Chapter XXIV: The Guns of Old Ti Speak

The fate of more than a brave man hung in the balance at that moment. The ultimate happiness and secure footing of a state was at stake when the sentinel pressed the trigger of his weapon. Had the ball reached its mark, the establishment of Vermont as a free state might have been postponed for many years. Ethan Allen's diplomacy in later dealing with the British agents who sought to wean Vermont from her federation with the struggling colonies, doubtless saved the Green Mountains from being overrun by a horde of Hessians and Indians who would have brought death and disaster to the patriotic settlers.

But Providence had other work for the leader of the Green Mountain Boys to do. The musket missed fire and flinging down the piece the sentinel turned and ran through the passage into the fort, shrieking that the enemy was at hand. With a cheer the little band of patriots followed, and before the garrison was awake to its situation, the Green Mountain Boys had reached the parade. Instructed by their captains what to do, the men ran hither and thither to seize the guns whose threatening muzzles peered through the embrasures of the walls, and to guard the entrances to the barracks where the garrison slept.

'Siah Bolderwood, seizing an axe, attacked the door of the ammunition cellar; for the American spy who had spent the previous day within the works had explained to the ranger the situation of this important compartment. The ringing blows of the woodman's axe doubtless awakened many of the sleeping soldiery. In half a minute the stout oak door was down. "There, Nuck Harding!" cried the long ranger, "I leave you to guard that 'ere. If they show fight, fire your rifle into the place. If so be, we'll all go up together; but Old Ti is ourn and if we're driven forth we'll wreck the fortifications as we go."

Meanwhile Ethan Allen, knowing well the sleeping quarters of Captain De la Place, having received his information from the same source as Bolderwood, leaped up the stairway to the apartment of the commander of the fort. His shoulder burst in the door without the loss of an instant, and he found the astounded captain sitting up in bed. "What is this, sir? Who are you?" cried the British officer.

"I call on ye to surrender, Captain De la Place!" cried the Green Mountain leader.

"In whose name do ye make this demand, sir?"

"In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" replied Allen, sternly. Then, describing a circle about his head with his sword, he added in a tone not to be mistaken: "I demand the surrender of your fort and all the stores and goods it may contain; and, sir, unless you comply with my demand and parade your men without arms at once, I'll send your head, sir, spinning across this floor!" and the whistling steel blade was advanced until the British officer shrank in fear.

"I surrender! I surrender!" he cried, and word was passed at once to both the garrison and the Americans on the parade below. And thus the strongest British fortress within the borders of the disaffected colonies, capitulated to the American arms without a gun being fired. What if, when the news of the remarkable feat reached Philadelphia where the Continental Congress was in session, the act of Ethan Allen and his brave Green Mountain Boys was deplored, and a considerable party was for returning the stronghold to the king, while others wished to withdraw the American garrison, believing that the Champlain forts were too far on the frontier to be held successfully against the enemy? These suggestions were but the result of over-cautiousness on the part of some members of Congress. Happily their wishes were overborne and Ticonderoga remained an American fort until the cowardly St. Clair abandoned it before the advance of Burgoyne.

At the moment, however, the satisfaction of Ethan Allen and his brave companions was unbounded. While the British soldiers were being paraded without their weapons before their conquerors, a second body of Green Mountain Boys under Major Warner entered the fort. The tall Connecticut man came to Allen with considerable chagrin expressed in his countenance. "Colonel, you have selfishly seized all the honors this time!" he cried, yet congratulating his friend with a warm handclasp. "You are a regular Achilles; there is nothing heroic for the rest of us to do."

"Nonsense--nonsense, Seth!" cried Ethan Allen, yet unable to hide his delight at the outcome of the attack. "There is glory enough for every officer and every man Jack in the ranks. There is yet Crown Point to capture and you, Major, shall command that expedition. Take Bolderwood and some of his scouts with you and approach the other fortress by water--and good fortune and my blessing go with you!"

A moment later the great guns of Old Ti began to speak. And they spoke a new tongue that morning. The Voice of Liberty as expressed by the resonant thunders of the old cannon echoed and reechoed from height to height. The promontory which had been the scene of the bloody struggle between Champlain and the Iroquois, and the site of two fearful battles of the British and French, was at length sanctified by the presence of this band of liberty loving men destined, through the next few years, to offer their lives and possessions on the altar of their country.

Then Warner and his men again embarked in the boats and sailed down the lake. Enoch Harding went with the expedition and saw the bloodless capitulation of the other British stronghold. Later, Benedict Arnold with a small command captured a British corvette farther down the lake and with that act the supremacy of the Americans on Champlain was assured. A garrison was placed in each fortress and then the Green Mountain Boys dispersed to their homes having accomplished the object for which they had been gathered by their leader. Enoch and the old ranger returned to the ox-bow farm where their welcome can be better imagined than narrated.

Yet the Widow Harding during the struggle which followed the capture of Ticonderoga made many sacrifices more noble even than that of allowing her eldest son to join in this expedition, but pioneer mothers were called upon so to do. Lot Breckenridge's mother had allowed her son to march away to Boston where, under Israel Putman, he saw most active service during the campaign which finally drove the red-coats out of the Massachusetts capital. Robbie Baker was with his father when, while reconnoitering outside St. Johns, the Green Mountain sharpshooter was killed by an Indian ally of the British.

Enoch Harding, too, joined that ill-fated expedition into Canada where the rash attempt of Ethan Allen and his followers before Montreal resulted in the capture and imprisonment of the intrepid leader. Enoch, returning with the broken columns of the American army, but with a lieutenant's commission, was sent south and took no further part in the struggles about Lake Champlain. But Bryce, two years after the capture of Ticonderoga, well sustained the family name and honor while fighting with Stark at Bennington.

The girls and young Henry became their mother's sole support in her work of tilling the farm which Jonas Harding had cleared, and throughout the uncertain years of the Revolution the family continued to sow and reap, like so many other patriotic folk, that the army might be clothed and fed while fighting the King's hirelings. Perhaps the part played by the "non-combatants" in the Revolution was not the least loyal nor the least helpful to the cause of liberty.

The war between the confederated states and Great Britain did not end the controversy regarding the rights of the settlers in the Hampshire Grants; it simply postponed the vexing matter. But in the end the freedom of Vermont as a state was brought about. After the war, and while the Thirteen States were endeavoring to bring order out of the chaotic conditions which had been the legacy of the great struggle, it was really New York herself that urged the admittance of Vermont into the Union. Even at that early date the supremacy of the South was feared, and when Kentucky applied for entrance to the Union, Vermont was made a state also to counteract the addition of another of southern sentiment.

During the war, however, the condition of Vermont was very precarious. It was due to Ethan Allen, as much as to any one man, that the Green Mountains and the Champlain Valley were not overrun with foes both white and red. While imprisoned in the hulks in New York Bay Allen was approached by agents of the crown who strove to buy his good-will by presents and promises. They did not understand the rugged honesty of the Green Mountain Boy; but he, knowing the exposed situation of his friends and neighbors, craftily led his captors to believe that they might obtain Vermont and her sturdy people on their own side.

When Ethan Allen was exchanged and came back to the Green Mountains, he still, with other leaders, carefully watched the British agents and thus saved the rich farming lands of the Otter and Wonooski from bloodshed, that the patriot farmers might continue to plant and reap the grain which was truly "the sinews of war." It is true therefore that few leaders of the Revolution deserve greater commendation, for none displayed more consecrated courage, nor was more beloved by his followers, than the hero of Ticonderoga.

HISTORICAL STORIES FOR BOYS

THE EVE OF WAR

By W. Bert Foster. Illustrated by F. A. Carter.

A story of the critical days just before the Civil War, when every hour made history. Joe Ransom learns of the plan to assassinate President Lincoln on the way to his inauguration, and is sent by the United States Government officials to warn the President-elect. His mission is accomplished, and largely as a result of his services the plot comes to naught. Historical facts are closely followed, but this nowhere interferes with the interest in the story.

WITH ETHAN ALLEN AT TICONDEROGA

By W. Bert Foster. Illustrated by F. A. Carter.

A vivid picture of the struggles of those heroic New Englanders, the Green Mountain Boys, against the Tory residents. That dramatic character in revolutionary history, Ethan Allen, with whom the young hero is continually in touch, is the central figure of the narrative, and the incidents which lead up to the capture of Fort Ticonderoga are told in a wonderfully interesting manner.

WITH WASHINGTON AT VALLEY FORGE

By W. Bert Foster. Illustrated by F. A. Carter.

The hero, a boy of sixteen, is an enthusiastic patriot. He soon enlists his services with his country, and performs many heroic deeds in the capacity of a courier in the battles of Brandywine, Monmouth, and at the Paoli massacre. He renders great service to our forces at Valley Forge, and participates in the hardships which the struggling American army endured during that memorable winter.

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923 ARCH STREET--PHILADELPHIA

UNCROWNING A KING

By Edward S. Ellis, A. M. Illustrated by J. Steeple Davis.

A tale of the Indian war waged by King Philip in 1675. The adventures of the young hero during that eventful period, his efforts in behalf of the attacked towns, his capture by the Indians, and his subsequent release through the efforts of King Philip himself, with a vivid account of the tragic death of that renowned Indian chieftain, form a most interesting and instructive story.

AT THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC

By James Otis. Illustrated by F. A. Carter.

Two boys living on the Kennebec River join Benedict Arnold's expedition as it passes their dwelling en route for the Canadian border. They, with their command, are taken prisoners before Quebec. The terrible march through the wilderness, the incidents of the siege, and the disastrous assault, which cost the gallant General Montgomery his life, are in the highest degree thrilling, and true in every particular.

WITH PURITAN AND PEQUOT

By William Murray Graydon. Illustrated by Clyde O. Deland.

There is a swing of martial spirit and a spice of bold enterprise in this story of colonial times. Rufus Jennicom, the impetuous Puritan boy, finds fighting Indians more to his taste than raising Indian corn. It is his rare good fortune to have for his friend Roger Williams and to meet with Captain Miles Standish. The incidents that go to make up this stirring tale have much to do with the struggles of the early New England colonies.

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IN THE DAYS OF WASHINGTON

By William Murray Graydon. Illustrated by J. C. Claghorn.

The story opens in Philadelphia just prior to its evacuation by the British in 1778. Nathan Stanbury, a bright lad of seventeen, joins the Continental Army, which is then suffering the hardships of the winter at Valley Forge. A short time later the Battle of Monmouth is fought, and in this the young hero figures quite prominently, as he does afterward at the Massacre of Wyoming.

THE BOER BOY OF THE TRANSVAAL

By Kate Milner Rabb. Illustrated by F. A. Carter.

The career of the Boer boy is one series of exciting adventures. In the gallant service for his country he comes face to face with President Kruger, General Cronje, and General Joubert. Much interesting information pertaining to this country and its people is introduced, and the reader will understand as never before the cause of the intense hatred of the Boers for the British.

ON WOOD COVE ISLAND

By Elbridge S. Brooks. Illustrated by Frederic J. Boston.

A trio of bright New England children are given an island on which to spend their summer vacation. Here they establish a little colony, the management of which gives them a large amount of amusement and at times causes some seemingly serious difficulties. In the solution of their perplexing problems the young people receive much encouragement and counsel from the poet Longfellow, whose delightful acquaintance they form in a very unexpected and amusing manner.

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UNDER THE TAMARACKS

By Elbridge S. Brooks. Illustrated.

An interesting and healthful story for boys and girls, representing a summer's outing of young people among the Thousand Islands. It is timed to include the visit of General Grant at Alexandria Bay, and several interesting conversations between one of the boys and the hero of the Rebellion shed pleasing side lights upon the great General's character.

Cloth Binding--Illustrated--Each, $1.25

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End of Project Gutenberg's With Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga, by W. Bert Foster