Ethan Allen

Ethan Allen (died February 12, 1789) was an American farmer, writer, military officer, and politician. He is best known as a founder of Vermont and for capturing Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolutionary War. He was the brother of Ira Allen and the father of Fanny Allen.

Allen was born in rural Connecticut and grew up on the frontier, though he also received some education in philosophy. In the late 1760s, he became involved with the New Hampshire Grants, buying land there and getting caught up in legal disputes over the territory. After legal setbacks, he helped form the Green Mountain Boys, leading them in a campaign of intimidation and property destruction to drive New York settlers out of the Grants. Early in the Revolutionary War, Allen and his Patriot-aligned Green Mountain Boys captured Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775. In September 1775, he led a failed attack on Montreal and was captured by the British. He was imprisoned on Royal Navy ships, then paroled in New York City, and finally released in a prisoner exchange in 1778.

After his release, Allen returned to the New Hampshire Grants, which had declared independence in 1777. He resumed political activity there, continuing to resist New York’s attempts to control the territory. He lobbied Congress for official state recognition of Vermont and took part in controversial negotiations with the British about the possibility of Vermont becoming a separate British province.

Allen wrote widely read accounts of his wartime exploits in the 19th century, as well as philosophical works and documents about Vermont’s formation. His business ventures included successful farming, one of Connecticut’s early iron works, and land speculation in Vermont. He and his brothers bought tracts of land that became Burlington, Vermont. He was married twice and had eight children.

**Early life**

Allen was born in Litchfield, Connecticut Colony, the first child of Joseph and Mary Baker Allen, both descended from English Puritans. Soon after his birth, the family moved to Cornwall because his father sought religious freedom during the Great Awakening. As a boy, Allen was skilled at quoting the Bible and known for arguing about the meaning of passages. He had five brothers—Heman, Heber, Levi, Zimri, and Ira—and two sisters, Lydia and Lucy. His brothers Ira and Heman also became prominent in early Vermont history.

Cornwall was frontier territory in the 1740s, but by the time Allen was a teenager, it looked more like a town, with wood-frame houses replacing rough cabins. Joseph Allen was one of the wealthier landowners in the area by his death in 1755. He ran a successful farm and served as town selectman. Allen began studying under a minister in nearby Salisbury, hoping to gain admission to Yale College.

**First marriage and early adulthood**

Allen had to stop his studies after his father died. In 1757, he volunteered for militia service during the French siege of Fort William Henry, but his unit turned back after learning the fort had fallen. He did not take part in any further military activities during the French and Indian War and is thought to have worked his farm. In 1762, he became part owner of an iron furnace in Salisbury. That July, he married Mary Brownson from Roxbury, who was five years older. They first lived in Cornwall, then moved to Salisbury the next year with their infant daughter Loraine. They bought a small farm and expanded the iron works. The expansion was costly; Allen sold off parts of the Cornwall property to raise money and eventually sold half his interest in the iron works to his brother Heman. The Allen brothers sold their remaining interest in October 1765.

By most accounts, Allen’s first marriage was unhappy. His wife was rigidly religious, often critical of him, and barely literate. In contrast, Allen was sometimes flamboyant and kept an interest in learning. Still, they stayed together until Mary’s death in 1783. They had five children, but only two lived to adulthood.

Allen and his brother Heman once seized pigs from a neighbor’s farm after the animals escaped onto their land. The neighbor sued to get them back; Allen argued his own case and lost. He and Heman were fined ten shillings, and the neighbor was awarded five shillings in damages. Allen was also taken to court in Salisbury for inoculating himself against smallpox, a procedure that required approval from town selectmen.

While in Salisbury, Allen met Thomas Young, a doctor living just across the border in New York. Young taught Allen a great deal about philosophy and political theory, while Allen shared his appreciation of nature and frontier life. They decided to collaborate on a book attacking organized religion, as Young had convinced Allen to become a Deist. They worked on the manuscript until 1764, when Young moved away and took it with him. Allen recovered the manuscript years later, after Young’s death. He expanded and reworked it, eventually publishing it as *Reason: the Only Oracle of Man*.

Heman stayed in Salisbury, running a general store until his death in 1778, but Allen’s movements over the next few years are poorly documented.