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      As the war drew to a close and Washington stepped down from command, he turned the army over to Knox, who was given the assignment of reducing it to 700 men.  He demonstrated a prophetic vision as a statesman.  While serving as secretary at war under the confederation government, Knox realized that he needed to redefine perceptions about the army to suit the needs of a democratic republic.  Many prominent American leaders wanted to disband the army completely and viewed any force as antithetical to representative government.  Knox created a vision of a new kind of army in which solders were instilled with the nation's most cherished values.  He believed that soldiers could be trained to fight to preserve political ideals rather than geographic boundary lines, to love liberty more than personal ambition, and to value honor above greed and the spoils of war.