The Green Mountain Boys were a militia organization first established in the 1760s in the territory between the British provinces of New York and New Hampshire, known as the New Hampshire Grants (which later became the state of Vermont). Headed by Ethan Allen and members of his extended family, they were 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.
When these disputes led to the formation of the Vermont Republic in 1777, the Green Mountain Boys became the state militia. Some companies served in the American Revolutionary War, including notably when the Green mountain boys led by Ethan Allen captured fort Ticonderoga at lake Champlain on May 10, 1775, the 1775 invasion of Canada, and 1777 battles at Hubbardton and Bennington.
Following Vermont's admission to the Union in 1791, the original organization essentially disbanded. The Green Mountain Boys mustered again during the War of 1812, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American War. Today it is the informal name of the Vermont National Guard which comprises both the Army and Air National Guards.
Read more about Green Mountain Boys: Historical Unit, Flag, Vermont National Guard
Famous quotes containing the words green, mountain and/or boys:
“Men like my father cannot die. They are with me still real in memory as they were in flesh. Loving and beloved forever. How green was my valley then.”
—Philip Dunne (1908–1992)
“... my mother ... piled up her hair and went out to teach in a one-room school, mountain children little and big alike. The first day, some fathers came along to see if she could whip their children, some who were older than she. She told the children that she did intend to whip them if they became unruly and refused to learn, and invited the fathers to stay if they liked and she’d be able to whip them too. Having been thus tried out, she was a great success with them after that.”
—Eudora Welty (b. 1909)
“For some men the power to destroy life becomes the equivalent to the female power to create life.”
—Myriam Miedzian, U.S. author. Boys Will Be Boys, ch. 4 (1991)