Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Poetry and Incidents., Volume 1.
Frank Moore, Ed.

Historical Parallels.--The first collision of our fathers with the British after the battle of Lexington, and the first decided military success of the war, was the capture of Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and a British armed vessel on Lake Champlain, which was achieved on the 10th of May following by the Vermont hero, Col. Ethan Allen, at the head of a force of Green Mountain Boys. Massachusetts has matched the 19th of April, 1775, with the 19th of April, 1861; so Vermont now matched the 10th of May, 1775, with the 10th of May, 1841, for on that day, Capt. Lyon, a Vermonter, and U. S. [96] commanding officer at St. Louis, surrounds the rebel camp threatening that city, and captures 800 men in arms. Lyon's exploit, like Allen's, was done mostly on his own responsibility, and without direct orders. Allen, when asked by the British commandant at Ticonderoga his authority for demanding its surrender, could only reply, “By the authority of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress;” and Capt. Lyon, in his summons to Gen. Frost, demands his surrender on general grounds only. Both Allen and Lyon took the enemy by surprise, who capitulated without striking a blow.