The English had suffered a loss of two hundred and seventy-three, while the patriots lost only eighty-three in dead and wounded.
The battle of Lexington fired the country.
Within a few days an army of twenty thousand men had gathered round Boston.
New Hampshire sent its militia, with John Stark at its head; Rhode Island sent her quota under the leadership of Nathaniel Greene.
New Haven was not behind, for a regiment was dispatched from that city with Benedict Arnold as leader.
All this news was conveyed to Ethan Allen by Eben Pike, who had been dispatched on the dangerous mission to Boston to find out what the Provincials meant to do. No more trusty messenger could have been found than the young scout of the Green Mountains.
"What shall we do?" asked Baker.
"Fight!" was Allen's curt reply.
"Shall we join the patriots at Boston?"
"No; Connecticut has offered a thousand dollars toward the expenses of capturing Ticonderoga, and that reward we will win."