Vermont Green Mountain Boys

Date: 1775

Green field, with white stars in blue canton. [R33]

Ethan Allen and his Boys fought under the command of Col. John Stark, whose flag this was.

On May 10, 1775, they carried this banner in the battle of Ft. Ticonderoga. Captured arms were then transported over rugged snow-covered terrain to strengthen American fortifications at Boston, thus forcing the British troops to leave that important seaport.

The Green Mountain Boys participated in battles at Ft. Ticonderoga, Crown Point, Bunker Hill, Fort Edward, and Saratoga. The volunteers were from the hills of Vermont and New Hampshire. Vermont was not one of the original thirteen colonies. It became a state in 1791.

At the Battle of Bennington on Aug. 16, 1777, under Brigadier General John Start, a motley force of New England irregulars all but annihilated Gen. John Burgoyne's' Hessian troops.

The original canton is in a museum in Bennington, Vt. The field of green is missing.