On this day 250 years ago, Col. Henry Knox’s Noble Train of Artillery arrived at the Continental Army’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Or at least part of the train of 44 cannon and 16 mortars arrived in Cambridge. There are many accounts indicating that the artillery arrived in Cambridge on this day, but Knox himself apparently rode ahead and reported to Gen. Washington on January 18, and some accounts say the artillery arrived in Cambridge that day too.

I first read of Knox’s Noble Train of Artillery as a boy and I have ever since until recently imagined a long line of cannons pulled by oxen rolling (or sledding) down rough roads that were little more than trails, with the whole train stopping when one cannon broke down and all camping together each night. The image is similar to the wagon trains from the movies I watched as a kid. Knox’s “train”, however, clearly did not all travel together each day and there are multiple accounts of the artillery being in different locations each day particularly in connection with river crossings. Knox leased sleds, carriages, oxen and horses to move the train at various points along the route and on some days there were probably insufficient numbers to move all tbe artillery simultaneously

From what I can piece together from the various accounts I have read in writing this blog, the first artillery arrived in Framingham, 20 miles west of Cambridge on January 18 but some of the artillery were strung out on the road behind and would catch up later. Knox established an artillery encampment in Framingham to gather together all 60 pieces of artillery in his train. And by January 24, Knox had assembled the entire train and moved some of the artillery to present them to Gen. Washington and the Continental Army in Cambridge. But most of the artillery were still in Framingham because John Adams recorded in his diary visiting the artillery encampment there on January 25 on his way to Philadelphia to resume his seat in the Continental Congress.

Sources: https://thelibertytrail.org/travel-inspirations/tours/knoxs-noble-train-artillery; https://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/january-1776/; https://1776history.com/2023/01/11/henry-knoxs-cannons-save-boston/; https://irishboston.blogspot.com/2025/01/henry-knox-delivers-noble-train-of.html

January 24, 1776 A Noble Train of Artillery

Today, January 24, 2026, two towns in Massachusetts, Stockbridge and Marlborough, are holding events to commemorate the passage of Knox’s Noble Train of Artillery through their towns. Later this month and through the end of February, Cambridge and other towns will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Noble Train. https://stockbridgelibrary.org/event/a-day-in-revolutionary-stockbridge/; https://www.discovercentralma.org/event/commemoration-of-henry-knox%e2%80%99s-journey-across-massachusetts/28951/; https://www.discovercentralma.org/event/knox-train-of-artillery/28940/

Also on this day 250 years ago in Cambridge, John Adams dined

with G. Washington, and Gates and their Ladies, and half a Dozen Sachems and Warriours of the french Cocknowaga Tribe, with their Wives and Children. Williams is one, who was captivated in his Infancy, and adopted. There is a Mixture of White Blood french or English in most of them. Louis, their Principal, speaks English and french as well as Indian.

Sources: “1776. January 24. Wednesday.,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/01-02-02-0006-0001-0002. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, vol. 2, 1771–1781, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961, pp. 226–227.]; “George Washington to John Hancock, 24 January 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0127. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 178–182.]

On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress approved a letter to the inhabitants of Canada contending that “your liberty, your honor and your happiness are essentially and necessarily connected with the unhappy contest” and that the Americans were fighting on behalf of “the sacred fire of liberty.”  Congress urged the Canadians to

establish associations in your different parishes of the same nature with those, which have proved so salutary to the United Colonies; to elect deputies to form a provincial Assembly, and that said assembly be instructed to appoint delegates to represent them in this Congress.
Source: https://americanfounding.org/entries/second-continental-congress-january-24-1776/