Ethan Allen & the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga: America's First Victory

By Richard B. Smith

In April 1775, a small band of men set out from Hartford and traveled swiftly north toward the shore of Lake Champlain, recruiting men to their expedition along the way.

Within only a few days, this loyal group of volunteers arrived in Vermont and, joining forces with Ethan Allen and his legendary Green Mountain Boys, launched a daring attack to capture more than one hundred cannons stored at Fort Ticonderoga. In this comprehensive look at "America's First Victory," Richard Smith traces the Patriots' route from Connecticut, through the towns of western Massachusetts and the Berkshire hills and north to Bennington, Vermont, and Lake Champlain. He chronicles the rival expedition led by Benedict Arnold, his confrontation with Allen and the surprise attack that changed the course of the American Revolution.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Apr 30, 2010
• ISBN: 9781614231080

Richard B. Smith

Throughout his corporate career, Dick Smith has been interested in history. Dick has created historical maps and self-guided tours of Vermont that have been published and distributed throughout the Northeast. Both of Dick's previous books, The Revolutionary War in Bennington County: A History and Guide and Ethan Allen and the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga: America's First Victory, have been on bestseller lists and recommended by Vermont Public Radio (VPR), and he has appeared on VPRs radio show Vermont Edition. A past president of the Manchester Historical Society, Dick is currently serving his third three-year term as a trustee of the Vermont Historical Society. For more than twenty years, he has been giving history tours and has appeared on WCAX TV for these tours. Acting as host, his award-winning public television history series, History Where It Happened, was filmed throughout Vermont. He has made presentations in New England and New York. He earned degrees in engineering and management from Lehigh University and an advanced degree in economics from Columbia University. He resides in Manchester, Vermont, with his wife, Sharon.