The New Student's Reference Work/Allen, Ethan

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88031The New Student's Reference Work — Allen, Ethan
Ethan Allen

Al'len, Ethan (born 1737, died 1789), a brigadier-general in the American revolutionary army. In 1775, after the battle of Lexington, he gathered a small company of his "Green Mountain Boys" and marched against the fortresses of Ticonderoga and Crown Point. Landing with 93 men, just before daybreak, he surprised the fort, getting inside and forming his men on the parade ground where they awoke the sleeping garrison with a shout of victory. The British commander rushed out in his nightclothes and asked: "What does this mean?" He was ordered to surrender. "In whose name?" he asked. "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," replied Allen, and the fort was surrendered. In the attempt to take Montreal, at the head of a small body of troops, he was captured after a sharp engagement and sent to England. After his release and return to America, he was appointed commander of the Vermont state militia.