Robert Rogers was born November 18, 1731. There is some debate on the place of his birth as his family moved from Methuen, Massachusetts to Londonderry, NH around that time. His parents, James and Mary (McFatridge) Rogers were Scottish Presbyterians from Northern Ireland, who emigrated to Massachusetts in the late 1720s. Rogers had 3 brothers: James, who served with Robert in Rogers Rangers during the French & Indian War, Richard, and John.
At the age of 7, the Rogers family moved to what would become Dunbarton, NH, which was past the existing line of settlements at the time, to farm. Following his families move to New Hampshire, Rogers's father James Rogers was accidentally killed when a friend and local hunter, Ebenezer Ayer, mistook James for a bear in the evening hours of the darkened woods and shot him. From then on, Robert Rogers took it upon himself to familiarize himself with the ways of the woods, such that through hunting, he became a provider for his family.
MAJ Robert Rogers
Early Military Career
King George's War (1744-1748), the third of the four French and Indian Wars, again caused the British provinces, to become vulnerable to attacks from French forces from Canada and their Native American allies.
In 1746, at the age of 14, Rogers joined Captain Daniel Ladd’s Scouting Company of the New Hampshire Militia. He served again in 1747, in Captain Ebenezer Eastman’s Scouting Company, until the onset of winter of that year. His service in both companies sent him ranging throughout the New Hampshire frontier in search of French and Indian raiding parties. In April of 1748, the Rogers farm was attacked during one of these raids, and, while the family escaped, the farm was burned, their cattle killed, and their fruit trees destroyed.
After the war, Rogers briefly attempted farming himself, giving it up to travel throughout the northern provinces and Canada, further strengthening his knowledge of the wilderness. It's not known exactly what Rogers was doing during this time, but it's speculated that he made a living in some aspect of the smuggling trade. Rogers himself said in his journals, “…my manner of life was such as led me to a general acquaintance both with the British and French settlements in North America, and especially with the unculticated desart, the mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes and several passes that lay between and contiguous to the said settlements."
In January of 1755, Robert Rogers was arrested, along with 18 others, for the distribution of forged currency. Rogers was jailed, but the case was never prosecuted as the French & Indian War began.
The French & Indian War
Following his release from jail, Rogers again enlisted in the New Hampshire Militia. Since he brought 50 New Hampshire men with him, including LT Timothy Bedel, Robert Rogers was immediately commissioned as the Captain of Company One by Governor Wentworth. Second Lieutenant John Stark of Rogers's company describes these men as, “…a band of rugged foresters, every man of whom, as a hunter, could hit the size of a dollar at a hundred yards’ distant; could follow the trail of man and beast; endure the fatigues of long marches, the pangs of hunger, and the cold of winter nights, often passed without fire, shelter, or covering, other than their common clothing, a blanket, perhaps a bearskin, and the boughs of the pine or hemlock.”
In 1756, these men were sent to the Coos region of New Hampshire to build a fort. From here they were ordered on to Albany, via the Fort at 4, then on to Fort Edward, where they arrived in August 1756. Here,they awaited the arrival of Major General William Johnson, Commander of the Provincial Army, from whom they were to receive further orders. General Johnson's arrival at Fort Edward was delayed due to a fight with the French near the southern end of Lake George. Here, Johnson heard reports that the French were constructing a new fort at Ticonderoga. Captain Rogers was sent to scout the region between the French Fort St. Frederick, at Crown Point, and Ticonderoga. Captain Rogers, who knew the region well, ventured out with three of his men to scout the French positions. Using the cover of the forests and the darkness of night to his benefit, Rogers crawled past French guards into and around the French camps observing their strength of numbers and defenses.
Within a few days, Rogers returned with a full report of the French positions and a confirmation that a new fort at Ticonderoga (Fort Carillon) was under construction. After his initial success, Captain Rogers ranged from Fort Edward a number of times, attacking French supply efforts both on land and on Lake Champlain, including during winter on the ice. His winter campaign earned him the French nickname of “White Devil.”
Robert Rogers' Rules of Ranging, 1757, is the basis for today's Army Ranger's Handbook.
His campaign of 1757 included the January Battle of the Snowshoes against a combined force of French Regulars, Canadian militia and Ottawa Indians from the Ohio region. Rogers often employed the tactic of ambush, and successfully captured a party of 7 Canadians, but then encountered a larger French force who pushed the fight. As the fight proceeded and his force took casualties, Rogers’s men, prepared for conditions and equipped with snowshoes, retreated over the waist deep snow, while the French unsuccessfully tried to make their way on foot.
By 1758, the importance of Ranger companies like that of Robert Rogers was recognized by both Colonial and British senior officers, and 12 Ranger companies were formed, each hand-picked by Rogers, who was promoted to the rank of Major. John Stark was one of those promoted to Captain and given his own company. However, Rogers retained command of his original company, even though he had been promoted.
Rogers and his Rangers took part in the fight for Fort Carillon in 1758, and from there, while British and Colonial forces invaded Quebec, Rogers Rangers were sent behind enemy lines to overtake and destroy the Abenakis village of Saint Francis. The fight here was vicious as the village was destroyed and numerous villagers were killed. Rogers retreated, but he was pursued by a large French force, including many of the male warriors of Saint Francis, prompting the Rangers to disperse, according to Rule 10: ”If the enemy is so superior that you are in danger of being surrounded by them, let the whole body disperse, and every one take a different road to the place of rendezvous appointed for that evening, which must every morning be altered and fixed for the evening ensuing, in order to bring the whole party, or as many of them as possible, together, after any separation that may happen in the day...”
Once Montreal fell to the British and colonials in 1760, the war in New England was at an end. However, Rogers Rangers were sent to Fort Pitt under the command of General Robert Monckton. From there, Rogers Rangers were dispatched to Detroit in November of 1760, which they took along with other French forts along the Great Lakes, including Fort Michilimackinac and Fort St. Joseph in 1761.
At this time Major Rogers’s command was disbanded. He was offered a company of Rangers in South Carolina, but instead, he took command of a company in New York until this company was disbanded and Rogers was forced to retire on half-pay when he returned to New Hampshire, got married and settled in Concord. However, in 1761, he accepted command of a company in North Carolina.
Post French & Indian War
In 1763, Rogers was called to action during Pontiac’s rebellion of 1763, where again he was sent to Detroit and participated in the Battle of Bloody Run. In 1765, Rogers went to England seeking additional pay from the British Government for his services. While there, his journals were published as “A Concise Account of North America” along with writing a play about Pontiacs Rebellion titled, “Ponteach or the Savages of America.” He also accepted an audience with King George II, where he pushed for an expedition to discover the infamous Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean. For this effort, Rogers was appointed Governor of Michilimackinac and given a charter to look for the passage.
Rogers returned to North America to take up the duties of Governor, but expeditions to find the Northwest Passage failed. Around this time, Rogers encounted Thomas Gage who had been named Commander of British forces in North America, replacing Rogers's friend, Commander Jeffery Amherst. Gage and Rogers were not friendly, and Gage had Rogers arrested for treason, after Rogers threatened to give the Northwest back to the French if his ideas on governance were not implemented by the British government. However, Rogers was acquitted and released, due to Amherst’s influences. However, having served time in prison pending his trial, Rogers again went to England, this time seeking financial restitution for the time he was in prison and threatening to sue Gage for false imprisonment. The two settled out of court and Rogers settled for a Major’s half-pay retirement.
American War for Independence
Rogers returned to the American colonies just after the Revolutionary War began. He first attempted to secure an officers commission in the American Army, but Americans arrested him as a British spy. He was released on parole with the condition that he would not take up arms against the Americans and offered a commission, which he then turned down, claiming he was an officer in the British Army. Oddly, he then wrote to George Washington requesting a commission, but Washington had him arrested again.
Rogers was not guarded well, and he escaped to the British side, where he formed a ranger regiment called the Queen’s Rangers (a Regiment of Loyalist Americans) and took command as their colonel. Robert Rogers was responsible for the entrapment and hanging of Nathan Hale as a spy on Long Island. By 1777, Rogers was forced out of the British Army and command of his regiment was given to a British officer, Lt. Col. John Graves Simcoe.
As Rogers could not return to his wife and child in New Hampshire, he left the continent again for England. His wife filed for divorce in 1775 because of his drunkenness and infidelity, which was finally allowed by the New Hampshire legislature in 1778 for reasons of abandonment.
Rogers again attempted to get involved in the war, by traveling to Nova Scotia in 1779 where he formed the King’s Rangers. However, his alcoholism quickly forced his retirement again, and his brother James took command of the regiment. On his return to England, the ship he was on was captured by an American privateer, and Robert Rogers was once again imprisoned in a New York jail. He escaped again in 1782 and eventually evacuated to England in 1783. He died on May 18, 1795 in poverty and obscurity and was buried in London.
Major Robert Rogers
1731-1795
