Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Rogers (7 November 1731 – 18 May 1795) was a British Army officer and frontiersman. Born in Methuen, Massachusetts, he fought in King George's War, the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. During the French and Indian War, Rogers raised and commanded Rogers' Rangers, a light infantry unit trained for carrying out asymmetric warfare.

Early life

Robert Rogers was born to Ulster-Scots settlers, James and Mary McFatridge Rogers on 7 November 1731 in Methuen, a small town in northeastern Massachusetts. At that time, the town was a staging point for Scots-Irish settlers bound for the wilderness of New Hampshire.

In 1739 when Rogers was eight years old, his family relocated to the Great Meadow district of New Hampshire near present-day Concord, where James founded a settlement on of land which he called Munterloney, after a hilly place in County Londonderry, Ireland. Rogers referred to this childhood residence as "Mountalona". It was later renamed Dunbarton, New Hampshire.

In 1740, the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) broke out in Europe and, in 1744, the war spread to North America, where it was known as King George's War (1744–1748). During Rogers's youth (1746), he saw service in the New Hampshire militia as a private in Captain Daniel Ladd's Scouting Company and, in 1747, also as a private in Ebenezer Eastman's Scouting Company, both times guarding the New Hampshire frontier.

In 1754, Rogers became involved with a gang of counterfeiters. He was indicted but the case was never brought to trial.

French and Indian War

In 1755, war engulfed the colonies, spreading also to Europe. Britain and France declared war on each other. The British in America suffered a string of defeats including Braddock's at the Battle of the Monongahela trying to capture Fort Duquesne. Encouraged by the French victories, American Indians launched a series of attacks along the colonial frontier. During the French and Indian War, Israel Putnam (who would go on to later fame in the Revolutionary War) fought as a Connecticut militia captain in conjunction with Rogers, and at one point saved his life.

Ranger recruiter

In 1756, Rogers arrived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and began to muster soldiers for the British Crown, using the authority vested in him by Colonel Winslow. Rogers's recruitment drive was well supported by the frightened and angry provincials due to attacks by American Indians along the frontier. In Portsmouth, he also met his future wife Elizabeth Browne, the youngest daughter of Anglican Reverend Arthur Browne.

Robert's brothers James, Richard, and possibly John all served in Rogers' Rangers. Richard died of smallpox in 1757 at Fort William Henry. His corpse was later disinterred and mutilated by hostile Indians.

Rogers and the Rangers

Rogers raised and commanded the famous Rogers' Rangers that fought for the British during the French and Indian War. This militia unit operated primarily in the Lake George and Lake Champlain regions of New York. They frequently undertook winter raids against French towns and military emplacements, traveling on sleds, crude snowshoes, and even ice skates across frozen rivers. Rogers' Rangers were never fully respected by the British regulars, yet they were one of the few non-Indian forces able to operate in the inhospitable region despite harsh winter conditions and mountainous terrain.

Rogers showed an unusual talent for commanding his unit in conditions to which the regular armies of the day were unaccustomed. He took the initiative in mustering, equipping, and commanding ranger units. He wrote an early guide for commanding such units as Robert Rogers' 28 "Rules of Ranging". The Queen's York Rangers of the Canadian Army and the U.S. Army Rangers both claim Rogers as their founder, and "Rogers' Standing Orders" are still quoted on the first page of the U.S. Army's Ranger handbook.

Rogers was personally responsible for paying his soldiers, and he went deeply into debt and took loans to ensure that they were paid properly after their regular pay was raided during transport. He was never compensated by the British Army or government, though he had reason to believe that he should have his expenses reimbursed.

Northern campaign

From 1755 to 1758, Rogers and his rangers served under a series of unsuccessful British commanders operating over the northern accesses to the British colonies: Major General William Johnson, Major General William Shirley, Colonel William Haviland, and Major General James Abercromby. At the time, the British could do little more than fight defensive campaigns around Lake Champlain, Crown Point, Ticonderoga, and the upper Hudson.

During this time, the rangers proved indispensable; they grew gradually to twelve companies, as well as several additional contingents of Indians who had pledged their allegiance to the British cause. The rangers were kept organizationally distinct from British regulars. Rogers was their acting commandant, as well as the direct commander of his own company.

On 21 January 1757 at the First Battle of the Snowshoes, Rogers' Rangers ambushed and captured seven Canadians near Fort Carillon but then encountered a hundred French and Canadian militia and Ottawa Indians from the Ohio Country. Roger's forces retreated after taking casualties of 14 killed, nine wounded, and six missing or captured; the French-Indian forces were 11 killed, 27 wounded.

British forces surrendered Fort William Henry in August 1757, after which the Rangers were stationed on Rogers Island near Fort Edward. This allowed them to train and operate with more freedom than the regular British forces.

On 13 March 1758 at the Second Battle of the Snowshoes, Rogers' Rangers ambushed a French and Indian column and, in turn, were ambushed by enemy forces. The Rangers lost 125 men in this encounter, as well as eight men wounded, with 52 surviving. Rogers estimated 100 killed and nearly 100 wounded of the French-Indian forces; however, the French listed casualties as a total of ten Indians killed and seventeen wounded.

On 7 July 1758, Rogers' Rangers took part in the Battle of Carillon.

In 1758, Abercromby recognized Rogers's accomplishments by promoting him to Major, with the equally famous John Stark as his second in command. Rogers now held two ranks appropriate to his double role: Captain and Major.

In 1759, the tide of the war turned and the British advanced on the city of Quebec. Major General Jeffrey Amherst, the newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of British forces in North America, had a brilliant and definitive idea. He dispatched Rogers and his rangers on an expedition far behind enemy lines to the west against the Abenakis at Saint-Francis in Quebec, a staging base for Indian raids into New England. Rogers led a force of two hundred rangers from Crown Point, New York, deep into French territory to Saint-Francis.

At this time, the Indians near Saint-Francis had given up their aboriginal way of life and were living in a town next to a French mission. Rogers losses were 41 killed; 7 wounded 10 captured. Following the 3 October 1759 attack and successful destruction of Saint-Francis, Rogers's force ran out of food during their retreat back through the rugged wilderness of northern Vermont. The Rangers reached a safe location along the Connecticut River at the abandoned Fort Wentworth. Rogers left them encamped, and returned a few days later with food and relief forces from Fort at Number 4, now Charlestown, New Hampshire, the nearest British town.

The destruction of Saint-Francis by Rogers was a major psychological victory, as the colonists no longer felt that they were helpless. The residents of Saint-Francis, a combined group of Abenakis and others, understood that they were no longer beyond reach. Abenaki raids along the frontier did not cease, but significantly diminished.

Montreal Campaign

Quebec fell in 1759, and in spring 1760 Rogers joined in Amherst's campaign on Montreal. Before doing so however, in June Rogers conducted a successful pre-emptive raid on Fort Sainte Thérèse, a supply base for the French army as well as a vital link in the communication and supply line between Fort Saint-Jean and the French forces at .

Roger's was then part of William Haviland's thrust (one of three all led by Amherst) on Montreal in August where it marched from Lake Ontario in the west along the Saint Lawrence River and from upper New York via the Richelieu River. Along the way Rogers fought to reduce which succeeded in a ruse attack. Soon after Fort Saint-Jean was burned by the French, and Chambly was seized. The Rangers then led the final advance on Montreal, which surrendered without a fight the following month.

Western campaign

Rogers then advanced when Indian activity ceased against colonials in the east, and Rogers's service there was over. General Amherst transferred him to Brigadier General Robert Monckton, commanding at Fort Pitt (formerly Fort Duquesne). Following Amherst's advice, Monckton sent the rangers to capture Detroit, far to the north, which they did.

On 29 November 1760 in Detroit, Rogers received the submission of the French posts on the Great Lakes; during the spring 1761, Rogers and his Rangers occupied Fort Michilimackinac and Fort St. Joseph. It was the final act of his command. Shortly thereafter, his rangers were disbanded. Monckton offered Rogers command of a company of regulars in South Carolina but, after visiting the place, Rogers chose instead to command another company in New York. That unit was soon disbanded, however, and Rogers was forced into retirement at half-pay.

No longer preoccupied with military affairs, Rogers returned to New England to marry Elizabeth Browne in June, 1761, and set up housekeeping with her in Concord, New Hampshire. Like many New Englanders, they had indentured servants and slaves, including an Indian boy captured at Saint-Francis.

Rogers received large grants of land in southern New Hampshire in compensation for his services. He sold much of it at a profit and was able to purchase and maintain slaves. He deeded much of his land to his wife's family, which served to support her later.

In 1761, Rogers purchased a commission commanding a British Independent Company serving in South Carolina during the Anglo-Cherokee War. While Rogers never commanded his men in the field, his company participated in the 1761 Grant Campaign which destroyed the homes and food of more than 5000 Cherokee men, women, and children.

On 10 February 1763, the French and Indian War came to an end with the Treaty of Paris (also known as the Treaty of 1763). Rogers found himself once more a soldier of fortune, still on half-pay. Later, General Thomas Gage remarked that, if the army had put him on whole pay, they could have prevented his later unfit employment (Gage's terms).

Pontiac's War

On 7 May 1763, Pontiac's War broke out in the Ohio Country. Odawa leader Pontiac attempted to capture Fort Detroit by surprise with a force of 300 warriors. However, the British commander was aware of Pontiac's plan, and his garrison was armed and ready. Undaunted, Pontiac withdrew and laid siege to the fort. Eventually, more than 900 Indian warriors from a half-dozen tribes joined the siege of Fort Detroit.

Upon hearing this news, Rogers offered his services to General Jeffrey Amherst. Rogers then accompanied Captain James Dalyell with a relief force to Fort Detroit. Their ill-fated mission was terminated at the Battle of Bloody Run on 31 July 1763.