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Green Mountain Boys Militia
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American militia unit formed in Vermont in 1770
named after the Green Mountains, the section of the Alleghenies that runs
through modern Vermont. Before the American
War of Independence, the area had been
disputed between New Hampshire and New York. New Hampshire had moved
first, issuing land grants from 1749. By 1764 New Hampshire had chartered
131 townships in the territory. The following year New York also started
to issue grants, including some that conflicted with earlier New Hampshire
grants. The issue quickly led to conflict between groups of settlers.
The Green Mountain Boys were founded at
Bennington (now in Vermont) in 1770 to resist a sheriff's party sent out
from New York to expel settlers who had received grants from New
Hampshire. The New Yorkers were successfully expelled. When conflict with
Britain broke out in 1775 the leader of the Green Mountain Boys, Ethen
Allen, decided to attack Fort
Ticonderoga, a British stronghold that
had been allowed to decay after 1763. Joined by Benedict Arnold the Green
Mountain Boys attacked Ticonderoga on 10 May 1775, easily taking it from
the small British garrison. The victory gave the rebels valuable artillery
pieces which were taken to Boston to help in the siege. The Green Mountain
Boys were also involved in the campaign that led to the surrender at Saratoga
in 1777. On 4 August 1777 they contributed a sizable part of the militia
force that defeated a British detachment attempting to raid the American
arsenal at Bennington,
and helped weaken Burgoyne's already under-strength force.
In the same year Vermont was declared an
independent republic, a status it retained despite the claims from New
York until 1791 when Vermont joined the United States as the 14th state.
Source of Above Information:
How to cite this article:Rickard,
J. (4 September 2003), Green Mountain Boys,
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_greenmountain.html
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