Henry Knox

Henry Knox, a self-taught artilleryman, commanded the West Point garrison in the fall of 1782. Philadelphia artist Charles Willson Peale painted this portrait of Knox about two years later. He is wearing the insignia of the Society of the Cincinnati on his left lapel. Knox led the formation of the Society of the Cincinnati, a fraternal organization of French and Continental Army officers, at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War and served as its first secretary. Pierre Charles L’Enfant designed the society’s insignia.

Image courtesy of Independence National Historical Park