Ethan Allen

Ethan Allen
Name	Ethan Allen
Caption	19th-century portrait of Ethan Allen
Birth date	January 21, 1738
Birth place	Litchfield, Connecticut
Death date	February 12, 1789 (aged 51)
Death place	Burlington, Vermont
Occupation	Farmer, businessman, writer, politician
Known for	Founding the Green Mountain Boys, Capture of Fort Ticonderoga
Spouse	Mary Brownson, Frances Montresor Brush Buchanan

Ethan Allen. He was a farmer, businessman, philosopher, and revolutionary, best known as the flamboyant founder of the Green Mountain Boys and a key figure in the early history of Vermont. His audacious capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 with Benedict Arnold provided the fledgling Continental Army with crucial artillery. A larger-than-life folk hero, his subsequent writings and political maneuvers were instrumental in the long campaign for Vermont's statehood.

Early life and family

Ethan Allen was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, the first-born child of Joseph and Mary Baker Allen. The family moved to the frontier town of Cornwall, Connecticut, where his father's death in 1755 left him responsible for supporting his mother and siblings. He served briefly in the French and Indian War but saw no combat, an experience that nonetheless familiarized him with military life. In 1762, he married Mary Brownson, with whom he had five children, and attempted various business ventures including iron mining and farming in Northampton, Massachusetts and the New Hampshire Grants. His contentious land speculations in the Grants, territory disputed between New York and New Hampshire, set the stage for his future role.

Military career

Allen's military career is defined by his leadership of the Green Mountain Boys, a militia he helped form to defend the land claims of New Hampshire settlers against authorities from New York. Following the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775, the Second Continental Congress authorized an expedition to seize British forts on Lake Champlain. In a daring dawn attack on May 10, 1775, Allen, alongside Benedict Arnold, captured the strategically vital Fort Ticonderoga from its small, sleeping garrison. His forces also captured Crown Point and raided Fort Saint-Jean in Province of Quebec. However, his subsequent unauthorized and disastrous attempt to capture Montreal during the Invasion of Quebec (1775) led to his capture by forces under General Sir Guy Carleton.

Political and business ventures

Beyond his martial exploits, Allen was a fervent political activist and entrepreneur. He was a primary author of spirited petitions and declarations, such as those addressed to the Continental Congress, arguing for the independence of the Vermont Republic. With his brothers Ira Allen and Heman Allen, he was deeply involved in land speculation and business ventures across the region. A self-taught philosopher, he authored *Reason the Only Oracle of Man*, a controversial deist text critiquing organized religion, which was published in Bennington, Vermont in 1785. He also engaged in contentious and secretive negotiations with British officials in Quebec, exploring the possibility of Vermont rejoining the British Empire to secure its independence from New York and New Hampshire.

Capture and imprisonment

Following his failed attack on Montreal in September 1775, Allen was taken prisoner by the British Army. He was initially held in harsh conditions aboard HMS Gaspee before being transported to England, where he was paraded as a curiosity and imprisoned in Pendennis Castle and later Cork in Ireland. In 1776, he was returned to North America and endured brutal imprisonment in New York City, first aboard the prison ship HMS Jersey and later in Provost Jail. He was finally exchanged in May 1778 for British officer Archibald Campbell after nearly two and a half years of captivity, an ordeal he later detailed in his popular *Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity*.

Later life and death

After his release, Allen returned to the Vermont Republic, which had declared its independence in 1777. Though he was given the rank of brevet colonel in the Continental Army, he saw no further major military command. He served in the Vermont legislature and continued his political efforts to gain recognition for Vermont, including the fraught negotiations with Frederick Haldimand, the British governor of Quebec. Following the death of his first wife, he married Frances Montresor Brush Buchanan in 1784. On February 12, 1789, while returning home by sleigh from South Hero, Vermont, he suffered a stroke and died at his home in Burlington, Vermont; he was buried in Greenmount Cemetery.

Legacy and historical assessment

Ethan Allen's legacy is that of a quintessential American frontier folk hero and a foundational figure for Vermont. The capture of Fort Ticonderoga remains his most celebrated achievement, celebrated for its boldness and symbolic importance. The Green Mountain Boys he founded were later incorporated into the Vermont National Guard. His complex political machinations, including the Haldimand Affair, are viewed by historians as pragmatic, if controversial, efforts to ensure Vermont's survival. Statues of him stand at the Vermont State House and the United States Capitol, and his name was later adopted by the Ethan Allen Homestead museum and the Ethan Allen Express train line. He is remembered as a volatile, ambitious, and fiercely independent character who played an outsized role in the history of the Northeastern United States.

Category:1738 births Category:1789 deaths Category:People from Litchfield, Connecticut Category:People of Vermont in the American Revolution Category:American deists