ALLEN, ETIIAN, 1739-89, b. Conn. lie early settled in Vermont with four brothers, and became conspicuous in the contest in which both New Hampshire and New York claimed territorial jurisdiction. Ile was the agent of the settlers in a suit at Albany ; the suit went against them and they resolved upon resistance, making A. colonel of a force which drove out the New York settlers; whereupon gov. Tryon offered A:150 reward for his arrest. In this condition they were when the war of the revolution began. and one of the first points decided upon was the occupation of Ticonderoga. Allen starting at once with his Green Mountain boys, was soon joined by others, including and on the morning of May 10, 1775, he surpriSed the English captain, Dela place, in his bed, demanding surrender " in time name of the great Jehovah and the Con tinental congress." This stroke wrested all the northern region from the English. The Americans also took Skenesborough and Crown Point. A dispute between A. and Arnold about the command was ended by the arrival of a Connecticut regiment, with col. Hinman, who ranked both ; and then A. proposed an invasion of Canada, but was not heeded. He went to Philadelphia, where congress acknowledged his services. Then he
joined gen. Schuyler's army, and was employed in secret missions to Canada, rendering valuable aid in Montgomery's expedition. Ile was taken prisoner, Sept. 25, 1775, in an unfortunate demonstration by major Brown upon Montreal, and was sent to England. Some months later he was returned to this country and kept in the prison ships and jails in Halifax and New York until May 3, 1778, when he was exchanged. While a prisoner lie was for the most part barbarously treated and kept heavily ironed. He was warmly received by Washington. and was going into the army again when he was diverted towards the old boundary troubles between New York and New Hampshire. While thus engaged an effort was made by the English through a conspicuous tory, Beverly Robinson, to seduce A. from his American loyalty, but of course without success, though he made the affair serve to preserve the neutrality of the English towards his mountaineers. A. was twice married and left a widow and seven children. He was noted as a free-thinker, or deist, and wrote Reason the only Oracle of Man, in which the Bible and religion are assailed with considerable vehemence.