In Colonial Boston, Henry Knox's bookstore on Cornhill Street was a fashionable gathering place for British Army officers and members of the town's Tory elite.

Knox developed an interest in the science and tactics of artillery that he furthered by reading the books he imported from England and carried in his store.

That knowledge would shortly be turned against his customers in the military surprise that led to the events celebrated on Evacuation Day, March 17.

In the early days of the American Revolution, Knox joined the Colonial artillery and convinced General George Washington that he could haul cannons from recently captured Fort Ticonderoga overland to Boston.

Under cover of darkness on the night of March 4, 1776, the cannons were mounted on Dorchester Heights in South Boston, bringing the British garrison and fleet within range of their fire. Within two weeks, the British evacuation of Boston was underway.

Knox, the bookseller-turned-artilleryman, will be the focus of this year's Evacuation Day celebrations in Boston, sponsored by a coalition of community groups.