# The Organization of the Green Mountain Boys In the years leading up to the American Revolution, the rugged hills and dense forests of what is now Vermont became the stage for a fierce territorial dispute that would ultimately forge one of the most celebrated fighting forces of the Revolutionary War. The story of the Green Mountain Boys begins not with the struggle against British tyranny, but with a bitter conflict over land ownership between two rival colonial governments — a conflict that produced a band of determined men whose skills in irregular warfare would prove invaluable to the cause of American independence. The roots of the dispute stretched back to the 1740s and 1750s, when Benning Wentworth, the royal governor of New Hampshire, began issuing land grants for territory west of the Connecticut River, in the region that came to be known as the New Hampshire Grants. Settlers poured into the area, cleared farms, built homes, and established communities under the authority of these grants. However, in 1764, King George III ruled that the western boundary of New Hampshire was the Connecticut River, effectively placing the Grants territory under the jurisdiction of New York. The colonial government of New York promptly began issuing its own land patents for the same territory, often to wealthy speculators, and demanded that settlers who held New Hampshire titles either vacate their lands or purchase new patents from New York at considerable expense. For families who had spent years carving homesteads out of the wilderness, this was an intolerable injustice. It was in this atmosphere of growing resentment and fear of dispossession that Ethan Allen emerged as the charismatic and defiant leader the settlers needed. Allen, a tall, bold, and outspoken figure originally from Connecticut, arrived in the Grants in the late 1760s and quickly became the most prominent voice of resistance against New York's authority. In 1770, he was formally appointed by settlers to lead the defense of their land claims, and he organized the loosely affiliated resisters into a more cohesive paramilitary force known as the Green Mountain Boys. Operating primarily out of the Catamount Tavern in Bennington — a gathering place marked by a stuffed catamount mounted on a tall pole, its snarling face pointed symbolically toward New York — Allen and his men launched a campaign of intimidation and resistance against New York officials, surveyors, and settlers who attempted to enforce or benefit from New York's competing land claims. They drove off New York-appointed sheriffs, tore down the houses of those holding New York titles, and administered rough frontier justice to anyone who defied their authority. New York's governor placed a bounty on Allen's head, but the dense forests and the loyalty of the local population made him virtually untouchable. When the tensions between the American colonies and Great Britain erupted into open warfare in April 1775, the Green Mountain Boys were uniquely positioned to contribute to the patriot cause. Their experience in frontier organization, guerrilla tactics, and defiance of established authority translated seamlessly into revolutionary military action. On May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen led approximately eighty Green Mountain Boys in a daring predawn raid on Fort Ticonderoga, the strategically vital British garrison on Lake Champlain. The fort was captured without a shot being fired, and Allen famously demanded its surrender "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." The cannons seized at Ticonderoga were later hauled to Boston by Henry Knox and used to force the British evacuation of that city. Two years later, in August 1777, members of the Green Mountain Boys played a critical role in the Battle of Bennington, where American forces under General John Stark defeated a detachment of British General John Burgoyne's army, a victory that helped set the stage for the pivotal American triumph at Saratoga. The organization of the Green Mountain Boys thus represents a remarkable transformation — from a regional militia born of a land dispute into a revolutionary fighting force whose actions shaped the outcome of the war for American independence and laid the foundation for Vermont's identity as an independent republic and, eventually, the fourteenth state.

# The Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, 1775 In the weeks following the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the American colonies found themselves in open conflict with Great Britain, yet the Continental forces faced a critical shortage of artillery and military supplies. Fort Ticonderoga, a strategically vital stone fortress situated on the western shore of Lake Champlain in northeastern New York, held a substantial store of cannons, mortars, and other munitions that the fledgling rebellion desperately needed. Originally built by the French as Fort Carillon during the French and Indian War, Ticonderoga had changed hands multiple times before falling under British control. By the spring of 1775, however, the fort's garrison had dwindled to a small and complacent detachment of roughly fifty soldiers under the command of Captain William Delaplace, who had little reason to expect an attack from the colonial population. This combination of strategic value and weak defense made the fort an irresistible target for bold colonial leaders eager to strike an early blow against British authority. Ethan Allen, a charismatic and fiercely independent frontiersman, commanded the Green Mountain Boys, a militia originally organized in the territory that would eventually become Vermont. The Green Mountain Boys had formed in the early 1770s primarily to resist land claims made by New York over the region known as the New Hampshire Grants, and their members were experienced woodsmen accustomed to operating outside the boundaries of formal authority. When word spread that Ticonderoga was vulnerable, Allen quickly began organizing an expedition to seize the fort. At nearly the same time, Benedict Arnold — then a captain in the Connecticut militia who had received a commission from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety to undertake the very same mission — arrived to claim command of the operation. Arnold was ambitious, well-educated in military matters, and held legitimate authorization, but the Green Mountain Boys refused to serve under anyone other than Allen. The two men reached an uneasy compromise, agreeing to enter the fort side by side, though the precise nature of their shared authority remained a source of tension throughout the operation. In the predawn hours of May 10, 1775, Allen, Arnold, and a force of approximately eighty Green Mountain Boys and Connecticut volunteers crossed Lake Champlain and approached the fort's south entrance. The element of surprise was total. A single sentry attempted to fire his musket, which misfired, and the Americans rushed through the open wicket gate into the fort's interior. Allen reportedly demanded the surrender of the garrison "in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," though the precise wording of his declaration has been debated by historians ever since. Captain Delaplace, roused from sleep, quickly recognized the hopelessness of his situation and surrendered the fort without a shot being fired. The entire operation was accomplished with no casualties on either side, a remarkable outcome that spoke both to the audacity of the attackers and the unpreparedness of the defenders. The consequences of the capture proved far more significant than the small skirmish itself might suggest. The fort yielded approximately sixty usable cannons along with quantities of powder, shot, and other supplies. The following winter, Colonel Henry Knox undertook an extraordinary logistical feat, transporting those heavy guns nearly three hundred miles overland through snow and ice from Ticonderoga to the siege lines around Boston. When General George Washington placed the cannons on Dorchester Heights in March 1776, the British position in Boston became untenable, and General William Howe evacuated the city — a pivotal early victory for the American cause made possible by the weapons seized at Ticonderoga. The capture also established the Green Mountain Boys as a credible military force and elevated Ethan Allen to the status of folk hero across the colonies. It demonstrated that determined colonial fighters could seize the initiative against British forces rather than merely reacting defensively. As one of the first major American offensive actions of the Revolutionary War, the taking of Fort Ticonderoga provided both tangible military resources and an invaluable boost to colonial morale at a moment when the outcome of the rebellion remained deeply uncertain.

# Seth Warner Seizes Crown Point In the spring of 1775, the American colonies teetered on the edge of full-scale war with Great Britain. The battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19 had shattered any remaining illusion of peaceful reconciliation, and across New England, militiamen and irregular fighters began looking for ways to strike at British military power. Among the most strategically important targets in the northern colonies were the old fortifications along the Lake Champlain corridor in New York, a waterway that had served as a vital military highway between Canada and the American interior since the French and Indian War. It was in this context that one of the early, decisive moves of the American Revolution unfolded — not with a dramatic battle, but with a quiet and almost bloodless seizure that would have enormous consequences for the rebel cause. On May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen, the bold and outspoken commander of the Green Mountain Boys, led a daring predawn raid on Fort Ticonderoga, catching the small British garrison completely off guard and capturing the fortress without a single casualty on either side. The Green Mountain Boys were a militia originally formed in the disputed territory known as the New Hampshire Grants, the land that would eventually become Vermont, and they were no strangers to defiance of authority. Allen's capture of Ticonderoga was a stunning early triumph for the patriot cause, but the work along Lake Champlain was not yet finished. Just twelve miles to the north sat another fortification of considerable importance: Crown Point. Two days after the fall of Ticonderoga, on May 12, 1775, Colonel Seth Warner led a detachment of Green Mountain Boys northward to Crown Point to complete what Allen had begun. Warner, a seasoned and respected officer within the Green Mountain Boys, was known for his steadiness and tactical competence — qualities that complemented Allen's more flamboyant style of leadership. When Warner and his men arrived at Crown Point, they found a British garrison of only nine soldiers, a skeleton force that had no realistic hope of mounting a defense against the approaching rebels. The British troops offered no resistance, and the fort passed into American hands without a shot being fired. Though the seizure of Crown Point lacked the dramatic flair of Allen's surprise attack on Ticonderoga, its strategic significance was immense. Together, the two captures gave the Americans undisputed control of the Lake Champlain corridor, a critical north-south route that could serve as either an invasion path from Canada or a defensive barrier against British forces moving south. Equally important was the military hardware the Americans found within the walls of both forts. Combined, the captured fortifications yielded over one hundred pieces of artillery — cannons, mortars, and howitzers — at a time when the Continental forces were desperately short of heavy weapons. The true impact of these captured guns would not be felt for several months, but when it came, it proved decisive. In the winter of 1775–1776, General Henry Knox of the Continental Army undertook an extraordinary logistical feat, organizing the transport of dozens of heavy cannons from Ticonderoga and Crown Point across nearly three hundred miles of frozen wilderness to the outskirts of Boston. When these guns were placed on Dorchester Heights overlooking the city and its harbor, the British position became untenable. In March 1776, the British evacuated Boston entirely, a pivotal early victory for the American cause that owed its success, in no small part, to the artillery secured months earlier by men like Seth Warner and Ethan Allen. The seizure of Crown Point reminds us that not every critical moment in a revolution arrives with the thunder of musket fire. Sometimes, the course of history turns on quiet acts of initiative carried out by determined individuals who understand the broader stakes of their actions. Seth Warner's march to Crown Point was one such moment — a small event with outsized consequences that helped shape the early trajectory of American independence.