Those turbulent sons of freedom
Subtitle: Ethan Allen's Green Mountain boys and the American Revolution
By: Christopher S. Wren
Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
Published: 2018
Language: eng
Number of pages: 302
ISBN-13: 9781416599555; 9781416599562
Copyright date: 2018
Subjects: Militia; Regimental histories; History
Description: "The story of Ethan Allen and the much-loved Green Mountain Boys of Vermont and their role in the American Revolution--the myth and the reality. A rare look at a corner of the Revolutionary War. In Those Turbulent Sons of Freedom, Wren overturns the myth of Ethan Allen as a legendary hero of the American Revolution and a patriotic son of Vermont and offers a different portrait of Allen and his Green Mountain Boys. They were ruffians who joined the rush for cheap land on the northern frontier of the colonies in the years before the American Revolution. Allen did not serve in the Continental Army but he raced Benedict Arnold for the famous seizure of Britain's Fort Ticonderoga. Allen and Arnold loathed each other. General George Washington, leery of Allen, refused to give him troops. In a botched attempt to capture Montreal against specific orders of the commanding American general, Allen was captured in 1775 and shipped to England to be hanged. Freed in 1778, he spent the rest of his time negotiating with the British but failing to bring Vermont back under British rule. Based on original archival research, this is a groundbreaking account of an important and little-known front of the Revolutionary War, of George Washington (and his good sense), and of a major American myth. Those Turbulent Sons of Freedom is an important contribution to the history of the American Revolution"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-286) and index.
Table of contents: title: A land rush north; title: Seizing Fort Ticonderoga; title: Congress invades Canada; title: This thievish, pockey army; title: A Green Mountain Boy serves his king; title: Burgoyne bogs down in Vermont; title: The most active and most rebellious race; title: Victory at Bennington; title: Ethan Allen sails free; title: Conniving with the enemy; title: Green Mountain Boys disbanded; title: Spy base on the lake; title: A fake invasion canceled; title: A bastard joins the United States.