Ethan Allen Ethan Allen ( – February 12 , 1789 ) was a farmer ; businessman ; land speculator ; philosopher ; writer ; and American Revolutionary War patriot , hero , and politician . He is best known as one of the founders of the U . S . state of Vermont , and for the capture of Fort Ticonderoga early in the American Revolutionary War . Born in rural Connecticut , Allen had a frontier upbringing but also received an education that included some philosophical teachings . In the late 1760s he became interested in the New Hampshire Grants , buying land there and becoming embroiled in the legal disputes surrounding the territory . Legal setbacks led to the formation of the Green Mountain Boys , whom Allen led in a campaign of intimidation and property destruction to drive New York settlers from the Grants . When the American Revolutionary War broke out , Allen and the Boys seized the initiative and captured Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775 . In September 1775 Allen led a failed attempt on Montreal that resulted in his capture by British authorities . First imprisoned aboard Royal Navy ships , he was paroled in New York City , and finally released in a prisoner exchange in 1778 . Upon his release , Allen returned to the Grants , which had declared independence in 1777 , and resumed political activity in the territory . In addition to continuing resistance to New York ' s attempts to assert control over the territory , Allen was active in efforts by Vermont ' s leadership for recognition by Congress , and he participated in controversial negotiations with the British over the possibility of Vermont becoming a separate British province . Allen wrote accounts of his exploits in the war that were widely read in the 19th century , as well as philosophical treatises and documents relating to the politics of Vermont ' s formation . His business dealings included successful farming operations , one of Connecticut ' s early iron works , and land speculation in the Vermont territory . Land purchased by Allen and his brothers included tracts of land that eventually became Burlington , Vermont . He was twice married , fathering eight children . Early life . Childhood . Ethan Allen was born in Litchfield , Connecticut , the first - born child of Joseph and Mary Baker Allen , both of English and Puritan descent . The family moved to the town of Cornwall shortly after his birth . The move to Cornwall grew out of Ethan ' s father ' s quest for freedom of religion during a time of turmoil : the Great Awakening , when Puritans were separating into churches with differing dogmas , in particular about the proper form of conversion : by works or by grace . Ethan ' s lifelong interest in philosophy and ideas emerged against the backdrop of his father ' s involvement in these Puritan debates and his father ' s refusal to convert to the covenant by grace . As a boy Ethan already excelled at quoting the Bible and was known for disputing the meaning of passages . Seven siblings , all of whom survived to adulthood , joined the family between Allen ' s birth in 1738 and 1751 . His brothers Ira and Heman would also become prominent figures in the early history of Vermont . Although not very much is known about Allen ' s childhood , the town of Cornwall was frontier territory in the 1740s . By the time Allen reached his teens , the area , while still a difficult area in which to make a living , began to resemble a town , with wood - frame houses beginning to replace the rough cabins of the early settlers . Joseph Allen died in 1755 ; at the time of his death he was one of the wealthier landowners in the area , ran a successful farm , and had previously served as town selectman . Allen had , before his father ' s death , begun studies under a minister in the nearby town of Salisbury with the goal of gaining admission to Yale College . Allen ' s brother Ira recalled that , even at a young age , Ethan was curious and interested in learning . First Marriage and early adulthood . Allen was forced to end his studies upon his father ' s death . While he volunteered for militia service in 1757 in response to French movements resulting in the Siege of Fort William Henry , his unit received word while en route that the fort had fallen , and turned back . Even though the French and Indian War continued over the next several years , Allen did not apparently participate in any further military activities , and is presumed to have tended his farm , at least until 1762 . In that year , he became part owner of an iron furnace in Salisbury . He also married Mary Brownson , a woman five years his senior , from the nearby town of Roxbury , in July 1762 . They first settled in Cornwall , but moved the following year to Salisbury with their infant daughter Loraine . Allen bought a small farm and proceeded to develop the iron works . The expansion of the iron works was apparently costly to Allen ; he was forced to sell off portions of the Cornwall property to raise funds , and eventually sold half of his interest in the works to his brother Heman . The Allen brothers sold their interest in the iron works in October 1765 . By most accounts Allen ' s first marriage was an unhappy one . His wife was rigidly religious , prone to criticizing him , and barely able to read and write . In contrast , Allen ' s behavior was sometimes quite flamboyant ; and he maintained an interest in learning . In spite of these differences the marriage survived until Mary ' s death in 1783 . Ethan and Mary had five children together , only two of whom reached adulthood . Allen ' s exploits in those years introduced him to the wrong side of the justice system , which would become a recurring feature of his life . In one incident , he and his brother Heman went to the farm of a neighbor , some of whose pigs had escaped onto their land , and seized the pigs . The neighbor sued to have the animals returned to him ; Allen pled his own case , and lost . Ethan and Heman were fined ten shillings , and the neighbor was awarded another five shillings in damages . He was also called to court in Salisbury for himself against smallpox , a procedure that at the time required the sanction of the town selectmen . Thomas Young . When he moved to Salisbury , Allen met Thomas Young , a doctor living and practicing just across the provincial boundary in New York . The doctor , only five years older than Allen , taught the younger Allen a great deal about philosophy and political theory , while Allen was able to bring to Young his appreciation of nature and life on the frontier . Young and Allen eventually decided to collaborate on a book intended to be an attack on organized religion , as Young had convinced Allen to become a Deist . They worked on the manuscript until 1764 , when Young moved away from the area , taking the manuscript with him . It was not until many years later , after Young ' s death , that Allen was able to recover the manuscript . He expanded and reworked the material , and eventually published it as " Reason : the Only Oracle of Man " . Moving around . While Heman remained in Salisbury , where he ran a general store until his death in 1778 , Ethan ' s movements over the next few years are poorly documented . He is known to have been living in Northampton , Massachusetts in the spring of 1766 , where his son Joseph was born , and where he invested in a lead mine . He was asked to leave Northampton in July 1767 by the authorities ; while no official reason is known , biographer Michael Bellesiles suggests that religious differences and Allen ' s tendency to be disruptive may have played a role in his departure . He then briefly returned to Salisbury before settling in nearby Sheffield , Massachusetts with his younger brother Zimri . It is likely that his first visits to the New Hampshire Grants occurred during these years . While Sheffield would be the family home for ten years , Allen was often absent for extended periods . The New Hampshire Grants . As early as 1749 , Benning Wentworth , New Hampshire ' s governor , was selling land grants in the area west of the Connecticut River , to which New Hampshire had always laid somewhat dubious claim . Many of these grants were sold at relatively low prices to land speculators , with some land kicked back to Wentworth . In 1764 , King George issued an order resolving the competing claims of New York and New Hampshire in favor of New York . New York , which had also issued land grants that overlapped some of those sold by Wentworth , insisted that holders of the Wentworth grants pay a fee to New York to have their grants validated . As this fee approached the original purchase price , and many of the holders were land - rich and cash - poor , there was a great deal of resistance to this demand . By 1769 the situation in the Grants had deteriorated to the point where surveyors and other figures of New York authority were being physically threatened and driven from the area . Allen asked for assistance . A few of the holders of Wentworth grants were originally from northwestern Connecticut ; and some of them , including Remember Baker and Seth Warner , were relatives of Allen . In 1770 , a group of Wentworth grant holders asked Allen to defend their case before New York ' s Supreme Court , a move that presented Allen with his first big stage . This move to leadership was not unusual ; he was known among his contemporaries to be willing to step forward and take control . The trial , for which Allen hired Jared Ingersoll to represent the grantholder interest , began in July 1770 , pitting Allen against politically powerful New York grant - holders , including New York ' s Lieutenant Governor Colden , James Duane ( who was prosecuting the case ) , and Robert Livingston , the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ( who was presiding over the case ) . The trial was brief , and the outcome unsurprising , as the court , citing their fraudulently issued nature , refused to allow the introduction of Wentworth ' s grants as evidence . Before departing for Bennington with the news , Allen was visited by Duane , who offered Allen payments which Duane described in his diary as payment " for going among the people to quiet them " . Allen denied taking any money ; even if he did , none of his actions appeared to honor Duane ' s request . According to Allen ' s account he was outraged , and left his visitors with veiled threats , indicating that attempts to enforce the judgment would be met with resistance . While many historians have believed that Allen took these actions because he already held Wentworth grants of his own , there is no evidence that he was issued any such grants until after he had been asked to take up the defense of grants held by others . Between May 1770 , when he first began working on the defense , and the trial in July , he acquired , for the price of $ 50 , grants from Wentworth to about of land in Poultney and Castleton . Green Mountain Boys . On Allen ' s return to Bennington , the settlers met at the Catamount Tavern to discuss their options . These discussions resulted in the formation of the Green Mountain Boys , with local militia companies in each of the surrounding towns . Allen was named their Colonel Commandant , and cousins Seth Warner and Remember Baker were captains of two of the companies . Further meetings resulted in the creation of committees of safety , and laid down rules by which to resist attempts by the New York provincial government to establish its authority . These included denying surveyors sent by the province the ability to survey " any " land in the Grants , not just land owned through the Wentworth grants . While Allen participated in some of the actions to drive surveyors away , he also spent much time exploring the entire territory , probably ranging as far north as the site of Burlington in his wanderings . After selling off some of his Connecticut properties , he began buying wild lands further north in the territory , which he sold at a profit as the southern settlements grew and people began to move further north . Friction with the provincial government rose notably when , in October 1771 , Allen and a company of Boys drove off a group of Scottish settlers near Rupert . Allen detained two of the settlers and forced them to watch the torching of their newly constructed cabins . He then ordered them to leave , saying , " Go your way now , and complain to that damned scoundrel your Governor , God damn your Governor , Laws , King , Council , and Assembly " . When the settlers protested his language Allen continued the tirade , threatening to send any troops from New York to Hell . In response , New York ' s governor , William Tryon , issued warrants for the arrests of those responsible , and eventually put a price of £20 on the heads of six participants , including Allen . Allen and his cohorts countered by issuing offers of their own . Over the next few years the situation deteriorated further . Governor Tryon and the Boys exchanged threats , truce offers , and other writings , which were frequently written by Allen in florid and didactic language , while the Boys continued to drive surveyors and incoming tenants on New York - granted lands away . Most of these incidents did not involve bloodshed , although individuals were at times manhandled , and the Boys sometimes did extensive property damage when driving tenants out . By March 1774 , the harsh treatment of settlers and their property by Allen and the Boys prompted Tryon to increase some of the rewards to £100 . Onion River Company . Allen persisted with actions against the New York - issued grantholders and their tenants even though a number of the Wentworth proprietors were tiring of the business . In 1772 he ; his cousin Remember Baker ; and his brothers Ira , Heman , and Zimri formed the Onion River Company , which was basically a land - speculation organization devoted to purchasing land in and around the Winooski River ( known then as the Onion River ) . The success of this business depended on the successful defense of the Wentworth grants . Early purchases of the company included about of land from Edward Burling and his partners ; land was sold at a profit to Thomas Chittenden among others , and the settlements on the company ' s land have grown to become the city of Burlington . The outrage of the Wentworth proprietors was renewed in 1774 when Governor Tryon passed a law containing harsh provisions clearly targeted at the actions of the " Bennington Mob " . Vermont historian Samuel Williams called it " an act which for its savage barbarity is probably without parallel in the legislation of any civilized country " . Its provisions included the penalty of death for interfering with a magistrate , and the criminalization of meetings of more than three people " for unlawful purposes " in the Grants . The Boys countered with rules of their own , forbidding anyone in the Grants from holding " any office of honor or profit under the colony of N . York " . Allen spent much of the summer of 1774 writing a " pamphlet " entitled " A Brief Narrative of the Proceedings of the Government of New York Relative to Their Obtaining the Jurisdiction of that Large District of Land to the Westward of the Connecticut River " . The length of the name was justified ; it was a 200 - page polemic arguing the position of the Wentworth proprietors . Allen had the work , which historian Charles Jellison describes as " rebellion in print " , printed in Connecticut , and began selling and giving away copies in early 1775 . Westminster massacre . Allen traveled into the northern parts of the Grants early in 1775 , as was his custom , for solitude and to hunt for game and land opportunities . A few days after his return , news came that blood had finally been shed over the land disputes . Most of the resistance activity had until then taken place on the west side of the Green Mountains ; on March 13 , a small riot in the shire town of Westminster , on the east side of the mountains , resulted in the death of two men . Allen and a troop of Boys traveled to Westminster where , under Allen ' s influence , the town ' s convention adopted a strongly worded resolution authorizing the drafting of a plea to the King to remove them " out of so oppressive a jurisdiction " . The preparation of the petition was assigned to a committee which included Allen . Less than a week after the Westminster convention ended , while Allen and the committee worked on their petition , the American Revolutionary War began . Early Revolutionary War . Capture of Fort Ticonderoga . In late April , following the battles of Lexington and Concord , Allen received a message from members of an irregular Connecticut militia that they were planning to capture Fort Ticonderoga , requesting his assistance in the effort . Allen , whether motivated by patriotic impulses ( as he describes in his account of the events ) , or by the realization that the action might improve the political position of his side in the grants disputes , agreed to help , and began rounding up the Green Mountain Boys . On May 2 , 60 men from Massachusetts and Connecticut met with Allen in Bennington , where they discussed the logistics of the expedition . By May 7 , these men joined Allen and 130 Boys at Castleton . The next morning , Allen was elected to lead the expedition , and a dawn raid was planned for May 10 . Two small companies were detached to procure boats , and Allen took the main contingent north to Hand ' s Cove in Shoreham to prepare for the crossing . On the afternoon of May 9 , Benedict Arnold quite unexpectedly arrived on the scene . Flourishing a commission from the Massachusetts Committee of Safety , he asserted his right to command the expedition . The assembled men refused to acknowledge his authority , insisting they would only follow Allen ' s lead . In a private discussion , Allen and Arnold reached an accommodation , the essence of which was that Arnold and Allen would both be at the front of the troops when the attack on the fort was made . Around 2 : 00 a . m . , a few boats were finally procured for the crossing . However , only 83 men made it to the other side of the lake before Allen and Arnold , concerned that dawn was approaching , decided to attack . In the early dawn , the small force marched on the fort , surprising the lone sentry . Allen went directly to the fort commander ' s quarters , seeking to force his surrender . Lieutenant Jocelyn Feltham , the assistant to the fort ' s commander , Captain William Delaplace , was awakened by the noise , and called to wake the captain . Stalling for time , he demanded to know by what authority the fort was being entered . Allen , who later claimed that he said it to Captain Delaplace , said , " In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress ! " Delaplace finally emerged from his chambers , fully dressed , and surrendered his sword . The rest of the fort ' s garrison surrendered without firing a shot . Raids on St . John . A detachment of the boys under Seth Warner ' s command went to nearby Fort Crown Point and captured the small garrison there . On May 14 , following the arrival of 100 men recruited by Arnold ' s captains , and the arrival of a schooner and some bateaux that had been taken at Skenesboro , Arnold and 50 of his men sailed north to raid Fort St . John , on the Richelieu River downstream from the lake , where a small British warship was reported by the prisoners to be anchored . Arnold ' s raid was a success ; he seized the sloop HMS " Royal George " , supplies , and a number of bateaux . Allen , shortly after Arnold ' s departure on the raid , decided , after his successes at the southern end of the lake , to take and hold Fort St . John himself . To that end , he and about 100 Boys climbed into four bateaux , and began rowing north . After two days without significant food ( which they had forgotten to provision in the boats ) , Allen ' s small fleet met Arnold ' s on its way back to Ticonderoga near the foot of the lake . Arnold generously opened his stores to Allen ' s hungry men , and tried to dissuade Allen from his objective , noting that it was likely the alarm had been raised and troops were on their way to St . John . Allen , likely both stubborn in his determination , and envious of Arnold , persisted . When Allen and his men landed above St . John and scouted the situation , they learned that a column of 200 or more regulars was approaching . Rather than attempt an ambush on those troops , which significantly outnumbered his tired company , Allen withdrew to the other side of the river , where the men collapsed with exhaustion and slept without sentries through the night . They were awakened when British sentries discovered them and began firing grapeshot at them from across the river . The Boys , in a panic , piled into their bateaux and rowed with all speed upriver . When the expedition returned to Ticonderoga two days later , some of the men were greatly disappointed that they had nothing to show for the effort and risks they took . Promoting an invasion . Following Allen ' s failed attempt on St . John , many of his men drifted away , presumably drawn by the needs of home and farm . Arnold then began asserting his authority over Allen for control of Ticonderoga and Crown Point . Allen publicly announced that he was stepping down as commander , but remained hopeful that the Second Continental Congress was going to name " a commander for this department . . . Undoubtedly , we shall be rewarded according to our merit " . Congress , for its part , at first not really wanting any part of the affair , effectively voted to strip and then abandon the forts . Both Allen and Arnold protested these measures , pointing out that doing so would leave the northern border wide open . They both also made proposals to Congress and other provincial bodies for carrying out an invasion of Quebec . Allen , in one instance , wrote that " I will lay my life on it , that with fifteen hundred men , and a proper artillery , I will take Montreal " . Allen also attempted correspondence with the people of Quebec and with the Indians living there in an attempt to sway their opinion toward the revolutionary cause . On June 22 , Allen and Seth Warner appeared before Congress in Philadelphia , where they argued for the inclusion of the Green Mountain Boys in the Continental Army . After deliberation , Congress directed General Philip Schuyler , who had been appointed to lead the Army ' s Northern Department , to work with New York ' s provincial government to establish ( and pay for ) a regiment consisting of the Boys , and that they be paid Army rates for their service at Ticonderoga . On July 4 , Allen and Warner made their case to New York ' s Provincial Congress , which , despite the fact that the Royal Governor had placed a price on their heads , agreed to the formation of a regiment . Following a brief visit to their families , they returned to Bennington to spread the news . Allen went to Ticonderoga to join Schuyler , while Warner and others raised the regiment . Allen loses command of the Boys . When the regimental companies in the Grants had been raised , they held a vote in Dorset to determine who would command the regiment . By a wide margin , Seth Warner was elected to lead the regiment . Brothers Ira and Heman were also given command positions , but Ethan was not given any position at all in the regiment . The thorough rejection stung ; Allen wrote to Connecticut Governor Jonathan Trumbull , " How the old men came to reject me I cannot conceive inasmuch as I saved them from the incroachments of New York . " The rejection likely had several causes . The people of the Grants were tired of the disputes with New York , and they were tired of Allen ' s posturing and egotistic behavior , which the success at Ticonderoga had enhanced . Finally , the failure of the attempt on St . John ' s was widely seen as reckless and ill - advised , attributes they did not appreciate in a regimental leader . Warner was viewed as a more stable and quieter choice , and was someone that also commanded respect . The history of Warner ' s later actions in the revolution ( notably at Hubbardton and Bennington ) may be seen as a confirmation of the choice made by the Dorset meeting . In the end , Allen took the rejection in stride , and managed to convince Schuyler and Warner to permit him to accompany the regiment as a civilian scout . Capture . The American invasion of Quebec departed from Ticonderoga on August 28 . On September 4 , the army had occupied the Île aux Noix in the Richelieu River , a few miles above Fort St . John , which they then prepared to besiege . On September 8 , Schuyler sent Allen and Massachusetts Major John Brown , who had also been involved in the capture of Ticonderoga , into the countryside between St . John and Montreal to spread the word of their arrival to the habitant s and the Indians . They were successful enough in gaining support from the habitants that Quebec ' s governor , General Guy Carleton , reported that " they have injured us very much " . When he returned from that expedition eight days later , Brigadier General Richard Montgomery had assumed command of the invasion due to Schuyler ' s illness . Montgomery , likely not wanting the troublemaker in his camp , again sent him out , this time to raise a regiment of French - speaking Canadien s . Accompanied by a small number of Americans , he again set out , traveling through the countryside to Sorel , before turning to follow the Saint Lawrence River up toward Montreal , recruiting upwards of 200 men . On September 24 , he and Brown , whose company was guarding the road between St . John ' s and Montreal , met at Longueuil , and , according to Allen ' s account of the events , came up with a plan in which both he and Brown would lead their forces to attack Montreal . Allen and about 100 men crossed the Saint Lawrence that night , but Brown and his men , who were to cross the river at Laprairie , did not . General Carleton , alerted to Allen ' s presence , mustered every man he could , and , in the Battle of Longue - Pointe , scattered most of Allen ' s force , and captured him and about 30 men . His capture ended his participation in the revolution until 1778 , as he was imprisoned by the British . General Schuyler , upon learning of Allen ' s capture , wrote , " I am very apprehensive of disagreeable consequences arising from Mr . Allen ' s imprudence . I always dreaded his impatience and imprudence . " Imprisonment . Much of what is known of Allen ' s captivity is known only from his own account of the time ; where contemporary records are available , they tend to confirm those aspects of his story . Allen was first placed aboard , a brig anchored at Montreal . He was kept in solitary confinement and chains , and General Richard Prescott had , according to Allen , ordered him to be treated " with much severity " . In October 1775 , the " Gaspée " went downriver , and her prisoners were transferred to the " Adamant " , which then sailed for England . Allen wrote of the voyage that he " was put under the power of an English Merchant from London , whose name was Brook Watson : a man of malicious and cruel disposition " . On arrival at Falmouth , England , after a crossing under filthy conditions , Allen and the other prisoners were imprisoned in Pendennis Castle , Cornwall . At first his treatment was poor , but Allen wrote a letter , ostensibly to the Continental Congress , describing his conditions and suggesting that Congress treat the prisoners it held the same way . Unknown to Allen , British prisoners now included General Prescott , captured trying to escape from Montreal , and the letter came into the hands of the British cabinet . Also faced with opposition within the British establishment to the treatment of captives taken in North America , King George decreed that the men should be sent back to America and treated as prisoners of war . In January 1776 , Allen and his men were put on board HMS " Soledad " , which sailed for Cork , Ireland . The people of Cork , when they learned that the famous Ethan Allen was in port , took up a collection to provide him and his men with clothing and other supplies . Much of the following year was spent on prison ships off the American coast . At one point , while aboard HMS " Mercury " , she anchored off New York , where , among other visitors , the captain entertained William Tryon ; Allen reports that Tryon glanced at him without any sign of recognition , although it is likely the New York governor knew who he was . In August 1776 , Allen and other prisoners were temporarily put ashore in Halifax , owing to extremely poor conditions aboard ship ; due to food scarcity , both crew and prisoners were on short rations , and scurvy was rampant . By the end of October , Allen was again off New York , where the British , having secured the city , moved the prisoners on - shore , and , as he was considered an officer , gave Allen limited parole . With the financial assistance of his brother Ira , he lived comfortably , if out of action , until August 1777 . He then learned of the death of his young son Joseph due to smallpox . According to another prisoner ' s account , Allen wandered off after learning of his son ' s death . He was arrested for violating his parole , and placed in solitary confinement . There he remained while Vermont declared independence , and John Burgoyne ' s campaign for the Hudson River met a stumbling block near Bennington in August 1777 . On May 3 , 1778 he was transferred to Staten Island . He was admitted to General John Campbell ' s quarters , where he was invited to eat and drink with the general and several other British field officer s . Allen stayed there for two days and was treated politely . On the third day Allen was exchanged for Colonel Archibald Campbell , who was conducted to the exchange by Colonel Elias Boudinot , the American commissary general of prisoners appointed by General George Washington . Following the exchange , Allen reported to Washington at Valley Forge . On May 14 , he was breveted a colonel in the Continental Army in " reward of his fortitude , firmness and zeal in the cause of his country , manifested during his long and cruel captivity , as well as on former occasions , " and given military pay of $ 75 per month . The brevet rank , however , meant that there was no active role , until called , for Allen . Allen ' s services were never requested , and eventually the payments stopped . Vermont Republic . Return home . Following his visit to Valley Forge , Allen traveled to Salisbury , arriving on May 25 , 1778 . There he learned that his brother Heman had died just the previous week , and that his brother Zimri , who had been caring for Ethan ' s family and farm , had died in the spring following his capture . The death of Heman , with whom Allen had been quite close , hit him quite hard . He then set out for Bennington , where news of his impending return preceded him , and he was met with all of the honor due a military war hero . There he learned that the Vermont Republic had declared independence in 1777 , that a constitution had been drawn up , and that elections had been held . Allen wrote of this homecoming that " we passed the flowing bowl , and rural felicity , sweetened with friendship , glowed in every countenance " . The next day he went to Arlington to see his family and his brother Ira , whose prominence in Vermont politics had risen considerably during Allen ' s captivity . Politics . Allen spent the next several years involved in Vermont ' s political and military matters . While his family remained in Arlington , he spent most of his time either in Bennington or on the road , where he could avoid his wife ' s nagging . Shortly after his arrival , Vermont ' s Assembly passed the Banishment Act , a sweeping measure allowing for the confiscation and auction by the republic of property owned by known Tories . Allen was appointed to be one of the judges responsible for deciding whose property was subject to seizure under the law . ( This law was so successful at collecting revenue that Vermont did not impose any taxes until 1781 . ) Allen personally escorted some of those convicted under the law to Albany , where he turned them over to General John Stark for transportation to the British lines . Some of these supposed Tories protested to New York Governor George Clinton that they were actually dispossessed Yorkers . Clinton , who considered Vermont to still be a part of New York , did not want to honor the actions of the Vermont tribunals ; Stark , who had custody of the men , disagreed with Clinton . Eventually the dispute made its way to George Washington , who essentially agreed with Stark since he desperately needed the general ' s services . The prisoners were eventually transported to West Point , where they remained in " easy imprisonment " . While Allen ' s service as a judge in Vermont was brief , he continued to ferret out Tories and report them to local Boards of Confiscation for action . He was so zealous in these efforts that they also included naming his own brother Levi , who was apparently trying to swindle Ethan and Ira out of land at the time . This action was somewhat surprising , as Levi had not only attempted to purchase Ethan ' s release while he was in Halifax , but he had also traveled to New York while Ethan was on parole there , and furnished him with goods and money . Ethan and Levi engaged in a war of words , many of which were printed in the " Connecticut Courant " , even after Levi crossed British lines . They would eventually reconcile in 1783 . Early in 1779 , Governor Clinton issued a proclamation stating that the state of New York would honor the Wentworth grants , if the settlers would recognize New York ' s political jurisdiction over the Vermont territory . Allen wrote another pamphlet in response , entitled " An Address to the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont ; with Remarks on a Proclamation under the Hand of his Excellency George Clinton , Esq ; Governor of the State of New York " . In typical style , he castigated the governor for issuing " romantic proclamations . . . calculated to deceive woods people " , and for his " folly and stupidity " . Clinton ' s response , once he recovered his temper , was to issue another proclamation little different from the first . Allen ' s pamphlet circulated widely , including among members of Congress , and was successful in casting the Vermonters ' case in a positive light . In 1779 Allen published the account of his time in captivity , " A Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen ' s Captivity . . . Containing His Voyages and Travels , With the most remarkable Occurrences respecting him and many other Continental Prisoners of Observations . Written by Himself and now published for the Information of the Curious in all Nations " . First published as a serial by the " Pennsylvania Packet " , the book was an instant best - seller ; it is still available today . While largely accurate , it notably omits Benedict Arnold from the capture of Ticonderoga , and Seth Warner as the leader of the Green Mountain Boys . Negotiations with the British . Allen appeared before the Continental Congress as early as September 1778 on behalf of Vermont , seeking recognition as an independent state . He reported that due to Vermont ' s expansion to include border towns from New Hampshire , Congress was reluctant to grant independent statehood to Vermont . Between 1780 and 1783 Allen participated , along with his brother Ira , Vermont Governor Thomas Chittenden , and others , in negotiations with Frederick Haldimand , the governor of Quebec , that were ostensibly about prisoner exchanges , but were really about establishing Vermont as a new British province and gaining military protection for its residents . The negotiations , once details of them were published , were often described by opponents of Vermont statehood as treasonous , but no such formal charges were ever laid against anyone involved . Later years . As the war had ended with the 1783 Treaty of Paris , and the United States , operating under the Articles of Confederation , resisted any significant action with respect to Vermont , Allen ' s historic role as an agitator became less important , and his public role in Vermont ' s affairs declined . Vermont ' s government had also become more than a clique dominated by the Allen and Chittenden families due to the territory ' s rapid population growth . In 1782 , Allen ' s brother Heber died at the relatively young age of 38 . Allen ' s wife Mary died in June 1783 of consumption , to be followed several months later by their first - born daughter Loraine . While they had not always been close , and Allen ' s marriage had often been strained , Allen felt these losses deeply . A poem he wrote memorializing Mary was published in the " Bennington Gazette " . Publication of " Reason " . In these years he recovered the manuscript that he and Thomas Young had worked in his youth from Young ' s widow , who was living in Albany , and began to develop it into the work that was published in 1785 as " Reason : the Only Oracle of Man " . The work was a typical Allen polemic , but its target was religious , not political . Specifically targeted against Christianity , it was an unbridled attack against the Bible , established churches , and the powers of the priesthood . As a replacement for organized religion , he espoused a mixture of deism , Spinoza ' s naturalist views , and precursors of Transcendentalism , with man acting as a free agent within the natural world . While historians disagree over the exact authorship of the work , the writing contains clear indications of Allen ' s style . The book was a complete financial and critical failure . Allen ' s publisher had forced him to pay the publication costs up front , and only 200 of the 1 , 500 volumes printed were sold . ( The rest were eventually destroyed by a fire at the publisher ' s house . ) The theologically conservative future president of Yale , Timothy Dwight , opined that " the style was crude and vulgar , and the sentiments were coarser than the style . The arguments were flimsy and unmeaning , and the conclusions were fastened upon the premises by mere force . " Allen took the financial loss and the criticism in stride , observing that most of the critics were clergymen , whose livelihood he was attacking . Second marriage . Ethan met his second wife , a young widow by the name of Frances " Fanny " Montresor Brush Buchanan , early in 1784 ; and after a brief courtship , they wed on February 16 , 1784 . Fanny came from a notably Loyalist background ( including Crean Brush , notorious for acts during the Siege of Boston , from whom she inherited land in Vermont ) , but they were both smitten , and the marriage was a happy one . They had three children : Fanny ( 1784 - 1819 ) , Hannibal Montresor ( 1786 - 1813 ) , and Ethan Alphonso ( 1789 - 1855 ) . Fanny had a settling effect on Allen ; for the remainder of his years he did not embark on many great adventures . The notable exception to this was when land claims by the Connecticut - based owners of the Susquehanna Company , who had been granted titles to land claimed by Connecticut in the Wyoming Valley , in an area that is now Wilkes - Barre , Pennsylvania . The area was also claimed by Pennsylvania , which refused to recognized the Connecticut titles . Allen , after being promised land , traveled to the area and began stirring up not just Pennsylvania authorities but also his long - time nemesis , Governor Clinton of New York , by proposing that a new state be carved out of the disputed area and several counties of New York . The entire affair was more bluster than anything else , and was resolved amicably when Pennsylvania agreed to honor the Connecticut titles . Allen was also approached by Daniel Shays in 1786 for support in what became the Shays ' Rebellion in western Massachusetts . He was unsupportive of the cause , in spite of Shays ' offer to crown him " king of Massachusetts " ; he felt that Shays was just trying to erase unpayable debts . In his later years , independent Vermont continued to experience rapid population growth , and Allen sold a great deal of his land , but also reinvested much the proceeds in more land . A lack of cash , complicated by Vermont ' s currency problems , placed a strain on Fanny ' s relatively free hand on spending , which was further exacerbated by the cost of publishing " Reason " , and of the construction of a new home near the mouth of the Onion River . He was threatened with debtor ' s prison on at least one occasion , and was at times reduced to borrowing money and calling in old debts to make ends meet . Allen and his family moved to Burlington in 1787 , which was no longer a small frontier settlement but a small town , and much more to Allen ' s liking than the larger community that Bennington had become . He frequented the tavern there , and began work on " An Essay on the Universal Plenitude of Being " , which he characterized as an appendix to " Reason " . This essay was less polemic than many of his earlier writings . He affirmed the perfection of God and His creation , and credited intuition as well as reason as a way to bring Man closer to the universe . The work was not published until long after his death , and is primarily of interest to students of Transcendentalism , a movement the work foreshadows . Death . On February 11 , 1789 , Allen traveled to South Hero , Vermont with one of his workers to visit his cousin , Ebenezer Allen , and to collect a load of hay . After an evening spent with friends and acquaintances , he spent the night there , and set out the next morning for home . While accounts of the return journey are not entirely consistent , Allen apparently suffered an apoplectic fit en route , and was unconscious by the time they returned home . Allen died at home several hours later , without ever regaining consciousness . He was buried four days later in the Green Mount Cemetery in Burlington . The funeral was attended by dignitaries from the Vermont government , and by large numbers of common folk who turned out to pay respects to a man many considered their champion . Allen ' s death made nationwide headlines . The " Bennington Gazette " wrote of the local hero , " the patriotism and strong attachment which ever appeared uniform in the breast of this " Great Man " , was worth of his exalted character ; the public have to lament the loss of a man who has rendered them great service " . Although most obituaries were positive , a number of clergymen expressed different sentiments . " Allen was an ignorant and profane Deist , who died with a mind replete with horror and despair " was the opinion of Newark , New Jersey ' s Reverend Uzal Ogden . Yale ' s Timothy Dwight expressed satisfaction that the world no longer had to deal with a man of " peremptoriness and effrontery , rudeness and ribaldry " . It is not recorded what New York Governor Clinton ' s reaction was to the news . Allen ' s widow Fanny gave birth to a son , Ethan Alphonso , on October 24 , 1789 . She eventually remarried . Allen ' s two youngest sons went on to graduate from West Point and serve in the United States Army . His daughter Fanny achieved notice when she converted to Roman Catholicism and entered a convent . His grandson , Ethan Allen Hitchcock , served as a Union Army general in the American Civil War , and was claimed by his mother to bear a strong resemblance to her father . Disappearance of his grave marker . Sometime in the early 1850s , the original plaque marking Allen ' s grave disappeared ; its original text was preserved by early war historian Benson Lossing in the 1840s . In 1858 , the Vermont Legislature authorized the placement of a 42 foot ( 13 m ) column of Vermont granite in the cemetery , with the following inscription : The exact location within the cemetery of his remains is unknown . While there is a vault beneath the 1858 monument , it contains a time capsule from the time of the monument ' s erection , and not Allen ' s remains . Likenesses . No likenesses of Allen made from life have been found , in spite of numerous attempts to locate them . Efforts by members of the Vermont Historical Society and other historical groups through the years have followed up on rumored likenesses , only to come up empty . The nearest potential images included one claimed to be by noted Revolutionary War era engraver Pierre Eugene du Simitiere that turned out to be a forgery , and a reference to a portrait possibly by Ralph Earl that has not been found ( as of Stewart Holbrook ' s writing in 1940 ) . Alexander Graydon , with whom Allen was paroled during his captivity in New York , described him like this : " His figure was that of a robust , large - framed man , worn down by confinement and hard fare ; but he was now recovering his flesh and spirits ; and a suit of blue clothes , with a gold laced hat that had been presented to him by the gentlement of Cork , enabled him to make a very passable appearance for a rebel colonel . . . I have seldom met with a man , possessing , in my opinion , a stronger mind , or whose mode of expression was more vehement and oratorical . Notwithstanding that Allen might have had something of the insubordinate , lawless frontier spirit in his composition . . . he appeared to me to be a man of generosity and honor . " Memorials . Ethan Allen ' s final home , on the Onion River ( now called the Winooski River ) , is a part of the Ethan Allen Homestead and Museum . Situated in Burlington , Allen ' s homestead is available for viewing via guided tours . Two ships of the United States Navy were named " Ethan Allen " in his honor , as were two 19th - century fortifications : a Civil War fort in Arlington , Virginia and a cavalry outpost in Colchester and Essex , Vermont . A statue of Allen represents Vermont in National Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol . A city park in the Montreal borough of Mercier - Hochelaga - Maisonneuve commemorating his capture bears his name . The " Spirit of Ethan Allen III " is a tour boat operating on Lake Champlain . Allen ' s name is the trademark of the furniture and housewares manufacturer , Ethan Allen Inc . , which was founded in 1932 in Beecher Falls , Vermont . The Ethan Allen Express , an Amtrak train line running from New York City to Rutland , Vermont , is also named after him . The Ethan Allen School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 . Publications . Allen is known to have written the following publications :