The Revolutionary War in Bennington County
Richard B. Smith of Manchester is a retired corporate marketing executive, but his real love is history. He has just published his second book, Ethan Allen and the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga: America’s First Victory. His first book, which came out two years ago, is The Revolutionary War in Bennington County: A History and Guide. Both books exhibit Smith’s assiduous attention to detail and exacting research. They are bursting with photographs and reproduction prints of historic sites, charts, maps, timelines, lists of individuals who participated in the battles, suggested tours, general notes and extensive bibliographies.
The first book is divided chronologically in two; the first part is about the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 by an invasion group led by Ethan Allen. The second part recounts the 1777 Battle of Bennington, which actually didn’t take place in Bennington but across the border in New York, although the British target was a stash of supplies in Bennington. In his new book he expands on the Ticonderoga episode in much greater detail than in the first book.
At the time, there was a long-standing fight over the land that is now the state of Vermont. In 1741 King George III named Benning Wentworth governor of the New Hampshire colony. According to Smith, Wentworth “claimed that the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border went to within 20 miles of the Hudson River.” Wentworth therefore said that he could charter towns and grant land between the Connecticut River and almost to the Hudson. In fact, between 1749 and 1764 he chartered more than 125 towns, many in 1761, as evidenced by the fact that so many towns around here are planning 250-year anniversary celebrations for 2011. But in 1764 the British Privy Council set the border between New York and New Hampshire as the western shore of the Connecticut River, establishing the Hampshire Grants (mostly contemporary Vermont) as part of New York colony, but nothing was determined about the status of the people who had settled in the Grants previously and thought that the western border of New Hampshire was 20 miles east of the Hudson. In fact, one reason for the enthusiasm of the settlers to raid Ticonderoga was that many who had paid for their land upon moving here were being charged and taxed for the same property by New York—or the Yorkers, as Vermonters called them; in other cases New York was selling land that was already owned by settlers who’d purchased from Wentworth. So an attack on a fort in New York, even though it was a British fort, was just up their alley.
In Ethan Allen and the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Smith explains the history leading to the tensions, but mainly he depicts the day-by-day, town-by-town effort to enroll a militia, from April 27, 1775 to the capture of Ticonderoga two weeks later on May 10. On April 26, a week after the battles of Lexington and Concord, Samuel H. Parsons of Connecticut was heading home to Hartford from Cambridge, Massachusetts when he met Benedict Arnold, also of Connecticut, on the road traveling in the opposite direction. They discussed the plans for the upcoming siege of Boston, and Parsons said that they would need artillery and heavy cannons. Smith writes, “Arnold mentioned that Fort Ticonderoga had a vast number of cannons. There is no record of either party suggesting the capture of Fort Ticonderoga.” Each continued on his way, but Parsons must have been thinking about Arnold’s remarks, because the next day, when he arrived in Hartford, he met with five men to discuss “a venture” to capture Fort Ti. Smith writes, “Although thousands of troops were being raised in Connecticut, this group decided that the best approach would be a surprise attack by a small, secret group with the help of the Green Mountain Boys,” most of whom came originally from western Connecticut and Massachusetts. Smith adds, “Connecticut was also not overly concerned about asking New York permission to take a fort that was on its soil.” In fact, on April 28 the Connecticut colony’s treasury gave the men a “loan” of 300 pounds to support them as they raised troops. They set off, heading northwest through Simsbury to Canaan, then north along the western border of Massachusetts to Williamstown, crossing into present-day Vermont at Pownal. It was a secret trip and people were approached individually. This was a time when the population was so small, especially in Vermont, that alliances were well known but distinctions had to be made: some people wanted the colonies to separate outright from Britain, some wanted the colonies to remain allied with Britain; then there were those who opposed the New Yorkers but didn’t oppose the British. Eventually, at least 300 men joined up.
Dick Smith says that one of the most amazing things about the whole episode is that these men went from town to town, gathering adherents, without local Tories knowing about it. They stayed at taverns and inns whose owners were unfriendly to the British. As the group grew larger, they traveled up Vermont’s western border along present-day Route 30 and sent a few scouts ahead to Rutland and north along Route 7 to find farmers willing to lay down their hoes and take up arms. One recruiter, Samuel Beach, covered 60 miles in 24 hours on horseback. Allen also sent a spy to look over Fort Ticonderoga and report back on its condition and several men to quietly assemble a small fleet of boats so they could cross Lake Champlain at Hand’s Cove.
It was said that Ethan Allen knew just about everyone in Vermont, so he and his men were able to approach individuals personally and quietly enlist them in the adventure. They were so successful in great part because of the “flamboyant” Allen’s reputation. The Green Mountain Boys had formed officially in 1770 in Bennington as a voluntary group of citizen/soldiers intent on using force to protect their property, with Allen as leader. Smith says, “Using his imposing six-foot presence, combined with his organizational skills, confidence and leadership skills, [Allen] elicited agreement to form a militia group that had no real legal authority.” They were a fractious bunch and after the governor of New York heard of their formation, he said he would drive “the Bennington mob” back into the Green Mountains. From then on they were called the Green Mountain Boys. Preparing for the assault on Ticonderoga, Smith says, “They were organized up and down Bennington County and towns to the north. They knew and respected Ethan Allen. They were aware of the importance of time, secrecy and surprise. They had no artillery to drag. They could move fast and they knew the Native American trails.” They were essentially a band of guerilla fighters.
Allen’s spy told him that Fort Ticonderoga was in poor condition, which the British already knew. In 1774 John Montressor, the chief British engineer in North America, reported, “Fort Ticonderoga is in ruinous situation.” In May 1775, an order was sent from England that all forts in North America be reinforced, but the message was carried by ship, arriving well after the colonists had seized Ticonderoga. The actual capture of the fort was almost an anticlimax. Eighty-three men crossed Lake Champlain in boats, rounded up 68 people living in the fort, Allen knocked on the door of the commander’s bedroom and told him they were taking Ticonderoga “In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress,” even though the Second Continental Congress would not meet until the next day in Philadelphia. The British knew nothing about the troops marching to attack, and there may have been as few as 80 living at Fort Ti. By the next morning about 400 colonists had crossed the lake and taken a treasure trove in cannons and artillery and the first captives of the war. There were no casualties and a lot of celebrations.
“I would never classify myself as a historian,” Smith says. “I’m a history buff.” He adds, “I’m not really a writer, either,” but his enthusiasm for his subjects and his interest in the factual material enhance both books. They are certainly worth reading for Smith’s insight into the two battles and his description of the way people lived and thought in Vermont at this momentous time in history.
The Revolutionary War in Bennington County: A History and Guide and Ethan Allen and the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga: America’s First Victory by Richard B. Smith (The History Press, $19.99 each, paperback) are available at local bookstores. ◊