696 [Assembly 



L 



4 



and if practicable to execute the' plan. In the county of Berk- 

 shire a small force was collected, and at Bennington the daring 

 spirit and powerful influence of Ethan Allen were promptly en- 

 listed in the enterprise. On the 7th of May, 1775, an intrepid 

 band of two hundred and seventy volunteers, devoted to this 

 daring purpose, and all of which, except forty, were from the 

 Green mountains, had assembled in Castleton. 



At this moment Arnold, invested with plenary powers from the 

 Massachusetts Committee of Safety, to accomplish the same object^ 

 appeared upon the stage and claimed precedence in the command of 

 the expedition. The contest which ensued and which threatened a 

 fatal result to the whole enterprise, was terminated by the troops 

 refusing to march, except under the guidance of Allen, their tried 

 and cherished leader. Arnold, constrained to acquiesce in the deci- 

 sion, joined the force as an aid to the commander. Noah Phelps, 

 a name that national gratitude should commemorate, one of the 

 committee from Connecticut, assuming the garb and deportment 

 of a settler, boldly entered the fort at Ticonderoga, and there ex- 

 hibiting extreme ignorance and simplicity, and with the pretence 

 of seeking a barber, wandered unsuspected about the works, and 

 thus obtained an ample knowledge of the condition and forces of 

 the fortress. 



The garrison was slumbering in profound security. To procure 

 the means of transporting the troops, Herrick had been sent to 

 Skeenesboro, and Baker was to join them from Otter creek, but 

 when the forces, in the night of the 9th, reached Shoreham, oppo- 

 site to Ticonderoga, neither had returned with the necessary boats. 

 Seizing those which could be reached, Allen boldly decided to 

 proceed. The landing was effected at a little cove, a mile north 

 of the fort. As the dawn of morning appeared, only eighty 

 three men had reached the western shore, yet Allen knowing 

 that delay would imperil the issue, determined at once to advance 

 to the assault. The story of the gallant deed, to which the history 

 of the world scarcely presents a parallel, need not here be repeated. 

 The fortress which had cost so much blood and treasure, was won 

 by the little band, in a bloodless triumph '' in the name of Je- 

 hovah and the Continental Congress." Warner was despatched 



