In 1775, three weeks after the war began between the American colonies and Great Britain, patriots from New England quietly prepared to capture the British artillery at Ticonderoga and Crown Point on Lake Champlain before those forts heard that war had broken out at Lexington & Concord on April 19th.
At a council of war held in Castleton, Vermont, several hours before the first of two forts were liberated, Ethan Allen was chosen to lead the expedition.
Allen sent Samuel Herrick with 30 Green Mountain Boys to seize boats at Skenesborough (now Whitehall, NY) at the south end of the lake and dispatched “Major Beach” to call patriots to Shoreham for the expedition.
Beach ran from Castleton village to Rutland, Pittsford, Brandon, Salisbury, Middlebury, Cornwall, Whiting, and through Shoreham to Hand’s Cove on the east shore of Lake Champlain to gather more Green Mountain Boys to join the expedition (already made of Connecticut and Massachusetts militiamen) at Hand’s Cove.
During the successful operation, the Patriots (including a late arriving Benedict Arnold) liberated 78 cannon from Ticonderoga on May 10th and 111 cannon from Crown Point on May 11th.
Of these 189 artillery pieces, 59 were hauled overland to Boston by Henry Knox‘s “Noble Train,” resulted in the end of the British naval blockade of Boston Harbor.
This event was celebrated in 1925, 1953, and 1975 – and will be again for its 250th anniversary on Friday, May 9, 2025.
A parade will be held at 6 pm (rain or shine) down Main Street in Castleton, Vermont, with participants from Castleton’s American Legion post, the Castleton Historical Society, the Noah Lee Masonic Lodge, the Ann Story Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, the Vermont Society Sons of the American Revolution, the Castleton Woman’s Club, and the Crown Point Road Association.
The parade will be begin at the former Village School and proceed down Main Street to the Castleton Village Green. The first 150 children to assemble for the parade will be given a United States flag to wave en route.
The rest of Friday’s program will take place in daylight on the Green (or inside Federated Church of Castleton in the event of downpour) – bring lawn chairs.
Vermont State Representative Zachary Harvey will read a one-page state legislative resolution, to honor the 250th anniversary of the May 1775 achievements of Green Mountain Boys. At around 7 pm, master of ceremonies Mike Jones will introduce a live dramatization portraying the final decisions of the Green Mountain Boys, only hours before they completed their clandestine approach to Fort Ticonderoga.
Ten men will play the roles of 1775 Green Mountain Boys secretly meeting in Zadock Remington’s tavern at Castleton. In the old churchyard cemetery, where eleven Revolutionary War patriots are buried, representatives from eleven organizations will stand beside their graves and mark them with Green Mountain Boys flags, followed by musket and rifle salutes.
The next morning, Saturday, May 10, 2025, the public is invited to cheer a dozen cyclists who will depart the Castleton Village Green at 9 am to follow Beach’s route. They will be led initially by Mike Canty of Proctor, who launched the May 9, 1975 re-enactment of the 60+ mile run completed by Gershom Beach (or perhaps his son, Major Samuel Beach) on May 9, 1775.
The public celebrations of Ethan Allen in Castleton on May 9, 1925, in 1953, and on May 9, 1975 are well-documented by old news articles, photographs, and souvenir programs. The town’s Castleton Bicentennial Committee enlisted then 25-year-old Mike Canty to portray Major Beach at the start of his run from Castleton village 50 years ago.
The Town of Castleton and the Castleton campus of Vermont State University are co-sponsoring this free-admission public celebration.
Illustrations, from above: Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys (by Benson Lossing); Benedict Arnold at the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga; and Green Mountain Boys 100th anniversary flag.
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