1743–1784
Colonel Seth Warner
1
Events in Crown Point
Biography
Seth Warner was born in 1743 in Roxbury, Connecticut, and moved as a young man to the New Hampshire Grants — the disputed territory that would eventually become Vermont — where he became deeply involved in the resistance to New York's attempts to assert authority over the settlers who had received land grants from New Hampshire. He joined Ethan Allen's Green Mountain Boys, the quasi-military organization formed to defend the settlers' claims by force if necessary, and quickly became one of Allen's most trusted lieutenants. When the Revolution began Warner was already experienced in irregular military operations and in the kind of backcountry politics that made the Green Mountain Boys a force in their own right.
In May 1775 Warner participated in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga alongside Allen and a party of Green Mountain Boys, one of the first offensive American actions of the war. He subsequently led Vermont forces through the disastrous Canadian campaign of 1775-76 and fought a costly rearguard action at Hubbardton in July 1777 that covered the American retreat from Ticonderoga. His most consequential service came at the Battle of Bennington on August 16, 1777, where he arrived with his Continental regiment at a critical moment during the second phase of the fighting, striking the relief column under Lieutenant Colonel Heinrich von Breymann and driving it from the field. Warner's timely intervention transformed a local militia victory into a comprehensive defeat of Burgoyne's foraging expedition, contributing materially to the strategic situation that led to the British surrender at Saratoga two months later.
Warner was commissioned a colonel in the Continental Army and commanded Vermont forces for the remainder of the war, though illness increasingly limited his activity in the later years of the conflict. He died in 1784, only forty years old, his health broken by years of campaigning in difficult conditions. Vermont honored him as one of the founding heroes of its separate identity, and his role at Bennington was recognized as the moment that transformed a regional skirmish into a turning point in the northern campaign. His military career embodied the transition of the Green Mountain Boys from a frontier vigilante force into a recognized element of the Continental war effort.
In Crown Point
May
1775
Seth Warner Seizes Crown PointRole: Green Mountain Boys Colonel
# 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.