[On June 14th, 1775, the Continental Army was formed at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. So for the 250th of that momentous military moment, I’ll AmericanStudy a handful of iconic Revolutionary War figures, leading up to a special weekend post on that historic anniversary!]
On the less than noble side to one of the Revolution’s folk heroes.
This is a tough post for me to write: Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys might not have the national reputation of the Concord Minutemen, but in
their native Vermont and throughout New England they’re definitely folk heroes; and I know that
my Mom grew up (just outside of Boston) as a big fan. And there’s no question
that their May 1775 surprise capture of Fort Ticonderoga represented one of the Revolution’s most significant victories, not only
tactically but also symbolically; this was only a month after Lexington and
Concord, with the very status of the Revolution still up in the air, and the
victory at Fort Ticonderoga thus helped make clear that America’s war effort
was to be a serious and ongoing one.
I’m not here to challenge those histories (as far as I know Ticonderoga was
all that and more)—but the Green Mountain Boys didn’t come into existence in
1775, and the details of their founding and virtually all of their other
actions are far less admirable. Not to put too fine a point on it: the Boys
were a local goon squad, organized by Allen and compatriots in 1770 to intimidate New York landowners into leaving the area (then
part of New Hampshire) and ceding the so-called “Wentworth” land grants to locals. As
far as I can tell the Boys didn’t generally take violent action, preferring
threats and intimidation, but at least one genuinely violent event resulted
from these conflicts: the 1775 “Westminster massacre,” in which
apparently only one or two landowners died but many more were affected. Moreover,
the Boys didn’t graduate from these local acts to Revolutionary ones so much as
temporarily pause for the latter—as early as 1778 Allen and company were back in Vermont and focused once again on the land grant battles (as
well as the distinct possibility, one Allen negotiated for with the British for
some time, of Vermont becoming a
separate British province!).
So what would it mean if we remembered these different sides to Allen?
Those who critique “revisionist history” would argue that I’m seeking to
undermine his heroism, to tear down an American icon, and so on. Part of my
response would be that both elements must be included in any accurate history
of the man, his military importance to the Revolution as well as his more shady
local endeavors. But another and more significant part would be that Allen
offers a far more historically meaningful portrait of the Revolutionary era, a
moment in which hugely defining and world-altering events existed side by side
with the most petty and minor (and at times, indeed, ugly and divisive)
conflicts. If anything, an awareness of that history makes the defining events
that much more impressive still—in 1775, the 18th century equivalent
of the Sons of Anarchy biker gang played an instrumental role in a victory
without which there might not be a United States.
Next Revolutionary
figure tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What
do you think? Rev War figures you’d highlight?
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