Battle of Longue Pointe: Ethan Allen’s Blundering Attack on Montreal

The Battle of Longue Pointe, September 25, 1775, was a dismal attempt by the Americans to take Montreal on September 25, 1775. From beginning to end, the defeat was a total fiasco. A small force of Canadian militia and Continental troops were organized and lead by a civilian adviser, future Vermont hero Ethan Allen. He had only been instructed to raise recruits for a Canadian militia and wait for an officer to take charge. Prior to that, Allen had been refused a commission in the American Army and voted out by his own militia, both for military incompetence. Due to Allen’s self-serving importance, puffed-up opinion of himself as a military expert, and probably of most importance, drawn by the city’s prize in valuable goods, he took it upon himself to capture Montreal singlehandedly.

Because of typical poor organization, it took three trips to ferry Allen’s men to Isle Montreal. By then, Governor General Guy Carlton had mustered the city’s small garrison. British regulars, town militia, and Native Americans, marched out to meet Allen’s green troops; most only days from tending their farms when recruited. As soon as the British regulars volleyed, Allen’s men scattered, as in a colloquialism of the times – faster than a preacher to the collection box. Allen quickly joined the rout, but was captured along with a small number of his men.

Ethan Allen’s one-and only-time leading men into battle was a floundering debacle. After two years and eight months in prison and on parole, Allen had time to conjure up a retelling of what occurred that fateful day when he blundered into captivity. When exchanged in 1778, rather than fulfill his swaggering rhetoric and join in the war, he returned home to Vermont.

There, he camped out in the local tavern where tall tales of his war heroics grew more spectacular with each telling. He also published his memoir the following year. In it, he glorified himself in a romantic fantasy that placed him at the precipice of military greatness. And only by the deceit and failure of others to fulfill their duty, had he been captured. After the war, the truth fell further victim to lies. With the help of Allen’s brother Ira’s imaginative pen, Ethan became a legend. Then as in now; reality fades from memory when ‘alternative facts’ are presented loudly and as often as humanly possible.

The Region of Battle

Isle of Montreal, upon which the namesake city is located, is one of several islands in the St. Lawrence River, about forty-five miles north of the present United States border. The Richelieu River, which drains Lake Champlain, flows into the St. Lawrence River at Sorel, about fifty miles northeast of Montreal. In 1775, the city consisted of a small portion of the island along the St. Lawrence River in what is today called Old Montreal. Just northeast of the city was Longue Pointe. Right across the river was Longueuil; a ferry and boat crossing. The other crossing to Montreal from the eastern mainland was at la Prairie, just southwest of the city.

America Plans to Invade Canada

British Fort Ticonderoga fell to Major Benedict Arnold (Massachusetts commission) and the Green Mountain Boys militia under Ethan Allen on May 10, 1775. Afterwards, Arnold got word that Ethan Allen had his eyes set on raiding the British Fort St. Jean (also Ft. St. John). The fortification was about twenty miles north into Canada on the Richelieu River. Reported to be lightly garrisoned, patriotism was but one factor in a race between Allen and Arnold. Each was eager to lay hands on a British schooner anchored nearby and pillage the fort’s stockpile of supplies.

Arnold had previously captured a British schooner at Skenesborough (now Whitehall, NY) and sailed up Lake Champlain to arrive before Allen. He captured the schooner and raided the fort. These two events highlighted the fact that Governor General Guy Carleton of Quebec had fewer than 800 soldiers to guard the entire colony of Quebec, nearly the size of all thirteen combined southern colonies. In other words, Canada was ripe for the picking. That summer of 1775, the Second Congress, yearning to bring Quebec, the 14^th colony, into the rebellion against England, decided to invade.

The invasion was finally organized and equipped by the fall of 1775. By then it was too late. The door to Canada was no longer wide open. In the four months since Arnold’s raid of St. Jean, British governor Carleton had time to prepare his defense of the Montreal region; beefing up garrison strength and armaments. When the invasion was launched, the green, inexperienced patriot forces were surprised by the fierce resistance offered by British regulars (many staunch veterans of the Seven Years War) and Canadian militia, who did not flock to America’s banner. These were men hardened by previous wars and the Canadian wilderness A factor that would ultimately doom the American invasion to failure.

The American plan was to stage a two-prong incursion into Quebec. Major General Philip Schuyler, along with previous British officer General Richard Montgomery, lead around 2,000 men up Lake Champlain (mostly regiments from New York and Connecticut) to claim the forts along the Richelieu River and capture Montreal. From there, they would travel downriver to Quebec City. There they would meet up with Colonel Benedict Arnold’s force of 1,200 men (from Massachusetts and Connecticut that included Daniel Morgan’s famed riflemen). Arnold would have traveled through Maine’s wilderness directly to Quebec City. The combined American force would capture the Citadel at Quebec City and thereby lay claim to the entire colony. A good plan, subject to one of the first rules of war attributed to Prussian strategist Carl von Clausewitz: no plan survives first contact with the enemy.

Invasion up Lake Champlain Stalled by Siege of Fort St. Jean

On September 4^th, General Schuyler and his small army arrived at the Ile aux Noix (meaning island of nuts – Canadians would argue for the symbolism). The marshy, pestilent infected island is ten miles into Canada on the Richelieu River. Two days later, on the 6^th, General Montgomery (having assumed command of daily duties due to Schuyler having taken ill) took a large detachment to attack Fort St. Jean, ten miles downriver from Isle aux Noix.

Since May of that year, after Benedict Arnold’s raid, Governor General Carlton decided to concentrate his defense of the region at Fort St. Jean. It had been well-supplied and considerably strengthened. Two veteran regiments under Major Charles Preston, the 7^th and 26^th Foot, arrived from garrisons at Quebec City and Three Rivers on the St. Lawrence, along with recruited Canadian loyalists and local Native Americans. In all, when Montgomery’s troops landed close by, the garrison numbered around 750 defenders.

Montgomery immediately attacked through swamps and tight vegetation. Due to raw, inexperienced troops, the rebels immediately drew back, running to their boats when fired upon by a Native American patrol. Cannon fire from the fort convinced Montgomery to call off the attack. Soon after, Montgomery assumed complete command of the invasion when Schuyler’s illness worsened and he had to return to Ticonderoga. Two more attacks on the fort were quickly planned; however, both had to called off because of poor weather conditions.

What occurred next would result in a long and arduous siege by the Americans lasting from September 17^th until November 3^rd, forty-five days in all. The region the Americans found themselves in was mired down in swampy wetlands ripe for malaria and sickness. So too, the weather, true to the north country, turned cold as they neared November. By the time the garrison was captured, Montgomery lost over nine hundred troops to illness and exposure. Many laid in unmarked graves while the rest were shipped back to Ticonderoga and a hospital set up further south at Albany.

Americans Recruit Local Canadians

Just prior to and during the siege of Fort St. Jean, two local, influential land owners began to actively recruit a Canadian regiment to assist the Americans. Major John Brown, who owned a large estate in the region, and James Livingston of Chambly, Quebec, a member of the wealthy Livingston family of New York City, traveled throughout the region to convince Canadians to join the American cause. Eventually, 300 Canadians would heed the patriot call and camped at Pointe Olivier, just below British held Fort Chambly and north of Fort St. Jean.

Green Mountain Boys Arrive Minus Former Leader Ethan Allen

On the same day that the Siege of Fort St. Jean began, Montgomery’s force was enlarged by the arrival of 250 Green Mountain Boys of the New Hampshire Grants – later Vermont. Importantly, Seth Warner was their new leader after Ethan Allen, was voted out by his own men. The tallied vote of the officers of the newly formed Continental Regiment was 45 against Ellen to 5 for. The reasons given for Allen’s ouster were: overblown self-confidence to lead, ignorance of military tactics, and pretensions to strategic experience. In other words, Allen was great when it came to roughing up ‘Yorker’ strong men sent to oust farmers from their homes. But rubbish in all things military.  Many of the Vermonters were hardened veterans, having been former Rogers’ Rangers of the French and Indian War. Unlike the New York and Connecticut troops, they were familiar to the harsh environs of the north country and immediately acted as skirmishers and scouts for the American army.

Who Was Ethan Allen?

Plain and simple, Ethan Allen was a thug. Though legend, much of it written by himself and his brother Ira, has classified him as one of the good thugs. An over bloated, bombastic, fabricator, and boozer whose violent threats against those he opposed came as easily to him as one would breathe. Yet those who had dealings with him described him as honest and fair. When brain came to brawn of the two brothers, Ira Allen (founder of the University of Vermont), was the brains hands down. However, Allen did have a strong work ethic and eye for business, having early on in life owned an iron works in Connecticut that had employed up to fifty workers. One story goes that Ethan, after a few jugs of spirits, took it upon himself to sell off a major portion of the land the brothers were developing for a pittance. When Ira found out, he immediately jumped on his horse and rode over two hundred miles to catch up to the man in Connecticut; where he bought back the land for nearly three times what Ethan had received.

But Ethan Allen was also just what the homesteaders who settled in the New Hampshire Grants and what would become Vermont needed [the Grants were between Lake Champlain to the west and the Connecticut River to the east]. It became a David and Goliath type struggle that pitted simple farmers against wealthy landowners. Prior to the American Revolution New York and New Hampshire both claimed the region. Each sent ruffians to kick out the settlers who claimed their farms based on land grants from developers; mainly in Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Green Mountain Boys, armed, hardened settlers lead by six foot plus browbeater and terrorizer Allen, would not be easily threatened, let alone bullied to leave their homesteads. When push came to shove, it were the agents of wealthy developers in New York and New Hampshire who found themselves either moaning in a ditch, or escorted out of the region with a musket barrel poking their ribs.  

Once the American Revolution exploded on the scene, Ethan Allen’s time as leader had come and gone; only he did not know it. Allen had but one famed war endeavor that occurred at the start of the war; the capture of Fort Ticonderoga on May 10, 1775. Patriotism and other such noble passions may have been on the plate that prompted The Greene Mountain Boys to show up at the fort in the middle of the night. But perhaps more important, they were driven by a desire to lay hands on the fort’s rich supplies. Goods that could be carted away and sold for a tidy profit. The lightly defended British garrison was unaware that a major action was fought at Lexington and Concord and that they were now basically at war. The fort, as such, was up for grabs.

Once Allen and Benedict Arnold settled who would lead the raid, deciding on a joint operation, all that was needed was a late-night knock at the door, informing the British commander the fort was now theirs. As soon as the few defenders were herded into the goal, Allen and his men got down to business. Within a couple of hours, they were uproariously drunk from the large cache of rum. It soon morphed into a mob that Allen refused to halt, ending after Benedict Arnold took charge. Shortly afterwards, once his men recovered from their hangovers, they realized that if they wanted to live through the conflict, a ‘bull in a china shop’ leader who had little if any concept of military tactics was not one to lead them. Allen, by July, was replaced by the more able, previous Rogers’ Ranger, Seth Warner.

Ethan Allen Accompanies the Army as a Civilian

Though no longer at the head of troops, Ethan Allen had remained friends with General Schuyler and garnished the wealthy Dutchman’s cautious respect. Allen used this influence to remain with the army as a citizen advisor; receiving a non-commissioned Lt. Colonel title that came with no troops or authority. Prior to handing command over to Montgomery, General Schuyler directed Allen to join Major John Brown in his efforts to recruit Canadians for the militia regiment James Livingston was assembling at Chambly, just north of Fort St. Jean. Allen joined Brown in an eight-day recruiting effort to garnish local Canadian support with some positive results.

Events that Brought Allen to Longueuil

Once the Americans began their siege of Fort St. Jean on Sept. 17th, Allen was at Colonel Livingston’s camp at Pointe Olivier, Chambly. He had arrived with a few men from the main American Camp at Ile aux Noix. While there, Livingston noted in his communications that he and Allen had discussed the presence of four British ships at Sorel, where the Richelieu River empties into the St. Lawrence, about thirty miles north of Chambly. Though he does not mention ordering Allen to capture the ships, discussion did center on the similarities to what Allen had accomplished at Ticonderoga. Some scholars assume that Allen accepted this discussion as an opening for him to attempt a capture of the ships. On Sept. 18^th, Allen departed for Sorel. With him were the original men who had accompanied him to Pointe Olivier, but interestingly, so too eighty Canadian militiamen. This was a far larger number of men needed for an excursion to recruit Canadians to the American cause. It could be an indication that by allowing a detachment of his militia to join Allen, that perhaps Livingston condoned an expedition to capture the ships at Sorel.

Among the Canadians accompanying Allen were Captain Jerimiah (John) Duggan; next to Livingston, one of the most influential patriotic local inhabitants. Another prominent Canadian was Augustin Loiseau. A Captain Richard Young is mentioned in Allen’s Narration as being present, but nothing more is heard of him. A question could be raised; was Captain Duggan in command, or did Allen, a civilian with no authority to take the lead, assume command?  Most of what occurred next can only be taken from Allen’s account which is subject to scrutiny.

Allen makes no mention in his Narration of departing Chambly to attack any ships in Sorel. Neither are there any other primary sources, besides Livingston’s discussion of the ships’ presence, that mention orders to capture ships at Sorel. Allen only spoke of passing through the parishes on his way downriver to Sorel. However, on the 20^th, he wrote a letter to General Montgomery. He incorrectly stated he had 250 Canadians with him that he alone had recruited. More importantly, he  mentioned that he decided to abandon the ship capturing mission and was returning to Chambly. Of interest, after the failed attack on Montreal, Livingston would later tell Montgomery that he never gave Allen any orders to assault the enemy. We can only assume that he meant both Sorel and Montreal.

There are no other primary sources that state Allen reached Sorel. Shortly after he wrote the letter to Montgomery, he did an immediate roundabout. But by September 22^nd, instead of returning to St. Jean like he had informed Montgomery, he was traveling upriver, along the shoreline toward Longueuil. The reason he did so may be contributed to the commander of the post at Longueuil. On or just before the 22^nd, Captain John Grant, stationed with a small detachment of sixty-three men of Continental soldiers and Canadian militia, received a report indicating a superior enemy force was nearby and were about to attack his post. He wrote to Colonel Livingston seeking aid. Livingston immediately dispatched as small force that included Continental troops, many from the Connecticut 4^th. Grant also wrote to Allen asking him to send a party or come as soon as he may.

When Allen arrived at Longueuil, for reasons we can only assume by examining his character, he decided he would take matters into his own hands and command the men he accompanied, as well as any additional troops sent by Livingston to aid Grant’s post. From then on, things unraveled quite quickly.

Situation in Montreal

In preparation for an American Invasion, as mentioned, Carleton placed the cream of his British soldiers, approximately 500 regular troops, at Fort St. Jean, under the command of veteran Major Charles Preston. Along with 250 Canadian militia and Native American skirmishers, this left Carleton a scant number to defend a multitude of other forts from the Great Lakes to Quebec City; over a thousand miles. To monitor and command the British defense, Carlton traveled up river and established his headquarters at Montreal. There were only about two dozen regulars from the 24^th Foot stationed in the city. He therefore used his personal influence to gain as much militia support possible in defense of Montreal. In this he had limited success; in part due to the effective recruitment by Brown, Livingston, and Allen. However, his efforts to raise the population’s concern to arm themselves over a possible attack by Americans came to fruition when it was most needed.

Possible Motive for Ethan Allen’s Decision to Singlehandedly Capture Montreal

Allen was incensed. It was September 23, 1775. And instead of leading his Green Mountain Boys in the siege against Fort St. Jean, he had been ousted. Replaced. Abandoned by those who for years he had led so courageously. Now, he was left idle, sitting at the river crossing at Longueuil and staring across the St. Lawrence to Montreal. He had already gathered a few loyal followers and recruits, and took it upon himself to head towards Sorel to capture some British ships. Then abandoned that effort, and turn back towards Chambly. Only to once more, without orders, head up river to Longueuil near Montreal. Why stop now. His next move, we can assume, was his and his alone to make.

Besides a tarnished ego, to Allen, the course the invasion had taken made little sense. Why would General Montgomery stall the invasion to pour all their efforts at surrounding and capturing Fort St. Jean? Was logic beyond the heralded general? Montreal was sitting right there, within easy reach. With the bulk of the British defense staring out from behind fortifications at St. Jean, all knew from the reports. Montreal had only a dozen or so soldiers to defend the entire city. But Allen probably figured, with incompetent reasoning, so too comes opportunity.

Allen had enjoyed the fruits that Fort Ticonderoga had coughed up back in May. But he was still smarting after Benedict Arnold had beat him to Fort St. Jean, claiming a British schooner and valuable goods that would have garnished an excellent return. But now, Arnold was slogging through Maine’s wilderness and he, Ethan Allen, sat gazing at Montreal. A city whose wealth was ten times beyond what St. Jean could have offered. Yes, it only took a bold move by one who was willing to grab the bull by the horns to garnish both fame and fortune.

Allen would set matters right. He would gain the respect that was rightfully his. And so too, pad his pockets with a generous portion of war’s spoils. All he had to do was command a raid across the river and capture Montreal. Never mind orders to deliver recruits . The assault would be simple enough with the men he had at the crossing and what he could gather on short notice. And against a handful of British regulars and a few armed merchants, it would be as easy as kneeling over a mill sack. Fame and money from old rope.

The Men, Decision, and Plan of Attack

Allen’s narrative stated that he reached Longueuil on the 23^rd. So too, Livingston’s aid detachment from Pointe Olivier, that included mostly Continental soldiers, had arrived that same day. What occurred in meetings between Allen and Grant were not recorded nor does Allen’s Narrative mention the day’s activities. Allen must have met with the relief party from Livingston, for ultimately many of them, including a large number of men from the Connecticut 4^th, ended up with Allen when he crossed the St. Lawrence to Montreal on the night of the 24^th.

Allen resumed his Narrative on the morning of the 24^th writing that he had left for Longueuil with his “guard of about eight men.”  It is assumed these were the few Americans who originally accompanied Allen, plus the Canadian militia under Duggan and Loiseau. It is believed that he left under the pretext to head towards La Prairie. There he would pick up the La Prairie-St. Johns road and follow it to the main American siege camp. Allen wrote that he met Major John Brown in route, only two miles from Longueil. Major Brown was in the region, in charge of several Continental detachments that patrolled over a large area along the southeast banks of the St. Lawrence and lower Richelieu Valley. Allen claimed that he was persuaded by Brown and other officers to return to Longueuil to join them in an attack on Montreal. As to the validity of this; more on that later.

It was not long before Allen was back at Longueuil seeking canoes to cross the St. Lawrence. By then, Allen’s mind was set, he would attack Montreal. He did not contact Colonel Livingston of his plan. Somehow he commandeered the relief party of Continental soldiers sent to beef up Captain Grant’s post at Longueil. Why Captain Grant turned these men over to a citizen is a question that will never be answered. One can assume those present at the post, including all officers, were convinced to be led by the towering, six foot plus Allen; taken aback by his ‘bigger than life’ presence and persuasive bullying tactics. Something he honed to a fine skill after years leading his Green Mountain Boys against the ‘Yorker’ ruffians sent to oust the New Hampshire Grants farmers.

Allen would attack Montreal with three main components: the few followers he had when he first arrived at Livingston’s camp on the 18^th, the eighty Canadian militiamen under Duggan and Loiseau who had accompanied him from Pointe Olivier toward Sorel and remained with Allen when Grant requested their assistance at Longueil, and the thirty odd detached Continentals that Livingston sent to Grant’s aid. During Allen’s meeting with Major Brown, he may have convinced the officer to detach a few of his men to join Allen, but this is only speculation in which there is no evidence to support.   

Therefore, Allen had 80 Canadian volunteers and 30 odd Continentals for the attack; around 110 in all.  Allen would assume command. Even though the city was considered lightly defended, there was still a British garrison present. A competent British officer would command the veteran regulars. As well as the unknown; how many townspeople would join Carleton in defending the city? The fact that most of Allen’s men, including many of the Continental troops, never fired a shot in combat did not seem to bother Allen; hell, neither had Allen. He entered the Connecticut militia as a private in 1757 after the fall of Fort William and Henry at Lake George, New York. He saw no action and after the war, settled in the New Hampshire Grants.

On the evening of the 24^th, Allen would ferry the men over the St. Lawrence River from the mainland at Longueuil to Longue Pointe, a few miles northeast of Montreal. They would set skirmishers to assure no residents sounded the alarm. At dawn they would assemble and move upon the city. Surprise the garrison and take Montreal by force.

Claims by Allen that Brown Was to Cross South of Montreal to Support his Attack

All primary sources claim that Allen acted alone in both planning and executing the attack. There was no mention of any other detached forces involved. Not among Allen’s men or any officers within the American army and Canadian militia. It was only after Arnold returned from captivity, that rumors of another force failing to support Allen sprang up, leading to Ethan’s defeat. And of course, these rumors placing the blame on others came from none other than Ethan himself.

According to Allen in his Narratives, written in 1779, he had indeed followed orders. After receiving Grant’s letter for assistance and repairing to the post at Longueil, he left for La Prairie and from there to the main siege camp outside St. Jean. But along the way, he met Major John Brown. It was Brown’s idea, along with some of his officers, that persuaded Allen to join them in an attack on Montreal.  Brown would take 200 men south of the city at la Prairie Pointe and nine miles further down river.  Allen would cross just north of the city at Longueuil  Once across, the two forces would combine and attack the city at dawn. In this, according to Allen, Brown failed him. Brown never gave the sign to join with Allen because he never crossed the river as promised. Later, after Allen’s death in 1789, his brother Ira added Green Mountain Boy’s Seth Warner as one of the other officers who deceived Allen; writing that both Brown and Warner decided the weather was too poor to cross the river and returned to their beds. Never mind that Warner, at the time Allen attacked on the 25th, he was over twenty miles south at the siege camp commanding his men outside Fort St. Jean.

The Attack

Montreal loyalist and lawyer Simon Sanguinet wrote in a published account of the period, stating that Jacques Roussain, owner of a canoe service at Longueuil, “loaned Allen canoes to facilitate their crossing.” He also set the time of Allen’s departure at ten o’clock the evening of the 24^th. Allen did not procure enough canoes to ferry his men in one crossing of the St. Lawrence. It took three, painfully slow round trips before all his men were landed at Longue Pointe. He posted guards on the road to Montreal to prevent news of their crossing from reaching the city.

Allen stated the inhabitants he met were friendly; however, one had managed to slip by his guards and ran to the city to inform the authorities of Allen’s crossing. In any primary account that has passed through history of that night, only Allen’s Narrative, written in 1779, the year after his release from British custody, is there any mention of waiting for a signal to join Major Brown’s force who was supposed to have crossed the river south of Montreal.

Allen chose a wooded area near Ruisseau de la Prairie (Ruisseau-des-Soeurs), between Longue Point and Montreal, to set defenses and wait for dawn to attack. Either by the man who had escaped Allen’s guard, or others who had viewed the lengthy crossing by the Americans, Governor General Carleton received word that the enemy was on the island with an unknown number of troops. He immediately raised the alarm and news spread throughout the city rapidly.

While commander Captain John Campbell assembled the entire garrison of 34 British regulars from the 24^th Foot, the townspeople turned out in armed force. One hundred and twenty Canadians presented themselves, along with eighty English militia, and twenty British Native American agents. So too, several Native Americans joined what amounted to nearly 300 defenders. Among them were professional soldiers and militia, many hardened veterans of the previous French and Indian War.

Rather than wait behind Montreal’s defensive walls, Carlton decided to march out and meet his enemy. As Campbell’s force approached, Allen, realizing he did not have enough canoes for his men to return to Longueil, prepared to meet the British force. Allen sent ten Canadians under Loiseau to cover his left flank. He also dispatched Captain Duggan with another fifty Canadians to cover his right flank. Allen, with his thirty odd Continental troops and twenty Canadians, formed the center of his defense.

As soon as Campbell’s regulars came within range, they fired a volley. The result was instantaneous. Loiseau and Duggan’s green militias, both flanks, reportedly spun about and ran, without firing a shot. This left Allen and his fifty odd defenders facing nearly six to one odds with no chance to escape the island. Over the next ninety minutes both sides exchanged fire while Campbell jockeyed his troops to apply pressure on Allen’s small force. Finally, Allen’s men panicked. They broke and ran, including Allen. After a feeble attempt to outrun their enemy, what was left of Allen’s force surrendered.

Casualties and Prisoners

The British and Townspeople suffered no casualties. Of Allen’s force, there were no wounded and only one possible death; Marie Joseph Brosseau. Of British record of those captured: nineteen Continentals surrendered with Allen. Thirteen were with the 4^th Connecticut while the other half dozen were scattered between the 1^st Connecticut and the 1^st and 2^nd New York. The rest of the Continentals, including four men from the Easton, Mass regiment had escaped, either to the boats or hiding further along the island. Of the Canadian militia, 11 had been captured with the possibility of one killed. This left a total of thirty-one named captured on record. However, accounts vary that between thirty-eight to forty had been taken prisoner. This left about seventy of Allen’s force who had escaped; either by the canoes upon which they had crossed, or in  hiding in the woods or among patriot symbolizers until they could procure later passage across the river.

Allen stated in his Narrative that upon arrival at Longue Pointe, he sent a messenger to Thomas Walker, an active patriot living just northeast of the city, requesting he bring armed men from his parish to aid in the attack. Walker gathered what men he could, but was not ready until the morning of the 26^th. By then, Allen’s force had been defeated and the robust Allen was held captive.

Aftermath

Allen and his men were introduced to the Montreal goal where they awaited their fate. The American army under General Montgomery would end the siege of Fort St. Jean on November 3, 1775 with the British garrison’s surrender of nearly 750 men. Carleton immediately prepared for the evacuation of the city’s soldiers and supplies. Allen and his captives were boarded on a ship, perhaps the Gaspee, and sent downriver to Quebec. On November 13, the American’s crossed to Montreal without firing a shot. Ethan and his men arrived at Quebec City where within a month’s time, were put in the hold of a ship bound for England.

In early December, Montgomery’s depleted and weakened army, one sixth of its original size due to death and illness, combined with Colonel Benedict Arnold’s ravaged troops after their horrid trek through the Maine wilderness. The Americans attacked the stiffly defended citadel of Quebec City on December 31, 1775, in a snowy blizzard. In the total American defeat, Montgomery was killed and Arnold severely wounded in the leg; along with the capture of stalwart Daniel Morgan of Mongan’s Rifle. This was the beginning of the end of the American invasion. The following spring saw Arnold’s devastated force driven back to Montreal by British reinforcements from England. Even after a large contingent of fresh American Continental Troops arrived, the British easily pushed the inexperienced Americans back into New York.   

Allen spent two years and eight months in captivity among the British. He spent one year imprisoned between Pendennis Castle, Falmouth England, to Cobb in Ireland, and onto to Halifax, Canada. The next year and a half he would be on parole in British held New York City. In taverns and invites to dinner, his boisterous, rowdy tales, reliving his wild days in the Grants and “heroics” at Montreal, always garnished an appreciative audience.. He was exchanged for British officer Archibald Campbell, on May 6, 1778. In this the British got the better deal as Campbell went on to lead the successful British attack on Savannah and later Augusta – becoming the Governor of Georgia prior to the end of the war and his return to England.

As for Arnold, after his release, he traveled to Valley Forge and met with Washington whose only comment ever about Allen was that the man had ‘an unusual something’ about him. Always the cautious diplomat, Washington  never explained what that unusual something was. Allen would never raise a musket again in America’s defense. After meeting with Washington, rather than returning to the fight for liberty, he took the liberty to return to his home in the New Hampshire Grants. There he lived off the half pay that came with his honorary title of Lt. Colonel; Washington having allowed him to retain what General Schuyler had bestowed.

The two and a half years Allen spent in captivity, along with his storytelling jaunts while on parole in New York City, added fodder for what would become his memoirs or Narration. Published in 1779, it was a collection of his life’s events boiled down to a self-serving diatribe of a man destined for immortality. He was courageous, humble, benevolent, fearless, honorable, and pretty much every adjective available of a near godlike figure who blessed mortals with his presence.

As to his time in the American Revolution and most particularly the disaster at Montreal, he was not to blame for the defeat or his capture. A warrior and military genius, he had been betrayed. Let down by others (mainly Major Brown) who had promised their support and which never materialized. Had that not happened, laurels would now grace his head for the capture of Montreal. Which of course would have saved the American army from later defeat at Quebec City.  

Unfortunately for the future legendary hero of Vermont, no one else would concur Allen’s wild claims; not even Allen staunchest supporters at the time. But no matter. Fame still awaited the Winooski, Vermont farmer. Though briefly tarnished by claims of treachery in the early 1780’s through efforts to broker terms for Vermont to reenter the British Empire, people continued to read and believe his exploits as detailed in his Narrative. After his death in 1789 due to a stroke, his brother Ira Allen wrote glowingly of Allen’s war years – doing Ethan one better by compiling even more heroics on his brother’s head.

Ethan Allen’s Legacy

• There are several statues of Allen, the two more important at the US capitol visitor’s center and at the Vermont Capital Building, Montpelier, Vermont
• Two islands in northern Lake Champlain are named Hero: the smaller North Hero is named after Ira Allen (the brother). And the larger South Hero is named after Ethan.
• Fort Ethan Allen – cavalry outpost in Colchester and Essex, Vermont that had housed government soldiers throughout the 1800’s to mid-1900’s, presently a housing and industrial complex
• A National Guard Facility in Jericho, Vermont is called Camp Ethan Allen.
• A line of Furniture with headquarters in Danbury, Connecticut is named after him. Ethan would approve as he was born in Connecticut.
• Ethan Allen Express – Amtrac service from Washington DC to Burlington, Vermont and the Ethan Allen III, a tour boat on Lake Champlain

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SIMILAR ARTICLES OF INTERST ON REVOLUTIONARY WAR JOURNAL

SOURCES

Anderson, Mark R. The Battle for the Fourteenth Colony. 2013: United Press of New England, Lebanon, NH.

Anderson, Mark R. “Ethan Allen’s Motley Parcel of Soldierly at Montreal.” Journal of the American Revolution. December 31, 2020.

Anderson, Mark R. “Ethan Allen Mysterious Defeat at Montreal Reconsidered.” Journal of the American Revolution. October 15, 2020.

Duffy, John J. & Muller, H. Nicholas. Inventing Ethan Allen.  2014: New England Press of New England, Lebanon, NH.

Hossell, Karen Price.  Ethan Allen. 1957: Heinemann Library, Chicago, IL.

Allen, Ethan. The Narrative of Colonel Ethan Allen.  1779: 1961: Corinth Books, New York, NY.

Jones, Charles Henry. History of the Campaign for the Conquest of Canada. 1881: Porter & Coates, Philadelphia, PA.

Lefkowitz, Arthur S. Benedict Arnold’s Army, The 1775 American Invasion of Canada During the Revolutionary War. 2008: Savas Beatie LLC, El Dorado Hills, CA.

Randall, William Sterne. Ethan Allen His Life and Times. 2012: WW Norton Publishing, New York, NY.