Colonel Seth Warner

# 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.

# The Battle of Bennington: The Defeat of Breymann's Relief Column In the summer of 1777, the American Revolution hung in a precarious balance. British General John Burgoyne had launched an ambitious campaign to drive south from Canada through the Hudson River Valley, intending to split the rebellious colonies in two and sever New England from the rest of the fledgling nation. His army, a formidable combination of British regulars, German mercenaries, Loyalist militia, and Indigenous allies, had already captured Fort Ticonderoga and was pushing deeper into New York. But Burgoyne's supply lines were stretching dangerously thin, and his army was running short of horses, draft animals, and provisions. Desperate to resupply, Burgoyne dispatched Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum, a capable Hessian officer commanding a mixed force of German dragoons, Loyalists, and Indigenous fighters, to raid the American supply depot at Bennington in the disputed territory that is now Vermont. It was a decision that would prove catastrophic for the British cause. Standing in Baum's path was General John Stark, a fiery and experienced New Hampshire militia commander who had fought at Bunker Hill and Trenton but had grown frustrated with what he perceived as congressional favoritism in promoting officers. Stark had agreed to lead the New Hampshire militia only on the condition that he answer to New Hampshire alone, not to the Continental Army's chain of command. His independence proved to be an asset. When word reached him that Baum's column was approaching, Stark rallied his growing force of militia volunteers and prepared to meet the threat head-on. Legend holds that before the battle, Stark invoked his wife Elizabeth, known as "Molly" Stark, declaring to his men that they would win the day or Molly Stark would be a widow by nightfall. Whether apocryphal or not, the words captured the fierce resolve that animated the patriot ranks. On August 16, 1777, Stark's militia launched a devastating assault on Baum's entrenched position. The attack came from multiple directions, overwhelming the Hessian defenders. Baum himself was mortally wounded in the fighting, and his force was shattered. But victory nearly slipped through American fingers in the chaotic aftermath. As Stark's militiamen broke ranks to loot Baum's captured position, scattering across the battlefield to seize weapons, supplies, and personal effects, a fresh threat materialized from the north. Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann, leading a relief column of approximately 600 German reinforcements, arrived on the road with orders to support Baum. Finding the first force destroyed and the Americans in disarray, Breymann pressed forward with disciplined volleys that threatened to reverse the outcome of the entire engagement. Stark's disorganized men, many of whom had expended their ammunition in the first battle, found themselves nearly overrun. It was at this critical juncture that Colonel Seth Warner and his regiment of Green Mountain Boys arrived on the field, providing the reinforcement that saved the day. Warner's men, hardened veterans of frontier warfare who had been marching hard to reach the battle, formed a disciplined line and engaged Breymann's column in a fierce running fight. The fresh American troops, fighting alongside Stark's rallying militiamen, poured fire into the German ranks and drove Breymann's force steadily backward along the road toward Burgoyne's main army. By the time the fighting ended, Breymann's column had suffered devastating losses, and the total British and German casualties across both engagements exceeded 900 men killed, wounded, or captured. The consequences of the Battle of Bennington rippled far beyond the fields where the fighting took place. Burgoyne lost nearly a thousand irreplaceable soldiers, received none of the supplies or horses he desperately needed, and saw his already precarious strategic position deteriorate sharply. The American victory electrified patriot morale throughout New England and drew thousands of additional militia volunteers to the cause, many of whom would converge on Burgoyne's army in the weeks ahead. Less than two months later, surrounded and outnumbered at Saratoga, Burgoyne surrendered his entire army — a turning point that convinced France to enter the war as America's ally. Bennington, and particularly the dramatic defeat of Breymann's relief column, was one of the critical blows that made Saratoga possible, proving that citizen-soldiers led by determined commanders like Stark and Warner could stand against professional European troops and win.