EXPEDITIONS AGAINST TICONDEROGA AND CROWN POINT, ETC.
Early in this year a party of Connecticut gentlemen, having procured a loan of money, concocted a scheme for surprising the important post of Ticonderoga, which was situate on a promontory near the junction of lakes George and Champlain, and the key of communication between New York and Canada. A few men were raised, which chiefly consisted of a hardy race called Green Mountain Boys, and Ethan Allen, a Presbyterian volunteer, was placed at their head. This force was unexpectedly joined by Colonel Arnold, who after the battle of Lexington had received a commission for the same purpose from the provincial congress of Massachusets Bay. Arnold agreed to act under Allen, and they proceeded together towards Ticonderoga. Captain Le Place, who commanded at this fort, was a friend of Ethan Allens, and taking advantage of this circumstance, Allen left his men in a wood hard by, and went to the captain, and induced him to lend twenty of his soldiers for the pretended purpose of assisting him in transporting some goods across the lake. Allen having obtained his request, next made the soldiers drunk, and then on the approach of night he drew his people from the woods, and hastened to the fort. There were yet about forty soldiers with the captain, but expecting no mischief there was not a single sentry on duty, and the followers of Allen rushed into the place undetected, and bade the soldiers lay down their arms. The captain asked by what authority they required him to surrender the king’s fort, to which Ethan Allen replied, like a Puritan of old times, “I demand it in the name of the Great Jehovah, and of the congress.” There was no alternative, and the captain responded to the demand: the place was captured with all its store of ammunition and provisions. Ethan Allen next turned his attention to the fort of Crown Point, which was reduced without any difficulty, as there were neither found guard nor garrison therein. Allen also surprised Skenesborough, a place occupied by Major Skene, with his son and a few negroes, who were all made prisoners. Intelligence of these events soon reached, congress; but though they rejoiced at the spirit of enterprise displayed by Allen and his men, they still feared that they might be charged with aggression at a time when they were expressing a desire of accommodation; and under these circumstances they recommended the committees of New York and Albany to remove the stores to the south of Lake George, in order that they might be restored when the breach was healed between Great Britain and her colonies.