Skip to main content
Drawn portrait of Lucy Flucker Knox

Lucy Flucker Knox

Lucy Flucker bucked her family's expectations to marry for status and money and, instead, married for love.

A Privileged Birth

Lucy was born in 1756 to a wealthy and well-connected Massachusetts family. The Fluckers were strongly connected to royal authority—her father Thomas served the colonial government throughout Lucy's early life, and served as the colony's Secretary in the years immediately prior to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War in addition to owning a large tract of land in modern-day Maine.

An illustrated map showing a marker near Boston, MA with a small image of Lucy and and a small image of Henry Knox with a heart icon between them.

Forbidden Love

Lucy's family expected her to marry a man of equal social and economic status, but when she met Henry Knox at his Boston bookshop, she fell hard in love. Lucy's parents did not approve of the relationship. Lucy and Henry courted in secret for two years before marrying in June 1774.

An illustrated map showing battle marker at Lexington/Concord

Joining the Revolution

Less than a year later, the Revolutionary War erupted at , and Boston was soon besieged.

An illustrated map showing battle marker at Lexington/Concord

Henry's sympathies lay with the Patriots, and in May 1775 the couple snuck out of the city and crossed over to the rebel camp.

Showing the cloak used to smuggle the sword.

According to some accounts, Lucy Knox sewed her husband's sword into the lining of her cloak to smuggle the weapon past British sentries.

Portrait of General Henry Knox.

Marriage During War

Henry joined the Patriot cause, eventually rising to the rank of Chief of Artillery. In December 1775, General Washington trusted Knox with a gargantuan task—transporting 59 cannon and mortars across 300 miles of snowy terrain from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston. Writing to Lucy from Fort George, New York on December 17, Henry described to her this leg of his artillery train: "...by next Thursday, I hope we shall be able to set out from hence on our way home with our very valuable & previous Convoy...we shall cut no small figure in going thro' the county with our Cannon, Mortars, &c—drawn by eighty Yoke Oxen." This letter is one of many that survive as testament to the couple’s experience of wartime apart.

As the war escalated Henry's enlistment in the Continental Army and appointment as its chief artillery officer put the young marriage to the test, but Lucy took advantage of every opportunity to be with her husband. Between active campaigns, Lucy joined her husband in the Continental Army's encampments and forged close friendships with other army wives.

An illustrated map showing a battle marker at Valley Forge.

Patriot Partners

At in 1778, Lucy bonded with Martha Washington, matching the close relationship between their husbands.

An illustrated map showing small images of Lucy and Martha Washington with them then moving to Mount Vernon.

When Henry joined the march south for the , Lucy joined Martha at .

An illustrated map showing Lucy and Henry in Boston.

Moving After Victory

Even the end of the war did not mean an end of moving for Lucy Knox. After returning to Boston when the Continental Army disbanded, Lucy's husband began an appointment in the new government as Secretary of War.

An illustrated map showing Lucy and Henry moving from New York City to Philadelphia.

The couple moved first to New York City and then to Philadelphia.

An illustrated map showing Lucy and Henry moving to Maine. An image showing the reconstruction of Thomas Knox's home in Maine.

When Henry retired in 1795, the family moved to claim Lucy's —land her family owned in modern-day Maine.

Life After the War

The Knoxes were prominent members of the social scene in the American capital. They shared a taste for fine living, which Henry Knox's government salary could not support. However, the land Lucy inherited from her family helped provide them with a livelihood.

Widowed in Maine

Henry died in 1806, but widowed Lucy lived for another eighteen years. She died on June 20, 1824, at the age of 68.

Loading...