the region with messages to send warriors. As Harmar's men reached the site of present-day Fort Wayne on October 18, the tribes launched an attack and killed 183 soldiers, while 120 Indians were killed.

Because news was slow to travel from the wilderness, weeks passed without any word from the expedition. In New York, Knox waited anxiously and was embarrassed that he could not update the president on the fate of men.

Washington, impatient, finally wrote Knox on November 2, "I am a little surprised that we have not heard . . . of the issue, the progress, or the commencement of the expedition.“
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When the disastrous news arrived in New York, Knox thought that the country faced a long, drawn-out war with the Miami and Shawnee. Other tribes, he believed, would be emboldened to attack the settlements that were his sworn duty to protect. Harmar's expedition had been the first major military mission under his watch as secretary of war. He had placed his faith in the general, despite rumors that he had a drinking problem.

Washington openly second-guessed Knox's confidence in Harmar in a pointed message of November 19: "I expected
little
from the moment I heard he was a
drunkard
.“
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With this defeat weighing on Knox's mind, he and Lucy closed their home in New York and headed for Philadelphia, which was to serve as the temporary capital for the United States while builders and architects readied the permanent government seat at the District of Columbia along the Potomac River in Virginia. Vice President John Adams offered to rent them a home on the outskirts of the city on a piece of elevated ground, called "Bush Hill." The house was an elaborate mansion designed by Andrew Hamilton, the architect who had created Independence Hall, where the Continental Congress had convened.

Henry had little time to settle into the home, however. He moved into the War Department office on Chestnut and Fifth, diagonally across from the State House and Congress Hall. In an attempt to avoid war with the Indians, he invited friendly tribes such as the Senecas and Chickasaws to the city in December to discuss complaints and to induce them to make peace overtures to the belligerent tribes. Knox assured them that he would seek the prosecution of any white person who committed crimes against them, and explained that the federal government alone had the power to treat with them rather than the individual states. The failure of the Harmar expedition became a national embarrassment, and much of the criticism was leveled at Knox. Washington tried to assure frontier settlers that the federal government could still protect them. In a December 11 message to the House of Representatives, he pledged that his government "will make the aggressors sensible that it is their interest to merit by a peaceable behavior the friendship and humanity which the United States are always ready to extend to them.“
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