{"id":283298,"date":"2025-06-09T09:09:55","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T09:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/ethan-allen-and-the-green-mountain-boys\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T09:09:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T09:09:55","slug":"ethan-allen-and-the-green-mountain-boys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=283298","title":{"rendered":"Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

[On June
\n14th<\/sup>, 1775<\/a>, the Continental Army was formed at the Second
\nContinental Congress<\/a> in Philadelphia. So for the 250th<\/sup> of that momentous
\nmilitary moment, I\u2019ll AmericanStudy a handful of iconic Revolutionary War
\nfigures, leading up to a special weekend post on that historic anniversary!]<\/p>\n

On the less than noble side to one of the Revolution\u2019s folk heroes.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a tough post for me to write: <\/span>Ethan Allen<\/span><\/a> and the <\/span>Green Mountain Boys<\/span><\/a> might not have the national reputation of the Concord Minutemen, but in
\ntheir native Vermont and throughout New England they\u2019re definitely <\/span>folk heroes<\/span><\/a>; and I know that
\nmy Mom grew up (just outside of Boston) as a big fan. And there\u2019s no question
\nthat their May 1775 surprise <\/span>capture of Fort Ticonderoga<\/span><\/a> represented one of the Revolution\u2019s most significant victories, not only
\ntactically but also symbolically; this was only a month after Lexington and
\nConcord, with the very status of the Revolution still up in the air, and the
\nvictory at Fort Ticonderoga thus helped make clear that America\u2019s war effort
\nwas to be a serious and ongoing one.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not here to challenge those histories (as far as I know Ticonderoga was
\nall that and more)\u2014but the Green Mountain Boys didn\u2019t come into existence in
\n1775, and the details of their founding and virtually all of their other
\nactions are far less admirable. Not to put too fine a point on it: the Boys
\nwere a local goon squad, <\/span>organized by Allen and compatriots in 1770<\/span><\/a> to intimidate New York landowners into leaving the area (then
\npart of New Hampshire) and ceding the so-called <\/span>\u201cWentworth\u201d land grants<\/span><\/a> to locals. As
\nfar as I can tell the Boys didn\u2019t generally take violent action, preferring
\nthreats and intimidation, but at least one genuinely violent event resulted
\nfrom these conflicts: the <\/span>1775 \u201cWestminster massacre,\u201d<\/span><\/a> in which
\napparently only one or two landowners died but many more were affected. Moreover,
\nthe Boys didn\u2019t graduate from these local acts to Revolutionary ones so much as
\ntemporarily pause for the latter\u2014as early as 1778 <\/span>Allen and company were back in Vermont<\/span><\/a> and focused once again on the land grant battles (as
\nwell as the distinct possibility, one Allen negotiated for with the British for
\nsome time, of Vermont becoming a
\nseparate British province<\/a>!).<\/span><\/p>\n

So what would it mean if we remembered these different sides to Allen?
\nThose who critique \u201crevisionist history\u201d would argue that I\u2019m seeking to
\nundermine his heroism, to tear down an American icon, and so on. Part of my
\nresponse would be that both elements must be included in any accurate history
\nof the man, his military importance to the Revolution as well as his more shady
\nlocal endeavors. But another and more significant part would be that Allen
\noffers a far more historically meaningful portrait of the Revolutionary era, a
\nmoment in which hugely defining and world-altering events existed side by side
\nwith the most petty and minor (and at times, indeed, ugly and divisive)
\nconflicts. If anything, an awareness of that history makes the defining events
\nthat much more impressive still\u2014in 1775, the 18th<\/sup> century equivalent
\nof the Sons of Anarchy biker gang played an instrumental role in a victory
\nwithout which there might not be a United States. <\/span><\/p>\n

Next Revolutionary
\nfigure tomorrow,<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben<\/span><\/p>\n

PS. What
\ndo you think? Rev War figures you\u2019d highlight?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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