John Gorham (Goreham, Gorum) (12 December 1709 – December 1751) was a New England Ranger and was the first significant British military presence on the frontier of Nova Scotia and Acadia to remain in the region for a substantial period after the Conquest of Acadia (1710). He established the famous "Gorham's Rangers". He also commissioned two armed vessels: the Anson (Captain John Beare) and the Warren (70 tons, Captain Jonathan Davis), who patrolled off Nova Scotia.

Gorham was first commissioned captain of a provincial auxiliary company in June 1744, and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the 7th Massachusetts provincial Infantry Regiment in February 1745. Two years later, in 1747, he was commissioned captain of an independent company in the British Army when his unit was adopted into the regular army. He is sometimes confused with his father, Shubael Gorham (born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, 2 September 1686; died at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, 20 February 1746), a provincial colonel during King George's War. He was the one of only a handful of American rangers - including, Gorham, his younger brother Joseph Gorham, Benoni Danks, and later Robert Rogers - to earn commissions in the British Army.Grenier, 2005, p. 76. Some historians, other than Grenier, contend this argument about who received these commissions first is not only flawed but irrelevant. Dozens of Americans received commissions from the British army in King George's War and the French and Indian War. For instance, several dozen were commissioned in the 50th and 51st regiments recruited in 1754–55. Yet Rogers' commission is often singled out as exceptional. While amateur ranger enthusiasts are fascinated by this, just why it matters is unclear. John Gorham was active during King George's War and Father Le Loutre’s War.

Family The Gorham family had a long history of ranging which began under Benjamin Church. John Gorham I died while fighting alongside Church in the famous Great Swamp Fight. (Gorham, Maine and Gorham, New Hampshire are named for John Gorham I.)Josiah Pierce. A History of the town of Gorham, Maine. p. 169 John Gorham II also served with Church during the fourth Eastward Expedition into Acadia, which involved the Raid on Chignecto (1696) during King William's War. His son Shubael Gorham was a provincial officer of note during Queen Anne's and King George's War, during the latter he commanded the 7th Massachusetts Provincial Regiment at the Siege of Louisbourg (1745). Finally, John Gorham III, the subject of this article, and his brother Joseph Gorham served in Acadia as rangers,The first way of war: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607–1814 By John Grenier, p. 37Joseph Gorham 1749 taken prisoner as well as in their father's regiment about Louisburg.

Historical context Despite the Conquest of 1710 and the subsequent signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 with France, the British were not able to establish control in Nova Scotia/Acadia for decades. John Gorham and his Rangers arrived in Nova Scotia to move the military and political influence of the British beyond a defensive posture at Annapolis Royal and the fishing village of Canso. Gorham moved the British operation on to the offensive during King George's War.

King George's War

Siege of Annapolis Royal (1744) During King George's War, Gorham and his company of Indian rangers from New England were involved in defending Fort Anne from attacks from the French, Acadians, and Mi’kmaq. During the Siege of Annapolis Royal (1744), on 4 October, Gorham and his rangers massacred Mi'kmaq men along with five women and three children that were in two nearby wigwams.Ruth Holmes Whitehead. The Old Man Told Us: Excerpts from Mimcac History. Nimbus. 1991. pp. 102–103; Grenier, Far Reaches of Empire. p. 118; Faragher, pp. 219–220 Governor Mascarene noted that the New England Rangers way of war was more effective than that practiced by conventional British troops.Ruth Whitehead, p. 102 On another occasion in October, Gorham returned with three scalps and a live native baby.

Governor Shirley wrote in February 1746 that "the great Service which Lieut. Colonel Gorham’s Company of Rangers has been to the Garrison at Annapolis Royal, is a demonstration of the Usefulness of such a Corps."

The Maliseet and Mi'kmaq sought revenge for the ranger's killing of Mi'kmaq families during the siege. During the Siege of Annapolis Royal (1745), the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet took prisoner the captain of a provincial transport vessel, William Pote, as well as some of Gorham's Rangers, including four Wampanoags from Cape Cod: Jacob Chammock, Philip Will, Caleb Popmonet, and Isaac Peck, as well as Peter Dogamus, a Nauset Indian from Yarmouth, Massachusetts.Brian Carroll, "Savages in the Service of Empire: Native American Soldiers in Gorham's Rangers, 1744–1762," New England Quarterly 85.3 (Sept. 2012): 401-409. John Gorham himself was not at Annapolis because he was fighting alongside his father in the Siege of Louisbourg. Among other places, Pote and the Native rangers were taken to the Maliseet village Aukpaque on the Saint John River. While at the village, Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia arrived and, on July 6, 1745, tortured Pote and Chammock as retribution for the killing of family members by members of Gorham's company.Raymond, pp. 42–43 On July 10, Pote witnessed another act of revenge when the Mi'kmaq tortured an Indian ranger (possibly Popmonet or Dogamus) at Meductic.Raymond, p. 45

Siege of Louisbourg (1745) Gorham fought alongside his father in the Siege of Louisbourg (1745). His father died just after the siege, apparently from natural causes.

Gorham received a commission to defend Nova Scotia. In 1748 he was in command of Gorham's Independent Company of Rangers. This company had in its ranks many of the Wampanoag people, and was stationed in Nova Scotia. During 1748, Gorham's Rangers continued to be with the British regulars at Annapolis Royal. In the autumn of 1748, Gorham destroyed the Acadian resistance at Minas and then sailed (October 19) over to the Saint John River to end the Acadian and Maliseet resistance.

Father Le Loutre's War

Soon after the arrival of Governor Edward Cornwallis, on July 14, 1749, Gorham was appointed to the Nova Scotia Council.Akins, Thomas B. History of Halifax. Brook House Press, Dartmouth, 2002. Despite Gorham being put on the council, Cornwallis was clear that he preferred Francis Bartelo of the two ranger leaders. In 1749, during Father Le Loutre's War, Gorham participated in the construction of Fort Sackville at present-day Bedford, Nova Scotia. While at Fort Sackville, Gorham used the fortification as a base from which he "scoured the country" for Mi'kmaq to scalp as per a proclamation issued by Cornwallis in October 1749. Frontier warfare, including scalping, was the standard practice of warfare between the New England Colonies and the Wabanaki Confederacy in Acadia and Nova Scotia since the outbreak of King William's War in 1689.The first way of war: American war making on the frontier, 1607–1814 Cambridge University Press. 2005.European regular troops in North America were not skilled at frontier warfare, while the Natives and Rangers were. Both Edward Cornwallis and Jeffrey Amherst repeatedly expressed dismay at the tactics of the Rangers and the Indians. See Grenier, 2008. p. 152, Faragher, p. 405

He also participated in the Battle at St. Croix and the Battle at Chignecto.Grenier, 2008. p. 152, Faragher, p. 405 Gorham held his position on the council for two years and then in August 1751 Gorham left Nova Scotia for England. He died in London of smallpox in December 1751.

Legacy John Gorham Lane in Bedford, Nova Scotia is named in his honor

See also Military history of Nova Scotia

Footnotes

References Primary sources Col. John Gorham's "Wast book", facsimiles (1898) Colonel John Gorham’s Account Book

Secondary Sources Brian D. Carroll, ""Savages" in the Service of Empire: Native American Soldiers in Gorham's Rangers, 1744–1762," New England Quarterly (September 2012), pp. 383-429. Faragher, John Mack, A Great and Noble Scheme New York; W. W. Norton & Company, 2005. pp. 110–112

John Grenier. (2008). The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia 1710–1760 University of Oklahoma Press George T. Bates, "John Gorham, 1709–1751: An Outline of His Activities in Nova Scotia 1744–1751," Nova Scotia Historical Society Collections 30 (1954):27- 77 The first way of war: American war making on the frontier, 1607–1814 By John Grenier, p. 69 William O. Raymond. The old Meductic Fort and the Indian chapel of Saint Jean Baptiste: paper read before the New Brunswick Historical Society (1897) John Ried. Who was John Gorham and Why is His Account Book Important? Nova Scotia Archives. 2013.

Links Gorham's Rangers

Re-enactment Group Fort Sackville - Part 5, p. 48 John Gorham Papers - University of Michigan