Green Mountain Boys

This article is about the historical organization prior to the 20th century. For the modern military unit, see Vermont National Guard.
Green Mountain Boys
Reconstruction of the Flag of the Green Mountain Boys, predating the Vermont Republic. The flag is currently used by the Vermont National Guard
ActiveOctober 24, 1764[1] – 1779 (various revivals afterward)
Country Great Britain
Vermont Vermont Republic
 United States
AllegianceVermont Vermont Republic
TypeMilitia
Part ofVermont Militia
ColorsGreen, blue, white
(gold fringe is modern decorative)
Engagements
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Green Mountain Rangers, 1776

The Green Mountain Boys were a militia organization established in 1770 in the territory between the British provinces of New York and New Hampshire, known as the New Hampshire Grants and later in 1777 as the Vermont Republic (which later became the state of Vermont).[2][3] Headed by Ethan Allen and members of his extended family, it was instrumental in resisting New York's attempts to control the territory, over which it had won de jure control in a territorial dispute with New Hampshire.

Some companies served in the American Revolutionary War, including notably when the Green Mountain Boys, led under the command of Ethan Allen who was assisted by Benedict Arnold, captured Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain on May 10, 1775, and invaded Canada later in 1775. In early June 1775, Ethan Allen and his then subordinate, Seth Warner, induced the Continental Congress at Philadelphia to create a Continental Army ranger regiment from the then New Hampshire Grants. Having no treasury, the Congress directed that New York's revolutionary Congress pay for the newly authorized regiment. In July 1775, Allen's militia was granted support from the New York revolutionary Congress.

The Green Mountain Boys disbanded more than a year before Vermont declared its independence in 1777 from Great Britain "as a separate, free and independent jurisdiction or state". The Vermont Republic operated for 14 years, before being admitted in 1791 to the United States as the 14th state.

The remnants of the Green Mountain Boys militia were largely reconstituted as the Green Mountain Continental Rangers. Command of the newly formed regiment passed from Allen to Seth Warner. Allen joined the staff of the Northern Army of New York's Major General Philip Schuyler and was given the rank of lieutenant colonel. Under Warner the regiment fought at the battles of Hubbardton and Bennington in 1777. The regiment was disbanded in 1779.[4]: 143–145 [5]: 220 [6]

  1. ^ Goodrich, John E. (1904). Rolls of the Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, 1775 to 1783. Rutland, Vt.: The Tuttle Company. Muster Roll of the first Company of Militia in the town of the Bennington, organized October 24, 1764
  2. ^ "Green Mountain Boys". Britannica. United States history. 2003.
  3. ^ "The Green Mountain Boys". Revolutionary War, Facts & History. 15 February 2020.
  4. ^ Duffy, John J.; Hand, Samuel B.; Orth, Ralph H., eds. (2003). "Green Mountain Boys, Green Mountain Continental Rangers". The Vermont Encyclopedia. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England. ISBN 978-1-58465-086-7.
  5. ^ Watt, Gavin K. (1997-03-01). The Burning of the Valleys: Daring Raids from Canada Against the New York Frontier in the Fall of 1780. Dundurn. ISBN 978-1-55488-312-7.
  6. ^ Conway, T. (1900) [4 April 1778]. "Seth Warner's "Strange Regiment"". Public Papers [of the Governors of New York State]. Vol. IV: Public Papers of George Clinton. pp. 123–125. 1245.