The eight-foot-tall Carrara marble statue, carved in Italy from a design by Boston sculptor Peter Stephanson, is situated in Burlington’s Greenmount Cemetery on Colchester Avenue. It sits atop a thirty-five foot column fashioned of Barre granite, which rests upon a granite base. (Fun fact: It’s likely that the granite used for the base was salvaged from the ruins of the second Vermont State House, which burned down in 1857.)

STORIES SEALED AND FENCED IN

The base of the statue bears inscriptions on each of its four sides and is embedded with a “time capsule.” According to an article that ran in the Burlington Free Press on July 5, 1873, the capsule contains several books about the life of Ethan Allen, literary periodicals and magazines of the day, Vermont newspapers, Appleton’s Railroad Guide, Walton’s Vermont Register, specimens of paper currency, photographs of Ethan Allen’s handwriting and autograph, various plant seeds, and the program from the monument dedication.

Enclosing the obelisk is a remarkable hand-forged iron fence. The Argus and Patriot newspaper at the time of the dedication described it as being “composed of four iron cannons with balls in the muzzles at the corners while the intervening spaces are filled with a stand of eighty-eight iron muskets with bayonets fixed, over which boys cannot easily climb.”

The eight-foot-tall marble statue of Ethan Allen sits atop a thirty-five-foot granite column. The resulting statue depicts Allen in one of his most historic and triumphant moments, when he and his Green Mountain Boys captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British in 1775. 

A FESTIVE DAY FOR BURLINGTON

The unveiling ceremony for the statue took place on July 4, 1873, in a twelve-acre acre field in Burlington with seating for almost 2,000. A nephew of Ethan Allen and numerous veterans of the War of 1812 attended the ceremony, along with countless civic groups, cornet bands, fire departments, and a citizen contingent of over 500 carriages. At final tally, it was estimated that 10,000 were present for the ceremony.

The opening procession, which assembled in City Hall Park and marched around the square and then from College Street through Colchester Avenue to Greenmount Cemetery, included the Burlington Police, the St. Albans Fife and Drum Band, and the First Regiment Vermont Militia.

Two brass field pieces captured by General Stark at the Battle of Bennington were part of the parade and were escorted by a detachment of sixteen men dressed in the uniform of the Continental Army: cocked hat, dress coat, buff vest, and knee breeches.

At the unveiling of the statue, the poem “God and Our Country” by Oliver Wendell Holmes, which had been set to music, was sung by the St. Albans Glee Club and the Harmonic Society of Burlington.

Fort Ticonderoga, built by the French near the south end of Lake Champlain and occupied by the British until captured by the Americans in 1775. 

DELAYS, DRAMA, AND DEDICATION

As an artillery shell exploded from the brass field pieces, the drapery that shrouded the monument parted, revealing the statue, amid cheers from the assembled throng. The soldiers saluted by presenting arms, and the formal presentation continued with an address by John Pomeroy, chair of the monument committee, who candidly explained why the monument, which had been approved in 1855, had not been dedicated until 1873.

Pomeroy explained that the committee charged with planning the monument had called for artists to submit their designs for a “heroic statue” and selected the model submitted by a young Brattleboro artist, Larkin Mead. When the plan to raise funds by asking each Vermonter to contribute a dollar fell short, the legislature hijacked the committee’s plans and commissioned the Larkin Mead statue of Ethan Allen for the Vermont State House portico.

In addition, one of the prominent members of the monument committee, environmentalist George Perkins Marsh, was appointed as U.S. Minister to Italy for twelve years, further stymying the committees efforts.

The Civil War also proved to be a distraction to the completion of the monument, but Pomeroy admitted that the delay was not entirely without benefit, as the initial $3,000 appropriation had been profitably invested.

 The iron fence surrounding the Ethan Allen memorial is composed of four iron cannons and a stand of iron muskets with bayonets fixed.

 It is believed that no portrait of Allen was ever made. The one above was copied from his heroic statue in Montpelier.

A VICTORY IMMORTALIZED IN STONE

However, by 1872, there was enough money in the bank to order the marble statue from the Italian firm of Cassoni and Isola of Carrara. The resulting statue depicts Allen in one of his most historic and triumphant moments, when he and his Green Mountain Boys captured Fort Ticonderoga from the British in 1775. This was a pivotal moment in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War and was the first significant victory of the Continental Army. This early triumph boosted the morale of the American forces and demonstrated that the British could be defeated. It also interrupted the advance of the redcoats and provided the rebel army with a staging ground for the invasion of Quebec, expanding the scope of the conflict and putting additional pressure on British forces in Canada.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF PAUL HELLER