Show ay mae y sk 7 n j ayi at li gnp VC at nano U nf jno i h allt M rf ia A A m t xv h ova h MEW W W A y INA V t N FE NEW HEW j tt gaii Contine fitA Z washington wail gitig taa ca TE A aaa OBLONG MONG L locq ISLAN ni w aw I 1 w m 1 w F ra J vr ISLAND A N MAP MA WHICH W FTH ETH F TH AN ANALLEN ALLEN ana DIM 16 1 4 wf J wy sy map and fron filian aien courtesy Ilou cliton buffin company re by ELMO SCOTT WATSON 1 ethan allen alien leader of the green mountain boys at the te capture of ticonderoga on may 1 1775 just years ngo call upon the british comman commandant dont captain Dellit ilace to surrender in the name odthe of the great jehovah ani and the cent continental no 1 I 1 congress of course the schoolbook school 1 hook histories say he did but there have hare been iconoclasts who say that this Is just another piece of pretty fiction with which our school histories are burdened then there are those aho say that his words on that historic bi occasion in reality were in the name of godl mighty and the continental congressi congress 1 and again there are those who say that instead of sonorous statement the words used by there the redoubtable ethan were the more commonplace common placa now get out of here you damned old rat catl I 1 which are we to believe fortunately for those who would know the truth about historic peca slona and historic utter 0 slices ances on those occasions there has recently at appeared a book which may safely be accepted as an authority upon this particular incident and the he saying which it produced 11 Is ethan allen alien written by john pell scion of the family which tins has preserved ticonderoga as a historic shrine end and published recently by the houghton mifflin company ii book boak chich which critics i seem unanimous in regarding as aa the most au authoritative biography of this picturesque revolutionary war character that has yet appeared and in his book the biographer credits hahan allen alien with both the dan damned ined old rat and the great jehovah and th the e continental congress utterances the only correction of commonly accepted history which he makes Is to io show that these remarks were addressed not to Clip captain tain delaplace but to a subaltern lieutenant tenant feltham here ts Is the story as pell tells it after describing how the force of imeri americans catis led by allen alien and benedict arnold made their way through a break in the ceriter center of the south will wall of the main fort at ticonderoga and came upon a sentry sleeping at his post the sentry awakened from his dream saw in the pale gray light an enormous apparition rushing at him with a sword waving above his head he had presence i of mind enough to cack co ch his musket and pull the trigger but the flint flashed in the pan arid and thi the guntis gan misfired taking ii to his heels he be ran through the long archway under the south barracks into the place darcies dar nies pies rind and across it to t a bombproof on oa the other side bide shouting all the while to rouse the garrison ethan rushed after him and the men with indian war whoops crowded through the wicket birket gate and climbed the walls of the bastions ethan ordered them to form a hollow w sq square aare lq in the place dannes dames but after they had given three cheers their enthusiasm over overcame caine their discipline and shouting na no quarter terl 1 they rushed at the doors and stairways of the barracks the first soldier io t emerge from the guardhouse b ouse in the south barracks made a pass at oneff one of the invaders with kith a charged bayonet but athan coming coining up unjust just then hit him over the he head with the flat of his bis sword the roans mans life was probably probable saved by a comb he was wearing in his hair lle he begged for quarter which ethan granted on co edition that he point mint out the ilie commandants room the soldier alerted led the way to a stairway leading up the facade off off the west barracks with arnold beside hesia lira him and a crowd of his men men at his back ethan started up A door opened at the head of the stairs and there appeared appe nied on the landing a man wearing an infantry lieutenants coat and waistcoat but holding his breeches in his hand ethan 66 shouted bied some such phrase a as s come out of there ther eyou you damned old rat r rand and will arnold at his fils side began to climb the stairs meanwhile demanding the surrender of the fort at the top of his lungs the man above motioned them to stop and then asked by what authority they entered his Maje F port ort ethan shouted in the name of the great jehovah and the continental Con congress gressl 1 reaching the top with his sword waving in the air he be told the officer that he must have immediate possession of the fort and all the effects of george the third adding that if this was not complied with or that there was a single gun fired in the fort me neither ither man woman or child should bo be left alive in the fort finding that the officer whom he had been r addressing lieutenant feltham was not the commandant ethan started to break in the k door but arnold restrained him the door opened without his aid however and captain delaplace the commandant fully dressed 11 stepped out realizing there was nothing y 1 else to do he handed his sword to ethan and ordered tits his men to be paraded without arras arms 0 arnold told the british officers he had received instructions from the cambridge committee r of correspondence to take the fort an and dEthan ethan told them his orders were from the province of connecticut feltham was was immediately locked tili up in the commandants room with sentries before both doors while ethan ad aad arnold took De leplace downstairs to order ids his 11 men to lay down their arms meanwhile the invaders had broken to in the doors of the barracks and captured tho the regulars regular sIk I 1 heir bunks at ethans command they a ar argeer ged geed I 1 the bewildered prisoners out and lined them up in the place darmes while their arms were all plied piled in a room guarded by a sentry A guard was allotted to each prisoner and they were allowed to break ranks and return to their quarters by now BOW daylight was breaking the rear guard was swarming into the fort and the men had discovered the captains liquor As ethan afterward remembered the occasion the sun seemed to rise that morning with a superior luster and ticonderoga and itsie its dei P tendencies cies smiled on its conquerors who tossed about the flowing bowl and wished success to congress and the tha liberty and freedom of america pell has preserved other anecdotes of ethan allen alien which offer interesting sidelights on the charac character tei of this frontier roughneck born january 10 1738 in litchfield conn the eldest child of a bold domineering and clever family he was given the name of ethan a hebrew name signifying I 1 strong ethan once declared that only two women were wece delivered of seven devils mary magdalene Magda iene and his mother at one time two of tits his friends thinking to alarm him dressed up in sheets and leaped into the road as he was wan riding home late at night reining in hta his horse hors e ethan exclaimed well if youre angels of light im glodjo glad to se see eyou you and if youre devils come on home with me my wife Is the devils sister aister but it if he had no illusions about his wife she probably had none about him nor did his second wife if you marry general allen alien said a vermont tavern keeper to this woman you will be queen of ct a new state to which site she replied if 1 I should marry the devil td id be queen of hell on one occasion I 1 ethan nearly broke up ona one of the i lawsuits law suits in which he be was perpetually engaged by marching into In the courthouse courtl muse in full military regalia with a huge sward swinging at ills side waving his cocked hat to demand silence find and turning to the fhe tit attorney torney lie roared out 1 I would havethe have the young loung gentleman to kno know att that int with my lo 10 logic ic an and d reasoning fram the eternal fitness of things I 1 can upset tits his his white stol stouts 18 tits lila grave cloties atrid and tits his brimstones brim stones and these are arc inov a u few of the qi innings ind and do tugs ings which d this man thohas who lias been bati 1 OLD woodbur wooD cur called the typical frontiersman the rob rot hot of a wilderness commonwealth the robin hood of now new england and the strong boy ol of the Rp revolution 11 ethan soon found the nutmeg state too narrow a sphere of action for his tremendous energies and after trying a bit of farming abit a bit of mining and a a d wandering from place to place he finally landed in the region he fitted so BO perfectly this was wag the tha territory which lay between new hampshire and new york known as the new grants there during his lifetime he acquired acquire some acres acrea of wilderness domain by grants from the new hampshire provincial government but this territory was also claimed by the province of new york who tried to colon colondre colonl lre ca it but it tried in vain already it was held by squatters called the green mountain boys 1 before long the name of ethan allen alien was a name of terror to settlers who dared to encroach upon the land with new york grants and to the officials whom governor golden colden sent out to survey the lands and try to enforce new yorks title cabins were offered as burnt sacrifices to the gods of the world and the settlers driven out with instructions to go your way now and corn com plain to that damned scoundrel your governor damn your governor laws king council and assembly 11 in despair the officials of new york proclaimed ethan allen alien an outlaw and placed a price on his head ethan retaliated with a similar proclamation against agalise the governor ot of new york so the war of words and from time to time a more serious war of action continued then came the olt outbreak break of the revolution and ethan allen alien embarking upon what was osten a 4 what was wag in reality a moye move to safeguard the frontiers of his wilderness commonwealth in case of war bet between w een canada and the united colonies 11 thundered red on the portal of all earthly kings at ticonderoga and and won an imperishable place in american history unfortunately for that fame the remainder of his revolutionary war career was wan a sad anticlimax he organized a filibustering expedition into canada with the object objector of capturing Slon treal but after a short and almost farcical fa T cleal campaign was captured by the british kept as aa a prisoner of war until 1778 he then returned to his wilderness commonwealth by now organized under the name of vermont but still not a member of the colonial family 4 t there he rose to i even greater power as a sort of an uncrowned king ills his hatred for new york was as strong as aa ever for new hampshire he ha had an aversion almost as great as for the other colony and for the continental congress in whose name he had sworn at ticonderoga he had profound contempt this congress refusing to deal with allens aliens outlaw administration steadfastly declined to consider adding Vermont to the united colonies so allen alien began negotiations with the british for annexation of vermont to canada under tinder british dominion with a certain measure of independence reserved for this he has been branded by some historians as a traitor although his trea sonIs doubtful in light ligh t of the fact that the congress coB gress had caste cast vermont loose to shift tor for its own independent existence ethan allens aliens turbulent career came to an end jo ln the roistering manner in which he had lived jn rebr february uary 1789 he died ona load of hay returning from a joyous drinking party on an island in lake cha Chirm plain A year later new york gave up tip its claim to the vermont lands and recognized the he independence of that cobey in it was taken into the untied united states ns as the first to be admitted after the thirteen original colonies and when vermont 6 came e to 0 o bonor honor her two grea greatest men by placing their monuments in hall in i the national capitol in washington ibo first one chosen was ethan allen alien |