An untrained bookstore owner devised the artillery plan that broke the Boston siege.

Evidence

In November 1775, however, Henry Knox, a 25-twenty-five-year-old militia officer and Boston bookstore owner with a passion for artillery but no formal education or military training, offered a similarly ambitious but less risky plan for ousting the British. Six feet tall and weighing some 250 pounds—a French general in America would later call him “very fat, but very active”—Knox hardly looked the part of an army officer, but Washington embraced his scheme. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 99

Categorization

• CANDY: A 250-pound bookshop owner with no military training devising the decisive siege-breaking plan is an elevator-conversation nugget.
• XREF: connects to: Captured Fort Ticonderoga artillery gave patriots the firepower to shell British-held Boston. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 100; Geography and stalemate froze the 1775-76 Boston siege until artillery shifted the balance.; The winter siege of Boston hinged on artillery above Boston’s reach. (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Geography and stalemate froze the 1775-76 Boston siege until artillery shifted the balance. #expands (0.95)
• The winter siege of Boston hinged on artillery above Boston’s reach. #expands (0.95)
• Knox proposed hauling Ticonderoga’s cannons 250 miles overland to Boston #expands (0.95) — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 101