With the stunning example of traitor Benedict Arnold in front of him, why did Ethan Allen propose the same kind of betrayal with Great Britain?

Those Turbulent Sons, while it covers many details of the action that eventually led to the state of Vermont finally being recognized,
skirts any answer and instead focuses on Ethan and Ira's many boring and protracted negations of supposedly neutral Vermont as well as its ongoing fights with New York.

It dispels any lingering myth of the greatness of Ethan Allen and may leave readers wondering about the truth of any history unless they
are eye witnesses.

Beheading? ( )

In high school, I learned that Ethan Allan, backed up by his Green Mountain Boys, demanded the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga “in the name of The Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress”. According to Christopher Wren in Those Turbulent Sons of Freedom, what he actually said was “Come out of there, you sons of British whores, or I’ll smoke you out!” Well, my high school years were a more innocent time.

Other Revolutionary War stories I heard about Allen also turned out to be mythical. Allen had originally organized the Green Mountain Boys not to fight England, but to fight New York; it seems that New Hampshire had issued a number of land grants and Allen, his family, and friends had purchased some of them; however New York claimed the same land, issued its own land grants, and tried to evict Allen and his associates. (Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire had assigned himself 65000 acres of the disputed land, and Lieutenant Governor Colden of New York had picked up the modern equivalent of $1 million in fees for the duplicate land titles, so Allen’s speculation was relatively small potatoes). The evictions generally ended badly for New York; Allen captured one of the New York magistrates, tied him to a tree, whipped him 200 times, and warned him not to show his face in the area again. The New York governor responded by posting a £150 reward for Allen. Things came to head with the Westminster Massacre in March 1775; protestors occupied a district court at the town of Westminster in the disputed area to prevent a New York judge from evicting several farmers. The sheriff showed up with a posse, and opened fire when he was blocked from entering; two people were killed and eight wounded. The remaining protestors fled or were captured, and the sheriff and his posse retired to a local bar to celebrate; they were still drinking when 400 or so Green Mountain Boys showed up and captured them in turn. Things might have gone on like this except for a couple of incidents in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, which distracted everybody from land disputes.

The early Revolution was certainly politically complicated. Allen had acquired notoriety by fighting New York on behalf of New Hampshire. Now he was recruited by Connecticut to take his Green Mountain Boys and seize Ticonderoga – in New York - in retaliation for events that had occurred in Massachusetts. And, unbeknownst to Allen and Connecticut, Massachusetts had commissioned Benedict Arnold to do the same thing. Arnold had a commission but no troops; Allen had the Green Mountain Boys. The two engaged in almost comical attempts to one-up each other at Ticonderoga; Allen ended up with the popular credit but Arnold made a better impression on Congress. Thus when the time came to formally enroll the Green Mountain Boys in Continental service, the command went to Seth Warner, not Allen. Somewhat dismayed by the rebuff, Allen went along on the expedition to seize Canada anyway, and demonstrated his lack of military competence by attempting to seize Montreal more or less single-handed – on his own hook he hired 50 or so Canadians, paddled across the St. Lawrence, and temporarily panicked the city, only to surrender when it was discovered how small the invading army was. Thus Allen spent most of the war in captivity – in Canada, then shipped to England, then back to New York on parole.

In the meantime, the Green Mountain Boys – “Colonel Warner’s Regiment of Continental Rangers” – fought in the Saratoga Campaign, with considerable success. The issue of the disputed territory continued to rankle, however, and the area declared independence from everybody as the Vermont Republic in 1777. Is uncertain status led Allen and his extended family to open clandestine negotiations with Great Britain; George Washington had suspicions that Allen was so engaged but never acted on them. Even after Yorktown Allen was still open to the possibility of Vermont staying Loyalist – especially because Congress wanted it united with New York – but eventually it ended up as the 14th State.

Interesting and an easy read, I learned a lot. Wren is a journalist by profession but has acquitted himself well as a historian here. No illustrations except two maps; unfortunately, these are contemporary (1700s) maps of the colonies and Lake Champlain and are completely unreadable on the scale reproduced here. No foot- or endnotes, but a reference section for each chapter and a general bibliography. ( )

Not bad if you're looking for a "popular" history, but not particularly "academic" if that's what you're looking for, and with a large cast of characters which could have done with a bit of a biographical glossary. Also, better maps would have been helpful, though the "antique" maps included as front and end papers are interesting (if a bit difficult to read). ( )