Avon 'America 250' Talk This Week To Focus On Famous Revolutionary War Mission

AVON, CT — A public history talk scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at the Avon Free Public Library will examine the dramatic Revolutionary War mission that helped shift the balance of power during the early months of the American fight for independence.

The program, part ofAvon's America 250 events this year, is titled “Ultima Ratio Regum: Henry Knox and the Noble Train” and is set for 2 p.m. on March 10 in the library’s Community Room, 281 Country Club Road, Avon.

Organizers say the presentation will focus on the winter expedition led by Henry Knox, a Boston bookseller who became a key military figure during the American Revolution.

The talk will place Knox’s expedition in the broader context of the formation of the Continental Army under George Washington and the early phase of the Siege of Boston in 1775.

That summer, Washington took command of the colonial forces surrounding Boston, where British troops were effectively trapped but still held the strategic advantage. Without heavy artillery, the Continental Army lacked the firepower needed to force the British from the city.

According to the program description, Knox proposed an audacious solution: retrieve cannons captured at Fort Ticonderoga and transport them hundreds of miles back to Boston in the middle of winter.

Knox ultimately oversaw the movement of roughly 60 tons of artillery from Lake George through snow, ice, and rugged terrain to Massachusetts — a journey later known as the Noble Train of Artillery.

The weapons were eventually positioned on the heights overlooking Boston, giving Washington’s forces the leverage needed to compel the British evacuation in March 1776.

Library organizers say the Avon presentation will focus primarily on Knox’s leadership and the logistical challenges of the expedition, which has become one of the most celebrated feats of the Revolutionary War.

The event will be held in person in the library’s Community Room, and registration is required through the library’s website.

For more information and to register for the program, click on this link.

For other Avon America 250 events, click on this link.