It Happened Here --The Battles on Snowshoes
William Johnson had a problem. He had successfully parried a French thrust down into New York, at the Battle of Lake George using colonial militiamen and his beloved Mohawk Indians but it had taken every ounce of his personal charm and charisma with the Indians to enlist them to support his effort.
Some thirty three Mohawks had been killed--a significant number for a tribe that numbered only a few thousand. One of their most revered chiefs, Theyanoguin (called Hendrick by the English) had been slain, and, most significantly the Mohawks had end up fighting against their fellow Mohawks from the French mission towns of Caughnawaga. After the battle they let it be known they wanted no more of this war between white men and they made a hasty departure back to their own villages. Johnson's forces were left virtually blind without scouts in the wilderness north of Albany.
Eight months earlier, Robert Rogers, a young man raised in what was then the wilderness of western New Hampshire, also had a problem, but of a much different sort. On January 31, 1755 Rogers was under arrest, charged with counterfeiting. He, and several of his friends had fallen in with Owen Sullivan, a professional criminal and counterfeiter. Rogers had bought three yoke of oxen for Sullivan but by the time he returned Sullivan had left and Rogers was probably stuck with selling the oxen at a loss. Meanwhile Rogers' friends had discovered Sullivan had left behind some counterfeiting plates and they were soon printing up phony New Hampshire pound and shilling notes. Rogers was charged with buying a wagon, a wig, and a pair of pumps with phony money. Faced with the real possibility of having his ears cropped and his cheeks branded for the crime of passing counterfeit money, Robert Rogers did what some young men who have found themselves "in a fix" have been doing since the dawn of organized warfare. But not content with simply enlisting, the charismatic Rodgers recruited some fifty of his fellow frontier New Hampshire-men, earning himself a captaincy in the process.
Eight months later he and his regiment from New Hampshire were stationed at Fort Lyman (about to be rechristened Ft. Edward) when the Battle of Lake George occurred. After the battle, Johnson called for some experienced woodsmen to volunteer to spy on the French preparations at Fort Frederic. Rogers volunteered and was soon making his way north with two men from his company and two batteau-men, on the first of what would be many scouts. Rogers returned with the first solid information of the enemy's strength, the state of their fortifications, and the first word on their activity around the Ticonderoga peninsula. Climbing a nearby hill he made a detailed map of the fort at Crown Point.
In a short time he would be leading small parties regularly out from Fort Edward or the new fort, William Henry at the head of Lake George to spy on the French and to raid their supply lines from Montreal. Audacious and clever, Rogers and his men became adept at slipping through the forest undetected and attacking outbuildings, burning batteaux and killing cattle within sight of the french forts. Once he even lured a sentry away from his post, taking the man prisoner to provide detailed information to his captors on the strength of the fort's garrison and hard to obtain details like the health of the French forces and the state of their morale.
As Rogers schooled himself in the arts of guerrilla warfare he also began making notes on how to train ever larger numbers of scouts. Rogers' fame grew as his exploits were eagerly picked up by the colonial press, desperate for good news from the battlefield. In March 1756 his successes earned him an interview with Massachusetts governor, William Shirley, temporarily head of the British forces in North America, since General Braddock's defeat and death the previous summer. Shirley came away from the meeting with the impression that Rogers was not just some brash risk taker but an intelligent leader, and Rogers was given the task of forming a new sixty man independent company of rangers, paid for by the Crown and serving at the pleasure of the commander of British Forces in North America. With officers paid the equivalent of British Army officers, and privates paid almost twice that of provincial soldiers, (who themselves were better paid the regular army privates), Rogers was able to quickly fill the ranks of his new company with a recruiting trip into the New Hampshire frontier. He returned to Fort Edward via Fort No. 4 on the Connecticut river and crossed over to Crown Point where he staged a raid that killed twenty eight of the enemy's cattle. Rogers was making sure some of his new recruits would be earning their generous new pay. His new Independent Company would be garrisoned on a fortified island in the Hudson River across from Fort Edward.
Some thirty three Mohawks had been killed--a significant number for a tribe that numbered only a few thousand. One of their most revered chiefs, Theyanoguin (called Hendrick by the English) had been slain, and, most significantly the Mohawks had end up fighting against their fellow Mohawks from the French mission towns of Caughnawaga. After the battle they let it be known they wanted no more of this war between white men and they made a hasty departure back to their own villages. Johnson's forces were left virtually blind without scouts in the wilderness north of Albany.
Eight months earlier, Robert Rogers, a young man raised in what was then the wilderness of western New Hampshire, also had a problem, but of a much different sort. On January 31, 1755 Rogers was under arrest, charged with counterfeiting. He, and several of his friends had fallen in with Owen Sullivan, a professional criminal and counterfeiter. Rogers had bought three yoke of oxen for Sullivan but by the time he returned Sullivan had left and Rogers was probably stuck with selling the oxen at a loss. Meanwhile Rogers' friends had discovered Sullivan had left behind some counterfeiting plates and they were soon printing up phony New Hampshire pound and shilling notes. Rogers was charged with buying a wagon, a wig, and a pair of pumps with phony money. Faced with the real possibility of having his ears cropped and his cheeks branded for the crime of passing counterfeit money, Robert Rogers did what some young men who have found themselves "in a fix" have been doing since the dawn of organized warfare. But not content with simply enlisting, the charismatic Rodgers recruited some fifty of his fellow frontier New Hampshire-men, earning himself a captaincy in the process.
Eight months later he and his regiment from New Hampshire were stationed at Fort Lyman (about to be rechristened Ft. Edward) when the Battle of Lake George occurred. After the battle, Johnson called for some experienced woodsmen to volunteer to spy on the French preparations at Fort Frederic. Rogers volunteered and was soon making his way north with two men from his company and two batteau-men, on the first of what would be many scouts. Rogers returned with the first solid information of the enemy's strength, the state of their fortifications, and the first word on their activity around the Ticonderoga peninsula. Climbing a nearby hill he made a detailed map of the fort at Crown Point.
In a short time he would be leading small parties regularly out from Fort Edward or the new fort, William Henry at the head of Lake George to spy on the French and to raid their supply lines from Montreal. Audacious and clever, Rogers and his men became adept at slipping through the forest undetected and attacking outbuildings, burning batteaux and killing cattle within sight of the french forts. Once he even lured a sentry away from his post, taking the man prisoner to provide detailed information to his captors on the strength of the fort's garrison and hard to obtain details like the health of the French forces and the state of their morale.
As Rogers schooled himself in the arts of guerrilla warfare he also began making notes on how to train ever larger numbers of scouts. Rogers' fame grew as his exploits were eagerly picked up by the colonial press, desperate for good news from the battlefield. In March 1756 his successes earned him an interview with Massachusetts governor, William Shirley, temporarily head of the British forces in North America, since General Braddock's defeat and death the previous summer. Shirley came away from the meeting with the impression that Rogers was not just some brash risk taker but an intelligent leader, and Rogers was given the task of forming a new sixty man independent company of rangers, paid for by the Crown and serving at the pleasure of the commander of British Forces in North America. With officers paid the equivalent of British Army officers, and privates paid almost twice that of provincial soldiers, (who themselves were better paid the regular army privates), Rogers was able to quickly fill the ranks of his new company with a recruiting trip into the New Hampshire frontier. He returned to Fort Edward via Fort No. 4 on the Connecticut river and crossed over to Crown Point where he staged a raid that killed twenty eight of the enemy's cattle. Rogers was making sure some of his new recruits would be earning their generous new pay. His new Independent Company would be garrisoned on a fortified island in the Hudson River across from Fort Edward.
That summer the Rangers undertook an extremely dangerous mission to take a small fleet of whale boats up Woods Creek and slip by both the new Fort Carillon and Crown Point to attack a French brig sailing on the waters of Lake Champlain supplying both forts. Finding the lake swarming with enemy boats of all sizes they were obliged to attack a small galley before its crew discovered them, then hide their boats and disperse on foot back to Fort Edward.
As the winter of 1756-1757 approached Robert Rogers insured his men were prepared for it by making sure his men were properly clothed for winter operations, their muskets protected from winter rains and snows and each man had fashioned from ash splits and rawhide a pair of Ojibway style snowshoes. On January 21st he set out from Fort William Henry with a raiding party some 85 officers and enlisted men. (Eleven he would send back when he found them faltering from sickness or injuries.) North of Carillon a detachment of his raiding party had ambushed a sledge returning from the Fort, but other sledge drivers following along had seen the attack and beat a hasty retreat back to Ticonderoga. (See my post of 11/12/13 "The Captivity Narratives") By chance, some 250 Canadians, French Regulars and western Indians had just arrived at the fort with Charles Langlade, an experienced frontier fighter and master of "le petite guerre." Along the western forests of the Trout Brook they staged their ambush. Rogers force, though severely mauled in the initial fusillade was able to fight back, and avoid encirclement, and with their ammunition nearly exhausted melt back into the forest and make their escape as darkness fell. Rogers, his forehead creased by a bullet and his wrist shot through by another ball made his escape with some fifty of his companions.
At the end of January Rogers traveled to Albany to have his wounded hand treated and there he met with Captain James Abercromby, son of Major-General Abercromby. The Captain encouraged him to codify his thoughts on ranging and wilderness warfare. By summer these "Standing Orders" were part of the regular ongoing training of Rangers, as Rogers was assigned the training of not only his own men but men from other units, including a new Light Infantry unit created by Brigadier General Howe.
As the winter of 1756-1757 approached Robert Rogers insured his men were prepared for it by making sure his men were properly clothed for winter operations, their muskets protected from winter rains and snows and each man had fashioned from ash splits and rawhide a pair of Ojibway style snowshoes. On January 21st he set out from Fort William Henry with a raiding party some 85 officers and enlisted men. (Eleven he would send back when he found them faltering from sickness or injuries.) North of Carillon a detachment of his raiding party had ambushed a sledge returning from the Fort, but other sledge drivers following along had seen the attack and beat a hasty retreat back to Ticonderoga. (See my post of 11/12/13 "The Captivity Narratives") By chance, some 250 Canadians, French Regulars and western Indians had just arrived at the fort with Charles Langlade, an experienced frontier fighter and master of "le petite guerre." Along the western forests of the Trout Brook they staged their ambush. Rogers force, though severely mauled in the initial fusillade was able to fight back, and avoid encirclement, and with their ammunition nearly exhausted melt back into the forest and make their escape as darkness fell. Rogers, his forehead creased by a bullet and his wrist shot through by another ball made his escape with some fifty of his companions. |
| Rogers Statue. Rogers Island, Ft. Edward |
In the late fall Rogers began planning his most ambitious raid to date, one that if successful would lead to the capture of Fort Frederic itself. Rogers' plan was to capture an entire sledge convoy heading for Fort Frederic, dress his men as the convoy's crew and gain entrance to the fort. Once inside they would throw open the gates to other rangers and light infantry and take the fort by storm. But Rogers' spectacular career had inspired envy and his unorthodox methods discomfort. There were many in the British officer corp that wished him failure. One such individual, unfortunately, was Colonel Haviland, Rogers' British superior at Ft. Edward. Haviland disliked the Ranger's unsoldierly appearance. He was appalled at their slovenly camp and a mutiny in the summer of 1757 at Roger's Island set Haviland and Rogers at odds with Rogers defending the mutineers and eventually going over Haviland's head to secure their release. Once that was resolved the British colonel fumed at the Ranger's incessant hunting trips and contests of shooting at marks, which the Colonel viewed as a waste of ammunition, instead of useful training. Before the camp Haviland carelessly revealed Rogers' plan to attack Ft. Frederick in early March 1758 with 400 men, and then right before the raid he reduced Rogers' raiding force to a mere 183.
Rogers was forced to set aside his plan for a more limited objective of ambushing one of the large patrols that regularly set out from Carillon. Concealing themselves in the woods back from the banks of the Trout Brook, Rogers' men waited until a group of nearly 100 French led Indians were in front of them. Though the distance was long, their first volley brought down about a dozen Indians and the rest fled with Rogers' lead divisions in hot pursuit. Unfortunately, their trail had been spotted by a small group of Indians earlier in the day and the hunters were in fact the hunted, for the Indians were but the lead contingent in front of perhaps 200 more Indians and French regulars. Their volley ripped through Rogers' pursuing men. The Ranger's advanced guard was surrounded and surrendered, but the remaining Rangers were able to pull back and avoid envelopment . Holding on until a moonlit night could partially cover their escape, the surviving Rangers dispersed into the woods between Bald and Cooks Mountains. Rogers, himself, attracted more than his share of attention by clambering with his snowshoes up to the summit of Bald Mountain, allowing more of his comrades to escape. There he faced a sheer 700 foot drop off to the frozen lake below. Some say he flung himself off the sheer precipice, but more likely he sought out a crevice down from summit where ledges, outcropping and vegetation could slow his descent. In any event, he emerged from the base of the cliff onto the ice below unscathed and from there organized the retreat back to the head of the lake.
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| Bald Mountain became known as Rogers Rock |
Marker of the Week -- Still Other Remnants of the Horse-powered Society
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| NY 32, Feura Bush |
They could fix a plow or make a pair of door hinges, but the mainstay of the local blacksmith shop was the forging of horsehoes and the shoeing of horses and just about every named community much bigger than a rural crossroads had one by the mid 19th century. Like the ubiquitous corner service stations of the 1940's, 50's and 60's with their one or two gas pumps and one or two service bays, blacksmith shops were locally owned and served the transportation needs of the community.
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| NY443 Clarksville |
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