Ethan Allen, known for his role in securing the recognition of Vermont as a separate state, was born 10 January 1737 or 1738, in Litchfield, Connecticut, the oldest son of Joseph and Mary Baker Allen. Little is known of his youth; he is said to have been preparing for college when his father died in 1755.
During the French and Indian War he served at Fort William Henry in 1757, and by 1769 probably was resident in the New Hampshire Grants, the name then given to Vermont. Here controversy between New York and New Hampshire, both of which claimed the Vermont area, led to petty warfare against settlers from New York. This fighting, on the Vermont side, was carried on by the Green Mountain Boys, organized 1770 with Ethan Allen as "Colonel Commandant." His effectiveness is witnessed by the 29 pound reward placed on his head by Governor Tryon of New York in December 1771, a bounty increased to 100 pounds in March 1774.
At a meeting of Vermont leaders at Westminster in April 1775, Allen was appointed to a committee to draw up a remonstrance to the King, but the new of the Battle of Lexington temporarily diverted locai interest. Allen and his Green Mountain Boys were ordered to take Fort Ticonderoga in concert with a force from Massachusetts commanded by Benedict Arnold. The capture was achieved without bloodshed on 10 May 1775.
In September 1775 Allen headed an expedition to Canada and was captured during an attempted surprise attack on Montreal. Held prisoner for two years, some of which was spent in England, Allen was exchanged at New York on 6 May 1778 and was given the rank of Brevet Colonel by George Washington.
Taking no further part in the Revolution, Allen returned to Vermont and participated in local affairs. In September 1778 he presented Vermont's claims to separate statehood to the Continental Congress, but without success. Given the rank of Major-General in the Vermont militia, he resumed the raids on New York settlers, and in July 1780 he received a letter which opened a correspondence with General Haldimand, commander of the British forces in Canada. This correspondence led to the implication of Allen and his brothers, Ira and Levi, in an attempt to negotiate a treaty making Vermont a province of Great Britain. It is not known whether this attempt was genuine or simply a device to force Congress to recognize Vermont as a separate state.
In 1787, Ethan Allen moved to Burlington, Vermont where he died on 12 February 1789. Allen was the father of five children by Mary Bronson, his wife from 1762 until her death in 1783, and of three children by Mrs. Frances Montresor Buchanan, whom he married in 1784.