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Subject: Excerpt Of History
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 18:48:29 EST
Monday, January 10, 2005
ETHAN ALLEN DAY
(http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/nsh/allen_e.cfm) Destined to become a fiery
patriot and soldier, Ethan Allen was born on this day in 1738 in Litchfield,
Connecticut. At the young age of twenty, he was fighting in the French and Indian
War. When New Hampshire granted land to settlers, Ethan Allen made his home
there (now Vermont).
Unfortunately for many, the British decided that this land belonged to New
York. In 1770, the New York courts ruled that the settlers would have to pay
for their land again. Ethan Allen and his compatriot, Seth Warner organized
the Green Mountain Boys as an active, forceful resistance against the ruling
and the rulers. They caused so much trouble that a reward, equivalent to $750,
was offered by the Governor of New York for the arrest of Allen.
When the Revolutionary War broke out, Allen and the Green Mountain Boys
joined the patriot cause. Ethan Allen, along with Colonel Benedict Arnold, led 83
Americans in an attack on Fort Ticonderoga. It was early in the morning on
May 10, 1775. They literally caught the British sleeping and easily captured
the Fort. Allen’s next battle was not as successful. He attempted to lead a
surprise attack on Montreal. He was captured and jailed. While captive, he
wrote, A Narrative of Col. Ethan Allen’s Captivity. Once released, Allen
petitioned the Continental Congress for Vermont’s statehood. When he was refused, he
talked to the British about making Vermont a British province. Congress
accused him of treason, though he was never found guilty. And the Green Mountain
State became an independent republic until 1791.
Larger than life statues have been erected in Vermont and in Washington,
D.C. to honor this patriot. In the eyes of the settlers he was always larger
than life. Many legends circulated about Ethan Allen, for example -- it is said
that he severed nails with his teeth; that when surprised by white-sheeted
pranksters on a desolate stretch of road, he invited the “devils” home because
he “married their sister.”
Besides being recognized for his heroic wartime acts, Ethan Allen was known
for his physical prowess, his drinking and his blatant impiety (as he proved
in his writing of Reason: The Only Oracle Of Man - A Compendious System Of
Natural Religion).
All in all, he was a typical American hero!
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