(no subject)
New York's governor called the Boys riotous trespassers and offered a twenty-pound reward for Allen's arrest. As the disturbances grew, the bounty went up to a hundred and fifty pounds. Allen resented the charge of trespassing, but the accusations of riotous behavior helped to keep his more timid opponents at bay. He proved it by betting his Boys that he could ride into Albany, drink a bowl of punch at the busiest tavern in town and return unharmed.
Allen reached the town, entered a crowded tavern and called for the punch. As he was sipping it, people flocked to the tavern to watch the noted outlaw. The county sheriff went with them. Allen finished the bowl, walked deliberately to the door and climbed back on his horse. The sheriff decided that the reward still wasn't large enough to risk an arrest. Ethan Allen rode off with a cry, "Huzzah for the Green Mountains!"
Allen and his Boys didn't expect the British crown to support them in their struggle with New York, and the dispute had left Allen with a passion for liberty. Lexington to him was only another proof of Britain's desire to enslave all of America. In a vote of confidence at the Catamount Tavern in Bennington, the Green Mountain Boys elected Allen their commander for the assault on Fort Ti(conderoga). He withdrew to plan his campaign, and the Boys readied themselves by getting drunk.
Col. Benedict Arnold hooks up with the Green Mountain Boys and they get to Fort Ticonderoga...
The Boys reached the shore at Lake George well before dawn, but neither of their leaders had remembered that the water here was a mile wide, and no one had boats. It was nearly daybreak before they had rounded up enough small craft to row eighty-three men across the water to the fort's high walls. The Boys crept to the fortress gate. It was open. The sentry on duty was asleep. At the prospect of such an easy victory, the Boys began to whoop, which roused the sentry. He aimed his weapon, thought better of it and ran away. Ticonderoga had been built as a garrison for four hundred men, but during the dozen peacetime years the British had let it deteriorate and kept it severly undermanned.
A British lieutenant, Jocelyn Feltham, who heard the triumphant shouts ringing over the battlements, jumped from bed, threw open his door and ran into an immense man. Another, very dapper man was standing beside him. By what authority have you stormed this fort? Lieutenant Feltham demanded.
"In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" roared Ethan Allen.
When they pressed on to the commander's quarters, Allen's eloquence failed him. Waving his sword above his head, he shouted over and over, "Come out, you old rat!"
- from Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution by A.J. Langguth