24
��Robert Rogers, the Ranger.
��certain stores of the enemy which a Ranger could destroy only with regret. He naively remarks, in narrating the cap- ture in June, of this same year, of two lighters upon Lake Champlain, manned by twelve men, four of whom they killed : " We sunk and destroyed their vessels and cargoes, which con- sisted chiefly of wheat and flour, wine, and brandy ; some few casks of the latter we carefully concealed."
His commands on such occasions varied greatly in numbers, according to the exigency of the service, all the way from a squad of ten men to two whole companies ; and the excursions just mentioned afford fair specimens of the work done by the Rangers under Rogers this year.
Rogers possessed a ready wit and an attractive bonhomie, which made him agreeable to his men, notwithstanding the necessary sever" 'y of his discipline. A story has come dowTi to us which well illustrates this trait in his character. Two British Regulars, it seems, a good deal muddled, one night, by liberal po- tations, became greatly concerned lest their beloved country should suffer dis- honor in consequence of inability to dis- charge its national debt, and their loyal forebodings had, at length, become painful. The good-natured Captain, en- countering them in their distress, at once relieved them by the remark : " I appreciate the gravity of your trouble, my dear fellows. It is, indeed, a seri- ous one. But, happily, I can remove it. I will, myself, discharge at once one-half the debt, and a friend of mine will shortly pay the other half." From this incident is said to have arisen the expression, at one time common, '•' We pay our debts as Rogers did that of the Elnglish nation."
But Captain Rogers had qualities of a higher order, which commended him
��to his superiors. His capacity as a Ranger Commander had attracted the notice of the officers on duty at Lake George. The importance of this branch of the semce had also become apparent, and we shall not be surprised to learn that, in March, 1756, he was summoned to Boston by Major General Shirley and commissioned anew as Captain of an independent company of Rangers, to be paid by the King. This company formed the nucleus of the famous corps since known as " Rog- er's Rangers."
In July another company was raised, and again in December two more, there- by increasing the Ranger corps to four companies. To anticipate, in a httle more than a year this was farther en- larged by the addition of five more, and Captain Rogers was promoted to the rank of Major of Rangers, becom- ing thus the commander of the whole corps.
The character of the service ex- pected of this branch of the army was set forth in Major General Shirley's or- ders to its commander in 1756, as fol- ows,viz. : '*From time to time, to use your best endeavors to distress the French and allies by sacking, burning, and de- stroying their houses, bams, barracks, canoes, and battoes, and by killing their cattle of every kind ; and at all times to endeavour to way-lay, attack and de- stroy their convoys of provisions by land and water in any part of the country where he could find them."*
On the fifteenth of January of the next year (1757) Captain Rogers, with seventy-four Rangers, started down Lake George to reconnoiter the French forts ; travelling now for a time upon the ice, and by and by donning snow-shoes and following the land. On the twenty-first, at a point
- Roger's Journal (Hough's edition), p. 46.
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