The Biographical Dictionary of America/Allen, Ebenezer

ALLEN, Ebenezer, pioneer, was born in Northampton, Mass., Oct. 17, 1743. He was a blacksmith and in 1762 married a Miss Richards at New Marlboro, Mass. In 1768 he removed to Bennington, Vt., and in 1771 to Poultney, Vt. He was a soldier with Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga and with Colonel Warner in Canada in 1755. He removed to Tinmouth, Vt., and was a delegate to the several conventions of 1776, looking to an independent state government. In 1777 he helped to frame the constitution of the new state; and the same year distinguished himself as captain of minutemen at the battle of Bennington. He was promoted major of rangers, and afterwards colonel in the state service. He in September, 1777, made with forty men an attack on Mount Defiance, and captured the garrison of two hundred men, and had turned the guns upon Fort Ticonderoga when his superior officer declined to continue the attempt to capture the fort. In November of the same year, after the abandonment of the fort, Major Allen cut off the rear guard of the retreating British troops and captured forty-nine "redcoats." Among his prisoners was Diana Morris and her infant child, negro slaves of a British officer. As the constitution he had so recently helped to frame for the state forbade the holding of slaves, Major Allen gave them a certificate of emancipation. He commanded Fort Vergennes in 1778-'79, serving the latter year on the board of war. In 1780 he aided Governor Clinton, of New York, in intercepting Sir John Johnson in his raid from Canada, and continued on duty until the close of the war. Died at Burlington, Vt., March 26, 1806.