Russell's American Almanack for the Year of our Redemption, 1790

This small portrait—the only known image of Ethan Allen made during his lifetime—scarcely hints at the larger-than-life persona that made him a force to be reckoned with. Outraged by a court decision that would have stripped frontiersmen of land they were settling in the Green Mountains (now in Vermont), Allen spearheaded a campaign of resistance and intimidation. Emboldened by his successful attack on Fort Ticonderoga in May 1775, he made an impulsive attempt to seize Montreal four months later and was captured by the British. Upon his release, Allen published a scathing account of his two-and-a-half years of imprisonment, an excerpt of which appears in this issue of Russell’s American Almanack. Turning his attention to politics, Allen unsuccessfully lobbied Congress in 1778 for Vermont’s recognition as an independent state. Always controversial, he devoted his last years to writing radical theological treatises.