Henry Knox Read Online Free Page A

that it was futile to persist in barring British goods and agreed to return imports to their shelves. This was the moment that Knox had been waiting for. Finally, he could order books from London. He began his plans to open his own bookstore and leave the employment of Nicholas Bowes.

    Two weeks later, on October 25, Knox testified in the trial of Captain Thomas Preston. On the witness stand, he was questioned by prosecutor Robert Treat Paine. Knox reported that he had warned the accused officer not to allow his men to fire, an act that was deemed a capital offense, and that although the sentry was visibly shaken and afraid, he was not in danger. John Adams and Knox's former classmate Josiah Quincy provided legal defense for Preston. Upon cross-examination, Knox said that he heard people in the crowd yell, "Fire, damn your blood.“ 10 In his closing argument, John Adams said that Preston could not have ordered the men to load because Knox had stopped him as he approached the scene, and by that time the men had already loaded their muskets. Conflicting testimony in the case led the jury to acquit Preston.
    In the second trial over the massacre, which involved the eight soldiers who fired their muskets, Knox provided the same testimony. In December, six of these men were acquitted, while two were found guilty and given a light sentence. Suffolk County sheriff Stephen Greenleaf branded their right thumbs with a hot iron to denote their conviction. Preston sailed for England and was awarded £200 by the government for his troubles relating to the shooting.
    Following the trial, Knox focused more of his attention on his plans for a bookstore. He found a suitable shop opposite William's Court in Boston, and he sent an order of £340 for books to Thomas Longman and Sons of Londonon April 22, 1771. Within eighteen months, his orders totaled £2,066 in value.
    Four days after his twenty-first birthday, his friends, the publishers Edes and Gills, ran an announcement of the opening of Knox's store in the
Boston Gazette:
"This day is opened a new London Bookstore by Henry Knox, opposite William's Court in Cornhill, Boston, who has just imported in the last ships from London a large and very elegant assortment of the most modern books in all branches of Literature, Arts and Sciences (catalogues of which will be published soon) and to be sold as cheap as can be bought at any place in town. Also a complete assortment of stationery.“ 11
    Knox's shop became a favorite for Boston's fashionable set to lounge in and discuss the latest topics or literary offerings. Knox was young, well liked, and handsome. His genial personality and charm attracted young women, who in turn brought to the shop young men who might not otherwise be disposed to reading. His friend Henry Burbeck said that "Knox's store was a great resort for the British officers and Tory ladies, who were the ton [vogue] at that period.“ 12
    The leading lady in Henry's life, his mother, died that year, eleven days before Christmas, at the age of fifty-three. The cause of her death is unknown. As he laid her to rest, Henry could reflect on the tribulations of her life. She had endured ten pregnancies and watched six infant sons die; she had been abandoned by her husband and left to care for two children. But she had lived to see Henry grow into manhood and open his own business, and for him to gain a measure of respectability in Boston and restore the family's reputation. He could take solace that he had faithfully stood by his mother and saw to her needs in her last years. His only remaining family connection was his fifteen-year-old brother William, whom he put to work helping run the bookstore.
    Henry's store quickly outgrew the property at William's Court. He moved to another location near the town house in the center of Boston. He posted notices around town, advertising that he also bound and repaired books, journals, ledgers, and other volumes at short notice and sold books