Green Mountain Boys
The
Green Mountain Boys were a
paramilitary group organized in Western
Vermont in the decade prior to the
American Revolutionary War. They comprised
settlers and
land speculators who held
New Hampshire titles to lands between the
Connecticut River and
Lake Champlain, what is now modern Vermont.
New York was given control of the area by a decision of the
British crown and refused to respect the
New Hampshire Grants and town charters. Although a few towns with New York land titles, notably
Brattleboro on the Connecticut River, supported the government in
Albany, the vast majority of the settlers in the sparsely populated
frontier region rejected the authority of New York.
With several hundred members, the Green Mountain Boys effectively controlled the area where New Hampshire grants had been issued. They were led by
Ethan Allen, his brother
Ira Allen, and their cousins
Seth Warner and
Remember Baker. They were based at the
Catamount Tavern in
Bennington, ironically only a short distance from the New York seat of government in Albany. By the
1770s, the Green Mountain Boys had become an armed military force and
de facto government that prevented the Albany government from exercising its authority in the northeast portion of the
Province of New York. New York authorities had standing
warrants for the arrests of the leaders of the rebellious Vermonters, but were unable to exercise them. New York
surveyors and other officials attempting to exercise their authority were prevented from doing so and in some cases were severely beaten.
When the
American Revolutionary War started in
1775, Ethan Allen and a force of his
guerrillas, along with
Massachusetts Colonel Benedict Arnold, marched up to Lake Champlain and captured the important military posts at
Fort Ticonderoga,
Crown Point,
Fort Ann, and the town of St. John (
Battle of Fort St. Jean) in
Quebec. The Green Mountain Boys later formed the basis of the Vermont
militia which selected Seth Warner as its leader. Some of the Green Mountain Boys preferred to stick with Ethan Allen and were captured along with Allen in August 1775 in a bungled attack on the city of
Montreal. A member of this unit was
Congressman Matthew Lyon.
Vermont eventually declared itself an independent nation in January of
1777, and organized a government based in
Windsor. The army of the
Vermont Republic was based upon the Green Mountain Boys. Although Vermont initially supported the
American Revolutionary War and sent troops to fight
John Burgoyne's British invasion from
Canada at
Hubbardton and
Bennington in 1777, Vermont eventually adopted a more neutral stance and became a haven for
deserters from both the British and colonial armies.
George Washington, who had more than sufficient difficulties with the British, brushed off Congressional demands that he subdue Vermont. The Green Mountain Boys/Vermont Army faded away after Vermont eventually joined the
United States as the 14th
U.S. state in
1791.
Today, the Vermont
Army National Guard and Vermont
Air National Guard are collectively known as the "Green Mountain Boys," this despite the inclusion of women in both branches since the mid-20th Century. Both units use the original flag of the Vermont Republic as their banner.
*
Battle of Ticonderoga (1775)*
A Day No Pigs Would Die by
Robert Newton Peck (1972) ISBN 0394482352
*
Ethan Allen*
Thomas Rowley, member and spokesman, was known as the "Bard of the Green Mountains" who "Set the Hills on Fire"
*
Vermont National Guard*
Vermont Air National Guard*
Ethan Allen History: Green Mountain Boys
