Ethan Allen

A few days after his return, news came that blood had finally been shed over the land disputes. Most of the resistance activity had until then taken place on the west side of the Green Mountains; on March 13, a small riot in the shire town of Westminster, on the east side of the mountains, resulted in the death of two men. Allen and a troop of Boys traveled to Westminster where, under Allen's influence, the town's convention adopted a strongly worded resolution authorizing the drafting of a plea to the King to remove them "out of so oppressive a jurisdiction". The preparation of the petition was assigned to a committee which included Allen. Less than a week after the Westminster convention ended, while Allen and the committee worked on their petition, the American Revolutionary War began.

In late April, following the battles of Lexington and Concord, Allen received a message from members of an irregular Connecticut militia that they were planning to capture Fort Ticonderoga, requesting his assistance in the effort. Allen, whether motivated by patriotic impulses (as he describes in his account of the events), or by the realization that the action might improve the political position of his side in the grants disputes, agreed to help, and began rounding up the Green Mountain Boys. On May 2, 60 men from Massachusetts and Connecticut met with Allen in Bennington, where they discussed the logistics of the expedition. Read Less