Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1932-01-14
MeteOriC Ethan Allen

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on January 10, was born a man whose
name is bound to come up in this year
OF our national remembrance of George
Washington, when all who had a part
IN his military victories are destined
to share in his glory. This man was
Ethan Allen, known to every school
child in the country because he added
to Revolutionary history at least one
immortal deed and one immortal say
ing.
Ethan Allen, we are informed by the
United States George Washington BIZ
entennial Commission, was born in
1887, in Ltchfield, Conn, only five
years after George Washington himself
first saw the light of day. When he was
in his early thirties, Allen moved to
Bennington, in what is now Vermont
but was then disputed ground Known
as the New Hampshire Grants" that
territory was claimed by New York,
but the people within it were deter
mined to be citizens neither of New
York nor New Hamshire but to be a
state by themselves. They even formed
a military body to enforce their de-
termination.
Ethan Allen was made colonel and
commanding officer of these Green
Mountain Boys" as they called them
selves but before they got very far
with their private war, the Revolution
broke out and Ethan Allen dropped
the cause of his particular colony to
embrace the cause of all the colonies.
Here began his military career, a short
one, as it proved, but one long enough
to include an outstanding feat that
indirectly contributed to Washington
taking of Boston and that fixed the
name of Ethan Allen forever in the
minds of his countrymen
As soon as he heard of the battles
of Lexington and Concord, Ethan Al
len conceived the idea of capturing
Ticonderoga, strong fort on Lake
Champlain held by the British and an
important stronghold of British power
in the colonies. On his own initiative
Allen marched his mountaineer regi-
ment to the attack. On his way, Incl
dentally, he was joined by Benedict
Arnold, who held a more official mill
tary commission granted him by the
Committee of Safety. Arnold joined as
volunteer, nevertheless, and left the
command to Allen.
On reaching the shore of Champlain,
opposite Tconderoga, Allen found to
his chagrin that boats were lacking to
transport his entire regiment. Not one
whit daunted, he carried over So men,
leaving the others on the Vermont
shore, and using the darkness Of night
to cloak his maneuver Day was dawn
ing as he drew up his little force for
the assault and no time was to be lost
AT the same time he realized the des-
perate nature Of the work before him
with merely a handful Of men, and
generously offered to leave behind any
man who cared to withdraw. Not
man accepted the offer. The So moved
on the fort
The sentry they surprised at the
gate is said to have aimed point blank
at Allen, but fortunately the gun missed
fire. Aliens loyal men would have
made short work Of the sentry instead,
but Allen was too humane and too
shrewd for that. He promised the SEN
try his life on condition of his leading
them straight to the quarters Of his COM
manding officer. There they found De
la Place taken by surprise and not
fully dressed, but not SO surprised but
that, when Allen demanded his sur
render he could demand in return by
what authority Allen acted.
As Allen possessed no official author
ity from the Colonial powers, he him
self may have been caught by surprise.
But again nothing daunted him
and he Numbered the immortal answer,
I'm the name of the Great Jehovah and
the Continental Congress Evidently
that was authority enough for De la
Place, for he turned over the fort to
the Americans without further ado.
This stroke, which Ethan Allen
brought off less than a month after
the encounter at Lexington, was an
other blow to British prestige Direct
ly, 1t removed British threat from
what was then the American rear, and
indirectly it brought to Washington's
aid the cannon and ammunition he
needed in his siege Of Boston. Later
that year, Col (afterward GeneraD
Knox stripped Ticonderoga of its guns
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