Emerging Revolutionary War welcomes back guest historian Evan Portman
Most historians credit Ann Pamela Cunningham with kickstarting the historic preservation movement with her purchase of Mount Vernon in 1858. However, preservation of historic sites began long before the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. In fact, the storied walls of Fort Ticonderoga became the object of a preservation movement 38 years before the Ladies’ Association purchased George Washington’s ancestral home.
Fort Ticonderoga—known as the Gibraltar of North America—played an integral role in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. The fort was originally constructed by the French in 1755 on a portage known to the Iroquois as ticonderoga, meaning a “land between two waters.” Fort Carillon, as it was known to the French, stood strategically between Lake Champlain and Lake George, thereby controlling both the Hudson River Valley and St. Lawrence River Valley. On July 8, 1758, an outnumbered French army successfully defended the fort against British forces in the bloodiest battle of the French and Indian War.[1] However, the following year British General Jeffery Amherst captured the fort and renamed it Fort Ticonderoga.[2]
By the American Revolution, the fort had fallen into disrepair but was still guarded by a small British garrison. In 1775, it was the scene of one of the most famous dramas in American history. On May 10, Col. Benedict Arnold and Col. Ethan Allen led a combined force of the Green Mountain Boys and Massachusetts and Connecticut militiamen across Lake Champlain to capture the fort. “Come out you old Rat!” Allen famously cried to the fort’s commander, Capt. William Delaplace, and demanded he surrender the garrison “in the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress.”[3] Delaplace agreed, and Ticonderoga quickly fell into American hands.
We take a break from our 250th Revelry series and jump back in time to the French and Indian War. This Sunday, June 29th at 7pm we will welcome Matt Gault, Director of Education at Fort Ligonier, to discuss the fort’s history and its role played during the Forbes Expedition of 1758. General John Forbes’ successful campaign culminated in the capture of French-held Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the Ohio, helping to turn the tide of the French and Indian War.
On this date 167 years ago, the infamous siege of Fort William Henry raged along the southern shore of Lake George, New York. For nearly a week the British and Colonial garrison inside the fort and outside its walls had endured through a near hopeless situation. Casualties had mounted, guns and mortars had burst from incessant firing, and the French siege lines had crawled to within 150 yards of the northwest bastion. Reinforcements were not coming to relieve the defenders. The following day, Lieutenant Colonel George Monro had little choice but to surrender his force under honorable terms to the French commander, General Montcalm. On August 10, the column marched out of the fort and nearby entrenched camp in route to Fort Edward. French-allied Indians fell upon the soldiers, and the women and children who accompanied them, and the “massacre” of Fort William Henry ensued.
The following letter with news relating to the siege, was written to George Washington on August 8, 1757. The author was Beverley Robinson, a Virginian who through marriage inherited a large swath of land in the Hudson Highlands of New York. During the Revolution, Robinson remained loyal to the Crown and was made colonel of the Loyal American Regiment in 1777. He was directly involved in the plot to turn Benedict Arnold. Through reasons not clear, Robinson and Washington became acquainted enough beforehand that during the French and Indian War, the former wrote the young Virginia soldier frequently.
“New York 8th Augt 1757
Dr Sir
The inclosed Lettrs came to my hands Yesterday by a Vassill from Halifax, they will I suppose give you all the News from that Quarter. Except the Arriva⟨l of⟩ the Highlanders wh. has been since they were wrote, all well and in good Order Lord Loudoun had not Left Halifax a fortnight ago.
we are now under the greatest apprehensions for fort Wm Henry having Certain Accots that it is Besieged by a Large Body of French & Indians & Mr Mont Calm himself at the head of them. a fryday Last the Express came away from fort Edward & they were then Very hotly Engaged—our Liut. Governer went up Last week to forward the Militia. Genl [William] Johnson was gone up with two thousand Militia & 100 Indians, and the Militia was going up from the adjacent Counties. Col. Young Command at Wm Henry he had Just got into that place with a Reinforcement of 1000 men. we hope the Best. I am Dr Sir Yr Humble Sert
[1] “To George Washington from Beverley Robinson, 8 August 1757,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-04-02-0239. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, vol. 4, 9 November 1756 – 24 October 1757, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1984, pp. 367–368.]
On this date in 1754, a young George Washington penned the letter below to Thomas Cresap explaining the difficulties of procuring supplies for the Virginian’s expedition to the Ohio River Valley. His main objective was to fortify the land at the confluence of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers – the “Forks of the Ohio.” The several hundred mile expedition would have to be made over treacherous terrain and through vast wildernesses, which meant a road needed to be cleared that could carry men, animals, and wagons. Years before, Cresap, while serving as an agent for the Ohio Company, had widened an old Indian trail leading to the west. Washington planned to utilize and improve this same route. That same day, he and 159 men under his command departed Winchester, Virginia, and began their march. Over a month later, they would fire the first shots of the French and Indian War at Jumonville Glen.
“Sir
The difficulty of getting Waggons has almost been insurmountable, we have found so much inconvenience attending it here in these roads that I am determined to carry all our provisions &c. out on horse back and should be glad if Capt. Trent with your Assistance would procure as many horses as possible against we arrive at Wills Creek that as little stoppage as possible may be made there. I have sent Wm Jenkins with 60 Yrds of Oznabrigs [Osnaburg] for Bags and hope you will be as expeditious as you can in getting them made and fill’d.
Majr Carlyle acquainted ⟨me⟩ that ⟨a number of kettles, tomhawks, best gun flints, and axes might be had⟩ from the Companys Store which we are much in ⟨want and s⟩hould be glad to have laid by ⟨for us, Hoes we sh⟩all also want, and several pair of Hand cuffs.
I hope all the Flower [flour] you have or can get you will save for this purpose and other provisions and necessary’s which you think will be of use (that may not occur to my memory at present) will be laid by till our Arrival which I expect will be at Job Pearsalls [20 miles from Wills Creek] abt Saturday night or Sunday next, at present I have nothing more to add than that I am Yr most Hble Servt
[i] “From George Washington to Thomas Cresap, 18 April 1754,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-01-02-0042. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, vol. 1, 7 July 1748 – 14 August 1755, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1983, pp. 82–83.]
This article by ERW’s William Griffith first appeared on the American Battlefield Trust’s websiteon January 4, 2021.The original link can be found here.
The French and Indian War was in its fifth full year, and the tables had turned in Britain’s favor. As the larger conflict, the Seven Years’ War, raged throughout the globe, in North America, the British were one swift strike away from conquering the continent. The French in the Ohio River Valley, Great Lakes region, and Upstate New York had been thrown back on their heels and sent scurrying north into Canada leaving the road open for a British thrust against Montreal and Quebec. For the summer of 1759, the latter city, the capital of New France, would be placed in the crosshairs by an army commanded by Major General James Wolfe. If Quebec, situated along the most important water highway in Canada, the Saint Lawrence River, should fall, the French in North America would be squeezed into the region around Montreal. Pending any catastrophic failures by Britain’s army and navy and their allies elsewhere in the world, it would only be a matter of time than before New France was conquered.
James Wolfe and His Army
Thirty-two year old James Wolfe had served in the British Army for almost eighteen years when he was given command of the roughly 9,000-man force that was tasked with defeating the French in and around Quebec City in 1759. He was hard-nosed and did not always get along with his subordinate generals, Robert Monckton, George Townshend, and James Murray. The previous year he had been a brigadier general under Jeffry Amherst during the successful siege and capture of the fortress city of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia, and afterward led a campaign of destruction against the fishing villages of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. He then returned to England and secured a major generalship and command of the Quebec expedition. He arrived in Halifax in April 1759 and began training his force and preparing plans for his campaign.
Wolfe’s army was composed predominantly of professional British soldiers. Several hundred North American ranger units also complimented his force, which he described as, “… the worst soldiers in the universe.” He did not have much respect for colonial troops. On June 26, Wolfe’s men began landing at Ile d’Orleans in the middle of the Saint Lawrence River just to the east of Quebec City. Across the river, the French commander, the Marquis de Montcalm, prepared to oppose them.
The Marquis de Montcalm and Quebec’s Defenders
Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm, had been in command of France’s regular troops in North America since 1756. During that time he had put together an impressive string of victories at places like Fort Oswego, Fort William Henry, and Fort Carillon. As the attack on Quebec loomed, he was given command of all military forces on the continent, including the Canadian militia and marines. The previous harvest had not been good in Canada, and his army and the civilians in the city were on short rations, but relief came during the spring of 1759 when ships arrived carrying food and supplies. With this, Montcalm was determined to hold onto the city at all costs. He dug trenches outside the city and along the Saint Lawrence’s northern shoreline extending for nearly ten miles, welcoming a frontal assault from Wolfe. His army, consisting of over 3,500 French regular troops, included thousands more Native American allies and Canadian militiamen who were not accustomed to fighting in open fields against professional enemy soldiers. This important disadvantage would play a large part in Montcalm’s ultimate defeat.
An engraving of General James Wolfe’s failed attack on the Montmorency River, July 31, 1859. Library of Congress
The Campaign
When General Wolfe’s army began landing at Ile d’Orleans and subsequently Point Levis (directly across the river from the city) to the east of Quebec, he had initially hoped to force a landing on the northern shore just a few miles downstream at Beauport. However, he quickly discovered that Montcalm had heavily fortified the landing site, throwing a monkey wrench into his plans. This did not deter Wolfe, however, and by July 12, he had placed ten mortars and cannon at Point Levis and began bombarding the city itself. More guns were brought up and the bombardment continued for weeks in an effort to demoralize those within Quebec City.
The best chance to defeat Montcalm was to force him out of his defenses and into an open field battle. Wolfe understood that his vigorously trained and superior disciplined regular troops would have the upper hand against lesser-numbered French regulars and their militia. His first attempt to accomplish this occurred on July 31, when he landed a force of grenadiers, light infantry, and rangers near Montmorency Falls further downstream from Beauport hoping to ford the Montmorency River and reach a position in the rear of the French lines. It failed miserably. Montcalm guessed correctly that an attack was coming from that direction and rushed men there to meet the enemy. The river’s tide prevented Wolfe from getting all of his troops in position on time and frontal assaults launched from the beach were beaten back with heavy losses. The British retreated, leaving behind 443 men killed and wounded. The first attempt to force a landing on the Quebec side of the river had failed, but it would not be the last. Wolfe turned his attention further upriver, where he hoped his prospects for victory would be more fruitful.
The Plains of Abraham
As the weeks passed following the debacle at Montmorency, the British probed the northern shore west of Quebec for a secure landing spot. During this time, Wolfe grew sick with a severe fever and kidney stones and believed his days were numbered. He recovered enough, however, to begin moving his army upriver about eight miles from the city not far across from Cap Rouge. It was decided that the landing would be made at Anse au Foulon, where a narrow gap and trail led to the top of the cliffs just two miles west of the city.
At four in the morning, September 13, Lieutenant Colonel William Howe (who would serve as the commander of the British Army in America during the Revolutionary War) came ashore with the light infantry and surprised and overwhelmed the enemy outpost above the landing site. The conditions for rowing the army into position that early morning had been perfect for Wolfe. Montcalm was caught off guard.
After securing the landing zone, Wolfe began moving his attack force of roughly 4,400 regulars onto the Plains of Abraham, an open field about a mile wide and a half a mile long in front of the city’s western defenses. Responding to the threat as quickly as could be done, Montcalm rushed some 1,900 French regulars and 1,500 militiamen and Native Americans to meet the British line. This was the open field fight that Wolfe had been yearning for ever since the campaign began.
Benjamin West’s depiction of the death of British General James Wolfe during the Battle of Quebec, painted in 1770. Wikimedia Commons
As the French commander formed his men up in a line of battle, the British waited patiently across the field to receive their attack. Montcalm ordered his troops forward, and almost immediately his militiamen’s lack of experience and training in open combat became apparent as their formations wavered and some failed to advance close enough to the enemy line to fire effectively. One British participant described what happened next:
The French Line began … advancing briskly and for some little time in good order, [but] a part of their Line began to fire too soon, which immediately catched throughout the whole, then they began to waver but kept advancing with a scattering Fire.—When they had got within about a hundred yards of us our Line moved up regularly with a steady Fire, and when within twenty or thrity yards of closing gave a general [fire]; upon which a total [rout] of the Enemy immediately ensued.
The battle was over in just fifteen minutes as the British swept forward, claiming the field and capturing hundreds of prisoners. Both sides each lost over 600 men killed and wounded, including both respective commanders. Wolfe was mortally wounded and died a hero on the field. Montcalm, too, was hit by grapeshot in the abdomen and died the next morning. Five days later, Quebec surrendered. The French retreated further downstream to Montreal, attacked and failed to retake Quebec the next spring, and surrendered in whole on September 8, 1760, effectively ending all major military operations in North America during the French and Indian War. The battle for the continent between Britain and France was over.
Join us this Sunday night at 7pm as we welcome Glenn F. Williams, PhD to our popular Sunday night Rev War Revelry! Glenn will examine the political and economic causes of the American Revolution beginning at the end of the Seven Years War / French and Indian War through the resistance movements. He will dispel or clarify some of the popular beliefs about the grievances that eventually led the thirteen colonies to break with the Mother Country. This will be a timely discussion as we approach the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Glenn Williams is a retired U.S. Army officer that until recently also enjoyed a “second career” as a military historian. He retired as a senior Historian after 18 years at the U.S. Army Center of Military History and 3 1/2 years as the historian of the American Battlefield Protection Program of the U.S. National Park Service.
Grab your favorite drink and tune in, we will be live so feel free to drop your questions in the live chat. If you are not able to tune in on Sunday, the video will be placed on our You Tube and podcast channels.
On this date 266-years ago, the infamous Massacre at Fort William Henry took place along the southern shore of Lake George, New York. After a week-long siege by the Marquis de Montcalm’s army of French Regulars, Canadians, and Native Allies, the British and Provincial garrison inside and outside the walls of Fort William Henry capitulated. The terms of surrender that followed were more than honorable. British, Colonial Provincials (from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York) and their camp followers would be allowed to withdraw, under French escort, to Fort Edward with full honors of war and were allowed to keep their muskets and a lone symbolic cannon. These men were not allowed to serve again for 18 months, and French prisoners were ordered to be turned over within the next three months.
On August 10, the column left the entrenched camp outside the fort (within modern-day Lake George Battlefield State Park) and entered the military road that would take them south to Fort Edward over a dozen miles away. What transpired next has been made famous by the novel and movie adaptations of James Fenimore Coopers The Last of the Mohicans. The French-allied Native Americans fell upon the column and the “Massacre” ensued. By the end of it, an estimated 185 men, women, and children had been killed, with countless others drug off in captivity.
Montcalm Trying to Stop the Massacre, 1877.
The British colonies were outraged. Those viciously attacked at the rear of the column were colonial provincials. The event became a rallying cry. What follows is a contemporary reaction from New York written in the wake of the Siege of Fort William Henry and reprinted in the Maryland Gazette on September 1, 1757. Its contents are extremely graphic in nature:
New-York, August 22
FORT WILLIAM HENRY, being on the third Instant besieged by a great Army of the French, was on the 9th Instant, after a vigorous Resistance, obliged to yield to the superior Force of the Enemy. Thus far is certain; but as to some Circumstances attending what follows, we wait for Confirmation. What at present is generally received among us, as Truth is, That the Enemy consisted of at least Eight Thousand Men; some make the Number much great, and carry it even to Fourteen or Fifteen Thousand: That the greatest Part were REGULAR TROOPS, to these were added about a Thousand FRENCH INDIANS, and that the Rest of their Army were CANADIANS. That our Garrison consisted of between two and three Thousand: That they sustained the Siege till they could hold no longer, and had burst the greatest Part of their Cannon, and spent almost all their Ammunition. How many of the Garrison were lost in the Siege, is not yet known (some say about One Hundred) nor the Number of the Enemy that were slain (but it is said about fourteen or fifteen Hundred:) That the Fort submitted upon a Capitulation, with Leave to march out with their Arms and Baggage, some Ammunition, one Piece of Cannon, and all the Honours of War. That the French IMMEDIATELY after the Capitulation, MOST PERSIDIOUSLY, let their INDIAN BLOOD-HOUNDS loose upon our People; whereupon a few ran off with their Arms, and light Cloathing that they had upon their Backs during the Siege, and were pursued by the Indians six or seven Miles on their Way to Fort-Edward; all the rest were despoiled of their Arms;—The most were stripped stark-naked; many were killed and scalped, Officers not excepted. All the English Indians and Negroes in the Garrison were seized, and either captivated or slain. The Throats of most, if not all the Women, were cut, their Bellies ripped open, their Bowels torn out, and thrown upon the Faces of their DEAD or DYING Bodies; and ‘tis said, that all the Women are murdered one Way or other: That the Children were taken by the Heels, and their Brains beat out against the Trees or Stones, and not one of them saved. Some of the Fugitives that reached New-York on this Day, affirm this, as what they saw, in the whole, or in great Part, executed before they escaped: The Report of such Cruelty and barbarity could hardly be believed, were we not assured of the terrible Massacre of several Hundreds of General BRADDOCK’s wounded men; of whom we hear not of one that survived the Carnage; were we not ALSO assured of the Murder of all the Sick and Wounded of the Garrison at Oswego, not withstanding the previous Capitulation.
‘Tis certain that the Growth of the British Colonies has long been the grand Object of FRENCH ENVY; and ‘tis said that their Officers have Orders from their Superiors, to check it at all Events, and to that End, to make the present War as bloody and destructive as possible! ‘Tis evident, that all their Measures tend the Way. Who can tell, that One of the Two Hundred that fell into their Hands in the last Month near Ticonderoga, has been spared? And is not every News-Paper still stained with the innocent Blood of Women and Children, and of unarmed Sufferers, who were plowing their Land, or gathering their Harvest, on our Frontiers?
To what a Pitch of Perfidy and Cruelty is that French Nation arrived! Would not an ancient Heathen shudder with Horror, on hearing so hideous a Tale! Is it the MOST CHRISTIAN KING that could give such Orders? Or could the most savage Nations ever exceed such French Barbarities! Besides this, was it ever known in the Pagan World, That Terms of Capitulation were not held inviolably sacred!
Surely, if any Nation under the Heavens was ever provoked to the most rigid Severities in the Conduct of a War, it is ours!—It is hard for an Englishman to kill his Enemy that lies at his Feet begging his Life: But will it not be STRICTLY JUST, and ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, from henceforward, that we (for our own Security and Self-preservation, and to prevent the further shedding on innocent Blood) make some severe Examples of our inhuman Enemies when they fall into our Hands? Will not our armed Men be obliged for the future to reject all Terms of Capitulation, and not to as Quarter; but on the contrary, to fell their Lives as dear as they can! CONSIDER OF IT, my Countrymen, TAKE ADVICE, AND SPEACK YOUR MINDS….
Young George Washington’s performance in the French and Indian War is largely viewed as one of failure and recklessness. His actions in the Ohio River Valley ignited a conflict in North America that in turn lit the world ablaze. He could boast of no great military laurels, other than that he had emerged unscathed from the bloody battle of the Monongahela, and that he had commanded colonial provincials in Gen. John Forbes’ successful campaign against Fort Duquesne. He left military service following the latter event, with his hopes of receiving a commission in His Majesty’s Army worthy of his merit dashed years before.
“Young George Washington” by Pamela Patrick White, White Historic Art (whitehistoricart.com)
However, one aspect of Washington’s service in the French and Indian War has been widely neglected. The commander of the Virginia Regiment was tasked with defending the western frontier from enemy raiding parties. It was an unenviable position that he tackled with limited resources. It was during this period that Washington began to develop the leadership qualities that would inspire others to follow him into the depths of Hell some twenty years later. On the last day of 1758, as Washington prepared to pursue a life outside of military greatness, the officers of the Virginia Regiment drew-up a heartfelt petition to urge the now 26 year-old colonel they had grown to admire to rescind his resignation. Below is that document:
“To George Washington Esqr. Collo. of the Virginia Regiment & Commander of all the Virginia Forces The humble Address of the Officers of the Virginia Regiment
Fort Loudoun, Dec. 31st 1758
Sir,
We your most obedient and affectionate Officers, beg Leave to express our great Concern, at the disagreeable News we h⟨ave received⟩ of your Determination to resign the Command of that Corps, in which we have under you long ⟨served⟩.
The ⟨happine⟩ss we have enjoy’d and the Honor we have acquir’d, together with the m⟨utua⟩l Regard that has always subsisted between you and your Off⟨icers,⟩ have implanted so sensible an Affection in the Minds of us all, that we cannot be silent at this critical Occasion.
In our earliest Infancy you took us under your Tuition, train’d us up in the Practice of that Discipline which alone can constitute good Troops, from ⟨the⟩ punctual Observance of which you never suffer’d the least Deviation.
Your steady adherance to impartial Justice, your quick Discernment and invarable Regard to Merit, wisely intended to inculcate those genuine Sentiments, of true Honor and Passion for Glory, from which the great military Atcheivements have been deriv’d, first heighten’d our natural Emulation, and our Desire to excel. How much we improv’d by those Regulations, and your own Example, with what Alacrity we have hitherto discharg’d our Duty, with what Chearfulness we have encounter’d the severest Toils, especially while under your particular Directions, we submit to yourself, and flatter ourselves, that we have in a great Measure answer’d your Expectations.
Judge then, how sensibly we must be Affected with the loss of such an excellent Commander, such a sincere Friend, and so affable a Companion. How rare is it to find those amiable Qualifications blended together in one Man? How great the Loss of such a Man? Adieu to that Superiority, which the Enemy have granted us over other Troops, and which even the Regulars and Provincials have done us the Honor publicly to acknowledge! Adieu to that strict Discipline and order, which you have always maintain’d! Adieu to that happy Union and Harmony, which has been our principal Cement!
It gives us an additional Sorrow, when we reflect, to find, our unhappy Country will receive a loss, no less irreparable, than ourselves. Where will it meet a Man so experienc’d in military Affairs? One so renown’d for Patriotism, Courage and Conduct? Who has so great knowledge of the Enemy we have to deal with? Who so well acquainted with their Situation & Strength? Who so much respected by the Soldiery? Who in short so able to support the military Character of Virginia?
Your approv’d Love to your King and Country, and your uncommon Perseverance in promoting the Honor and true Interest of the Service, convince us, that the most cogent Reasons only could induce you to quit it. Yet we with the greatest Deference, presume to entreat you to suspend those Thoughts for another Year, and to lead us on to assist in compleating the Glorious Work of extirpating our Enemies, towards which so considerable Advances have been already made. In you we place the most implicit Confidence. Your Presence only will cause a steady Firmness and Vigor to actuate in every Breast, despising the greatest Dangers, and thinking light of Toils and Hardships, while lead on by the Man we know and Love.
But if we must be so unhappy as to part, if the Exigencies of your Affairs force you to abandon Us, we beg it as our last Request that you will recommend some Person most capable to command, whose Military Knowledge, whose Honor, whose Conduct, and whose disinterested Principles we may depend upon.
Frankness, Sincerity, and a certain Openness of Soul, are the true Characteristics of an Officer, and we flatter ourselves that you do not think us capable of saying anything, contrary to the purest Dictates of our Minds. Fully persuaded of this, we beg Leave to assure you, that as you have hitherto been the actuating Soul of the whole Corps, we shall at all times pay the most invariable regard to your Will and Pleasure, and will always be happy to demonstrate by our Actions, with how much Respect and Esteem we are, Sir, Your most affectionate & most obedt humble Servants.”[i]
[i] “Address from the Officers of the Virginia Regiment, 31 December 1758,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-06-02-0147. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Colonial Series, vol. 6, 4 September 1758 – 26 December 1760, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 178–181.]
Today, Emerging Revolutionary War is pleased to welcome guest writer, Arthur Ceconi.
There are a few figures from the French and Indian War that are recognizable to Americans today. They the European generals Jeffery Amherst, James Wolfe, and Louis-Joseph de Montcalm – Grozon, Marquis de Montcalm de Saint-Veran, and two North Americans, George Washington and Robert Rogers. In some ways Robert Rogers is the person that many Americans growing up in the 20th century associate with the French and Indian War.
In part, Rogers’ recognizability can be traced to the historical novel Northwest Passage by Kenneth Roberts, which was published in 1937. It was the second best-selling novel published that year behind Gone with the Wind. The book is split into two parts – the first part is about the 1759 raid on the Abenaki village of St. Francis by Robert Rogers and his Rangers, and the second part is about Rogers’ post French and Indian War life.
In 1940 MGM released the movie Northwest Passage (covering the raid on St. Francis) starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, and Walter Brennan. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for best cinematography. MGM later produced a Northwest Passage TV series, and its 26 episodes aired in 1958 and 1959.
Rogers’ Early Life and the Beginning of the French and Indian War.
Robert Rogers was born in Massachusetts in 1731 and raised on the New Hampshire frontier. Little is known about Rogers’ life prior to 1754.
In 1754 he was arrested for counterfeiting and was standing for trial in 1755 when New Hampshire began enlisting men for an expedition to take Fort St. Frederic at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. Rogers raised a fifty-man company and obtained a captain’s commission. Rogers’ company was part of a regiment commanded by Joseph Blanchard, a justice who presided over the counterfeiting case. With that, the case ended. Rogers’ first lieutenant was a man, who a few months earlier had provided incriminating testimony against him in the counterfeiting case, named John Stark.
The expedition against Fort St. Frederic, led by William Johnson, was underway when Rogers and his company arrived at the south end of Lake George a few days after Johnson’s colonial and native force defeated the French and allied native army led by Baron de Dieskau in September 1755.
After the Battle of Lake George Johnson’s force did not advance and began construction of Fort William Henry. With Johnson’s native allies gone, he called upon Rogers and his New Hampshire men for scouting/reconnaissance and harassing/spoiling missions. The missions were directed at Fort St. Frederic and Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga and brought back critical intelligence on the French movements and manpower, and they raised Rogers’ profile and stature. The missions continued through the winter of 1755 – 1756 and kept the French on edge. Rogers and the rangers were providing the Anglo-American military on the New York frontier with a scouting capability they sorely lacked. In my view these small detachment scouting and harassing missions were where Rogers and the rangers excelled. Because of their success, Rogers was charged in 1756 with raising an independent company of rangers.
Rogers and Larger Scale Missions He Commanded
Due to their audacious and successful spoiling raids, Rogers and the rangers were marked men. From this point forward I am of the opinion that Rogers’ and the rangers’ significant engagements were largely unsuccessful and some were disastrous.
The First Battle on Snowshoes occurred in January 1757. Rogers and his command left Fort Edward and, after stopping at Fort William Henry, traveled down a frozen Lake George and bypassed Fort Carillon at its northern end. Several miles north of Fort Carillon they saw a French sled heading for Fort St. Frederic. John Stark and a group of rangers took the sled and seven prisoners. However, a larger trailing group of French sleds observed the ambush and escaped to Fort Carillon. Knowing they were now discovered, Rogers called a council of war to decide on their return route to Fort William Henry. The officers recommended making a return by Wood Creek, east of Lake George, but Rogers overruled the council and ordered a march to their last campsite. This tactic violated Rogers’ Rule 5 of ranging he had authored: “[I]n your return take a different route from that in which you went out, that you may the better discover any party in your rear, and have an opportunity, if their strength be superior to yours, to alter your course, or disperse, as circumstances may require.”
After gathering themselves at the prior campsite they dried their muskets and began their 40-mile journey to Fort William Henry. Late in the afternoon a combined French and native force of about 180 men ambushed Rogers and his party. After the initial shock from the ambush the rangers killed the seven French captives and formed a defensive perimeter holding out until nightfall, when they were able to retreat to Lake George. The rangers eventually arrived at Fort William Henry two days later. The battle toll on the rangers was substantial – of the 74 rangers in the battle 14 were killed, six were wounded, and six missing. The French reported 18 dead (11 from the battle plus the seven captives killed at the outset of the ambush) and 27 wounded (casualty figures from French and Indian War frontier engagements should be taken with a grain of salt).
For the remainder of 1757 Rogers did not participate in the Northern New York theatre as he was sick with smallpox and later assigned to a failed campaign to take Louisburg. However, the rangers were involved in both battles at Fort William Henry, the one in March and the siege in August.
In March 1758 Rogers led a force of about 180 out of Fort Edward toward Fort Carillon. It was bitter cold and they proceeded down a frozen Lake George. Before leaving, Rogers feared the secrecy of the mission may have been compromised in the days leading up to their departure by colonials captured outside Fort Edward. During their journey the rangers found signs they were being observed, and in fact the French had discovered Rogers was approaching and watched his progress down Lake George. Rogers decided to approach Fort Carillon by leaving Lake George and traveling overland from the southwest down Trout Brook, a small stream. The snow was four feet deep and the rangers donned large racquet like snowshoes. Rogers expected a French patrol would follow the brook and the rangers set-up an ambush.
Rogers’ instincts were correct and as a 95-man patrol consisting mainly of natives entered the kill zone an ambush was triggered. The rangers initial volley killed and wounded many (Rogers reported 40 killed), with the survivors fleeing. Some of the rangers descended on the dead and wounded and began killing the wounded and scalping the dead. A large group of rangers chased the fleeing French and native survivors along Trout Brook and they ran head long into the main French and native force of about 200 led by the Canadian partisan fighter Ensign Jean-Baptiste Langy. Langy’s main party unleashed a devastating volley on the rangers killing outright upwards of 50 rangers. Within minutes the rangers were overwhelmed by the counterattack and faced annihilation. Rogers rallied his remaining force and began a close-range fighting retreat toward Lake George. The situation was growing desperate—Rogers had lost maybe half his force within a short time and men were continuing to drop under the relentless assault of the French and natives. As darkness fell, Rogers and what was left of his command scattered and made their way to a rendezvous on Lake George. Rogers’ escape is a mystery, but the legend is he slid down what is now known as Rogers Rock to the shore of the frozen lake. A couple days after the battle Rogers and what remained of his command made their way to Fort Edward. The rangers were decimated – only about 50 survived.
In the summer of 1758 a British and American force of 17,000, the largest ever assembled in North America, gathered at the south end of Lake George. Their first objective was Fort Carillon, approximately 35 miles north. The army embarked by water with Rogers and the rangers leading the way. Upon landing a few miles from Fort Carillon Rogers was sent ahead to secure an advance position and, finding no French, they were followed by a mixed advance guard of British regulars and colonials led by Brigadier General Lord George Augustus Howe, who was effectively the leader of the British expedition. The advance Anglo-American guard encountered difficulty negotiating the terrain and collided surprisingly with a French party. In the ensuing engagement the French were routed, but significantly, Lord Howe was killed. With his death, General James Abercromby lost the heart of the command structure. A couple days later Abercromby ordered the army to assault the French entrenched defensive line with the disastrous consequences of approximately 1,000 dead and 1,500 wounded between the two sides.
Following the Battle of Carillon, Abercromby’s army retreated and encamped at the south end of Lake George. Fort Edward, situated on the Hudson River about 15 miles south, supplied Abercromby’s army by a military road. The British supply trains were regularly attacked by French and native raiders who inflicted serious casualties and ransacked the supplies. Following a couple major attacks Abercromby ordered a mixed force of rangers, colonials and regulars commanded by Rogers and Israel Putnam to intercept and destroy the raiders. A force of about 700 men set out for South Bay and Wood Creek, an area a few miles east of Lake George.
After more than a week in the field Rogers’ and Putnam’s command could not locate the enemy, and the sick and injured were sent to Fort Edward reducing its size to 600. The British force camped near the ruins of the long-abandoned Fort Anne. Feeling secure, camp security was dropped, including Rogers and a British officer competing in a marksmanship contest. Lurking nearby was a Canadian and native force of about 350 – 450 men led by Captain Joseph Marin de La Malgue, an experienced and skilled partisan fighter. Marin set-up an ambush which the British force stumbled into. The ambush was sprung and Putnam was seized at its onset. Rogers rallied the command and beat back the French, inflicting serious casualties. Reported British losses were 37 dead, 40 wounded and 26 missing. Rogers returned to Fort Edward with 50 plus scalps and it had been estimated Marin may have lost as many as 70 to 100 men.
In 1759 Major General Jeffery Amherst led a campaign to take Forts Carillon and St. Frederic and drive north up the Richelieu River into Canada. As the army of 11,000 approached Forts Carillon and St. Frederic the French blew up the forts and withdrew north into Canada. The campaign stalled as the British began construction of a massive fort at Crown Point, next to the ruins of Fort St. Frederic. Rogers and his rangers were attached to Amherst’s army.
Rogers had long wanted to attack an Abenaki settlement at St. Francis, which is located south of the St. Lawrence River about midway between Montreal and Quebec. The Abenaki originally lived in Massachusetts and Maine, but as the English encroached, a group settled in St. Francis. Around 1700 the Jesuits established a mission at St. Francis converting many Abenakis to Catholicism, and the St. Francis people became closely allied with the French. For decades Abenaki war parties from St. Francis terrorized the New England frontier, developing a notorious reputation among English frontier settlers such as Rogers.
In September 1759 Amherst approved a raid on St. Francis. Rogers with a force of approximately 200 men – rangers, Stockbridge natives, provincials and British regulars – left Crown Point by whaleboat heading 80 miles north down Lake Champlain. After beaching their craft, they set out on foot across Southern Canada; St. Francis was 75 miles away. Soon after leaving Lake Champlain their boats were discovered by the French and Rogers was warned by Stockbridge allies of the French discovery. Rogers considered his options and decided to push on to St. Francis. He sent back to Crown Point 58 sick and injured, proceeding with 142 men. The trip was daunting as the expedition crossed spruce bogs and unforgiving wilderness reaching St. Francis on October 4, three weeks after leaving Crown Point.
At daybreak Rogers’ force struck St. Francis and overwhelmed the village. Most of the Abenaki warriors were away. After pillaging the village the English torched it and departed knowing full well they were being pursued. The English battle casualties were one killed and seven wounded and the estimates of Abenaki killed range from 30 to 200.
After traveling through Southern Canada Rogers’ force was out of food and still being pursued. After nine days the party split up, with most heading to a rendezvous on the Connecticut River. At the rendezvous the expected relief was absent so Rogers traveled to Fort No. 4 and brought food and supplies to his starving survivors on November 4. The objective was achieved, St. Francis was destroyed, but of the 142-man English force that raided the village only 80 men made it to Fort No. 4 and Crown Point.
What to make of Rogers
Rogers is an iconic French and Indian War personality. He is the key figure in many books, a landmark movie, and a TV show. Historians have studied him for centuries. But how should he be viewed as a military figure?
The French and Indian War’s frontier was violent and brutal. The terrain was rugged and engagements often occurred in remote areas during the winter. The weapons were lethal and wounds very often fatal.
My opinion is that Rogers was a highly capable woodsman and scout at a time when the English sorely lacked such capability. The raids he conducted in 1755 and 1756 kept the French on constant alert and provided British forces with much needed intelligence. He was brave, physically strong, indefatigable, and a leader of men. I would not call him a uniquely capable woodsman because Canada had many experienced and battle-hardened Canadian officers of Compagnies franches de la Marinein the field such as Langy, Marin, and Langlade, as well as a large contingent of coureur des bois, and one can plausibly argue these Canadians were superior bush fighters to Rogers. His Rules for Ranging Service have withstood the test time. Some of Rogers’ best personal qualities (bravery, leadership, clear thinking, resourcefulness) showed when he faced possible disaster as he and the rangers were able to inflict significant casualties on their foes and Rogers every time led his surviving command to safety.
When I push my self back and examine Rogers as a military tactician and his contributions to the British triumph in North America I have a very different opinion from many historians. Why was he ambushed so often? Why did he fail to adhere to the Rules for Ranging Service at key times? Why were his men put at risk in battles and campaigns of no strategic consequence? In the crucial British victories of the French and Indian War Rogers did not play a role.
The purpose of this essay is not to tarnish Rogers’ military legacy, but to rather bring to light the blemishes of his service in the French and Indian War so there can be a balanced view of “the brave Major Rogers.”
Bibliography
White Devil by Steven Brumwell
A True Ranger by Gary Stephen Zaboly
The History of Rogers Rangers, Volume 1, by Burt Garfield Loescher
War on the Run by John F. Ross
Betrayals by Ian K. Steele
The Annotated and Illustrated Journals of Major Robert Rogers by Timothy Todish
Ticonderoga 1758 by Rene Chartand
Empires in the Mountains by Russell P. Bellico
Stark by Richard Polhemus and John Polhemus
Rogers Rangers and the French and Indian War by Bradford Smith
Wilderness Empire by Allan W. Eckert
Robert Rogers’ Rules For Ranging Service
Northwest Passage by Kenneth Roberts
Sites Visited
Crown Point State Historic Site
Fort Ticonderoga
Fort William Henry Museum
Lake George Battlefield Park
Rogers Island Visitors Center and Museum
Art Ceconi was raised in North Tarrytown, New York (now Sleepy Hollow) and is a longtime resident of Montville, New Jersey where he currently lives with his wife Eileen. A retired tax attorney, he earned degrees from Fordham University (BS), Rutgers Business School (MBA), Rutgers School of Law (JD), and New York University School of Law (LLM).
Art’s passion for North American colonial history took root with a family vacation to Lake George as a 7th grader. His reading and research centers on the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War. As his five daughters can attest, no family vacation was complete without visiting at least one historical site.
Slathered on hamburgers across the United States of America. Added to coleslaw recipes. In Germany used to dip pomme frites, French fries into. This condiment or sauce is well-known throughout a large percentage of the globe. However, did you know that this white sauce has a tie to the French and Indian or Seven Years War?
Recently I was reading a book, Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History by Roy and Lesley Adkins. When discussing some of the history leading up to the siege of Gibraltar from 1779-1783, the authors referenced an earlier siege, unrelated to Gibraltar actually, and had a note about the creation of mayonnaise.
Like any good historian, I decided to investigate the founding of this sauce that is used so predominantly in America. Below is what I found.
Created for a victory celebration after the French’s successful defeat of the British on the island of Minorca, also spelled Menorca which is the Catalan spelling. The siege and battle had lasted 70 days, from April 20 to June 29, 1756 and had cost the French approximately 3-4,000 casualties. The British loss around 400 men and one of the strategic defenses and the Mediterranean Sea. The French remained in control of the island until the end of the Seven Years’ War. The island recaptured by the Br was returned to the British at the end of the war, trading the island of Guadeloupe for it as part of the peace treaty signed in Paris.
Yet, after the British surrendered Fort St. Philip, in 1756, which protected the town and seaport of Mahon a large victory banquet was held. The French leader, the Duke de Richelieu instructed his chef to to create a feast that would honor the great victory. The island lacked the cream needed for the sauce the chef wanted to make so he invented the egg and oil dressing.
He named the concoction Mahon-aise, after the town he created the sauce in.
Hope you are reading this around lunchtime!
P.S. The author realizes that a few other accounts exist about the creation of the this sauce. Including that the chef of the French duke was told about the sauce by the inhabitants of the island who had already created it.
Emerging Revolutionary War Era 