An Alternate Account of Colonel Allen’s Words that Day

Title page to Robert O. Bascom's "The Ticonderoga Expedition of 1775," New York State Historical Society, 1901.

Foster, W. Bert. With Ethan Allen at Ticonderoga. Philadelphia, The Penn publishing company, 1903. Library of Congress.

Some sources indicate that Allen delivered a blunt and blasphemous demand to the British commander which he chose not to mention in his memoir.

"“[According to some accounts] Allen’s first exclamation when he reached the stairs that led to the apartment of Delaplace, the commandant, was, ‘Get out of here, you damned old rat!’ Later, when Delaplace appeared half dressed at his door and demanded the authority for such an astounding interruption, and Allen had time to sober down to realities, then he employed the famous phrase that has immortalized his name.”"

Recorded by James Holden

Sources

Bascom and Holden, p. 53.