On This Day: The First American Attack on the British in 1775
Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold led a surprise attack and captured Fort Ticonderoga
On this day, May 10th in 1775, the first American Patriot attack on the British garrison at Fort Ticonderoga was launched from Bennington, Vermont. Ethan Allen, a Connecticut native, under orders from Connecticut, and Benedict Arnold, another Connecticut native who was under orders from the Massachusetts Bay Colony co-led 300 Green Mountain Boys militia on a secret mission. The staging area was Castleton, where Arnold caught up with Allen and his men, in their final pre-attack preparations.
Colonels Allen and Arnold rowed across Lake Champlain with 83 men in the wee hours of that morning. They quietly charged through a weak spot in the outer wall of the old stone fort before dawn, surprised the sentries and the sleeping British soldiers. According to witnesses, the commanding officer of the fort, Captain William Delaplace came to his doorway to find Allenface waving his sword over his head and demanding surrender “in the name of the Continental Congress and the Great Jehovah!” Delaplace had no choice but to surrender without a shot fired.
The outcome? The fort’s roughly 100 men, women and children were captured and shipped out to Connecticut. Sixty cannons were captured by Henry Knox, a bookseller who would become a general and later our first treasury secretary. He delivered the cannons to Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston. They fired on 100 Boston ships in the harbor and sent them packing. And let’s not forget, 90 gallons of Captain Delaplace’s finest Jamaican rum were consumed by the swelling contingent of 300 Green Mountain Boys over a period of three days. That didn’t include the wine and cider!
Back at headquarters, Commander in Chief General George Washington was duly impressed. One of those original 83 Green Mountain Boys was Ebenezer Allen, a Northampton, Massachusetts native, who had a distinguished career ahead of himself. He was a cousin of Ethan and would found three Vermont towns, complete some hair-raising battlefield actions, and survive to become an assemblyman who helped write the Vermont constitution. Yes, he was a bit rough around the edges, but his heart was in the right place. Two years later, after capturing the British rear guard near Essex, New York, Captain Allen would find two slaves among the chattel. After consulting with his men, Ebenezer wrote an emancipation for Nancy and her infant daughter, who had been the property of a captured British officer and set them free. He reasoned that “it was not right in the sight of God” to own humans. Now that is patriotism! And what about Ethan and Arnold?
Shortly thereafter Ethan Allen would be captured in a failed attack on Montreal and spend the next three years mercilessly imprisoned. Benedict Arnold would become dissatisfied with his slow promotions and pay and turn to work for the British. And the rest is history!
