m 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 ffliUSE: 
 
ALLEN'S CAPTIVITY, 
 
 NARRATIVE 
 
 COLONEL ETHAN ALLEN, 
 
 CONTAINING HI3 
 
 VOYAGES, TRAVELS, &c.. 
 
 INTERSPERSED 
 
 WITH POLITICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 OLIVER L. PERKINS. 
 
 1845. 
 

 <f 
 
 7 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Ethan Allen, the author and subject of 
 the following narrative, was certainly one of 
 the most, noted and notable men of his time. 
 Bold, ardent and unyielding, he possessed an 
 unusual degree of vigor both of body and 
 mind, and an unlimited confidence in his own 
 abilities. 
 
 He was born in Roxbury, Litchfield county, 
 Conn, on the 10th of January, 1737. He 
 married in Connecticut, and migrated himself 
 lO Vermont about the year 1769, where he 
 spent most of his after life ; but his family did 
 lot come here till 1778, just before his return 
 rom captivity. At the commencement of 
 listurbances in this territory, about the year 
 [770, he took a most active part in favor of 
 he Green Mountain Boys, as the settlers were 
 hen called, in opposition to the government 
 )f New York. On account of which, an act 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 of outlawry against him was passed by this 
 State, and fifty pounds were offered for his 
 apprehension ; but his party was too numerous 
 and faithful to permit him to be disturbed by 
 any apprehensions for his safety. In all the 
 struggles of the day he was successful ; and 
 not only proved a valuable friend to those 
 whose cause he had espoused, but he was 
 humane and generous towards those with 
 whom he had to contend. When called to 
 take the field he showed himself an able leader 
 and an intrepid soldier. He refrained from 
 every thing which had the appearance of 
 meanness, injustice, cruelty, or abuse towards 
 those who fell into his power, and protested 
 against the same in others. During the pro- 
 gress of the controversy with New York, he 
 wrote and dispersed several pamphlets in 
 which he exhibited, in a manner peculiar to 
 himself, and well suited to the state of public 
 feeling, the injustice and cruelty of the claims 
 and proceedings of this State. And although 
 these pamphlets |are unworthy of notice as 
 literary productions, yet they were at the time 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 extensively circulated, and contributed much 
 to inform the minds, arouse the zeal, and unite 
 the efforts of the settlers. The bold and un- 
 polished roughness of these writings were well 
 suited to give a just description of the views 
 and proceedings of a band of speculating and 
 unprincipled land-jobbers. His method of 
 writing was likewise well adapted to the con- 
 dition and feelings of the settlers ; and proba- 
 bly exerted a greater influence over their 
 opinions and conduct, than the same senti- 
 ments would have done, clothed in the chaste 
 style of classic elegance. Nor did it differ 
 greatly in style, or literary merit ; from the 
 pamphlets which came from New York. But 
 although he wrote with asperity and freedom, 
 he was ever noble and generous and just. 
 
 The most eventful period of Col. Allen's 
 life was that between May 1775 and May 1778. 
 This period is embraced in the following nar- 
 rative. Being returned to Vermont, as an 
 expression of confidence in his patriotism and 
 military talents, he was vA soon afterwards 
 appointed to the command of the State militia. 
 
b PREFACE. 
 
 It does not appear, however, that his intre- 
 pidity was ever afterwards brought to the test, 
 though his patriotism was tried by an unsuc- 
 cessful attempt of (he British to bribe him to 
 effect a reunion of Vermont with Canada. 
 Sir H. CHnton wrote to Lord Germaine, 
 Feb. 1781, " there is every reason to suppose 
 that Ethan Allen has quitted the rebel cause." 
 It was his project to make a city, Vergennes, 
 a mile square. His, daughter Pamela, married 
 E. W. Keys, Esq., in 1803. Another 
 daughter entered a nunnery in Canada ; and 
 another died in her youth. Being called to 
 the bedside of this one a short time previous 
 to her death, (she having been instructed in 
 the principles of Christianity by her mother, 
 and by him in deislical principles,) she said 
 to him, "I am about to die; shall I' believe 
 the principles you have taught me, or shall I 
 believe what my mother has taught nje .'^" He 
 became agitated — his chin quivered — his whole 
 frame shook, and he replied, " Believe what 
 your mother has tauBt you.*' 
 
PREFACE. ^ 
 
 Besides the pamphlets in the controversy 
 with New York, and this narrative of his cap- 
 tivity, our author also wrote " A Vindication 
 of the Opposition of the Inhabitants of Ver- 
 mont to the Government of New York, and 
 th^eir right to form an independent State.'* 
 This was published in 1779, and ^'Allen's 
 Theology, or the Oracles of Reason, 1786." 
 
 He died suddenly, of apoplexy, at his estate 
 in Colchester, Feb. 12, 1789. His ashes 
 rest beneath a plain marble slab in the beautiful 
 cemetry near Winooski, lower falls, having 
 upon it the following inscription : 
 
 The 
 Corporeal Part 
 of 
 GENERAL ETHAN ALLEN, ' 
 
 Rests beneath this stone, 
 
 r2th day Feb. 1789, 
 
 Aged 50. 
 
 His spirit tried ih^ mercies of his God 
 In whom he believed and strongly trusted. 
 
 His true age, as will appear from the record 
 of his birth, was 52 years, l^month and 2 days. 
 
 Two editions of this worf; one at Philadel- 
 phia and the other at Boston, were printed 
 
lb 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 during the year 1779, in which it was wtitten. 
 Another was printed in Norwich, in 1780. 
 The next, and only 'other that we have seen 
 or heard of, was printed at Walpole, N. H. in 
 1807. In the adveriisement to this, the pub- 
 lishers say, " we have complied with the 
 wishes of a number of persons, who had a de- 
 sire to keep in remembrance the hero of 
 Ticonderoga, and the exploits he performed," 
 and ^' it is beheved that there is not a copy 
 for sale in any bookstore in the United States.'' 
 What they said in 1807 of preceding editions, 
 we say now of all, including also theirs. 
 Again, " the events of those troublous times, 
 in which Col. Allen took a conspicuous part, 
 are rendered doubly interesting, f/-om the 
 lively, unadorned manner of his own narrative. 
 As it is deemed that the very words in every 
 respect, made use of by Col. Allen, would be 
 more acceptable to the reader than any artifi- 
 cial decoration of style, we shall almost inva- 
 riably adhere to th^original." In this revised 
 edition, we adhere*iot " almost invariably ;" 
 but altogether to the original. 
 
PREFACE. II 
 
 To conclude this preface, the writer would 
 acknowledge himself indebted for the naate- 
 rials of the sketch here presented of the begin- 
 ning and end of Col. Allen's life, to Dr. 
 William Allen's Biographical and Historical 
 Dictionary, and to Zadock Thompson's Civil 
 History of Vermont. F. W. E. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 ^ Induced by a sense of duty to my country, 
 and by the application of many worthy friends, 
 some of whom are of the first characters, I 
 have concluded to publish the following narra- 
 tive of the extraordinary scenes of my captiv- 
 ty, and the discoveries which I made in the 
 course of the same, of the cruel and relentless 
 disposition and behaviour of the enemy, to- 
 wards the prisoners in their power ; from 
 which the state politician, and every gradation 
 of character among the people, to the worthy 
 tiller of the soil, may deduce such inferences 
 as they shall think proper to carry into prac- 
 tice. Some men are appointed into office in 
 these States, who read the history of the cru- 
 elties of this war, with the same careless in- 
 difference, as they do the pages of the Roman 
 history ; nay, some are preferred to places of 
 trust and profit by the tory influence. The 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 instances are, I hope, but rare, and it stands 
 all freemen in hand to prevent their further in- 
 fluence, which, of all other things, would be 
 the most baneful to the liberties and happiness 
 of this country ; and so far as such influence 
 takes place, robs us of the victory we have 
 obtained, at the expense of so much blood and 
 treasure. 
 
 I should have exhibited to the public a his- 
 tory of the facts herein contained, soon after 
 my exchange, had not the urgency of my pri- 
 vate affairs, together with more urgent public 
 business, demanded my attention until a few- 
 weeks before the date hereof. The reader 
 will readily discern, that a narrative of this 
 sort, could not have been written when I was 
 a prisoner ; my trunk and writings were often 
 searched under various pretences, so that I 
 never wrote a syllable," or even- made a rough 
 minute, whereon I might predicate this narra- 
 tive, but trusted solely to my memory for the 
 whole. I have, however, .taken the greatest 
 care and pains to recollect the facts and arrange 
 ihem ; but as they touch a variety of characters 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 and opposing interests, I am sensible that all 
 will not be pleased with the relation of them. 
 Be this as it will, I have made truth my in- 
 variable guide, and pledge my honor on the 
 truth of the facts. 
 
 I have been generous with the British, in 
 giving them full and ample credit for all their 
 good usage of any considerable consequence, 
 which I met among them, during my captivity; 
 which was easily done, as I met with but little, 
 in comparison of the bad, which, by reason of 
 the great plurality of it, could not be contained 
 in so concise a narration ; so that I am certain, 
 that I have more fully enumerated the favors 
 which I received, than the abuses I suffered. 
 The critic will be pleased to excuse any in- 
 accuracies in the performance itself, as the 
 author has, unfortunately, missed of a liberal 
 education. ETHAN ALLEN. 
 
 Bennington, 1779. 
 
NARRATIVE. 
 
 Ever sinbe I arrived to a state of man- 
 hood, and acquainted myself with the general 
 history of mankind, I have felt a sincere pas- 
 sion for liberty. The history of nations 
 doomed to perpetual slavery, in consequence 
 of yielding up to tyrants their natural-born 
 liberties, 1 read with a sort of philosophical 
 horror ; so that the first systematical and 
 bloody attempt at Lexington, to enslave 
 America, thoroughly electrified my mind, and 
 fully determined me to take part with my 
 country : And while I was wishing for an 
 opportunity to signalize myself in its behalf, 
 directions were privately sent to me from the 
 then colony, now State, of Connecticut, to 
 raise the Green Mountain Boys ; and if pos- 
 sible with them to surprise and take the for- 
 tress Ticonderoga. This enterprise I cheer- 
 fully undertook ; and, after first guarding all 
 the several passes that l^d thither, to cut oflf 
 all intelligence between the garrison and the 
 country, made a forced march from Benning- 
 2* 
 
18 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 ton, aod arrived at the lake opposite to Ticon- 
 deroga. on the evening of the 9th day of May, 
 1775, with two hundred and thirty valiant 
 Green Mountain Boys ; and it was with the 
 utmost difficulty that I procured boats to cross 
 the lake. However, I landed eightyfive 
 men near the garrison, and sent the boats 
 back for the rear guard, commanded by Col. 
 Seth Warner; but the day began to dawn, 
 and 1 found myself under a necessity to attack 
 the fort, before the rear could cross the lake ; 
 and, as it was viewed hazardous, 1 harangued 
 the officers and soldiers in the manner follow- 
 ing : " Friends and fellow-soldiers, you have, 
 for a number of years past, been a scourge 
 and terror to arbitrary power. Your valor 
 has been famed abroad, and acknowledged, 
 as appears by the advice and orders to me 
 from the General iVssembly of Connecticut, 
 to surprise and take the garrison now before 
 us. I now propose to advance before you, 
 and in person conduct you through the wicket 
 gate ; for we must this morning either quit 
 our pretensions to valor, or possess ourselves 
 of this fortress in a few minutes ; and, in as 
 much as it is a desperate attempt, which none 
 but the bravest of men dare undertake, I do 
 not urge it on any contrary to his will. You 
 that will undertake voluntarily, poise your 
 firelocks." 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 19 
 
 The men being at this time drawn up in 
 three ranks, each poised his firelock,, 1 ordered 
 them to face to the right, and, at the head of 
 the center-file, marched them immediately to 
 the wicket-gate aforesaid, where I found a 
 sentry posted, who instantly snapped his fusee 
 at me. I run immediately toward him, and 
 he retreated through the covered way into 
 the parade within the garrison, gave a halloo, 
 and ran under a bomb-proof. Sly party who 
 followed me into the ibrt, 1 formed on the 
 parade in such manner as to face the two 
 barracks which ft^ce'd each other. The gar- 
 rison being asleep, except the sentries, we 
 gave three huzzas which greatly surprised 
 them. One of the sentries made a pass at 
 one of my officers with a charged bayonet, 
 and slightly wounded him. My first thought 
 was to kill him with my sword ; but, in an 
 instant, altered the design and fury of the 
 blow to a slight cut on the side of the head ; 
 upon which he dropped his gurir, and asked 
 quarter, which 1 readily granted him, and de- 
 manded of him the place where the com- 
 manding ofiicer kept ; he shewed me a pair 
 of stairs in the front of a barrack, on the west 
 part of the garrison, which led up to a second 
 story in said barrack, to which 1 immediately 
 repaired, and ordered the commander, Capt. 
 
20 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 Delaplace, to come forth instantly, or 1 would 
 sacrifice the whole garrison ; at which the 
 Captain came immediately to the door with 
 his breeches in his hand, when I ordered him 
 to deliver to me the Ibrt instantly, who asked 
 me by what authority I demanded it : I an- 
 swered him, " In the name of the great Jeho- 
 vah and the continental Congress."* The 
 authority of the Congress being very little 
 known at that time, he began to speak again; 
 but 1 interrupted him, and with my drawn 
 sword over his head, again demanded an im- 
 mediate surrender of the garrison ; to which 
 he then complied ^ and ordered his men to be 
 forthVvith paraded without arms, as he had 
 given up the garrison. In the mean time 
 some of my officers had given orders, and in 
 consequence thereof, sundry of the barrack 
 doors were beat down, and about one third 
 pf the garrison imprisoned, which consisted of 
 the said commander, a Lieut. Feltham, a con- 
 ductor of artillery, a gunner, two sergeants, 
 and forty-four rank and file ; about one hun- 
 dred pieces of cannon^ one thirteen-inch mor- 
 tar, and a number of swivels. This surprise 
 was carried into execution in the gray of the 
 morning of the tenth day of May, 1775. The 
 sun seemed to rise that morning with a supe- 
 rior lustre ; and Ticonderoga and its depend- 
 
ETHXN ALLEN. 21 
 
 encies smiled on its conquerors, who tossed 
 round the flowing bowl, and wished success 
 to Congress, and the Hberty and freedom of 
 America. Happy it was for me, at that time, 
 that the then future pages of the book of fate, 
 which afterwards unfolded a miserable scene 
 of two years and eight months' imprisonment, 
 was "hid from my view. But to return to my 
 narration. Col. Warner, with the rear guard, 
 crossed the lake, and joined me early in the 
 rhorning, whom I sent oflf, without loss of 
 time, with about one hundred men, to take 
 possession of Crown Point, which was gar- 
 risoned with a sergeant and twelve men; 
 which he took possession of the same day, as 
 also upwards of one hundred pieces of can- 
 non. But one thing now remained to be 
 done, to make ourselves complete masters of 
 Lake Champlain. This was to possess our- 
 selves of a sloop of war, which was then lay- 
 ing at St. Johns ; to effect which, it was 
 agreed in a council of war, to arm and man 
 out a certain schooner, which lay at South 
 Bay, and that Captain (now General) Arnold 
 should command her, and that I should com- 
 mand the batteaux. 
 
 The necessary preparations being made, 
 we set sE^il from Ticonderoga in quest of the 
 sloop, which was much larger, and carried 
 
22 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 more guns and heavier metal than the schoon- 
 er. General Arnold, with the schooner, sail- 
 ing faster than the batteaux, arrived at St. 
 Johns ; and by surprise possessed himself of 
 the sloop, before I could arrive with the bat- 
 teaux. He also made prisoners of a sergeant 
 and twelve men, who were garrisoned at that 
 place. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that as soon as Gen. 
 Arnold had secured the prisoners on board, 
 and had made preparation for sailing, the 
 wind, which but a few hours before was fresh 
 in the south, and well served to carry us to 
 St. John's, now shifted, and came fresh from 
 the north ; and in one about one hour's time, 
 General Arnold sailed with the prize and 
 schooner for Ticonderoga. When I met 
 him with my party, within a few miles of St. 
 John's, he saluted me with a discharge of 
 cannon, when I returned with a volley of 
 small arms. This being repeated three times, 
 I went on board the sloop with my party, 
 where several loyal Congress healths were 
 drank. We were now masters of lake Cham- 
 plain, and the garrisons depending thereon. 
 
 This success I viewed of consequence in 
 the scale of American politics ; for if a settle- 
 ment between the then colonies and Great 
 Britain, had soon taken place, it would have 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 23 
 
 been easy to have restored these acquisitions; 
 but viewing the then future consequences of a 
 cruel war, as it has really proved to be, and 
 the command of that lake, garrisons, artillery, 
 &,c., must be viewed to be of signal import- 
 ance to the American cause, and it is marvel- 
 Joiis to me that we ever lost the command of 
 it. Nothing but the taking of a Burgoyne, 
 with a whole British army, could, in my 
 opinion, atone for it ; and notwithstanding 
 such an extraordinary victory, we must be 
 obliged to regain the command of that lake 
 again, be the cost what it will. By doing 
 this, Canada will easily be brought into union 
 and confederacy with the United States of 
 America. Such an event would put it out of 
 the power of the western tribes of Indians to 
 carry on a war with us, and be a solid and 
 durable bar against any further inhuman bar- 
 barities committed on our frontier inhabitants, 
 by cruel and blood-thirsty savages ; for it is 
 impossible for them to carry on a war except 
 they are supported by the trade and commerce 
 of some civilized nation ; which to them 
 would be' impracticable, did Canada compose 
 a part of the American empire. 
 
 Early in the fall of the year, the little army, 
 under the command of the Generals Schuyler 
 and Montgomery, were ordered to advance 
 
24 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 into Ciinada. I was at Ticonderoga when 
 this order arrived: and the Gen., with most 
 of the field officers, requested me to attend 
 them in the expedition ; and though at that 
 time I had no commission from Congress, 
 yet they engaged me, that I should be con- 
 sidered as an officer the same as though I 
 had a commission ; and should, as occasion 
 might require, command certain detachments 
 of the army. This I considered as an hon- 
 orable offisr, and did not hesitate to comply 
 with it, and advanced with the army to the 
 isle Auix Noix ; from whence I was ordered 
 by the General to go in company with Major 
 Brown, and certain interpreters, through the 
 woods into Canada, with letters to the Cana- 
 dians, and to let them know that the design 
 of the army was only against the English 
 garrisons, and not the country, their liberties, 
 or religion. And having, through much dan- 
 ger, negotiated this business, . I returned to 
 the isle Auix Noix the fore part of Septem- 
 ber, when Gen. Schuyler returned to Albany ; 
 and in consequence the command devolved 
 upon Gen. Montgomery, whom I assisted in 
 laying a line of circumvallation round the for- 
 tress St. John's. After which I was ordered 
 by the General to make a second tour into 
 Canada, upon nearly the same design as be 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 25 
 
 fore ; and withal to observe the disposition, 
 designs and movements of the inhabitants of 
 the country. 
 
 This reconnoitre I undertook with reluc- 
 tance, choosing rather to assist at the siege of 
 St. John's, which was then closely invested ; 
 but my esteem for the General's person, and 
 opinion of him as a politician and brave officer, 
 induced me to proceed. 
 
 I passed through all the parishes on the 
 river Sorrel, to a parish at the mouth of the 
 same, which is called by the same name, 
 preaching politics ; and went from thence 
 across the Sorrel to the river St. Lawrence, 
 and up the river through the parishes to Lon- 
 gale, and so far met with good success as an • 
 itinerant. In this round, my guard were Cana- 
 dians, my interpreter and some k\v attendants 
 excepted. On the morning of the 24th day 
 of September, I set out with my guard of 
 about eighty men, from Longale, to go to 
 Lapraier ; from thence I determined to go to 
 Gen. Montgomery's camp ; but had not ad- 
 vanced two miles before I met with Major 
 Brown, who has since been advanced to the 
 rank of a Colonel, who desired me to halt, 
 saying that he had something of importance to 
 communicate to me and my confidants, upon 
 which I halted the party, and went into an 
 3 
 
25 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 house, and took a private room with him and 
 several of my associates, where Col. Brown 
 proposed, that " Provided I would return to 
 Longale, and procure some canoes, so as to 
 cross the river St. Lawrence, a Httle north 
 of Montreal, he would cross it a little to th3 
 south of the town, with near two hundred 
 men, as he had boats sufficient ; and that we 
 would make ourselves masters of Montreal.'' 
 This plan was readily approved by me and 
 those in Council ; and in consequence of 
 which I returned to Longale, collected a few 
 canoes, and added about thirty English Amer- 
 icans to my party, and crossed the river in the 
 night of the 24th, agreeable to the before pro- 
 posed plan. My whole party, at this time, 
 consisted of about one hundred and ten men, 
 near eighty of whom were Canadians. We 
 were the most of the night crossing the river, 
 as we had so few canoes that they had to pass 
 and re-pass three times, to carry my party 
 across. Soon after day break, I set a guard 
 between me and the town, with special orders 
 to let no person whatever pass or re-pass 
 them, and another guard on the orher end of 
 the road, with like directions; in fhe mean 
 time, I reconnoitred the best ground to make 
 a defence, expecting Col. Brown's party were 
 landing on the other side of the town, he hav- 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 27 
 
 ing the day before agreed to give three huz- 
 zas with his men early in the morning, which 
 signal I was to return, that we might each 
 know that both parties were landed ; but the 
 sun by this time being near two hours high, 
 and the sign failing, I began to conclude my- 
 self to be in a premunire, and would have 
 crossed the river back again, but 1 knew the 
 enemy would have discovered such an at- 
 tempt ; and as the recould not more than one, 
 third part of my troops cross at one time, the 
 other two-thirds would of course fall into 
 their hands. This I could not reconcile to 
 my own feelings as a man, much less as an 
 officer ; I therefore concluded to maintain 
 the ground, if possible, and all to fare alike. 
 In consequence of this resolution, I despatched 
 two messengers, one to Lapraire to Colonel 
 Brown, and the other to Lasumption, a French 
 settlement, to Mr. Walker, who was in our 
 interest, requesting their speedy assistance; 
 giving them at the same time to understand 
 my critical situation. In the mean time, sun- 
 dry persons came to my guards, pretending 
 to be friends, but were by them taken prison- 
 ers and brought to me. These I ordered to 
 confinement, till their friendship could be fur- 
 ther confirmed ; for I was jealous they were 
 spies, as they proved to be afterwards. One 
 
28 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 of the principal of them making his escape, 
 exposed the weakness of my party, which 
 was the final cause of my misfortune ; for I 
 have been since informed that Mr. Walker, 
 agreeable to my desire, exerted himself, and 
 had raised a considerable number of men for 
 my assistance, which brought him into diffi- 
 culty afterwards : but upon hearing of my 
 misfortune, disbanded them again. 
 
 The town of Montreal was in a great tu- 
 mult. Gen. Carlton and the royal party made 
 every preparation to go on board their vessels 
 of force, as I was afterwards informed, but 
 the spy escaping from my guard to the town, 
 occasioned an alteration in their policy, and 
 emboldened Gen. Carlton to send the force, 
 which he had there collected, out against me. 
 I had previously chosen my ground, but when 
 I saw the number of the enemy, as they sal- 
 lied out of the town, I perceived it would be 
 a day of trouble, if not of rebuke ; but I had 
 no chance to flee, as Montreal was situated 
 on an island, and the river St. Lawrence cut 
 off m.y communication to Gen. Montgomery's 
 camp. I encouraged my soldiery to bravely 
 defend themselves, that we should soon have 
 help, and that we should be able to keep 
 the ground, if no more. This, and much 
 more I affirmed with the greatest seeming 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 29 
 
 assurance, and which in reality 1 thought to 
 be in some degree probable. 
 
 The enemy consisted of not more than forty 
 regular troops, together with a mixed multi- 
 tude, chiefly Canadians, with a number of 
 English who lived in the town, and some In- 
 dians ; in all to the number of near five hun- 
 dred. 
 
 The reader will notice that most of my 
 party were Canadians ; indeed it was a mot- 
 ley parcel of soldiery which composed both 
 parties. HoweveV, the enemy began the at- 
 tack from wood piles, ditches, buildings, and 
 such like places, at a considerable distance, 
 and I returned the fire from a situation more 
 than equally advantageous. The attack began 
 between two- and three of the clock in the 
 afternoon, just before which 1 ordered a vol- 
 unteer, by the name of Richard Young, with 
 a detachment of nine men as a flank guard, 
 which, under the cover of the bank of the 
 river, could not only annoy the enemy, but at 
 the same time, serve as a flank guard to the 
 left of the main body. 
 
 The fire continued for some time on both 
 sides ; and I was confident that such a remote 
 method of attack could not carry the ground, 
 provided it should be continued until night. 
 but near half the body of the enemy began to 
 3* 
 
30 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 flank round to my right ; upon which I or- 
 dered a volunteer, by the name of John Du' 
 gan, who lived many years in Canada, and 
 understood the French language, to detach 
 about fifty of the Canadians, and post himself 
 at an advantageous ditch, which was on my 
 right, to prevent my being surrounded. 
 
 He advanced with the detachment, but in- 
 stead of occupying the post, made his escape, 
 as did likewise Mr. Young upon the left, 
 with their detachments. I ^oon perceived that 
 the enemy was in possession of the ground 
 which Dugan should have occupied. At this 
 time I had but about fortyfive men with me ; 
 some of whom were wounded. 
 
 The enemy kept closing round me, nor 
 was it in my power to prevent it, by which 
 means my situation, which was advantageous 
 in the first part of the attack, ceased to be so 
 in the last ; and being almost entirely sur- 
 rounded with such vast, unequal numbers, I 
 ordered a retreat, but found that those of the 
 enemy, who were of the country, and their 
 Indians, could run as fast as my men, though 
 the regulars could not. 
 
 Thus I retreated near a mile, and some of 
 the enemy, with the savages, kept flanking 
 me, and others crowded hard in the rear. In 
 fine I expected in a very short time lo try the 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 3l 
 
 world of spirits, for I was apprehensive that 
 no quarter would be given to me, and there- 
 fore had determined to sell my my life as dear 
 as I could. 
 
 One of the enemy's officers boldly pressing 
 in the rear, discharged his fusee at me ; the 
 ball whistled near me, as did many others that 
 day. I returned the salute, and missed him, 
 as running had put us both out of breath ; for 
 T conclude we were not frighted. 1 then sa- 
 luted him with my tongue in a harsh manner, 
 and told him that inasmuch as his numbers 
 were so far superior to mine, I would surren- 
 der, provided I could be treated with honor, 
 and be assured of good quarter for myself and 
 the men who were with me ; and he answered 
 I should ; another officer coming up directly 
 after, confirmed the treaty ; upon which I 
 agreed to surrender with my party, which then 
 consisted of thirty-one e|Fective men, and 
 seven wounded. I ordered them to ground 
 their arms, which they did. 
 
 The officer I capitulated with, then di- 
 rected me and my party to advance towards 
 him, which was done. I handed him my 
 sword, and in half a minute after, a savage, 
 part of whose head was shaved, being almost 
 naked and painted, with feathers intermixed 
 with the hair of the other side of his head, 
 
S2 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 came running to me with an incredible swift- 
 ness ; he seemed to advance with more than 
 mortal speed ; as he approached near me, his 
 helHsh visage was beyond all description ; 
 snake eyes appear innocent in comparison of 
 his ; his features extorted ; malice, death, 
 murder, and the wrath of devils and damned 
 spirits are the emblems of his countenance ; 
 and in less than twelve feet of me, presented 
 his firelock. 
 
 At the instant ot his present, I twitched 
 the officer to whom I gave my sword between 
 me and the savage ; but he flev/ round with 
 great fury, trying to single me out to shoot 
 me without kilHng the officer ; but by this 
 time I was near as nimble as he, keeping the 
 officer in such a position that his danger was 
 my defence. 
 
 But in less than half a minute, I was at- 
 tacked hy just such another imp of hell. 
 Then 1 made the officer fly round with incred- 
 ible velocity for a few seconds of time, when 
 I perceived a Canadian (who had lost one eye, 
 as appeared afterwards) taking my part against 
 the savages : and in an instant an Irishman 
 came to my assistance with a fixed bayonet, 
 and drove away the fiends, swearing by Jasus 
 he would kill them. This tragic scene com- 
 posed my mind. The escaping from so aw- 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 33 
 
 ful a death made even imprisonment happy ; 
 the more so as my conquerors on the field 
 treated me with great civility and politeness. 
 
 The regular officers said that they were 
 very happy to see Col. Allen. I answered 
 them, that f should rather choose to have seen 
 them at Gen. Montgomery's camp. The 
 gentlemen replied that they gave full credit 
 to what I said, and as I walked to the town, 
 which was, as I should guess, more than two 
 miles, a British officer walked at my right 
 hand, and one of the French noblesse at my 
 left ; the latter of which, in the action, had 
 his eyebrow carried away by a glancing shot, 
 but was nevertheless very merry and facetious, 
 and no abuse was offered me till I came to 
 the barrack yard at Montreal, where I met 
 Gen. Prescott, who asked me my name, 
 which I told him. 
 
 He then asked me, whether I was that Col. 
 Allen who took Ticonderoga. I told him 
 I was the very man. Then he shook his 
 cane over my head, calling many hard names, 
 among which he frequently used the word 
 Hebel, and put himself into a" great rage. I 
 told him he would do well not to cane me, 
 for I was not accustomed to it, and shook my 
 fist at him, telling him that that was the beetle 
 of mortality for him, if he offered to strike ;. 
 
34 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 upon which Capt. M'CloQd of the British, 
 pulled him by the skirt, and whispered to him 
 (as he afterwards told me) to this import ; 
 that it was inconsistent with his honor to strike 
 a prisoner. He then ordered a Serjeant's 
 command with fixed bayonets to come for- 
 ward and kill thirteen Canadians, which were 
 included in the treaty aforesaid. 
 
 It cut me to the heart to see the Canadians 
 in so hard a case, in consequence of their 
 having been true to me ; they were wringing 
 their hands, saying their prayers, as I con- 
 cluded, and expected immediate death. I 
 therefore stepped between the executioners 
 and the Canadians, opened my clothes, and 
 told Gen. Prescott to thrust his bayonet into 
 my breast, for I was the sole cause of the 
 Canadians taking up arms. 
 
 The guard in the mean time, rolling their 
 eye balls from the General to me, as though 
 impatient, waiting his dread commands to 
 sheath their bayonets in my heart. I could 
 however, plainly discern that he was in a 
 suspense and quandary about the matter. 
 This gave me additional hopes of succeeding ; 
 for my design was not to die, but save the 
 Canadians by a finesse. The General stood 
 a minute, when he made me the following re- 
 ply : "/ will not execute you now , but you 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 35 
 
 shall grace a halter at Tyburn , G — d d — n 
 
 ye.'' 
 
 I remember I disdained his mentioning 
 such a place. I was, notwithstanding, a little 
 inwardly pleased with the expression, as it 
 significantly conveyed to me the idea of post- 
 poning the present appearance of death ; 
 besides his sentence was by no means final, 
 as to ''^ gracing a halter ^'^ although I had 
 anxiety about it after I landed in England, as 
 the reader will find in the course of this his- 
 tory. General Prescott then ordered one of 
 his officers to take me on board the Gaspee 
 schooner of war, and confine me, hands and 
 feet, in irons, which was done the same after- 
 noon I was taken. 
 
 The action continued an hour and three 
 quarters by the watch, and I know not to this 
 day how many of my men were killed, though 
 I am certain there were but few. If I re- 
 member right, seven were wounded ; one of 
 them, William Stewart by name, was wounded 
 by a savage with a tomahawk, after he was 
 taken prisoner and disarmed, but was rescued 
 by some of the generous enemy; and so far 
 recovered his wounds, that he afterwards went 
 with the other prisoners to England. 
 
 Of the enemy, were killed a Major Garden, 
 who had been wounded in eleven different 
 
36 NARRATIVE OF^ 
 
 battles, and an eminent merchant, Patterson, 
 of Montreal, and some others, but I never 
 knew their whole loss, as their accounts were 
 different. I am apprehensive that it is rare, 
 that so much ammunition was expended and 
 so little execution done by it ; though such of 
 my party as stood the ground behaved with 
 great fortitude, much exceeding that of the 
 enemy, but were not the best of marksmen, 
 and I am apprehensive were all killed or taken; 
 the wounded were all put into the hospital at 
 Montreal, and those that were not, were put 
 on board of different vessels in the river, and 
 shackled together by pairs, viz., two men 
 fastened together by one handcuff, being 
 closely fixed to one wrist of each of them, 
 and treated with the greatest severity, nay, as 
 criminals. 
 
 I now come to the description of the irons, 
 which were put on me. The handcuff was 
 of a common size, and form, but my leg irons, 
 I should imagine, would weigh thirty pounds ; 
 the bar was eight feet long, and very substan- 
 tial ; the shackles which encompassed my 
 ancles, were very tight. I was told by the 
 officer who put them on, that it was the king's 
 plate, and I heard other of their officers say, 
 that it would weigh forty weight. The irons 
 were so close upon my ancles, that I could 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 3/ 
 
 not lie down in any other manner than on my 
 back. I was put into the lowest and most 
 wretched part of the vessel, where I got the 
 favor of a chest to sit on ; the same answered 
 for my bed at night, and having procured some 
 little blocks of the guard, who, day and night, 
 with fixed bayonets, watched over me, to lay 
 under each end of the large bar of my leg 
 irons, to preserve my ancles from galling, 
 while I set on the chest, or lay back on the 
 same, though most of the time, night and day, 
 I set on it ; but at length having a desire to 
 lay down on my side, which the closeness of 
 the irons forbid, I desired the Captain to loosen 
 them for that purpose, but was denied the 
 favor. The Captain's name was Royal, who 
 did not seem to be an ill-natured man ;' but 
 oftentimes said, that his express orders were 
 to treat me with such severity, which was 
 disagreeable to his own feelings ; nor did he 
 ever insult me, though many others, who came 
 on board, did. One of the officers, by the 
 name of Bradley, was very generous to me ; 
 he would often send me victuals from his own 
 table ; nor did a day fail, but that he sent me 
 a good drink of grog. 
 
 The reader is now invited back to the time 
 I was put into irons. I requested the privi- 
 • tege to write to General Prescott, which was 
 4 
 
38 
 
 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 granted. I reminded him of the kind and 
 generous manner of my treatment to the pris- 
 oners I took at Ticonderoga ; the injustice 
 and ungentleman-like usage, which I had met 
 with from him, and demanded gentleman-like 
 usage, but received no answer from him. I 
 soon after wrote to General Carlton, which 
 met the same success. In the meanwhile 
 many of those who were permitted to see me 
 were very insulting. 
 
 I was confined in the manner I have rela- 
 ted, on board the Gaspee schooner, about six 
 weeks ; during which time I was obliged to 
 throw out plenty of extravagant language which 
 answered certain purposes, at that time, 
 better than to grace a history. 
 
 To give an instance, upon being insulted, in 
 a fit of anger I twisted off a nail with my teeth, 
 which I took to be a ten-penny nail ; it went 
 through the mortise of the bar of my handcuff, 
 and at the same time I swaggered over those 
 who abused me ; particularly a Doctor Dace, 
 who told me that 1 was outlawed by New 
 York, and deserved death for several years 
 past ; was at last fully ripened for the halter, 
 and in a fair way to obtain it. 
 
 When I challenged him, he excused him- 
 self in consequence, as he said, of my being 
 a criminal. But I flung such a flood of Ian- 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 39 
 
 gu%e at him that it sliocked him and the spec- 
 tators, for my anger was very great. I heard 
 one say, damn him, can he eat iron ? After 
 that a small padlock was fixed to the handcuff 
 instead of the nail ; and as they were mean- 
 spirited in their treatment to me, so it appeared 
 to me, that they were equally timorous and 
 cowardly. 
 
 I was sent with the prisoners taken with 
 me to an armed vessel in the river, which lay 
 off against Quebec, under the command of 
 Capt. M'Cloud of the British, who treated 
 me in a very generous and obliging manner, 
 and according to my rank ; in about twenty- 
 four hours I bid him farewell with regret ; 
 but my good fortune still continued. The 
 name of the Captain of the vessel I was put 
 on board, was Littlejohn ; who, with his 
 officers, behaved in a pohte, generous, and 
 friendly manner. I Hved with them in the 
 cabin, and fared on the best ; my irons being 
 taken off, contrary to the order he had received 
 from the commanding officer ; but Capt. 
 Littlejohn swore that a brave man should not 
 be used as a rascal on board his ship. 
 
 Thus I found myself in possession of hap- 
 piness once more, and the evils I had lately 
 suffered gave n^e an uncommon relish for 
 it. 
 
40 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 Captain Littlejohn used to g;o to Qu|(>ec 
 every day, in order to pay his respects to cer- 
 tain gentlemen and ladies ; being there on a 
 certain day, he happened to meet with some 
 disagreeable treatment, as he imagined, from 
 a Lieutenant of a man of war, and one word 
 brought on another, until the Lieutenant chal- 
 lenged him to a duel on the plains of Abra- 
 ham. Capt. Littlejohn was a gentleman who 
 entertained a high sense of honor, and could 
 do no less than accept the challenge. 
 
 At nine o'clock the next morning they were 
 to fight. The Captain returned in the even- 
 ing, and acquainted his Lieutenant and me 
 with the affair. His Lieutenant was a high- 
 blooded Scotchman as well as himself, who 
 replied to his Captain that he should not want 
 for a second. With this I interrupted him, 
 and gave the Captain to understand, that since 
 an opportunity had presented, I would be 
 glad to testify my gratitude to him, by acting 
 the part of a faithful second, on which he gave 
 me his hand, and said that he wanted no better 
 man. ^ 
 
 Says he, I am a king's officer, and you a 
 prisoner under my care ; you must therefore 
 go with me to the place appointed in disguise, 
 and added further, " You must engage to me, 
 upon the honor of a gentleman, that whether 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 41 
 
 I d^or live, or whatever happens (provided 
 you Hve) that you will return to my Lieuten- 
 ant on board this ship." 
 
 All this I solemnly engaged him. The 
 combatants were to discharge each a pocket 
 pistol, and then to fall on with their iron- 
 hiked muckle whangers ; and one of that sort 
 was allotted for me ; but some British officers 
 who interposed in the morning, settled the 
 controversy without fighting. 
 
 Now having enjoyed eight or nine days' 
 happiness, from the polite and generous treat- 
 ment of Capt. Littlejohn and his officers, I 
 was obliged to bid them farewell, parting with 
 them in as friendly a manner as we had lived 
 together, which, to the best of my memory, 
 was the eleventh of November. When a de- 
 tachment of General Arnold's little army ap- 
 peared on Point Levy, opposite Quebec, who 
 had performed an extraordinary march through 
 a wilderness country, with design to have 
 surprised the capital of Canada, I was then 
 taken on board a vessel called the Adamant, 
 together with the prisoners taken with me, 
 and put under the power of an English mer- 
 chant from London, whose name was Brook 
 Watson ; a man of malicious and cruel dispo- 
 sition, and who was probably excited in the 
 
 exercise of his malevolence by a junto of 
 
 4# 
 
42 NARARTIVE OP 
 
 tories, who sailed with him to Eng^^d ; 
 among whom were Colonel Guy Johnson, 
 Colonel Gloss, and their attendants and asso- 
 ciates, to the number of about thirty. 
 
 All the ship's crew. Colonel Closs, in his 
 personal behavior excepted, behaved towards 
 the prisoners with that spirit of bitterness, 
 which is the peculiar characteristic of tories, 
 when they have the friends of America in their 
 power, measuring their loyalty to "the English 
 King by the barbarity, fraud, and deceit which 
 they exercise towards the whigs. 
 
 A small place in the vessel, enclosed with 
 white oak plank, was assigned for the prison- 
 ers, and for me among the rest. I should 
 imagine that it was not more than twenty feet 
 one way, and twentytwo the other. Into this 
 place we" were all, to the number of thirty- 
 four, thrust and handcuffed, two prisoners 
 more being added to our number, and were 
 provided with two excrement tubs. In this 
 circumference we were obliged to eat and 
 perform the office of Evacuation, during the 
 voyage to England ; and were insulted by ev- 
 ery blackguard sailor and tory on board, in 
 the cruellest manner ; but what is the most 
 surprising is, that not one of us died in the 
 passage. 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 43 
 
 ^hen I was first ordered to go into the 
 filthy enclosure, through a small sort of door, 
 I positively refused, and endeavored to reason 
 the before-named Brook Watson out of a con- 
 duct so derogatory to every sentiment of 
 honor and humanity, but all to no purpose, 
 ray men being forced in the den already ; and 
 the rascal who had the charge of the prisoners, 
 commanded me to go immediately in among 
 the rest. 
 
 He further added, that the place was good 
 enough for a rebel ; that it was impertinent 
 for a capital offender to talk of honor or hu- 
 manity — that any thing short of a halter was 
 too good for me — and that, that would be my 
 portion soon after I landed in England — for 
 which purpose only I was sent thither. 
 
 About the same time a Lieutenant among 
 the tories insulted me in a grievous manner, 
 saying that I ought to have been executed for 
 my rebellion against New York, and spit in 
 my face ; upon which, though I was hand- 
 cuflfed, I sprang at him with both hands, and 
 knocked him partly down, But he scrambled 
 along into the cabin, and I after him — there 
 he got under the protection of some men with 
 fixed bayonets, who were ordered to make 
 ready to drive me into the place before men- 
 tioned. 
 
44 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 1 challenged him to fight, notwithstaHling 
 the impediments that were on my hands, and 
 had the exalted pleasure to see the rascal trem- 
 ble for fear. His name I have forgotten, but 
 Watson ordered his guard to get me into the 
 place with the other prisoners, dead or alive ; 
 and I had almost as leave die as do it, stand- 
 ing it out till they environed me round with 
 bayonets — and brutish, prejudiced, abandoned 
 wretches they were, from whom I could ex- 
 pect nothing but death or wounds. 
 
 However, I told them that they were good 
 honest fellows — that I could not blame them 
 — that 1 was only in dispute with a calico 
 merchant, who knew not how to behave to- 
 wards a gentleman of the military establish- 
 ment. This was spoke rather to appease 
 them for my own preservation, as well as to 
 treat Watson with contempt ; but still 1 found 
 that they were determined to force me into 
 the wretched circumstances, which their pre- 
 judiced, and depraved minds had prepared for 
 me. Therefore rather than die, I submitted 
 to their indignities, being drove with bayonets 
 into the filthy dungeon, with the other prison- 
 ers, where we were denied fresh water, except 
 a small allowance which was very inadequate 
 to our wants — and in consequence of the 
 stench of the place, each of us was soon fol- 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 4'5 
 
 lowed with a diarrhoe and fever, which oc- 
 casioned an intolerable thirst. When we 
 asked for water, we were most commonly, in- 
 stead of obtaining it, insulted and derided — 
 and to add to all the horrors of the place, it 
 was so dark that we could not see each other, 
 and were overspread with body lice. We 
 had, notwithstanding these severities, full al- 
 lowance of salt provisions, and a gill of rum 
 per day — the latter of which was of the utmost 
 service to us, and probaWy was the means of 
 saving several of our lives. 
 
 About forty days we existed in this man- 
 ner, when the land's end of England was dis- 
 covered from the mast head — soon after 
 which the prisoners were taken from their 
 gloomy abode, being permitted to see the 
 light of the sun, and breath fresh air, which 
 to us was very refreshing. The day follow- 
 ing we landed at Falmouth. 
 
 A few days before I was taken prisoner, I 
 shifted my clothes, by which I happened to 
 be taken in a Canadian dress, viz., a short 
 fawn skin jacket, double breasted, an under- 
 vest and breeches of fagathy, worsted stock- 
 ings, a decent pair of shoes, two plain shirts, 
 and a red worsted cap. This was all the 
 clothing I had, in which I made my appear- 
 ance in England. 
 
4G NARRATIVE OF 
 
 When the prisoners were landed, multitudes 
 of the citizens of Falmouth, excited by curi- 
 osity, crowded together to see us, which was 
 equally gratifying to us. I saw numbers of 
 people on the top of houses, and the rising 
 adjacent grounds were covered with them of 
 both sexes. The throng was so great that 
 the king's officers were obliged to draw their 
 swords, and force a passage to Pendennis 
 castle, which was near a mile from the town 
 where we were closely confined, in conse- 
 quence of orders from Gen. Carlton, who 
 then commanded in Canada. 
 
 The rascally Brook Watson then set out 
 for London in great haste, expecting the re- 
 ward of his zeal ; but the ministry received' 
 him, as I have been since informed, rather ^ 
 coolly — for the minority in parliament took 
 advantage, arguing that the opposition of' 
 America to Great Britain, was not a rebellion. 6 
 If it is, (say they) why do you not execute 
 Col. Allen according to law .'' But the ma- 
 jority argued that I ought to be executed, and' 
 that the opposition was really a rebellion — 
 but that policy obliged them not to do it, 
 inasmuch as the Congress had then most pris- ' 
 oners in their power — so that my being sent 
 to England for the purpose of being executed,' 
 and necessity restraining them, was rather a^ 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 47 
 
 foil on their laws and authority, and they con- 
 sequently disapproved ofmy being sent thither. 
 But I never had heard the least hint of those 
 debates in parliament, or of the working of 
 their policy, until some time after I left Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Consequently the reader will readily con- 
 ceive I was anxious about my preservation, 
 knowing that I was in the power of a haughty 
 and cruel nation, considered as such. There- 
 fore the first proposition which I determined 
 in my own mind was, that humanity and moral 
 suasion would not be consulted in the deter- 
 mining of my fate. And those that daily 
 came in great numbers, out of curiosity to see 
 me, both gentle and simple united in this, 
 that I would be hanged. A gentleman from 
 America, by the name of Temple, and who 
 was friendly to me, just whispered me in the 
 ear, and told me that bets were laid in Lon- 
 don, that I would be executed — he likewise 
 privately gave me a guinea, but durst say but 
 little to me. 
 
 However, agreeable to my first negative 
 proposition, that moral virtue would not influ- 
 ence my destiny, I had recourse to stratagem, 
 which I was in hopes would move in the cir- 
 cle of their policy. I requested of the com- 
 mander of the castle the privilege of writing 
 
4S NARRATIVE OF 
 
 to Congress, who, after consulting with an 
 officer that lived in town, of a superior rank, 
 permitted me to write. I wrote, in the fore 
 part of the letter, a short narrative of my ill- 
 treatment — but withal let them know, that 
 though I was treated as a criminal in England, 
 and continued in irons, together with those 
 taken with me, yet it was in consequence of 
 the orders which the commander of the castle 
 received from Gen. Carlton— and therefore 
 desired Congress to desist from matters of 
 retahation, until they should know the result 
 of the government at England, respecting their 
 treatment towards me, and the prisoners with 
 me, and govern themselves accordingly, with 
 a particular request, that if retaliation should 
 be found necessary, that it might be exercised 
 not according to the smallness of my character 
 in America, but in proportion to the import- 
 ance of the cause for which I suffered. This 
 is, according to my present recollection, the 
 substance of the letter subscribed To the il- 
 lustrious continental Cong-ress. This letter 
 
 o 
 
 was wrote with a view that it should be sent 
 to the ministry at London, rather than to Con- 
 gress, with a design to intimidate the haughty 
 English government, and screen my nepk from 
 the halter. 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 49 
 
 The next day the officer, from whom I 
 obtained license to write, came to see me, 
 and frowned on me on account of the impu- 
 dence of the letter, as he phrased it, and fur- 
 ther added, " Do you think that we are fools 
 in England, and would send your letter to 
 Congress, with instructions to retaliate on our 
 own people. I have sent your letter to Lord 
 North." 
 
 This gave me inward satisfaction, though I 
 rarefully concealed it with a pretended re- 
 sentment, for I found I had come Yankee 
 over him, and that the letter had gone to the 
 identical person I designed it for, though I 
 have not heard any thing of the letter since. 
 
 My personal treatment by Lieut.. Hamilton, 
 who commanded the castle, was very gener- 
 ous. He sent me every day a fine breakfast 
 and dinner from his own table, and a bottle of 
 good wine. Another aged gentleman, whose 
 name I cannot recollect, sent me a good sup- 
 per. But there was no distinction in public 
 support between me and the privates — we all 
 lodged on a sort of Dutch bunks, in one com- 
 mon apartment, and were allowed straw. 
 The privates were well supplied with fresh 
 prevision, and with me took effectual mea- 
 sures to rid ourselves of lice. 
 6 
 
50 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 I could not but feel, inwardly, extremely 
 anxious for my fate. This I however con- 
 cealed from the prisoners, as well as from the 
 enemy, who were perpetually shaking the 
 halter at me. I nevertheless treated them 
 with scorn and contempt ; and having sent 
 my letter to the ministry, could conceive of 
 nothing more in my power but to keep up my 
 spirits, behave in a daring, soldier-like man- 
 ner, that I might exhibit a good sample of 
 American fortitude. Such a conduct I judged 
 would have a more probable tendency to my 
 preservation than concession and timidity. 
 
 This, therefore, was my deportment, and 1 
 had lastly determined, in my own mind, that 
 if a cruel death must inevitably be my portion, 
 I would face it undaunted, and though 1 greatly 
 rejoice that I have returned to my country 
 and friends, and to see the power and pride 
 of Great Britain humbled — yet I am confident 
 I could then die without the least appearance 
 of dismay. 
 
 I now clearly recollect that my mind was 
 so resolved, that I would not have trembled 
 or shown the least fear, as I was sensible it 
 could not alter my fate, nor do more than re- 
 proach my memory, make my last act despi- 
 cable to my enemies, and eclipse the other 
 actions of my life. For I reasoned thus, that 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 51 
 
 nothing was more common than for men to 
 die, with their friends round them, weeping 
 and lamenting over them, but not able to help 
 them, which was in reality not different in the 
 consequence of it from such a death as I was 
 apprehensive of. And as death was the natural 
 consequence of animal life, to which the laws 
 of nature subject mankind, to be timorous and 
 uneasy as to the event or manner of it, was 
 inconsistent with the character of a philoso- 
 pher or soldier. The cause I was engaged 
 in I ever viewed worthy hazarding my life 
 for, nor was I, at the most critical moments 
 of trouble, sorry that I engaged in it — and as 
 to the world of spirits, though I knew nothing 
 of the mode or manner of it, expected never- 
 theless, when I should arrive at such a world, 
 that I should be as well treated as other gen- 
 tlemen of my merit. 
 
 Among the great numbers of people who 
 came to the castle to see the prisoners, some 
 gentlemen told me that they had come fifty 
 miles on purpose to see me, and desired to 
 ask me a number of questions, and to make 
 [ree with me in conversation. I gave for 
 answer, that I chose freedom in every sense 
 of the word. Then one of them asked me 
 what my occupation in life had been ^ I an- 
 
62 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 svvered him, that in my younger days I had 
 studied divinity, but was a conjuror by pro- 
 fession. He replied that I conjured wrong 
 at the time I was taken ; and I was obhged to 
 own, that I mistook a figure at that time, but 
 that I had conjured them out of Ticonderoga. 
 This was a place of great notoriety in Eng- 
 land, so that the joke seemed to go in ray 
 favor. 
 
 It was a common thing for me to be taken 
 out of close confinement, into a spacious green 
 in the castle, or rather parade, where numbers 
 of gentlemen and ladies were ready to see and 
 hear me. 
 
 I often entertained such audiences with 
 harangues on the impracticability of Great 
 Britain's conquering the then colonies of 
 America. At one of these times I asked a 
 gentleman for a bowl of punch, and he ordered 
 his servant to bring it, which he did, and 
 offered it me, but I refused, to take it from the 
 hand of his servant. He then gave it to me 
 with his own hand, refusing to drink with me 
 in consequence of my being a state criminal. 
 However, I look the punch and drank it all 
 down at one draught, and handed the gentle- 
 man the bowl. This made the spectators as 
 well as myself merry. 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 53 
 
 I expatiated on American freedom. This 
 gained the resentment of .a young beardless 
 gentleman of the company, who gave himself 
 very great airs, and replied, that he '' knew 
 the Americans very well, and was certain that 
 they could not bear the smell of powder." 
 I replied., that I accepted it as a challenge, 
 and was ready to convince him on the spot 
 that an American could bear the smell of 
 powder — at which he answered that he should 
 not put himself on a par with me. I then 
 demanded of him to treat the character of the 
 Americans with due respect. He answered 
 that I was an Irishman— but I assured him 
 that 1 was a full blooded Yankee, and in fine, 
 bantered him so much that he left me in pos- 
 session of the field, and the kugh went against 
 him. Two clergymen^ came to see me, and 
 inasmuch as they behaved with civility, I re- 
 turned them the same. We discoursed on 
 several parts of moral philosophy and Christ- 
 ianity — and they seemed to be surprised that 
 I should be acquainted with such topics, or 
 that I should understand a syllogism or regu-i 
 lar mood of argumentation. I am apprehen- 
 sive my Canadian dress contributed not a lit- 
 tle to the surprise, and excitement of curios- 
 ity. To see a gentleman in England, regu- 
 5* 
 
64 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 larly dressed and well behaved, would be no 
 sight at all — but such a rebel, as they were 
 pleased to call me, it is probable was never 
 before seen in England. 
 
 The prisoners were landed at Falmouth a 
 few clays before Christmas, and ordered on 
 .board of the Solebay frigate, Capt. Symonds, 
 the eighth day of January, 1776, when our 
 hand irons were taken off. This remove 
 was in consequence (as I have since been in- 
 formed) of a, writ of habeas corpus, which 
 bad been procured by some gentlemen in En- 
 gland, in order to obtain me my liberty. 
 
 The Solebay, with sundry other men of 
 war, and about forty transports, rendezvoused 
 at the cove of Cork in Ireland, to take in 
 provision and water. 
 
 When we were f^'st brought on board, 
 Capt. Symonds ordered all the prisoners, and 
 most of the hands on board, to go on deck, 
 and caused to be read in their hearing a cer- 
 tain code of laws, or rules for the regulation 
 and ordering of their behavior ; and then in a 
 sovereign manner, ordered the pnsoners, me 
 in particular, off the deck, and never to come 
 on it again ; for, said he, this is a place for 
 gentlemen to walk. So I went off, an officer 
 following me, who told me, that he would 
 show me the place allotted for me, and took 
 
ETHAN ALLEK. 56 
 
 me down to the cable tier, saying to me, this 
 is your place. i 
 
 Prior to this I had taken cold, by which I 
 was in an ill slate of health, and did not say 
 much to the officer ; but stayed there that 
 night, consulted my policy, and found 1 was 
 in an evil case ; that a Captain of a man of 
 war was more arbitrary than a King, as he 
 could view his territory with a look of his 
 eye, and a movement of his finger command- 
 ed obedience, — I felt myself more desponding 
 than I had done at any time before ; for I 
 concluded it to be a governmental scheme, to 
 do that clandestinely, which policy forbid to be 
 done under sanction of public justice and law. 
 
 However, two days after I shaved and 
 cleaned myself as well as I could, and went 
 on deck. The Captain spoke to me in a great 
 rage, and said, " Did 1 not order you not to 
 come on deck ?" I answered him, that at the 
 same time he said, " That it was the place 
 for gentlemen to walk :" That I was Col. 
 Allen, but had not been properly introduced 
 to him. He repHed, " G — d damn you, Sir, 
 be careful not to walk the same side of the 
 deck that I do." This gave me encourage- 
 ment, and ever after that I walked in the man- 
 ner he had directed, except when he, at cer- 
 tain times afterwards, ordered me off in a pas- 
 
56 NARRATIVF, OF 
 
 sion, ; I would then directly afterwards go 
 on again, telling him to command his slaves, 
 that I was a gentleman, and had a right to 
 walk the deck ; yet when he expressly or- 
 dered me off, I obeyed, not out of obedience 
 to him, but to set an example to his ship's 
 crew, who ought to obey him. 
 
 To walk to the windward side of the deck, 
 is, according to custom, the prerogative of the 
 Captain of the man of war, though he often- 
 times, nay commonly walks with his Lieu- 
 tenants, when no strangers are I^y. When a 
 Captain from some other man of w^ar comes 
 on board, the Captains walk to the windward 
 side, and the other gentlemen to the leeward. 
 
 It was but a few nights I lodged in the cable 
 tire, before I gain{;d an acquaintance with the 
 master of arms. Plis name was Gillegan, an 
 Irishman, who was a generous and well dis- 
 posed man, and in a friendly manner made me 
 a proffer of living with him in a little birth, 
 which was allotted him bctw^een decks, and 
 enclosed with canvas ; his preferment on 
 board was about equal to that of a serjeant in 
 a regiment. I was comparatively happy in 
 the acceptance of his clemency, and lived 
 with him in friendship, until the fiigate an- 
 chored in the harbor of Cape Fear, North 
 Carolina, in America. 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 57 
 
 Nothing of material consequence happened 
 until the fleet rendezvoused at the cove of 
 Cork, except a violent storm which brought 
 old hardy sailors to then* prayers. It was 
 soon rumored in Cork that I was on board the 
 Solebay, with a number of prisoners from 
 America — upon which Messrs. Clarke and 
 Hays, merchants in company, and a number 
 of other benevolently disposed gentlemen, 
 contributed largely to the relief, and support 
 of the prisoners, who were thirtyfour in num- 
 ber, and in very needy circumstances. A 
 suit of clothes from head to foot, including an 
 overcoat, or surtout, and two shirts, were be- 
 stowed on each of them. My suit I received 
 in superfine broadcloth, sufficient for two 
 jackets, and two pair of breeches, overplus of 
 a suit throughout, eight fine Holland shirts and 
 socks ready made, with a number of pairs of 
 silk and worsted hose, two pair of shoes, two 
 beaver hats, one of which was sent me richly 
 laced with gold, hf Mr. .lames Bonwell. The 
 Irish gentlemen furthermore made a large 
 gratuity of wines of the best sort, old spirits, 
 Geneva, loaf and brown sugar, coffee, tea and 
 chocolate, with a large round of pickled beef, 
 and a number of fat turkies, with many other 
 articles, fcr my sea stores, too tedious to men- 
 
58 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 lion here. To ihe privates they bestowed to 
 each man two pounds of tea, and six pounds 
 of sugar. These articles were received on 
 board, at a time when the Captain and first 
 Lieutenant were gone on shore, by permission 
 of the second Lieutenant, a handsome young 
 gentleman, who was then under twenty years 
 of age; his name was Douglass, the son of 
 Admiral Douglass, as I have been informed. 
 As this munificence was so unexpected and 
 plentiful, I may add needful, it impressed on 
 my mind the highest sense of gratitude towards 
 my benefactors ; for I was not only supplied 
 with the necessaries and conveniences of life, 
 but with the grandeur and superfluities of it. 
 Mr. Hays, one of the donators before n:en- 
 tioned, came on board, and behaved in the 
 most obliging manner, telling me that he hoped 
 my troubles were past, for that the gentlemen 
 of Cork determined to make my sea-stores 
 equal to the Captain of the Solebay's; he 
 made a proffer of live stock, and wherewith to 
 support them — but I knew this would be de- 
 nied. And to crown all, did send to me by 
 another person fifty guineas, but I could not 
 reconcile the receiving the whole to my own 
 feelings, as it might have the appearance of 
 avarice ; and therefore received but seven 
 guineas only ; and am confident not only froni 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 59 
 
 the exercise of the present well-timed gene- 
 rosity, but from a large acquaintance with gen- 
 tlemen of this nation, that as a people they 
 excel in liberality and bravery. 
 
 Two days after the receipt of the aforesaid 
 donations, Captain Symonds came on board, 
 full of envy towards the prisoners, and swore 
 by all that is good, that the damned American 
 rebels should not be feasted at this rate by 
 I he damned rebels of Ireland ; he therefore 
 took away all my liquojs before-mentioned, 
 except some of the wine which was secreted, 
 and a two gallon jug of old spirits which was 
 reserved for rae, per favor of Lieutenant 
 Douglass. The taking my liquors was abom- 
 inable in his sight ; he therefore spoke in my 
 behalf, until the Captain was angry with him. 
 And in consequence, proceeded and took 
 away all the tea and sugar which had been 
 given to the other prisoners, and confiscated 
 it to the use of the ship's crew. Our clothing 
 was not taken away, but the privates were 
 forced to do duty on board. Soon after this 
 there came a boat to the side of the ship, and 
 Capt. Symonds asked a gentleman that was 
 in it, in my hearing, what his business was, 
 who answered that he was sent to deliver 
 some sea-storesto Col. Allen, which, if I re- 
 member right, he said were sent from Dublin ; 
 
60 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 but the Captain damned him very heartily, 
 ordered him away from the ship, and would 
 not suffer him to deliver the stores. I was 
 furthermore informed, that the gentlemen in 
 Cork requested of Captain Symonds that I 
 might be allowed to come into the city, and 
 that they would be responsible I should return 
 to the frigate at a given time, w^bich was de- 
 nied them. 
 
 We sailed from England the 8th day of 
 January, and from the cove of Cork the 12th 
 day of February. Just before we sailed, tho 
 prisoners with me were divided, and put on 
 board three different ships of war. This 
 gave me some uneasiness, for they were to a 
 man zealous in the* cause of liberty, and be- 
 haved with a becoming fortitude in the various 
 scenes of their captivity ; but those who were 
 distributed on board other ships of war, were 
 much better used than those that tarried with 
 me, as appeared afterwards. When the fleet, 
 consisting of about fortyfive sail, including 
 fortyfive men of war, sailed from the cove 
 with a fresh breeze, the appearance was beau- 
 tiful, abstracted from the unjusfi and bloody 
 designs they had in view. We had not sailed 
 many days before a mighty storm arose, which 
 lasted twentyfour hours without intermission. 
 The wind blew with relentless fury, and no 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 61 
 
 man could remain on deck, except he was 
 lashed fast, for the waves rolled over the deck 
 by turns, with a forcible rapidity, and every 
 soul on board was anxious for the preservation 
 of the ship, ahas their lives. In this storm 
 the Thunder-bomb mati of war sprang a leak, 
 and was afterwards floated to some part of the 
 coast of England, and the crew saved. We 
 were then said to be in the Bay of Biscay. 
 After the storm abated, I could plainly discern 
 that the prisoners were 'better used for some 
 considerable time. 
 
 Nothing of consequence happened after 
 this, till we had sailed to the island of Madeira, 
 except a certain favor which I received of 
 Captain Symonds, in consequence of an appli- 
 cation I made to him, for the privilege of his 
 tailor to make a suit of clothes of the cloth 
 bestowed on me in Ireland, which he gener- 
 ously granted. I could then walk the deck 
 with a seeming better grace. When we had 
 reached Madeira, and anchored, sundry gen- 
 tlemen, with the Captain, went on shore, who 
 I conclude, gave the rumor that I was in the 
 frigate ; upon which I soon ^fter found Irish 
 generosity was again excited ; for a gentleman 
 of this nation sent his clerk on board, to know 
 of me if I would accept a sea-store from him, 
 particularly of wine. This matter I made 
 6 
 
62 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 known to the generous Lieut. Douglass, who 
 readily granted me the favor, provided the 
 .irticles could be brought on board during the 
 time of his command-; adding that it would be 
 a pleasure to him to serve me, notwithstanding 
 the opposition he met with before. So I di- 
 rected the gentleman's clerk to inform him 
 that I was greatly in need of so signal a chari- 
 ty, and desired the young gentleman to make 
 the utmost despatch, which he did ; but in 
 the mean time, Capt. Symonds and his officers 
 came on board, and immediately made ready 
 for sailing — the wind at the same time being 
 fair, set sail when the young gentleman was in 
 fair sight with the aforesaid store. 
 
 The reader will doubtless recollect the 
 seven guineas I received at the cove of Cork. 
 These enabled me to purchase of the purser 
 what I wanted, had not the Captain strictly 
 forbid it, though I made sundry applications 
 'o him for that purpose ; but his answer to 
 me, when I was sick, was, that it was no mat- 
 ter how soon I was dead, and that he was no 
 ways anxious to preserve the lives of rebels, 
 but wished them, ell dead ; and indeed that 
 was the language of most of the ship's crew. 
 I expostulated not only with the Captain but 
 with other gentlemen on board, on the un- 
 reasonableness of such usage ; inferring, that 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 63^ 
 
 inasmuch as the government in England did 
 not proceed against me as a capital offender, 
 they should not ; for that they were by no 
 means empowered by any authority, either 
 civil or military, to do so : for the English 
 government had acquitted me by sending me 
 back a prisoner of war to America, and that 
 they should treat me as such. I further 
 drew an inference of impolicy on them, pro- 
 vided they should, by hard usage, destroy my 
 life ; inasmuch as I might, if living, redeem 
 one of their offiers ; but the Captain replied, 
 that he needed no directions of mine how to 
 treat a rebel ; that the British would conquer 
 the American rebels, hang the Congress, and 
 such as promoted the rebellion, me in par- 
 ticular, and retake their own prisoners ; so 
 that my life was of no consequence in the 
 scale of their policy. I gave him for answer, 
 that if they stayed till they conquered Amer- 
 ica before they hanged me, I should die of 
 old age., and desired that till such an event 
 took place, he would at least allow me to pur- 
 chase of the purser, for my own money, such 
 articles as I greatly needed ; but he would 
 not permit it, and when I reminded him of 
 the generous and civil usage that their prison- 
 ers in captivity in America met with, he said 
 that it was not ov«ing to their goodness, but 
 
64 NARRATIVE OF i 
 
 to their timidity ; for, said he, they expect to 
 be conquered, and therefore dare not naisuse 
 our prisoners, and in fact this was the language 
 of the British officers till Gen. Burgoyne was 
 taken, (happy event) and not only of the offi- 
 cers, but of the whole British army. I appeal 
 to my brother prisoners, that Have been with 
 the British in the southern department, for a 
 confirmation of what I have advanced on this 
 subject. The surgeon of the Solebay, whose 
 name is North, was a very humane and ob- 
 liging man, and took the best care of the 
 prisoners who were sick. 
 
 The third day of May we cast anchor in 
 the harbor of Cape Fear, in North Carolina, 
 as did Sir Peter Parker's ship of fifty guns a 
 little back of the bar, for there was no depth 
 of water for him to come into the harbor. 
 These two men of war and fourteen sail of 
 transports and others, came after, so that most 
 of the fleet rendezvoused at Cape Fear, for 
 three weeks. The soldiers on board the 
 transports were sickly, in consequence of so 
 long a passage — add to this, the small pox 
 carried off many of them : they landed on the 
 main and formed a camp, but the ritlemen 
 annoyed them, and caused them to move to an 
 island in the harbor — but such cursing of 
 riflemen I never heard. 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 65 
 
 A detachment of regulars was sent up Bruns- 
 wick river ; as they landed, were fired on by 
 those marksman, and they came back next 
 day, damning the rebels for their unmanly way 
 of fighting, and swearing that they would give 
 no quarter, for they took sight at them, and 
 were behind timber, skulking about. One of 
 the detachments said they lost one man — but 
 a negro man who was with them, and heard 
 what was said, soon after told me that he 
 helped to bury thirtyone of them. This did 
 me some good to find my countrymen giving 
 them battle — for I never heard such swagger- 
 ing as among Gen. Clinton's little army, who 
 commanded at that time, and I am apt to think 
 there were four thousand men, though not two- 
 thirds of them fit for duty. I heard numbers 
 of them say, that the trees in America should 
 hang well with fruit that campaign, for they 
 would give no quarter. This was in the? 
 mouths of most whom I heard speak on the 
 subject, officer as well as soldier. 1 wished 
 at that time my countrymen knew as well as I 
 did what a murdering and cruel enemy they 
 had to deal with ; but experience has since 
 taught this country, what they are to expect 
 at the hands of Britons when in their power. 
 
 The prisoners who bad' been sent on board 
 different men of war at the cove of Cork, were 
 6* 
 
66 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 collected together, and the whole of them put 
 on board the Mercury frigate, Capt. James 
 Montague, except one of the Canadians, who 
 died on the passage from Ireland, and Peter 
 Noble, w4io made his escape from the Sphynx 
 man of war in this harbor, and by extraordi- 
 nary swimming, got safe home to New Eng- 
 land, and gave intelligence of the usage of his 
 brother prisoners. The Mercury set sail 
 from this port for Halifax, about the 20th of 
 May, and Sir Peter Parker was about to sail 
 with the land forces, under the command of 
 Gen. Clinton, for the reduction of Charles- 
 ton, the capital of South Carolina, and when 
 I heard of his defeat in Halifax, it gave me 
 inexpressible satisfaction. 
 
 I now found myself under a worse Captain 
 than Symonds ; for Montague was loaded 
 with prejudices against every body, and every 
 thing that was not stamped with royalty ; and 
 being by nature underwitted, his wrath was 
 heavier than the others, or at least his mind 
 was in no instance liable to be diverted by 
 good sense, humor or bravery, of which Sy- 
 monds was by turns susceptible. A Captain 
 Francis Proctor was added to our number of 
 prisoners when we were first put on board 
 this ship. This gentleman had formerly be- 
 longed to the English service. The Captain, 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 67 
 
 and in fine all the gentlemen of the ship, were 
 very much incensed against him, and put him 
 in irons without the least provocation, and he 
 was continued in this miserable situation about 
 three months. In this passage the prisoners 
 were infected with the scurvy, some more 
 and some less, but most of them severely. 
 The ship's crew was to a great degree trou- 
 bled with it, and I concluded that it was catch- 
 ing. Several of the crew died of it on their 
 passage. I w^as weak and feeble in conse- 
 quence of so long and cruel a captivity, yet 
 had but little of the scurvy. 
 
 The purser was again expressly forbid by 
 the Captain to let me have any thing out of 
 his store — upon which I went on deck, and 
 in the handsomest manner requested the favor 
 of purchasing a few necessaries of the purser, 
 which was denied me. He further told me, 
 that 1 should be hanged as soon as I arrived 
 at Halifax. I tried to reason the matter with 
 him, but found him proof against reason. I 
 also held up his honor to view, and his be- 
 havior to me and the prisoners in general, as 
 being derogatory to it, but found his honor 
 impenetrable. I then endeavored to touch 
 his humanity, but he had none ; for his pre- 
 possession of bigotry to his own party, had 
 confirmed in him in an opinion that no human- 
 
68 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 ity was due to unroyalists, but seemed to 
 think that heaven and earth were made merely 
 to gratify the King and his creatures. He 
 uttered considerable unintelligible and grovel- 
 ling ideas, a little tinctured with Monarchy, 
 but stood well to his text of hanging me. He 
 afterwards forbid his surgeon to administer ?ny 
 help to the sick prisoners. I was every night 
 shut down in the cable tire, with the rest of 
 the prisoners, and we all lived miserable while 
 under his power. But I received some gene- 
 rosity from several of the midshipmen, who 
 in a degree alleviated my misery. One of 
 their names was Putrass, the names of the 
 others I do not recollect — but they were ob- 
 liged to be private in the bestowment of their 
 favor, which was sometimes good wine bit- 
 ters, and at others a generous drink of grog. 
 Sometime in the first week of June, we 
 came to anchor at the Hook off New York, 
 where we remained but three days ; in which 
 time Gov. Tryon, Mr. Kemp, the old At- 
 torney General of New York, and several 
 other perfidious and overgrown lories and 
 land-jobbers came on board. Tryon viewed 
 me with a stern countenance as I was walking 
 on the leeward side of the deck with the mid- 
 shipmen — and he and his companions were 
 walking with the Captain and Lieutenant on 
 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 69 
 
 the windward side of the same, but never 
 spoke to me, though it is ahogetlier probable 
 that he thought of the old quarrel between 
 him, the old government of New York, and 
 the Green Mountain Boys. Then they went 
 with the Captain into the cabin, and the same 
 afternoon returned on board a vessel which 
 lay near the Hook, where at that time they 
 took sanctuary from the resentment of their 
 injured country. What passed between the 
 officers of the ship and these visitors 1 know 
 not; but this I know, that my treatment from 
 ,the principal officers was more severe after- 
 wards. 
 
 We arrived at Halifax not far from the 
 middle of June, where the ship's crew which 
 was infested with the scurvy, were taken on 
 shore, and shallow trenches dug, into which 
 they were put, and partly covered with earth. 
 Indeed every proper measure was taken for 
 their relief. The prisoners were not permit- 
 ted any sort of medicine, but were put on 
 board a sloop which lay in the harbor, near 
 the town of Halifax, surrounded with several 
 men of war and their tenders, and a guard 
 constantly set over them, night and day. The 
 sloop we had wholly to ourselves, except the 
 guard who occupied the forecastle ; here we 
 were cruelly pinched with hunger. It seemed 
 
70 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 to me that we had not more than one-third of 
 the common allowance. We were all seized 
 with violent hunger and faintness — we divided 
 our scanty allowance as exact as possible. I 
 shared the same fate with the rest, and though 
 they offered me more than an even share, I 
 refused to accept it, as it was a time of sub- 
 stantial distress, which, in my opinion, I ought 
 to partake equally with the rest, and set an 
 example of virtue and fortitude to our little 
 commonwealth. 
 
 I sent letter after letter to Capt. Montague 
 who still had the care of us, and also to his 
 Lieutenant, whose name I cannot call to mind, 
 but could obtain no answer, much less a redress 
 of grievances ; and to add to the calamity, 
 near a dozen of the prisoners were dangerously 
 ill of the scurvy. I wrote private letters to 
 the doctors, to procure, if possible, some 
 remedy for the sick, but in vain. The chief 
 physician came by in a boat so close that the 
 oars touched the sloop we were in, and I 
 uttered my complaint in the genteelest manner 
 to him, but he never so much as turned his head, 
 or made me any answer, though I continued 
 speaking till he got out of hearing. Our cause 
 then become very deplorable. Still I kept 
 writing to the Captain, till he ordered the 
 guards, as they told me, not to bring any more 
 
 Jk-' J^^m 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 71 
 
 letters from me to him. In the mean time an 
 event happened worth relating. One of the 
 men almost dead of the scurvy, laid by the 
 side of the sloop, and a canoe of Indians com- 
 ing by, he purchased two quarts of strawber- 
 ries, and eat them at once, and it almost cured 
 him. The money he gave for them, was all 
 the money he had in the world. After that 
 we tried every way to procure more of that 
 fruit, reasoning from analogy that they might 
 have the same effect on others infected with 
 the same disease, but could obtain none. 
 
 Meanwhile the Doctor's mate of the Mer- 
 cury came privately on board the prison sloop, 
 and presented me with a large vial of 'smart 
 drops, which proved to be good for the scurvy, 
 though vegetables and some other ingredients 
 were requisite for a cure ; but the drops gave 
 at least a check to the disease. This was a 
 well-timed exertion of humanity — but the 
 doctor's name has slipped my mind — and in 
 my opinion was the means of saving the lives 
 of several men. 
 
 The guard which was set over us, was by 
 this time touched with the feelings of compas- 
 sion ; and I finally trusted one of them with 
 a letter of complaint to Governor Arbuthnot, 
 of Halifax, which he found means to commu- 
 nicate, and which had the desired effect — for 
 
72 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 the Governor sent an officer and surgeon on 
 board the prison sloop, to know the truth of 
 the complaint. The officer's name was 
 Russel, who held the rank of Lieutenant, and 
 treated me in a friendly and polite manner, 
 and was really angry at the cruel and unmanly 
 usage the prisoners met with ; and with the 
 surgeon made a report of matters to Governor 
 Arbuthnot, who either by his order or influ- 
 ence, took us next day from the prison sloop 
 to Halifax gaol, where" 1 first become ac- 
 quainted with the now Hon. James Lovel, 
 Esq., one of the members of Congress for the 
 State of Massachusetts Bay. The sick were 
 taken to the hospital, and the Canadians who 
 were effective, were employed in the King's 
 works ; and when their countrymen were re- 
 covered from the scurvy, and joined them, 
 they all deserted the King's employ, and were 
 not heard of at Halifax, as long as the remain- 
 der of the prisoners continued thei;e, which 
 was till near the middle of October. We 
 were on board the prison sloop about six 
 weeks, and were landed at Halifax near the 
 middle of August. Several of our English 
 American prisoners, who were cured of the 
 scurvy at the hospital, made their escape from 
 thence, and after a long time reached their 
 old habitations. 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 73 
 
 I had now but thirteen with me of those 
 that were taken in Canada, and remained in 
 gaol with me in Hahfax, who in addition to 
 to those that were imprisoned before, made 
 our number about thirtjfour, who were all 
 locked up in one common large room, without 
 regard to rank, education, or any other accom- 
 plishment, where we continued from the set- 
 ting to the rising' sun ; and as sundry of them 
 were infected with the gaol and other distem- 
 pers, the furniture of this spacious room con- 
 sisted most principally of excrement tubs. 
 We petitioned for a removal of the sick into 
 the hospitals, but were denied. We remon- 
 strated against the ungenerous usage of being 
 confined with the privates, as being contrary 
 to the laws and customs of nations, and par- 
 ticularly ungrateful in them, in consequence 
 of the gentleman-like usage which the British 
 imprisoned officers met with in America ; 
 and thus we wearied ourselves, petitioning 
 and remonstrating, but to no purpose at all — 
 for Gen. Massey, who commanded at Halifax, 
 was as inflexible as the devil himself — a fine 
 preparative this for Mr. Lbvell, member of 
 the continental Congress. 
 
 Lieutenant Russel, whom 1 have mentioned 
 before, came to visit me in prison, and 
 assured me that he had done his utmost to 
 7 
 
74 NARRATIVE OP 
 
 procure my parole for enlargement — at which 
 a British Captain, who was then the town- 
 major, expressed compassion for the gentle- 
 men confined in the filthy place, and assured 
 me that he had used his influence to procure 
 their enlargement; his name was near like Ram- 
 sey. Among the prisoners there were five in 
 number, who had a legal claim to a parole, viz. 
 James Lovel, Esq. ; Capt. Francis Proctor, 
 a Mr. Houland, master of a continental armed 
 vessel, a Mr. Tayloj, ^is mate, and my- 
 self. 
 
 As to the article of provisions, we were well 
 served, much better than in any part of my 
 captivity ; and since it was Mr. Lovel's mis- 
 fortune and mine to be prisoners; and in so 
 wretched circumstances, 1 was happy that we 
 were together, as a mutual support to each 
 other, and to the unfortunate prisoners with 
 us. 
 
 I had not been in this gaol many days before 
 a worthy and charitable woman, Mrs. Blacden 
 by name, supplied me with a good dinner of 
 fresh meats every day, with garden fruit, and 
 sometimes with a bottle of wine ; notwith- 
 standing which I had not been more than 
 three weeks in this place before I lost all ap- 
 petite to the most delicious food by the gaol 
 distemper, as sundry of the prisoners, particu- 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 75 
 
 larly a Serjeant Moore, a man of courage and 
 fidelity. 1 have several times seen him hold 
 the boatswain of the Solebay frigate, when he 
 attempted to strike him, and laughed him out 
 of conceit of using him as a slave. 
 
 A doctor visited the sick, and did the best, 
 as I suppose, he could for them, to no ap- 
 parent purpose. I grew weaker and weaker, 
 as did the rest. Several of them could not 
 help themselves. At last I reasoned in my 
 own mind, that raw onion would be good. I 
 made use of it, and found immediate relief by 
 it, as did the sick in general, particularly ser- 
 geant Moore, who it recovered almost from 
 the shades. Though I had met with a little 
 revival, still I found the malignant hand of 
 Britain had greatly reduced my constitution 
 with stroke upon stroke. Esquire Lovel and 
 myself used every argument and entreaty that 
 could be well conceived of in order to obtain 
 gentleman-like usage, to no purpose. I then 
 wrote Ceneral Massey as severe a letter as I 
 possibly could, with my friend Level's assist- 
 ance. The contents of it w^s to give the 
 British, as a nation, and hiimas an individual, 
 their true character. This roused the rascal, 
 for he could not bear to see his and the na- 
 tion's deformity in that transparent letter, 
 which I sent him ; he therefore put himself 
 
■:V 
 
 76 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 in a great rage about it, and shewed the letter 
 to a number of British officers, particularly 
 to Capt. Smith of the Lark frigate, who in- 
 stead of joining with him in disapprobation, 
 commended the spirit of it ; upon which Gen. 
 Massey said to him. Do you take the part of 
 a rebel against me ? Capt. Smith answered, 
 that he rather spoke his sentiments, and there 
 was a dissension in an opinion between them. 
 Some officers took the part of the General, 
 and others of the Captain. This I was in- 
 formed of by a gentleman who had it from 
 Capt. Smith. 
 
 In a few days after this the prisoners were 
 ordered to go on board of a man of war, which 
 was bound for New York ; but two of them 
 were not able to go on board, and were left 
 •at Halifax ; one died, and the other recovered. 
 This was about the 12th of October, and 
 soon after I had got on board, the Captain sent 
 for me in particular to come on the quarter 
 deck. I went, not knowing that it was Capt. 
 Smith, or his ship at that time, and expected 
 to meet the same rigorous usage I had com- 
 monly met with^and prepared my mind ac- 
 cordingly ; but when I came on deck, the 
 Captain met me with his hand, welcomed .me 
 to his ship, invited me to dine with him that 
 day, and assured me that I should be treated 
 
+ ETHAN ALLEN. 77' 
 
 as a gentleman, and that he had given orders 
 that I should be treated with respect by the 
 ship's crew. This was so unexpected and 
 sudden a transition that it drew tears from my 
 eyes — which all the ill usage I had before met 
 with was not able to produce — nor could I at 
 first hardly speak, but soon recovered myself, 
 and expressed my gratitude for so unexpected 
 a favor, and let him know that I felt anxiety 
 of mind in reflecting that Lis situation and 
 mine was such that it was not probable that it 
 would ever be in my power to return the 
 favor. Capt. Smith rephed, that he had no 
 reward in view, but only treated me as a gen- 
 tleman ought to be treated ; he said, this is a 
 mutable world, and one gentleman never knows 
 but that it may be in his power to help ano- 
 ther. Soon after I found this to be the same 
 Capt. Smith who took my part against Gen. 
 Massey ; but he never mentioned any thing 
 of it to me, and I thought it impolitic in me 
 to interrogate him as to any disputes w^hich 
 might have arisen between him and the Gen- 
 eral on my account, as I was a prisoner, and 
 that it was his option to make IVee witlt me 
 on that subject, if he pleased ; and if he did 
 not, I might take it for granted that it would 
 be unpleasing for me to query about it, though 
 I . had a strong propensity to converse with 
 
 him on that subject, 
 
 7* 
 
78 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 I dined with the Captain agreeable to his 
 invitation, and oftentimes with the Lieuten- 
 ants, in the gun room, but in general eat and 
 drank with my friend Lovel, and the other 
 gentlemen, who were prisoners with me where 
 I also slept. 
 
 We had a little birth enclosed with canvas, 
 between decks, where we enjoyed ourselves 
 very well, in hopes of an exchange ; besides 
 our friends at Halifax had a little notice of 
 our departure, and supplied us with spirituous 
 liquor, and many articles of provision for the 
 coast. Captain Burk having been taken pris- 
 oner, was added to our company (he had com- 
 manded an American armed vessel) and was 
 generously treated by the Captain and all the 
 officers of the ship, as icell as myself. 
 
 We now had in all near thirty prisoners on 
 board, and as we were sailing along the coast, 
 if I recollect right, off Rhode Island, Captain 
 Burk. with an under officer of the ship, whose 
 name I do not recollect, came to our little 
 birth, proposed to kill Capt. Smith and the 
 principal officers of the frigate and take it ; 
 addipg that there was 35,000Z sterling in the 
 same. Capt. Burk likewise averred that a 
 strong party out of the ship's crew was in the 
 conspiracy, and urged me and the gentlemen 
 that was with me to use our influence with 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 79 
 
 the private prisoners, to execute the design, 
 and take the ship, with the cash, into one of 
 our own ports. 
 
 Upon which I rephed, that we had been 
 too well used on board to murder the officers ; 
 that I could by no means reconcile it to my 
 conscience, and that in fact it should not be 
 done ; and while I was yet speaking, my 
 friend Lovel confirmed what I had said, and 
 fu-rther pointed out the ungratefulness of such 
 an act ; that it did not fall short of murder, 
 and in fine all the gentlemen in the birth, op- 
 posed Capt. Burk and his colleague. But 
 they strenuously urged that the conspiracy 
 would be found out, and that it would cost 
 them their lives, provided they did not execute 
 their design. I then interposed spiritedly, 
 and put an end to further arguments on the 
 subject, and told them that they might depend 
 upon it, upon my honor, that I would faith- 
 fully guard Capt. Smith'i5 life. If they should 
 attempt the assault, I would assist him, for 
 they desired me to remain neuter, and that the 
 same honor that guarded Capt. Smith's life, 
 would also guard theirs ; and it was agreed 
 by those present not to reveal the conspiracy, 
 to the intent that no man should be put to 
 death in consequence of what had been pro- 
 jected ; and Capt. Burk and Jiis colleague 
 
80 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 went to stifle the matter among their asso- 
 ciates. I could not help calling to mind what 
 Capt. Smith said lo me, when I first came on 
 board : '^ Tliis is a mutable world ^ and one 
 gentleman never knows but that it may be in 
 his power to help another. ^^ Capt. Smith and 
 his officers still behaved withtheir usual cour- 
 tesy, and I never heard any more of the con- 
 spiracy. 
 
 We arrived before New York, and cast an- 
 chor the latter part of October, where we re- 
 mained several days, and where Capt. Smith 
 informed me, that he had recommended me 
 to Admiral Howe and General Sir William 
 Howe, as a gentleman of honor and veracity, 
 and desired that I might be treated as such. 
 Capt. Burk was then ordered on board a 
 prison-ship in the harbor. I took my leave 
 of Capt. Smith, and with the other prisoners 
 was sent on board a transport-ship, which lay 
 in the harbor, commanded by Capt. Craige, 
 who took me into the cabin with him and his 
 Lieutenant. I fared as they did, and was in 
 every respect well treated in consequence of 
 directions from Capt. Smith. ' In a few weeks 
 after this I had the happiness to part with my • 
 friend Lovel, (for his sake, who the enemy 
 affected to treat as a private ; he was a gen- 
 tleman of merit, and liberally educated, but 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 81 
 
 had no commission ; they maligned him on 
 account of his unshaken attachment to the 
 cause of his country.) He was exchanged 
 for Governor Philhp Skene of the British. 
 I was continued in this ship till the latter part 
 of November, where I contracted an acquaint- 
 ance with a Captain of the British — his 
 name has slipped my memory. He was what 
 we may call a genteel hearty fellow. I re- 
 member an expression of his over a bottle of 
 wine, to this import : '' That there is great- 
 ness of soul for personal friendship to subsist 
 between you and me, as we are upon opposite 
 sides, and may at another day be obliged to 
 face each other in the field." I am confident 
 that he was as faithful as any officer in the 
 British army. At another sitting he offered 
 to bet a dozen of wine that Fort Washington 
 would be in the hanjds of the British in three 
 days. I stood the bet, and would had I 
 known that that would have been the case, 
 and the third day afterwards we heard a pro- 
 digious heavy cannonade, and that day the 
 Fort was taken sure enough. Some months 
 after, \yhen I was on parole, he called upon 
 me with his usual humor, and mentioned the 
 bet. I acknowledged I had lost it, but he 
 said he did not mean to take it then, as I was 
 a prisoner ; that he would another day call on 
 
82 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 me, when their army came to Bennington. 
 I replied that he was quite too generous, as I 
 had fairly lost it ; besides the Green Mountain 
 Boys would not suffer them to come to Ben- 
 nington. This^ was all in good humor. * I 
 should have been glad to have seen him after 
 the defeat at Bennington, but did not. It was 
 customary for a guard to attend the prisoners, 
 which was often changed. One w^as com- 
 posed of tories from Connecticut, in the vi- 
 cinity of Fairfield and Green Farms. The 
 Serjeant's name was Hoit. They were very 
 full of their invectives against the country, 
 swaggered of their loyalty to their king, and 
 exclaimed bitterly against the " cowardly yan- 
 kees," as they were pleased to term them, 
 but finally contented themselves with saying, 
 that when the country was overcome, they 
 should be well rewarded for their loyalty, out 
 of the estates of the whigs, which would be 
 confiscated. This I found to be the general 
 language of tories, after I arrived from Eng- 
 land on the iVmerican coast. I heard sundry 
 of them relate, that the British Generals had 
 engaged them an ample reward for all their 
 losses, disappointments and expenditures, out 
 of the forfeited rebels estates. This language 
 early taught me what to do with tories estates, 
 as far as my influence can go. For it is really 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 83 
 
 a game of hazard between whig and tory. 
 The whigs must inevitably have lost all. in 
 consequence of the abihties of the tories, and 
 their good friends the British ; and it is no 
 more than right the tories should run the same 
 risk, in consequence of the abilities of the 
 Tyhigs. But of this more will be observed 
 in the sequel of this narrative. 
 
 Some of the last days of November, the 
 prisoners were landed at New York, and I 
 was admitted to parole with the other officers, 
 viz. Proctor, Rowland, and Taylor. The 
 privates were put into the filthy churches in 
 New York, with the distressed prisoners that 
 were taken at Fort Washington ; and the 
 second night serjeant Roger Moore, who was 
 bold and enterprising, found means to make 
 his escape with every one of the remaining 
 prisoners that were taken with me, except 
 three who were soon after exchanged. Sd 
 that out of thirtyone prisoners, who went 
 with me the round exhibited in these 
 sheets, two only died with the enemy, and 
 three only exchanged ; one of them died after 
 he came within our lines ; all the rest at dif- 
 ferent times, made their escape from the 
 enemy. 
 
 I now found myself on parole, and restricted 
 to the limits of the city of New York, where 
 
84 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 1 soon projected means to live in some mea- 
 sure agreeable to my rank, though I was des- 
 titute of cash. My constitution was almost 
 worn out by such a long and barbarous cap- 
 tivity. The enemy gave out that 1 was crazy, 
 and wholly unmanned, but my vitals held 
 sound, (nor was I delirious any more than I 
 have been from my youth up ; but my ex- 
 treme circumstances at certain times, rendered 
 it political to act in some measure the mad- 
 man,) and in consequence of a regular diet and 
 exercise my blood recruited, and my nerves 
 in great measure recovered their former tone, 
 strength and usefulness, in the course of six 
 months. 
 
 I next invite the reader to a retrospective 
 sight and consideration of the doleful scene 
 of inhumanity exercised by General Sir Wil- 
 \^'' Ham Howe, and the army under his command, 
 / towards the prisoners taken on Long Island, 
 "^ on the 27th day of August, 1776 ; sundry of 
 whom were in an inhuman and barbarous man- 
 ner murdered after they had surrendered their 
 arms ; particularly a General Odel, (or Wood- 
 hul) of the militia, who was hacked to pieces 
 with cutlasses, when alive, by the light-horse- 
 men, and a Captain Fellows, of the continent- 
 al army, who was thrust through with a bay- 
 onet, of which wound he died instantly. 
 
• ETHAN ALLEN. 85 
 
 Sundry others were hanged up by the neck 
 till they were dead ; five on the limb of an oak 
 tree, and without any reason assigned, except 
 that they were fighting in defence of the only 
 blessing worth preserving. And indeed those 
 who had the misfortune to fall into their hands 
 at Fort Washington, in the month of Novem- 
 ber following, met with but very little better 
 usage, except that they were reserved from 
 immediate death to fam,ish and die with hun- 
 ger ; in fine the word rebel applied to any 
 vanquished persons, without regard to rank, 
 who were in the continental service on the 
 27th of August aforesaid, was thought by the 
 enemy sufficient to sanctify whatever cruelties 
 they were pleased to inflict, death itself not 
 excepted ; but I pass over particulars which 
 would swell my narrative far beyond my de- 
 sign. 
 
 The private soldiers who were brought to 
 New York were crowded into churches, and 
 environed with slavish Hessian guards, a peo- 
 ple of a strange language, who were sent to 
 America for no other design but cruelty and 
 desolation ; and at others, by merciless Brit- 
 ons, whose mode of communicating ideas 
 being intelligible in this country, served only 
 to tantalize and insult the helpless and perish- 
 ing ; but above all the hellish delight and tri- 
 8 
 
86 NARRATIVE OF • 
 
 umph of the tories over them, as they were 
 dying by hundreds. This was too much for 
 me to bear as a spectator ; for I saw the to- 
 ries exulting over the dead bodies of their 
 murdered countrymen. I have gone into the 
 churches, and seen sundry of the prisoners in 
 the agonies of death, in consequence of very 
 hunger, and others speechless and near death, 
 biting pieces of chips ; others pleading for 
 God's sake, for something to eat, and at the 
 same time shivering with the cold. Hollow 
 groans saluted my ears, and despair seemed 
 to be imprinted bn every one of their 
 countenances. The filth in these churches, 
 in consequence of the fluxes, was almost be- 
 yond description. The floors were covered 
 with excrements. I have carefully sought to 
 direct my steps so as to avoid it, but could 
 not. They would beg for God's sake for one 
 copper, or morsel of bread. I have seen in 
 one of these churches seven dead at the same 
 time, lying among the excrements of their 
 bodies. 
 
 It was. a common practice with the enemy 
 to convey the dead from their filthy places 
 in carts, to be slightly buried, and I have 
 seen whole gangs of tories making derision, 
 and exalting over the dead, saying, there goes 
 another load of damned rebels. I have ob- 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 87 
 
 served the British soldiers to be full of their 
 black-guard jokes, and vaunting on those oc- 
 casions, but they appeared to me less malig- 
 nant than tories. 
 
 The provision dealt out to the prisoners 
 was by no means sufficient for the support of 
 life. It was deficient in quantity, and much 
 more so in quality. The prisoners often pre- 
 sented me with a sample of their bread, which 
 I certify was damaged to that degree that it was 
 loathsome and unfit to be eaten, and I am bold 
 to aver it, as my opinion, that it had been 
 cpndemned, and was of the very worst sort. 
 I have seen and been fed upon damaged bread, 
 in the course of my captivity, and observed 
 the quality of such bread as has been pon- 
 demned by the enemy, among which was very 
 little so effectually spoiled as what was dealt 
 out to these prisoners. Their allowance of 
 meat, as they told me, was quite trifling, and 
 of the basest sort. I never saw any of it, but 
 was informed, bad as it was, it was swallowed 
 almost as quick as they got hold of it. I saw 
 some of them sucking bones after they were 
 speechless ; others who could yet speak, and 
 had the use of their reason, urged me in the 
 strongest and most pathetic manner, to use 
 my interest in their behalf, for you plainly see, 
 say they, that we are devoted to death and 
 
88 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 destruction ; and after I bad examined more 
 particularly into their truly deplorable condi- 
 tion, and had become more fully apprized of 
 the essential facts, I was persuaded that it was 
 a premeditated and systematical plan of the 
 British council, to destroy the youths of our 
 land, with a view thereby to deter the coun- 
 try, and make it submit to their despotism ; 
 but that I could not do them any material ser- 
 vice, and that by any public attempt for that 
 purpose 1 might endanger myself by fiequent- 
 ing places the most nauseous and contagious 
 that could be conceived of.' 1 refrained going 
 into the churches, but frequently conversed 
 with such of the prisoners-as were admitted 
 to come out into the yard, and found that the 
 systematic usage still continued. The guard 
 would often drive me away with their fixed 
 bayonets. A Hessian one day followed me 
 five or six rods, but by making use of my 
 legs, got rid of the lubber. Sometimes I 
 could obtain a little conversation, noiwith- 
 standing their severities. 
 
 J was in one of ..the church yards, and it 
 was rumored among those in the church, and 
 sundry of the prisoners came with their usual 
 complaints to me, and among the rest a large- 
 boned, tall young man, as he told me from 
 Pennsylvania, who was reduced to a mere 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 89 
 
 skeleton ; said he was glad to see me before 
 he died, which he had expected to have done 
 last night, but was a little revived ; he further- 
 more informed me, that he and his brother 
 had been urged to enlist into the British, but 
 had both resolved to die first ; that his brother 
 had died last night, in consequence of 'that 
 resolution, and that he expected shortly to 
 follow him ; but I made the other prisoners 
 stand a little off, and told him with a low voice 
 to list ; he then asked, whether it was right 
 in the sight of God ? I assured him that it 
 was, and that duty to himself obliged him to 
 deceive the British by enlisting, and deserting 
 the first opportunity. Upon which he an-* 
 swered with transport that he would list. I 
 charged him not to mention my name as his 
 adviser, lest it shoeld get air, and i should be 
 closely confined in consequence of it. The 
 integrity of these suffering prisoners is hardly 
 credible. Many hundreds, I am confident, 
 submitted to death, rather than enlist in the 
 British service, which, I am informed, they 
 most generally were pressed to do. I was 
 astonished at the resolution of the two broth- 
 ers particularly ; it seems that they could not 
 be stimulated to such exertions of heroism 
 from ambition, as they were but obscure sol- 
 diers ; strong indeed must the internal princi- 
 8* 
 
90 ' NARRATIVE OF 
 
 pie of virtue be, which supported them to 
 brave death, and one of them went through 
 the operation, as did many hundred others. 
 1 readily grant that instances of public virtue 
 are no excitement to the sordid and vicious, 
 nor on the other hand, will all the barbarity of 
 Britain and Heshland awaken them to a sense 
 of their duty to their public ; but these things 
 will have their proper effect on the generous 
 and brave. The officers on parole were most 
 of them zealous, if possible, to afford the 
 miserable soldiery relief, and often consulted 
 with one another on the subject, but to no 
 effect, being destitute of the means of subsist- 
 *ence, which they needed ; nor could the 
 officers project any measure which they thought 
 would alter their fate, or so much as be a 
 means of getting them out of those filthy places 
 to the privilege of fresh air. Some projected 
 that all the officers should go in procession 
 to General Howe, and plead the cause of the 
 perishing soldiers ; but this proposal was 
 negatived for the following reasons, viz. be- 
 cause that General Howe must needs be well 
 acquainted and have a thorough knowledge of 
 the state and condition of the prisoners in 
 every of their wretched apartments, and that 
 much more particular and exact than any 
 officer on parole could be supposed to have, 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 91 
 
 as the General had a return of the circumstances 
 of the prisoners by his own officers every 
 morning, of the number which were ahve, as 
 also the number which died every twentyfour 
 hours, and consequently the bill of mortality, 
 as collected from the daily returns, lay before 
 him with all the material situations and cir- 
 cumstances of the prisoners ; and provided 
 the officers should go in p^cession to General 
 Howe, according to the projection, it would 
 give him the greatest affront, and that he 
 would either retort upon them, that it was no 
 part of their parole to instruct him in his con- 
 duct to prisoners ; that they were mutinying 
 against his authority, and by afironting him, 
 had forfeited their parole ; or that more prob- 
 ably, instead of saying one word to them, 
 would order them all into as wretched a con- 
 finement as the soldiers whom they sought to 
 relieve ; for at that time, the British, from 
 the General to the private sentinel, were in 
 full confidence, i>or did they so much as hesi- 
 tate but that they should conquer the country. 
 Thus the consultation of the officers was con- 
 founded and broken to pieces, in consequence 
 of the dread which at that time lay on their 
 minds, of offending Gen. Howe ; for they 
 conceived so murderous a tyrant would not 
 be too good to destroy even the officers, on ' 
 
 KRP>fl»lL 
 
92 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 the least pretence of an affront, as they were 
 equally in his power with the soldiers ; and 
 as General Howe perfectly understood the 
 condition of the private soldiers, it was argued 
 that it was exactly such as he and his council 
 had devised, and as he meant to destroy them 
 it would be to no purpose for them to try 
 to dissuade him from it, as they were helpless 
 and liable to the s^e fate, on giving the least 
 affront ; indeed anxious apprehensions dis- 
 turbed thdm in their then circumstances. 
 
 Meantime mortality raged to such an in- 
 tolerable degree among the prisoners, that the 
 very school boys in the streets knew the men- 
 tal design of it in some measure ; at least they 
 knew that they were starved to death. Some 
 poor women contributed to their necessity, 
 till their children were almost starved, and all 
 persons of common understanding knew that 
 they were devoted to the crudest and worst 
 of deaths. It was also proposed by some 
 to make a written representation of the con- 
 dition of the soldiery, and the officers to sign 
 it, and that it should be couched in such terms 
 as though they were apprehensive that the 
 General was imposed upon by his officers, in 
 their daily returns to him of the state and con- 
 dition of the prisoners ; and that therefore 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 93 
 
 the officers moved with compassion, were con- 
 strained to communicate to him the facts re- 
 lative to them, nothing doubting but that they 
 would meet with a speedy redress ; but this 
 proposal was most generally negatived ; also, 
 and for much the same reason offered in the 
 other case ; for it was conjectured that Gen- 
 ral Howe's indignation would be moved 
 against such officers as should attempt to whip 
 him over his officers' backs. That he would 
 discern that himself was really struck at, and 
 not the officers who made the daily returns ; 
 and therefore self-preservation deterred the 
 officers from either petitioning or remonstra- 
 ting to General Howe, either verbally or in 
 writing ; as also the consideration that no val- 
 uable purpose to the distressed would be ob* 
 tained. 
 
 I made several rough drafts on the subject, 
 one of which I exhibited to Colonels Magaw, 
 Miles and Atlee, and said that they would 
 consider the matter ; soon after I called on 
 them, and some of the gentlemen informed 
 me that they had wrote to the General on the 
 subject, and I concluded that the gentlemen 
 thought it best that they should write without 
 me, as there was such spirited aversion sub- 
 sisting between the British and me. 
 
94 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 In the mean time Colonel Hussecker, of 
 the continental army, as he then reported, 
 was taken prisoner, and brought to New 
 York, who gave out that the country was most 
 universally submitting to the English king's 
 authority, and 'that there would be little or no 
 more opposition to Great Britain. This at 
 first gave the officers a little shock, but in a 
 few days they recovered themselves ; for this 
 Colonel Hussecker being a German, was 
 feasting with General De Heister, his coun- 
 trymen, and from his conduct they were ap- 
 prehensive that he was a knave ; at least he 
 was esteemed so by most of the officers ; it 
 was nevertheless a day of trouble. The ene- 
 my blasphemed. Our little army was re- 
 treating in New Jersey, and our young men 
 murdered by hundreds in New York. The 
 army of Britain and Heshland prevailed for a 
 little season, as though it was ordered by 
 Heaven to shew lo the latest posterity what 
 the British would have done if they could, 
 and what the general calamity must have been, 
 in consequence of their conquering the coun- 
 try, and to excite every honest man to stand 
 forth in the defence of liberty, and to establish 
 the independencey of the United States of 
 America forever. But this scene of adverse 
 fortune did not discourage a Washington. 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 95 
 
 The illustrious American here remained im- 
 movable. In liberty's cause he took up his 
 sword. This reflection was his support and 
 consolation in the day of his humiliation, when 
 he retreated Before the enemy, through New 
 Jersey into Pennsylvania. Their triumph 
 only roused his indignation, and the important 
 cause of his country, which lay near his heart, 
 moved him to cross the Delaware again, and 
 take ample satisfaction on his pursuers. No 
 sooner had he circumvallated his haughty foes 
 and appeared in terrible array but the host of 
 Heshland fell. This taught America the in- 
 trinsic worth of perseverance, and the gener- 
 ous sons of freedom flew to the standard of 
 their common safeguard and defence ; from 
 which time the arm of American liberty hath 
 prevailed. 
 
 This surprise and capture of the Hessians 
 enraged the enemy, who were still vastly more 
 numerous thnn the continental troops. They 
 therefore collected, and marched from Prince- 
 ton, to attack General Washington, who was 
 then at Trenton, having previously left a de- 
 tachment from their main body at Princeton, 
 for the support of that » place. This was a 
 trying time, for our worthy General, though 
 in possession of a late most astonishing vic- 
 tory, was by no means able to withstand the 
 
96 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 collective force of the enemy ; but his sagacity- 
 soon suggested a stratagem to effect that which 
 by force to him was at that time impractica- 
 ble. He therefore amused the enemy' with a 
 number of fires, and in the night made a forced 
 march, undiscovered by them, and next morn- 
 ing fell in with their rear guard at Princeton, 
 and killed and took most of them prisoners. 
 The main body too late perceiving their rear 
 was attacked, hurried back with all speed, 
 but to their mortification found they were 
 out generalled and baffled by General Wash- 
 ington, vi^ho was retired with his little. army 
 towards Morristown, and was out of their 
 power. These repeated successes, one on 
 the back of the other, chagrined the enemy 
 prodigiously, and had an amazing operation 
 in the scale of American politics, and un- 
 doubtedly was one of the corner-stones on 
 which their fair structure of Independency 
 has been fabricated ; for the country at no 
 one time has ever been so much dispirited,.as 
 just before the morning of this glorious suc- 
 cess, which in part dispelled the gloomy 
 clouds of oppression and slavery, which lay 
 pending over America, big with the ruin of 
 this and future generations, and enlightened 
 and spirited her sons to redouble their blows 
 on a merciless and haughty, and I may add a 
 perfidious enemy. 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. * 97 
 
 Furthermore, this success had a mighty 
 effect on General Howe and his council, and 
 roused them to a sense of their own weak- 
 ness, and convinced them that they were 
 neither omniscient or omnipotent. Their 
 obduracy and death-designing malevolence in 
 some measure, abated or was suspended. 
 The prisoners who were condemned to the 
 most wretched and cruellest of deaths, and 
 who survived to this period, though most of 
 them died before, were immediately ordered 
 to be sent within General Washington's lines 
 for an exchange, and in consequence of it, 
 were taken out of their filthy and poisonous 
 places of confinement, and sent out of New 
 York to their friends in haste ; several of 
 them fell dead in the streets of New York, 
 as they attempted to walk to the vessels in 
 the harbor, for their intended embarkation. 
 What numbers lived to reach the lines I can- 
 not ascertain, but from concurrent representa- 
 tions which I have since received from num- 
 bers of people who lived in, and adjacent to, 
 such parts of the country where they were 
 received from the enemy, I apprehend that 
 most of them died in consequence of the vile 
 usage of the enemy. Some who were eye 
 witnesses of that scene of mortality, more 
 especially in that part which continued after 
 9 
 
98 • NARRATIVE OF 
 
 the exchange took place, are of opinion that 
 it was partly inconsequence of a slow poison ; 
 but this I refer to the doctors that attended 
 them who are, certainly the best judges. 
 
 Upon the best calculation I have been able 
 to make from personal knowledge, and the 
 many evidences I have collected in support 
 of the facts, I learn that the prisoners taken 
 on Long Island, Fort Washington, and some 
 few others, at different times and places, about 
 two thousand perished with hunger, cold and 
 sickness, occasioned by the filth of their 
 prisons, at New York, and a number more 
 on their passage to the continental lines ; most 
 of the residue who reached their friends, 
 having received their death wound, could not 
 be restored by the assistance of physicians 
 and friends ; but like their brother prisoners, 
 fell a sacrifice to the relentless and scientific 
 barbarity of Britain. I took as much pains 
 as my circumstances would admit of, to in- 
 form myself not only of matters of fad, but 
 likewise of the very design and aims of Gen- 
 eral Howe and his council. The latter of 
 which I predicated on the former, and submit 
 it to the candid public. 
 
 And lastly, the aforesaid success of the 
 American arms had a happy effect on the con- 
 tinental officers, who were on parole at New 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. " 99 
 
 York. A number of us assembled, but not 
 in a public manner, and with full bowls and 
 glasses, drank General Washington's health, 
 and were not unmindful of Congress and our 
 worthy friends on the continent, and almost 
 forgot that we were prisoners. 
 
 A few days after this recreation, a British 
 officer of rank and importance in their army, 
 (whose name I shall not mention in this narra- 
 tive, for certain reasons, though I have men- 
 tioned it to some of my close friends and Con- 
 fidents,) sent for me to his lodgings, and told 
 me, "That faithfulness, though in a wrong 
 cause, had nevertheless recommendecf me to 
 General Sir William Howe, who was minded 
 to make me a Colonel of a regiment of new 
 levies, alias tories, in the British service, and 
 proposed that I should go with him and some 
 other officers, to England, who would embark 
 for that purpose in a few days, and there be 
 introduced to Lord George Germaine, and 
 probably to the King ; and that previously 
 I should be clothed equal to such an introduc- 
 tion, and instead of paper rags, be paid in 
 hard guineas ; after this should embark with 
 General Burgoyne, and assist in the reduc- 
 tion of the country, which infallibly would be 
 conquered, and when that should be done, I 
 should have a large tract of land, whether on 
 
100 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 the New Hampshire grants, or in Connecti- 
 cut, it would make no odds, as the country 
 would be forfeited to the crown." I then 
 replied, ^^ That if by faithfulness I had re- 
 commended myself to General Howe, I should 
 be loth, by unfaithfulness, to lose the Gener- 
 al's good opinion ; besides that I viewed the 
 offer of land to be similar to that which the 
 devil offered Jesus Christ, To give him all 
 the kingdoms of the world, if he would fall 
 dovm and worship him ; when at the same 
 time that the damned fool had not one foot 
 of land upon earth." This closed the con- 
 versation, and the gentleman turned from me 
 with an air of dislike, saying that I was a 
 bigot ! upon which I retired to my lodgings. 
 Near the last of November I was admitted 
 to parole in New York, with many other 
 American officers, and on the 22d day of 
 January, 1777, was with them directed by 
 the British commissary of prisoners to be 
 quartered on the westerly part of Long Island, 
 and our parole continued. During my im- 
 prisonment there, no occurrences wordi ob- 
 servation happened. I obtained the means of 
 living as well as I desired, which in great 
 measure repaired my constitution, which had 
 been greatly ^injured by the severities of an 
 inhuman captivity. I now began to Teel my- 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 101 
 
 • ^elf composed, expecting either an exchange 
 or continuance in good and honorable treat- 
 ment ; but alas ! my visionary expectations 
 soon vanished. The news of the conquest of 
 Ticonderoga by General Burgoyne, and the 
 advance of his army into the country, made 
 
 fthe haughty Britons again to feel their im- 
 portance, and with that their insatiable thirst 
 for cruelty. 
 
 The private prisoners at New York, and 
 some of the officers on parole, felt the severity 
 of it. Burgoyne was their toast and demi- 
 
 *god. To him they paid adoration. In him 
 the tories placed their confidence, '* and for- 
 got the Lord their God," and served Howe, 
 Burgoyne and Knyphausen,* and becanie vile 
 in their pwn imaginations, and their foolish 
 hearts were darkened, professing to be great 
 politicians, and relying on foreign and merci- 
 less invaders, and with them seeking the ruin, 
 bloodshed and destruction of their country, 
 '' became fools," expecting with them to share 
 a dividend in the confiscated estates of their 
 neighbors and countrymen who fought for the 
 whole country, and the religion and liberties 
 thereof. " Therefore God gave them over 
 to strong delusions, to believe a l,ie, that they 
 all might be damned." 
 
 **KNyPHAusEN, fi H ssian General. 
 9* 
 
102' NARRATIVE OF 
 
 The 25th day of August I was apprehend- 
 ed, and under pretext of artful, mean and piti- 
 ful pretences, that I had infringed on my pa- 
 role, taken from a tavern, where there were 
 more than a dozen officers present, and in the 
 very place where those officers and myself 
 were directed to be quartered, put under a 
 strong guard, and taken to New York, where 
 I expected to make my defence before the 
 commanding officer ; but contrary to my ex- 
 pectations, and without the least sohd pretence 
 of justice or a trial, was again encircled with 
 a strong guard with fixed bayonets, and con- 
 ducted to the provost gaol in a lonely apart- 
 ment, next above the dungeon, and was de- 
 nied all manner of subsistence either by pur- 
 chase or allowance. The second day I of- 
 fered a guinea for a meal of victuals, but was 
 denied it, and the third day I offered eight 
 Spanish milled dollars for a like favor, but 
 was denied, and all that 1 could get out of the 
 Serjeant's mouth, was, that by God he would 
 obey his orders. I now perceived myself to 
 be again in substantial trouble. In this con- 
 dition I formed an oblique acquaintance with 
 a Capt. Travis, of Virginia, who was in the 
 dungeon below me, through a little hole which 
 was cut with a penknife, through the floor of 
 my apartment which communicated with the 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 103 
 
 dungeon; it was a small crevice, through 
 which J could discern but a very small part 
 of his face at once, when he plied it to the 
 hole ; but from the discovery of him in the 
 situation which we were both then in, T could 
 not have known him, (which I found to be 
 true by an after acquaintance.) I could nev- 
 ertheless hold a covQrsation with him, and 
 soon perceived him to be a gentleman of high 
 spirits, who had a high sense of honor, and 
 felt as big as though he had been in a palace, 
 and had treasures of wrath in store against the 
 British. In fine I was charmed with the 
 spirit of the man ; he had been near or quite 
 four months in that dungeon, with murderers, 
 thieves, and every species of criminals, and 
 air for the sole crime of unshaken fidelity to 
 his country ; but his spirits were above de- 
 jection, and his mind unchanageable. I en- 
 gaged to do him every service in my power, 
 and in a few weeks afterwards, with the united 
 petitions of the officers in the provost, pro- 
 cured his dismission from the dark mansion 
 of fiends to the apartment of his petitioners. 
 And it came to pass on the third day, at 
 the going down of the sun, that I was pre- 
 sented with a piece of boiled pork, and some 
 biscuit, which the sergeant gave me to under- 
 stand was my allowance, and I fed sweetly on 
 
104 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 the same ; but I indulged my appetite by de- 
 grees, and in a few days more was taken from 
 that apartment, and conducted to the next 
 loft or story, where there was about twenty 
 continental and some militia officers who had 
 been taken and imprisoned there, besides some 
 private gentlemen who had been dragged from 
 their own homes to that filthy place, by tories. 
 Several of every denomination died there, 
 some before, and others after I was put there. 
 
 The history of the proceedings relative to 
 the provost only, was I particular, would swell 
 a volume larger than this whole narrative ! 
 Shall therefore only notice such of the occur- 
 rences which are most extraordinary. 
 
 Captain Vandyke bore with an uncommon 
 fortitude near twenty months' confinemerit in 
 this place, and in the mean time was very 
 serviceable to others who were confined with 
 him. The allegation against him, as the cause 
 of his confinement, was very extraordinary. 
 He was accused of setting fire to the city of 
 New York, (at the time the west part of it' was 
 consumed) when it was a known fact that he 
 had been in the provost a week before the 
 fire broke out ; and in like manner, frivolous 
 were the ostensible accusations against most 
 of those who were there confined ; the case 
 of two militia officers excepted, who were 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 105 
 
 taken in their attempting to escape from their 
 parole ; and probably there may be some other 
 instances which might justify such a confine- 
 ment. 
 
 Mr. WilHam Miller, a committee man, 
 from Westchester county, and State of New 
 York, was taken from his bed in the dead of 
 night, by his tory neighbors, and was starved 
 for three days and nights in a department of 
 the same gaol ; and to this the denial of fire, 
 and that in a cold season of the year, in which 
 time he walked day and night, to defend him- 
 self against the frost, and when he complained 
 of such a reprehensible conduct, the word 
 rebel or committee man was deemed by the 
 enemy a sufficient atonement for any inhuman- 
 ity that they could invent or inflict. He was 
 a man of good natural understanding, a close 
 and sincere friend to the liberties of America, 
 and endured fourteen months' cruel imprison- 
 ment with that magnanimity of soul, which 
 reflects honor on himself and country. 
 
 Major Levi Wells and Captain Ozias Bissel 
 were apprehended and taken under guard from 
 their parole on Long Island to the provost, 
 on as fallacious pretepces as the former, and 
 where they continued till their exchange took 
 place, which was near five months. Their 
 fidelity and zealous attachment to their coun- 
 
106 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 try's cause, which was more than commonly 
 conspicuous was undoubtedly the* real cause 
 of their confinement. 
 
 Major Brinton Payne, Capt. Flahaven, and 
 Capt. Randolph, who had at different times 
 distinguished' themselves by their bravery, 
 especially at the several actions in which they 
 were taken, was all the provocation they gave 
 for which they suffered about a year's con- 
 finement each in the same filthy gaol. 
 
 A few weeks after my confinement, on the 
 like fallacious and wicked pretences, was 
 brought to the same place, from his parole on 
 Long Island, Major Otho Holland Williams, 
 (now a full Colonel in the continental army.) 
 In his character are united the gentleman, 
 officer, soldier and friend ; he walked through 
 the prison with an air of great disdain ; said 
 he, " Is this the treatment which gentlemen 
 of the continental army are to expect from the 
 rascally British, when in their power ? 
 Heavens forbid it !" He was continued 
 there about five months, and then exchanged 
 for a British Major. 
 
 John Fell, Esq., now a member of Con- 
 gress for the State of New Jersey, was taken 
 from his own house by a gang of infamous 
 lories, and by order of a British General was 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 107 
 
 sent to the provost, where he was continued 
 near one year. The stench of the gaol, which 
 was very loathsome and unhealthy, occasioned 
 a hoarseness of the lungs, which proved fatal 
 to many who were there confined, and re- 
 duced this gentleman near to the point of death; 
 he was indeed given over by his friends who 
 were about him, and himself concluded he 
 must die. I could not endure the thought 
 that so worthy a friend to America should 
 have his life stole from him in such a mean, 
 base, and scandalous a manner, and that his 
 family and friends should be bereaved of so 
 great and desirable a blessing, as his further 
 care, usefulness and examples, might prove to 
 them. I therefore wrote a letter to General 
 Robertson, who commanded in town, and 
 being touched with the most sensible feelings 
 of humanity, which dictated my pen to paint 
 dying distress in such lively colors that it 
 wrought conviction even on the obduracy of 
 a British General, and produced his order to 
 remove the now honorable John Fell, Esq., 
 out of gaol to private lodgings in town ; in 
 consequence of which he slowly recovered 
 his health. There is so extraordinary a cir- 
 cumstance which intervened, concerning this 
 letter, that it is worth noticing. 
 
108 ETHAN ALLEN. 
 
 Previous to the sending It, I exliibited the 
 same to the gentleman on whose behalf it was 
 wrote, for his approbation, and he forbid rae 
 to send it in the most positive and explicit 
 terms ; his reason was, " That the enemy- 
 knew by every morning's report, the condi- 
 tion of all the prisoners, mine in particular, 
 as 1 have been gradually coming to my end 
 for a considerable time, and they very well 
 knew it, and likewise determined it should be 
 accomplished, as they had served many others; 
 that to ask a favor would give the merciless 
 enemy occasion to triumph over me in my 
 last moments, and therefore 1 will ask no 
 favors from them, but resign myself to my 
 supposed fate." But the letter I sent with- 
 out his knowledge, and I confess I had but 
 little expectations from it, yet could not be 
 easy till I had sent it. It may be worth a 
 remark, that this gentleman was an English- 
 man born, and from the beginning of the revo- 
 lution has invariably asserted and maintained 
 the cause of liberty. 
 
 The British have made so extensive an 
 improvement of the provost during the present 
 revolution till of late, that a very short defini- 
 tion will be sufficient for the dullest appre- 
 hensions. It may be with propriety called 
 the British inquisition, and calculated to sup- 
 
ETHAN ALLEN, 
 
 109 
 
 port iheir oppressive measures and designs, 
 by suppressing the spirit of liberty ; as also a 
 place to confine the crinriinals, and most in- 
 fennous wretches of their own army, where 
 many gentlemen of the American army, and 
 citizens thereof, were promiscuously confined, 
 with every species of criminals ; but they di- 
 vided into different compartments, and kept 
 at as great a remove as circumstances permit- 
 ted, but it was nevertheless at the option of a 
 villainous sergeant who had the charge of the 
 provost, to take any gentlemen from their 
 room, and put them into the dungeon, which 
 was often the case. At two different times 
 I was taken down stairs for that purpose 
 by a file of soldiers with fixed bayonets, and 
 the sergeant brandishing his sword at the same 
 time, and having been brought to the door of 
 the dungeon, I there flattered the vanity of 
 the sergeant, whose name was Keaf, by which 
 means I procured the surprising favor to re- 
 turn to my companions ; but some of the high 
 mettled young gentlemen could not bear his 
 insolence, and determined to keep at a dis- 
 tance, and neither please or displease the 
 villain, but none could keep clear of his abuse; 
 however mild measures were the best ; he did 
 not hesitate* to call us damned rebels, and use 
 U3 with the coarsest language. The Captains 
 10 
 
no NARRATIVE OF 
 
 Flahaven, Randolph and Mercer, were the 
 objects of his most flagrant and repeated 
 abuses, who were many times taken to the 
 dungeon, and there continued at his pleasure. 
 Captain Flahaven took cold in the dungeon, 
 and was in a declining state of health, but an 
 exchange delivered him, and in all probability 
 saved his life. It was very mortifying to bear 
 with the insolence of such a vicious and ill- 
 bred, imperious rascal . Remonstrances against 
 him were preferred to the commander of the 
 town, but no relief could be obtained, fowhis 
 superiors were undoubtedly well pleased with 
 his abusive conduct to the gentlemen, under 
 the severities of his power, and remonstrating 
 against his infernal conduct, only served to 
 confirm him in authority, and for this reason 
 I never made any remonstrances' on the sub- 
 ject, but only flattered him, for I knew that 
 he was but a cat's paw in the hands of the 
 British officers, and that if he should use us 
 well, he would immediately be put out of that 
 trust, and a worse man appointed to succeed 
 him ; but there was no need of making any 
 new appointment, for Cunningham, their pro- 
 vost marshal, and Keaf, his deputy, were as 
 great rascals as their army could boast of, 
 except one Joshua Loring, an infamous tory, 
 who was Commissary of prisoners, nor can 
 
ETHAN ALLtN. Ill 
 
 any of those be supposed to be equally crim" 
 inal with General Sir William Howe and his 
 associates, who prescribed and directed the 
 murders and cruelties which were by them 
 perpetrated. This Loring is a monster ! 
 There is not his hke in human shape. He 
 exhibits a smiling countenance, seems to wear 
 a phiz of humanity, but has been instrument- 
 ally capable of the most consummate acts of 
 wickedness, (which were firstly projected by 
 an abandoned British council, clothed with 
 the authority of a Howe) murdering premed- 
 itately in cold blood near or quite one thousand 
 helpless prisoners, and that in the most clan- 
 destine, mean and shameful manner, at New 
 York. He is the most mean spirited, cow- 
 ardly, deceitful and destructive animal in God's 
 creation below, and legions of infernal devils, 
 with all their tremendous horrors, are impa- 
 tiently ready to receive Howe and him, with 
 all their detestable accomplices, into the most 
 exquisite agonies of the hottest region of hell 
 fire. 
 
 The sixth day of July, 1777, Gen. St. 
 Clair, and the army under his command, 
 evacuated Ticonderoga, and retreated with 
 the main body through Hubberdton into 
 Castleton, which was but six miles distance, 
 when his rear-guard commanded by Col. Seth 
 
•112 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 Warner, was attacked at Hubberdton by a 
 body of the enemy of about two thousand 
 commanded by Gen. Fraser. Warner's com- 
 mand consisted of his own and two other 
 regiments, viz. Francis's and Hale's, and 
 some scattering and enfeebled soldiers. His 
 whole number, according to information, was 
 near or quite one thousand ; part of which 
 were Green Mountain Boys ; about seven 
 hundred out of the whole he brought into 
 action. The enemy advanced boldly, and 
 the two bodies formed within about sixty 
 yards of each other. Col. Warner having 
 formed his own regiment, and that of Col. 
 Francis's, did not wait for the enemy, but 
 gave them a hearty fire from his whole hne, 
 and they returned it with great bravery. It 
 was by this time dangerous for those of both 
 parties, who were not prepared for the world 
 to come; but Col. Hale being apprised of the 
 danger, never brought his regiment to the 
 charge, but left Warner and Francis to stand 
 the blowing of it, and fled, but luckily fell in 
 with an inconsiderable number of the enemy, 
 and to his eternal shame, surrendered himself 
 a prisoner. 
 
 The conflict was very bloody. Col. Fran- 
 cis fell in the same, but Col. Warner, and the 
 officers under his command, as also the sol- 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 113 
 
 diery, behaved with great resolution. The 
 enemy broke, and gave way on the right and 
 left, but formed again and renewed the attack ; 
 in the mean time the British grenadiers, in the 
 centre of the enemy's- line, maintained the 
 ground, and finally carried it with the point 
 of the bayonet, and Warner retreated with re- 
 luctance. Our loss was about thirty men 
 killed, and that of the enemy amounted to 
 three hundred killed, including a Major Grant. 
 The enemy's loss I learnt from the confession 
 of their own officers, when a prisoner with 
 them. I heard them likewise complain that 
 the Green Mountain Boys took sight. The 
 next movement of the enemy, of any material 
 consequence, was their investing Bennington, 
 with a design to demolish it, and subject its« 
 Mountaineers, to which they had a great aver- 
 sion, with fifteen hundred chosen men, includ- 
 ing tories, with the highest expectation of suc- 
 cess, and having chosen an eminence of strong 
 ground, fortified it with slight breast workS) 
 and two pieces of cannon; but the govern- 
 ment of the young State of Vermont, being 
 previously jealous of such an attempt of the 
 enemy, and in due time had procured a num- 
 ber of brave militia from the government of 
 the State of New Hampshire, who together 
 with the militia of the north part of Berkshire 
 10* 
 
114 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 county, and State of Massachusetts, and the 
 Green Mountain Boys, constituted a body of 
 desperadoes, under the command of the in- 
 trepid General Stark, who in number were 
 about equal to the enemy. Colonel Herrick, 
 who commanded the Green Mountain Rangers, 
 and who was second in command, being thor- 
 oughly acquainted with the ground where the 
 enemy had fortified, proposed to attack them 
 in their works upon all parts, at the same time. 
 This plan being adopted by the General and 
 his council of war, the little militia brigade of 
 undisciplined heroes, with their long brown 
 firelocks, (the best security of a free people,) 
 without either cannon or bayonets, was, on the 
 16th day of August, led on to the attack by 
 their bold commanders, in the face of the ene- 
 my's dreadful fire, (and to the astonishment of 
 the world, and burlesque of disciphne) carried 
 every part of their lines in less than one quar- 
 ter of an hour after the attack became general, 
 took their cannon, killed and captivated more 
 than two thirds of their number, which im- 
 mortalized General Stark, and made Benning- 
 ton famous to posterity. 
 
 Among the enemy's slain was found Colonel 
 Baura, their commander, a Colonel Pfejter, 
 who headed an infamous gang of tories, and a 
 large part of his command ; and among the 
 
 1 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 115 
 
 prisoners was Major Meibome, their second 
 in command, a number of British and Hessian 
 officers, surgeons, &c., and more than one 
 hundred of the afore-m^ntioned Pfester's com- 
 mand. The prisoners being collected togeth- 
 er, were sent to the meeting-house in the 
 town, by a strong guard, and General Stark, 
 not imagining any present danger, the militia 
 scattered from him to rest and refresh them- 
 selves ; in this situation he was on a sudden 
 iattacked by a reinforcement of eleven hundred 
 of the enemy, commanded by a Governor 
 Skene, with two field pieces. They advanced 
 in regular order, and kept up an incessant fire, 
 especially from their field pieces, and the re- 
 maining militia retreating slowly before them, 
 disputed the ground inch by inch. The ene- 
 my were heard to halloo to them, saying, 
 *' stop Yankies.*' 
 
 In the mean time Colonel Warner, with 
 about one hundred and thirty men of his regi- 
 ment, (who were not in the first action) arrived 
 and attacked the enemy with great fury (being 
 determined to have ample revenge on account 
 of the late quarrel at Hubberdton) which 
 brouglu them to a stand, and soon after Gen. 
 Stark and Col. Herrick brought on more of 
 the scattered militia, and the action became 
 general ; in a few minutes the enemy were 
 forced from their cannon, gave way on all 
 
116 NARRATIVE OP 
 
 parts and fled, and the shouts of victory were 
 a second time proclaimed in favor of the 
 militia. The enemy's loss in killed and pris- 
 oners, in these two actions, amounted to more 
 than twelve hnndred men, and our loss did 
 not exceed fifty men. This was a bitter stroke 
 to the enemy, but their pride would not per- 
 mit them to hesitate but that they could van- 
 quish the country, and as a specimen of their 
 arrogancy, I shall insert General Burgoyne's 
 
 PROCLAMATION. 
 
 "By John Burgoyne, Esquire^ Lieutenant- 
 General of his Majesty'' s armies in America, 
 Colonel of the Queen's regiment of light 
 dragoons, Governor of Fort William in 
 Jforth Britain, one of the Representatives 
 of the Commons of Great Britain in Par- 
 liament, and commanding an army and 
 fleet employed on an expedition from Can- 
 ada, ^c. ^c. ^c. 
 
 '' The forces entrusted to my command 
 are designed to act in concert and upon a com- 
 mon principle, with the numerous armies and 
 fleets which already display in every quarter 
 of America, the power, the justice, and when 
 properly sought, the mercy of the king. 
 
 '' The cause in which the British arms are 
 thus exerted, applies to the most affecting in- 
 terests of the human heart ; and the military 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 117 
 
 servants of the crown, at first called forth for 
 the purpose of restoring the rights of the con- 
 stitution, now combine with love of their 
 country, and duty to their sovereign, the other 
 extensive incitements which spring from a due 
 sense of the general privileges of mankind. 
 To the eyes and ears of the temperate part of 
 the pubhc, and to the breasts of suffering thou- 
 sands in the provinces, be the melancholy ap- 
 peal, whether the present unnatural rebellion 
 has not been made a foundation for the 
 complelest system of tyranny that ever God 
 in his displeasure, suffered for a time to be 
 exercised over a froward and stubborn gener- 
 ation. 
 
 " Arbitrary Imprisonment, confiscation of 
 property, persecution and torture, unprece- 
 dented in the inquisitions of the Romish church, 
 are among the palpable enormities that verify 
 the affirmative. These are inflicted by as- 
 semblies and committees, who dare to profess 
 themselves friends to liberty, upon the most 
 quiet subjects, without distinction of age or 
 sex, for the sole crime, often for the sole sus- 
 picion, of having adhered in principle to the 
 government under which they were born, and 
 to which by every tie, divine and human, they 
 owe allegiance. To consummate these shock- 
 ing proceedings, the profanation of religion is 
 added to the most profligate prostitution of 
 
lis NARRATIVE OF 
 
 common reason ; the consciences of men are 
 set at nought ; and multitudes are compelled 
 not only to bear arms, but also to swear sub- 
 jection to an usurpation they abhor. 
 
 '' Animated by these considerations ; at the 
 head of troops in the full powers of health, 
 discipline, ^nd valor ; determined to strike 
 where necessary, and anxious to spare where 
 possible. I by these presents invite and exhort 
 all persons, in all places where the progress 
 of this army may point, — and by the blessing 
 of God I will extend it far, — to maintain such 
 a conduct as may justify me in protecting their 
 lands, habitations and families. The intention 
 of this address is to hold forth security, not 
 depredation to the country. To those whom 
 spirit and principle may induce to partake the 
 glorious task of redeeming their countrymen 
 from dungeons, and re-establishing the bless- 
 ings of legal government, I offer encourage- 
 ment and employment ; and upon the first in- 
 telligence of their associations, I will find 
 means to assist their undertakings. The do- 
 mestic, the industrious, the infirm, and even 
 the timid inhabitants, I am desirous to protect, 
 provided they remain quietly at their houses ; 
 that they do not suffer their cattle to be re- 
 moved, nor their corn or forage to be secreted 
 or destroyed ; that they do not break up their 
 bridges or roads ; nor by any other act, di- 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 119 
 
 i^ctly or indirectly, endeavor to obstruct the 
 operations of the king's troops, or supply or 
 assist those of the enemy. Every species of 
 provision brought to my camp, will be paid 
 for at an equitable rate, and in solid coin. 
 
 " In consciousness of Christianity, my royal 
 master's clemency, and the honor of soldier- 
 ship, I have dwelt upon this invitation, and 
 wished for more persuasive terms to give it 
 impression. And let not people be led to 
 disregard it, by considering their distance from 
 the immediate situation of my camp. I have 
 but to give stretch to the Indian forces under 
 my direction, and they amount to thousands, 
 to overtake the hardened enemies of Great 
 Britain and America : I consider them the 
 same wherever they may lurk. 
 
 " If notwithstanding these endeavors, and 
 sincere inchnations to effect them, the phrenzy 
 of hostility should remain, I trust I shall stand 
 acquitted in the eyes of God and men, in de- 
 nouncing and executing the vengeance of the 
 state against the wilful outcasts. The mes- 
 sengers of justice and of wrath await thera 
 in the field ; and devastation, famine, and ev- 
 ery concomitant horror that a reluctant but 
 indispensable prosecution of military duty must 
 occasion, will bear the way to their return. 
 J. BURGOYNE. 
 
 By order of His Excellency the Lieutenant General, 
 
 ROBERT KINGSl^ON, Sec. 
 Camp near Ticonderoga, 4th July, 1777. 
 
120 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 General Burgoyne was still the toast; and 
 the severities towardi the prisoners were in 
 great measure increased or diminished, in pro- 
 portion to the expectation of conquest. His 
 very ostentatious Proclamation was in the 
 hand and mouth of most of the soldiery, es- 
 pecially the tories, and from it their faith was 
 raised to assurance. I wish my countrymen 
 in general could but have an idea of the as- 
 suming tyranny, and haughty, malevolent, and 
 insolent behavior of the enemy at that time ; 
 and from thence discern the intolerable calam- 
 ities which this country have extricated them- 
 selves from by their public spiritedness and 
 bravery. The downfall of General Burgoyne 
 and surrender of his whole army, dashed the 
 aspiring hopes and expectations of the enemy, 
 and brought low the imperious spirit of an 
 opulent, puissant and haughty nation, and 
 made the tories bite the ground with anguish, 
 exalting the valor of the free-born sons of 
 America, and raised their fame and that of 
 their brave commanders to the clouds, and 
 immortalized General Gates with laurels of 
 eternal duration. 
 
 No sooner had the knowledge of this inter- 
 esting and mighty event reached His Most 
 Christian Majesty, who in Europe shines with 
 a superior lustre in goodness, policy and arms, 
 but the illustrious potentate, auspiciously in- 
 
tTHAN ALLEN. 121 
 
 Huenced by Heaven to promote the reciprocal 
 interest and happiness of the ancient kingdom 
 of France, and the new and rising States of 
 America, passed the great and decisive de- 
 cree, that the United Sta,tes of America, 
 should be Free and Independent. Vaunt 
 no more Old England ! consider you are but 
 an island ! and that your power has been con- 
 tinued longer than the exercise of your hu- 
 manity. Order your broken and vanquished 
 battalions to retire from America, the scene 
 of your cruelties. Go home and repent in 
 dust and sackloth for your aggravated crimes. 
 The cries of bereaved parents, widows, and 
 orphans, reach the Heavens, and you are 
 abominated by every friend to America. Take 
 your friends tiie tories with you, and be gone, 
 and drink deep of the cup of humiliation. 
 Make peace with the princes of the house of 
 Bourbon, for you are in no condition to wage 
 war with them. Your veteran soldiers are 
 fallen in America, and your glory is departed. 
 Be quiet and pay your debts, especially for 
 the hire of the Hessians. There is no other 
 way for you to get into credit again, but by 
 reformation and plain honesty, which you 
 have despised ; for your power is by no means 
 sufficient to support your vanity. I have had 
 opportunity to see a great deal of it, and felt 
 its severe effects, and learned lessons of wis- 
 11 
 
122 NARRATIVE OF 
 
 dom and policy, when I wore your heavy 
 irons, and bore your bitter revilings and re- 
 proaches. I have something of a smattering 
 of philosophy, and understand human nature 
 in all its stages tolerably well ; am thoroughly 
 acquainted with your national crimes, and 
 assure you that they not only cry aloud for 
 Heaven's vengeance, ^but excite mankind to 
 rise up against you. Virtue, wisdom and 
 policy, are in a national sense always connect- 
 ed with power, or in other words, power is 
 their offspring, and such power as is not di- 
 rected by virtue, wisdom and policy, never 
 fails finally to destroy itself as yours has done. 
 It is so in the nature of things, and unfit that 
 it should be otherwise ; for if it was not so, 
 vanity, injustice, and oppression, might reign 
 triumphant forever. 1 know you have indi- 
 viduals, who still retain their virtue, and con- 
 sequently their honor and humanity. Those 
 I really pity, as they must more or less suffer 
 in the calamity, in which the nation is plunged; 
 but as a nation I hate and despise you. 
 
 My affections are Frenchified. I glory in 
 Louis the sixteenth, the generous and power- 
 ful ally of th^'se States ; am fond of a connec- 
 tion with so enterprising, learned, polite, cour- 
 teous, and commercial a nation, and am sure 
 that I express the sentiments and feelings of 
 all the friends to the present revolution. I 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 123 
 
 begin to learn the French tongue, and recom- 
 mend it to my countrymen before Hebrew, 
 Greek or Latin, (provided but one of them 
 only are to be attended to) for the trade and 
 commerce of these States in future must inev- 
 itably shift its channel from England to France, 
 Spain and Portugal ; and therefore the states- 
 man, politician and merchant, need be ac- 
 quainted with their several languages, particu- 
 larly the French, which is much in vogue in 
 most parts of Europe. Nothing could have 
 served so effectually to illuminate, polish and 
 enrich these States as the present revolution, 
 as well as preserve their liberty. Mankind 
 are naturally too national, even to the degree 
 of bigotry, and commercial intercourse with 
 foreign nations has a great and necessary ten- 
 dency to improve mankind, and erase the su- 
 perstition of the mind by acquainting them 
 that human nature, policy and interest, are the 
 same in all nations, and at the same time they 
 are bartering commodities for the conveniences 
 and happiness of each nation, they may recip- 
 rocally exchange such part of their customs 
 and manners as may be beneficial, and learn 
 to extend charity and good will to the whole 
 world of mankind. 
 
 I was confined in the provost-gaol at New 
 York the 26th day of August, and continued 
 there to the third day of May, 1778, when [ 
 
124 NARRATIVE OP 
 
 was taken out under guard, and conducted to 
 a sloop in the harbor at New York, in which 
 I was guarded to Staten Island, to General 
 Campbell's quarters, where I was admitted to 
 eat and drink with the General a^d several 
 other of the British field officers, and treated 
 for two days in a polite manner. As I was 
 drinking wine with them one evening, J made 
 an observation on my transition from the pro- 
 vost-criminals to the company of gentlemen, 
 adding, that I was the same man still, and 
 should give the British credit by him, (speak- 
 ing to the General) for two days' good usage. 
 The next day Colonel Archibald Campbell 
 (who was exchanged for me) came to this 
 place, conducted by Mr. Boudinot, the then 
 American commissary of prisoners, and sa- 
 luted me in a handsome manner, saying that 
 he never was more glad to see any gentleman 
 in his life. I gave him to understand that I 
 was equally glad to see him, and was appre- 
 hensive that it was from the same motive. 
 The gentlemen present laughed at the fancy, 
 and conjectured that sweet liberty was the 
 foundation of our gladness ; so we took a glass 
 of wine togetjier, and then I was accompanied 
 by General Campbell, Col. Campbell, Mr. 
 Boudinot, and a number of British officers, to 
 the boat, which was ready to sail to Eliza- 
 bethtown Point. Meanwhile I entertained 
 
ETHAN ALLEN. 125 
 
 them with a rehearsal of the cruehies exercised 
 towards our prisoners ; and assured them that 
 I should use my influence that their prisoners 
 should be treated in future in the same manner 
 as they should in future treat ours ; that I 
 thought it was right, in such cases, that their 
 example should be applied to their own pris- 
 oners ; then exchanged the decent ceremonies 
 of compliment, and parted. I sailed to the 
 Point aforesaid, and in a transport of joy, 
 landed on liberty ground ; and as I advanced 
 into the country, received the acclamations of 
 a grateful people. 
 
 I soon fell into company with Colonel Shel- 
 den, of the light horse, who, in a polite and 
 obliging manner, accompanied me to head 
 quarters,' Valley Forge, where I was cour- 
 teously received by General Washington, 
 wjth peculiar marks of his approbation and 
 esteem, and was introduced to most of the 
 Generals and many of the principal officers of 
 the army, who treated me with respect ; and 
 after having offered General Washington my 
 further service, in behalf of my country, as 
 soon as my health (which was much impaired) 
 would admit, and obtained his license to return 
 home, 1 took my leave of his Excellency, and 
 set out from Valley Forge with General Gates 
 and his suite for Fishkill, where we arrived 
 the latter end of May. In this tour the Gen* 
 1^ 
 
126 - Allen's narrative. 
 
 eral was pleased to treat me with the familiarity 
 of a companion, and generosity of a lord ; 
 and to him I made known some striking cir- 
 cumstances which occurred in the course of 
 my captivity. I then bid farewell to my noble 
 General and the gentlemen of his retinue, and 
 set out for Bennington, the capital of the 
 Green Mountain Be ys, where I arrived the 
 evening of the last day of May to their great 
 surprise ; for I was to them as one rose from 
 the dead, and now their joy and mine was 
 complete. Three cannon were fired that eve- 
 ning, and next morning Col. Herrick gave 
 orders, and fourteen more were discharged, 
 welcoming me to Bennington, my usual place 
 of abode ; — thirteen for the United States, and 
 one for young Vermont. 
 
 After this ceremony was ended, we moved 
 the flowing bowl ; and rural felicity, sweetened 
 with friendship, glowed in each countenance ; 
 and, with loyal healths to the rising States of 
 America, concluded that evening ; and with 
 the same loyal spirit, I now conclude my 
 narrative. 
 
LIBHAHY Uh CONGRESS 
 
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