Show ah V ALM oat AIM ti A Z L V M W F kit Q U TT 7 1 V yn T Z tc IA 4 kz z iw al v fey by SCOTT WATSON jus la Is the story of a forgotten battle battie in american history and of a forgotten leader it took place years ago and was only a minor incident in the long series of wars which decided definitely the question t of french or english supremacy on the continent of north america so that may be why it Is forgotten he made an enviable record during those wars but when there came the war from which we date the history of the united states as a nation he guessed gue sed wrong as to where his allegiance should be and that may inny be the reason why he Is forgotten but lu in the military aneals of Ain america erlea the battle of rogers Jt rok rock fought on march 13 1758 1738 near lake george in new york bolds holds a place that Is 18 almost unique attacked by a force of french and indians maj robert rogers and of his rogers rangers bangers fought from three in the afternoon until nightfall before retreating in tha thai t battle the rangers killed of the enemy but they suffered a loss of killed one of the largest casualty casu alty lists in proportion to the number of men engaged it la is bel believed eved in american warfare yet this was only one of a number of desperate enterprises which made the name rogers rangers hangers a synonym for a daring and resourceful type of fighting man and aid which caused his enemies to regard him as a dreaded partisan rogers was born in Dun dumbarton dunbarton barton N EL H tn lil 1727 the son of james roger dopera rs a in n early settler settle of that place his youth auth was wag spent ape t as a hunter and trapper tn in the forests forest of 0 new I 1 ingland england and canada and his familiarity with the indians and indian methods of warfare were to make him invaluable to the british generals in the french and indian war at the opening of that conflict la in 1755 rogers led a force of hardy woodsmen woodsman woods men fromnes from new hampshire to albany N Y where the british and colonial Colonl nI forces were being assembled for an attack on the french forts at crown point and ticonderoga ite to Is described at that time as over six feet high and physically the most powerful man in the army sir william johnson the great colonial lender knowing of rogers reputation used him and his men as scouts malting making his bis headquarters at port fort william henry a new post erected by the british at the south end of lake george rogers began ii a series of forays agal against fist the french and their indian allies so valuable did rogers and his new woodsmen woodsman woods men prove to be as scouts and fighters fi litera that at the opening of the spring campaign in fri 1758 1756 he be was given a special commission by the carl of loudon commander in chief bf f the british forces in america to raise a ale ked corps of bush fighters who were to receive the same pay as the regulars but who were to carry on their operations in their own way ay thus came into existence that splendid hody of military irregulars known knonk as If rogers rangers whose prowess won the respect of both the british and the french one of rog roe lers lieutenants was another new john stark later inter the victor at the battle of ben ii ington another who was closely associated with rogers in some of his most daring exploits was from connecticut i israel putnam old put of bunker hill and LOUR long island both stark and putnam rec received elved from rogers training in military lender leadership ship which stood them in good stead during the Il revolution evolution but the tame fame which it brought them by their old commander and comrade in arms from time to time during the war the rangers were grad gradually bially increased from their original strength of 02 62 men to more than a 1 thousand their official instructions were to use their heir best en deavors to distress the french and their miles by sacking burning and destroying their houses barns barrac barracks kr canoes bateaux etc and by kill ing their cattle of every kind and an d at all times to endeavor to destroy their convoys of provision by hand aland and water in every part althe of the country and no body of troops ever carried out their orders blore aitor than did these partisans at that time the french were offering the indians sixty francs for every F inglish english scalp taken hut but they anum willingly have paid a hundred times that flint amount for th the scalp of robert rogers bogers all dur ing 1750 the rangers harassed the enemy en emy but the french were swin soon to have hn an to pay oft on some old scores the dar ing ang ranger on march 10 1711 3 rogers was or dered to lend lead an expedition of ISO Ra rangers figers against ticonderoga since the capture of fort william millam henry the enemy had bif very active and strong tores of odthe the indians were scouting the country in every direction knowing this rogers pro 4 W C V r P RO tested that the force given him was too large for or a scouting party and too small to hold its own in a pitched battle ile he asked for men but his request was refused with 15 1 rangers hangers on skates as an advance guard rogers little army advanced by night over the frozen surface of lake george to within eight miles of there his advance guard saw what they believed to be thi the glow of a campfire campf lre but when rogers marched arched in forward swiftly to attack no DO sign of an enemy could be found and the commander concluded that his bis scouts had bad been beed mistaken As a matter of fact they had not bren been for the enemy had hastily extinguished their climp fire when the approach of the rangers Il angera was discovered and hassent had sent word to the fort for of the coniing coming of the english early the next morning rogers and his men resumed their march on snow oboes through barough snow tour four feet deep early lif in the afternoon the rangers hangers discovered a party of about hostile indians near at hand and immediately attacked killing nearly half of them believing this was the entire force of the enemy rogers pushed on only to find t ell himself facing over COO wellar well ar armed med indians nud Canad canadians lans who had been sent from ticonderoga to meet him the ranger hanger captain seeing that his little force would soon be wiped out ordered them to retreat to their former position near what Is now known as rogers rock hock but before they find reached there more than a third of their number had been slain with cool desperation rogers and hla his men made amstand a stand there and tried to beat off the angry horde which surge around them on oa the left of his line where he had posted a detachment t to prevent his being flanked lieutenant Phil lilis and ten ien men menbere were taken prisoners by ahe the enemy tied to trees in sight of their friends and hacked backed to pieces by the indians seeing that his command was doomed dooma it if he tried to hold hla his ground rogers with 20 men rushed toan to an ley icy precipice over ever a hundred feet high which sloped abruptly down to the take labe jumped over the brink and slid down to the take lake with terrific force this place on the shores of lake george known as aa ropers slide or hog ers era leap Is pointed out to the tourist of today who Is told how the ranger leader escaped there from the indians who believing he had slid down the precipice under the protection pi of the great spirit made not attenb pt at further pursuit however windsor the historian says the legend of rogers slide near the lower end of lake george line no stable foundation there was great rejoicing among the french that this dreaded partisan had been killed and his followers annihilated rut but they were in regard to lo rogers during the tray fray rogers had cast side his cont coat in the pocket of which the french found his commission tills this gave rise to the belief that hat ho be was dead cut but he was very much alive and early in 1759 he was again at the herd hend of a party of rangers ac acang ing as advance bruard for the magnificent english army which general abercrombie was ing to hurt against ticonderoga he served in that campaign which ended in such ipach a dismal fol failure lure due to the stupidity of the english general and himself by cutting to pieces the ad ad vance party of french under langy in this light rogers captured ISO IM killed leaving only 60 50 to escape to Mont Mout calma calms party later that year sir jeffrey amherst sent rog hog ers and his It angers to destroy the indian village tillage of st francis near the st SL lawrence river which he did successfully killing indians indiana taking many prisoners and laying the village utterly to waste then to elude parties endeavoring hocut to cut him off he retreated to lake to charlestown Charles town on the connecticut enduring as aa he went the excruciating horrors of famine and exhaustion ha the next neat year he was ordered by amherst to take possession of detroit and other western posts posta that were ceded by the french after the fall of quebec ascending the st lawrence with rangers he visited fort pitt had bad an interview with the great chief pontiac at a place which Is bell believed eved to have been the present alto of cleveland ohio anil and successfully took possession of detroit det rolt after the war he visited england and suffered from poverty until he borrowed money with which to print his journal which to Is the principal source of information about tits his famous corps lie he presented this to the king and in 1705 1765 was appointed commandant at while h holding this he was accused of plotting to plunder his own fort and hand it over to the french ile fie was sent to Alon montreal treal in gronsand irons fron sand and court in 1769 lie revisited england but was soon imprisoned for debt later he be returned to this cafin country find and as the revolutionary struggle drew near it t became apparent that lie was doubtful whether to cast his lot with the patriots or the in 1773 1775 it was rumored that he be had in canada mid and had accepted a commission under the kang lie ile was also accused of dressing as an an in im than dlan and acting as an a spy on an the patriots bash ington was so BO of him that he ordered him arrested although though nl stark and others who hid had served nerved with him in the rangers do not seem to have shared the distrust of him eventually he was placed upon parole but embittered it to la said by his bli trent treatment ment broke his parole and openly joined the british forces lie he accepted a commission of colonel and raised a command called the queens in 16 1778 1770 he narrowly escaped capture by the continentals Continent als and soon after this returned to england 16 in 1778 he was proscribed and formally banished in england his later career was described ascribed scribed as wild improvident and extravagant ne he was divorced by his wife and Is said to have died some tim time 6 after 1800 a victim to his evil habits prejudice against the tories lories among the early american historians no doubt la Is largely respond j ble for the fact that maj robert nobert rogers Is a fot for gotten leader hart haft fate intervened differently when he was wavering between his king and his hie native land he might have shared with gen dante daniel morgan that intrepid lenders fame as a commander of a partisan corps during the revolutionary struggle gle for certainly Mor morgans gunIn rifle men served no more brilliantly during the gle for american independence than did bogers nog esra during the struggle to establish supremacy nver ner the french a decade earlier |