Ethan Allen
Who was Ethan Allen?
American general, writer and philosopher (1738–1789)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Ethan Allen (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Ethan Allen was born on January 21, 1738, in Litchfield, Connecticut, and grew up in a rugged environment that influenced his independent and combative nature. Although he had limited formal education, he studied philosophy and developed strong views on religion, politics, and natural rights. In his early adulthood, he farmed, got involved in an ironworks business in Connecticut, and began land speculation, which led him north to the disputed New Hampshire Grants territory. He married Frances Montresor Buchanan Allen Penniman and eventually focused his life and goals in the Vermont area, playing a key role in its political and military history.
In the late 1760s, Allen became deeply involved in the New Hampshire Grants, buying land and getting caught up in the heated disputes between New Hampshire landowners and the colony of New York, which claimed the territory as well. When New York courts canceled New Hampshire land titles, Allen helped form the Green Mountain Boys, a paramilitary group that used intimidation and property destruction to resist New York's rule and push out settlers loyal to New York. This group gave Allen both a military and political platform as the American Revolution loomed.
At the start of the Revolutionary War, Allen and the Green Mountain Boys captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British on May 10, 1775, in a surprise attack that secured a key strategic post and a large amount of artillery. These cannons were later moved to Boston, playing a crucial role in forcing the British to leave the city. Later that year, Allen led an unofficial and poorly organized attempt to seize Montreal in September 1775. The mission failed, and Allen was captured by the British. He suffered harsh conditions aboard Royal Navy prison ships and was held for years until being paroled in New York City and finally exchanged in 1778.
After his release, Allen returned to Vermont, which had declared itself an independent republic in 1777. He continued his political efforts, lobbying the Continental Congress to recognize Vermont as an official state and working to block New York's ongoing attempts to take over the area. Contentiously, he also secretly negotiated with British officials about Vermont possibly rejoining the British Empire as a separate province, likely as a political tactic to pressure Congress rather than a genuine show of loyalty to the Crown. Allen died on February 12, 1789, in Burlington, Vermont, having seen Vermont recognized as a state, though its formal admission to the Union did not happen until 1791.
Before Fame
Ethan Allen grew up in rural Connecticut at a time when Americans were gradually expanding northward and westward. His upbringing gave him practical farming skills and a self-reliant attitude that he carried throughout his life. He received some education, which included exposure to philosophical and theological ideas, influencing his writing and skeptical views on organized religion.
Before gaining recognition for his military actions, Allen had already made a name for himself as a land speculator and businessman with interests in Connecticut's iron industry. However, it was his bold investment in the disputed New Hampshire Grants in the late 1760s that put him on the path to prominence. The land disputes in that area gave him a cause, a following, and eventually leadership of the Green Mountain Boys, the group that would secure his place in history.
Key Achievements
- Led the surprise capture of Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775, securing vital artillery for the Continental cause
- Co-founded and commanded the Green Mountain Boys, the paramilitary force central to Vermont's resistance against New York authority
- Played a foundational role in the establishment of Vermont as an independent republic and eventual U.S. state
- Published 'Reason the Only Oracle of Man' (1784), one of the first deist philosophical works printed in America
- Wrote 'A Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity,' a widely read account of his wartime imprisonment that became a popular text in the early republic
Did You Know?
- 01.When Allen demanded Fort Ticonderoga's surrender in 1775, he reportedly did so 'in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress,' a phrase that became one of the most quoted declarations of the early Revolutionary War.
- 02.Allen's 1784 philosophical work, 'Reason the Only Oracle of Man,' was one of the earliest deist texts published in the United States and earned him a reputation as an infidel among many of his contemporaries.
- 03.During his captivity, Allen was held aboard British prison ships in New York Harbor under conditions he later described as deliberately brutal, and he wrote a widely read memoir about his experiences titled 'A Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen's Captivity.'
- 04.Allen and his brother Ira Allen were major land speculators in Vermont, and the Allen family's business interests were deeply intertwined with the political fate of the territory they helped create.
- 05.Despite his fame as a military leader, Allen never held an official commission in the Continental Army, and Congress declined to grant him a formal military rank for much of the war.