A bookseller before the Revolutionary War, Henry Knox served with distinction as an artillery officer in the Continental Army and later became secretary of war. He helped save Boston from British capture in 1775 when he brought 55 pieces of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga. Using oxen and horses under difficult winter conditions, he transported the guns 300 miles overland to the besieged city. Knox later commanded artillery forces in the battles of Trenton, Monmouth, and Yorktown, and in 1779 organized a temporary artillery school at Pluckemin, NJ. Commander of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1782-1784, he founded the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of officers who were veterans of the Revolution.