Ethan Allen
Ethan Allen is the historical leader of Vermont's Green Mountain Boys and has been enshrined in Vermont folklore as a hero. Allen is most celebrated for his courage and his vigor.
After serving in the French and Indian Wars, Allen settled in Bennington, Vermont. He quickly became involved in land disputes with the states of New York and New Hampshire over land grants dually issued by governors from both states. He formed and led the militia band to defend citizens' land rights in these disputed territories.
The Green Mountain Boys adopted their own flag (inset at right) and used threats, intimidation, and
violence to keep the New Hampshire Grants, land now located in the State of Vermont, from becoming part of New York. With Ethan Allen as their leader, they later used these tactics as a fighting unit in the Revolutionary War. Their first major battle of the war was on May 10, 1775 when they invaded Fort Ticonderoga in New York. Fort Ticonderoga was situated at a very strategic point at the southern tip of Lake Champlain, and had been in British hands since 1763. At the time of the attack it was neither well-maintained nor well-guarded; furthermore the garrison had no idea that hostilities had broken out in Concord and Lexington.
Ethan Allen recognized the significance of capturing the fort's cannons and supplies and was preparing to do so, with the Green Mountain Boys, when Benedict Arnold arrived with a military commission from the Massachusetts and Connecticut to lead an attack. The Green Mountain Boys refused to serve under anyone other than their own commander so Ethan took charge with Benedict Arnold in a secondary role as co-commander of the force. In a surprise attack at dawn on May 10th, the fort and its garrison of a only fifty men was easily taken.
The following month the Green Mountain Boys refused to follow Allen on a military expedition into Canada. Pressing ahead with his plans, Allen recruited Indians and disenchanted Canadians at the northern end of Lake Champlain to join the Canadian invasion campaign. Although he energetically supported the mission, he never received a commission in the army assigned to the task. Frustrated by delays during the summer, Allen impulsively decided on his own to attack a well-prepared and forewarned Montreal on September 25th. A supporting attack force failed to arrive and, having been deserted by some of his men, Colonel Allen was easily captured and sent to be tried as a traitor in England. He was eventually returned to New York, still a prisoner, and was finally repatriated in the spring of 1778 in exchange for the release of a British officer. As a Revolutionary War leader Colonel Allen never regained the military stature he enjoyed after Ticonderoga. He died a private citizen on his property on the Winooski River in Burlington, Vermont in 1789.