Home Connecticut Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold Capture Fort Ticonderoga, 1775

Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold Capture Fort Ticonderoga, 1775

A true team of rivals

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Early in the American Revolution, a small team of rivals thirsting for glory captured Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York. Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys competed for credit with Benedict Arnold and his two militias from Connecticut and Massachusetts.

How Ethan Allen wanted the capture of Fort Ticonderoga to be remembered

How Ethan Allen wanted the capture of Fort Ticonderoga remembered

Both Arnold and Allen jockeyed for command of the expedition at a time when no Continental Army existed. George Washington was still just a delegate to the Second Continental Congress.

Soon after the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Gen. Erastus Wolcott and others from the Connecticut Committee of Correspondence sent a letter to the provincial Congress of Massachusetts Bay. They pleaded for the colonies to get along and not to quarrel over credit for the captured fort. The letter underscores the fragility of the colonies’ alliance and the uncertainties with which they fought the war.

The Race to Fort Ticonderoga

Arnold was a captain in the Connecticut militia when the war broke out. He marched to Boston with his company to help out in the siege. But not before he famously barged into a New Haven selectmen’s meeting and demanded the keys to the powder house. He had lined up 60 men who wanted to fight, but they didn’t have enough powder. When the selectmen refused, Arnold said his men would storm the powder house and take it. He got the keys.

Arnold knew the condition of Fort Ticonderoga. He suggested to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety that it send a force to capture it. The committee then gave him a commission as colonel, horses, gunpowder, ammunition and 100 pounds. It also gave him authority to recruit up to 400 men for the secret mission.

Only the secret got out. Arnold had also mentioned the vulnerability of Fort Ticonderoga to Connecticut militiamen. The Connecticut Committee of Correspondence decided to pay for its capture and to recruit militia for the operation.

Meanwhile, Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys also wanted to capture Fort Ticonderoga. On May 6, Arnold was on the border of Massachusetts and what was then the New Hampshire Grants (Vermont). He learned Allen had marched 50 miles ahead of him. Arnold also found out a Connecticut militia was on its way.

fort-ticonderoga-today

Fort Ticonderoga today.

Co-Command at Fort Ticonderoga

Benedict Arnold wasn’t about to let anyone else grab all the glory. He rode his horse so furiously to Bennington that the animal had to be destroyed.

After a quarrel over who should lead the assault on the fort, Allen and Arnold agreed to co-command. At dawn on May 10, Fort Ticonderoga fell to 100 Green Mountain Boys, 40 Massachusetts men raised and 20 men from Connecticut.

It was a cakewalk. The only sentry on duty fled. Then the Americans roused the sleeping British soldiers at gunpoint. Only one person received an injury, an American by a bayonet.

british-tortured-ethan-allen

Ethan Allen

Allen and Arnold had rushed up to the officers’ quarters to demand surrender. The commander’s assistant demanded to know under what authority they captured Fort Ticonderoga.

Allen famously answered, “In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!”

Capt. William Delaplace, the fort’s commander, emerged from his bedroom and surrendered his sword.

Though only 48 men and 15 women and children defended the fort, its capture had strategic importance. It cut off communications between the northern and southern units of the British Army. The capture also created a staging ground for the invasion of Quebec. Finally, and unforeseen at the time, it provided artillery that Henry Knox would haul to Boston to force the British evacuation.

‘You can have it’

Benedict Arnold

Six days after the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, Connecticut general Erastus Wolcott sent a letter from Hartford to the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts.

In the letter, Wolcott noted the Connecticut Committee of Correspondence sent an express rider with the news to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. The committee also sent a rider to the Committee of Correspondence in Albany asking for help in holding down Fort Ticonderoga.

Wolcott then acknowledged a question about who had the right to command and hold the Fort Ticonderoga. He suggested Massachusetts handle he fort, as it had more available men and Connecticut had so much on its plate.

In the letter, he wrote,

We consider all the Colonies, and the New-England Colonies especially, as brethren united together in one joint interest, and pursuing the same general design, and that whatever expedition in furtherance of the grand designs may be undertaken by any one of the Colonies, or body of men in either of them, ought to be considered as undertaken for the joint benefit of the whole confederate Colonies, and the expenses of the enterprise, and cost of maintaining and defending the same, is to be borne by all in proportion to their abilities.

“We hope all will wish to put out a helping hand, and mutually afford each other all necessary assistance against our common enemy,” he wrote. He hoped New York and Connecticut would help, but Massachusetts shouldn’t count on it.

Wolcott signed the letter along with William Williams, Samuel Bishop and Samuel H. Parsons, all members of Connecticut’s Committee of Correspondence.

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This story about Fort Ticonderoga was updated in 2024. Image of Fort Ticonderoga By User:Americasroof – Author’s own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1131154. Fort Ticonderoga today By Mwanner – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6967864.

13 comments

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[…] captured near the town of Fort Edward, N.Y., by Iroquois Indians on her way to meet her lover at Ticonderoga. Two were taking her to the British for, quarreled, killed her and took her scalp. To make matters […]

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[…] Guy Watson of South Kingston fought in the 1st Rhode Island Regiment at the battles of Red Bank and Ticonderoga. Black Governor Quosh Freeman of Derby, Conn., was a “man of herculean strength, a giant […]

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[…] surrender at Ticonderoga was a strategically wise move – the valuable cannon had already been removed from the fort. But at Hubbardton, after a spirited fight, Col. Seth Warner’s troops were forced […]

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[…] Americans in Boston – it may have been Henry Knox’s idea — that they could use the 59 cannons captured at Fort Ticonderoga. Knox led an epic winter trek through winter storms and mountainous terrain, hauling the cannon […]

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[…] caught up with the American rear guard of the forces retreating after they withdrew from Fort Ticonderoga. The Americans, led by Seth Warner, fought with discipline and inflicted heavy casualties on the […]

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[…] great achievements include organizing the efforts to haul 58 artillery pieces to Boston from Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point to help push the British from the city, and continuing to direct artillery actions […]

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[…] Colonial troops carried supplies, munitions, cattle and sheep along the Crown Point Road to support the British army at Crown Point during the French and Indian War. During the American Revolution, they brought supplies and reinforcements to Fort Ticonderoga. […]

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[…] Sept. 25, 1775, Ethan Allen was captured by the British. Fresh from his stunning victory at Fort Ticonderoga, he thought he could capture Montreal. He had led an invasion into Canada with a small band of his […]

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[…] 36-year-old brigadier general. He was expecting to be promoted to major general. He had captured Fort Ticonderoga, led a failed expedition through the Maine wilderness to capture Quebec and fought bravely at the […]

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[…] Story defied him. "I had no fears of being shot by so consummate a coward as he," she recalled. Jenny continued on his way, and Story told the patriots the Loyalists were afoot. Local patriots tracked down Jenny and his scouting party, captured them and hauled them to Fort Ticonderoga. […]

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[…] On Sept. 25, 1775, the British captured Allen, a Continental Army colonel, when he retreated from a poorly planned attack on Montreal. They seemed delighted at the downfall of the man who captured Fort Ticonderoga. […]

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[…] Though Arnold and Allen co-led the raid, Allen — who brashly demanded that the British surrender “In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress” — ended up with more of the […]

How Did Benedict Arnold Become America’s Most Infamous Traitor? – Smart Robotics October 14, 2020 - 3:05 pm

[…] Arnold and Allen co-led the raid, Allen — who brashly demanded that the British surrender “In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress” — ended up with more of the […]

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