NY, USA
Ethan Allen
1738–1789 · Green Mountain Boys Commander · Militia Leader · Vermont Patriot
1738–1789
Green Mountain Boys Commander · Militia Leader · Vermont Patriot
Ethan Allen was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1738 and grew up on the New England frontier before relocating to the New Hampshire Grants, the disputed territory between New York and New Hampshire that would eventually become Vermont. He became the dominant figure among the Green Mountain Boys, the irregular militia that resisted New York's attempts to enforce its land claims over settlers who held New Hampshire grants. Allen's methods were confrontational, his rhetoric bombastic, and his personal courage undeniable, and he turned what began as a land dispute into a formidable paramilitary organization.
When news of Lexington and Concord reached the Grants in April 1775, Allen immediately proposed turning the Green Mountain Boys toward a military objective that could benefit the Patriot cause: Fort Ticonderoga, the British stronghold at the southern end of Lake Champlain. The fort was lightly garrisoned and housed a substantial collection of artillery that the rebellious colonies desperately needed. Allen organized an assault force, agreed to a joint command arrangement with Benedict Arnold, who arrived with a Massachusetts commission, and led the pre-dawn crossing of the lake on May 9-10, 1775. The Green Mountain Boys passed through the fort's unguarded gate in the early morning darkness, and Allen confronted the British commander William Delaplace, demanding surrender in terms that became instantly famous. The fort fell without a shot fired, and its artillery was eventually transported to Boston by Henry Knox.
Allen's capture by the British in a rash attempt to seize Montreal in September 1775 removed him from active military service for nearly three years. He was held on a prison ship in New York harbor and in various British facilities in conditions that permanently damaged his health, and his account of his captivity, published in 1779, became a widely read indictment of British treatment of American prisoners. After his exchange in 1778, Allen returned to Vermont and spent the remaining years of his life engaged in Vermont's political struggles, including the secret negotiations with the British known as the Haldimand Affair. He died in 1789, just two years before Vermont achieved statehood, the rough frontiersman whose dawn raid on Ticonderoga had provided one of the Revolution's earliest and most stirring victories.
In Ticonderoga
- May 1775Allen and Arnold Dispute Command at Ticonderoga(Green Mountain Boys Commander)
The capture of Ticonderoga was complicated by a bitter command dispute between Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold. Allen led the Green Mountain Boys and had planned the raid. Arnold arrived with a commission from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety authorizing him to capture the fort. Neither man would defer to the other. They eventually entered the fort side by side, a compromise that satisfied neither. The dispute foreshadowed Arnold's lifelong resentment over questions of rank and credit — grievances that would eventually drive him to treason. Allen, for his part, parlayed the capture into lasting fame as a frontier hero.
- May 1775Ethan Allen Demands Surrender 'In the Name of Jehovah'(Green Mountain Boys Commander)
The capture of Fort Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys on May 10, 1775 was one of the first aggressive American military actions of the Revolution. Allen's demand for surrender — delivered to the surprised British commandant before dawn — has entered American legend: he reportedly demanded it "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." The exact wording is disputed; Allen himself gave different accounts at different times. But the substance is clear: the fort fell without serious resistance, giving Americans control of the Lake Champlain corridor and access to more than a hundred pieces of artillery at a moment when the Continental Army had almost none. The cannon eventually hauled to Boston by Henry Knox forced the British evacuation of that city in March 1776 — making Ticonderoga indirectly responsible for one of the war's most decisive early outcomes.
- May 1775Capture of Fort Ticonderoga(Green Mountain Boys Commander)
Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold led approximately 80 Green Mountain Boys and Connecticut volunteers in a dawn raid on Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775. The small British garrison, numbering about 48 soldiers, was surprised and captured without a shot being fired. Allen reportedly demanded that the garrison surrender "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." The capture was the first offensive American action of the Revolution and yielded an enormous prize: over 100 cannon, mortars, and howitzers, plus stores of ammunition and supplies. These weapons would prove decisive at Boston. The fort also gave the Americans control of the Lake Champlain corridor, the traditional invasion route between Canada and the colonies.