Major Robert Rogers (1732-1795) was the first
great folk hero of British North America. Born to a poor farmer in what
is now New Hampshire, Rogers had little education, but was a natural leader
of men - men who would do anything for him.
Called to duty at the beginning of the
French and Indian War, Rogers created a corps of woodsmen to scout the
forests around Lake George (New York). In this vast wilderness, they ambushed
raiding parties, took prisoners to gain intelligence about French troop
movements, and earned a high reputation for bravery, endurance, and cunning.
Rogers' greatest achievement was a grueling expedition to wipe out the
Abenaki Indians at St. Francis - immortalized in the book Northwest
Passage (as well as the movie, starring Spencer Tracy, of the same
name).
As a popular war hero, Major Robert Rogers
was commissioned to accept the surrender of the French outposts in the
Great Lakes, and to establish a permanent post at Fort Detroit. His journals,
and the appendices, go into considerable detail about the complications
which led to his downfall.
Rogers' Journals were originally published
in 1765, only a few years after the British won the war and France surrendered
almost all of her North American holdings. This eBook is the 1885 Hough
edition of Rogers' Journals, which has never been republished. It was edited
by one of the foremost authorities on colonial New York history, and the
substantial volume of footnotes testifies to his vast knowledge of geography,
politics, and military history. It is a major improvement over the old
Stark edition. It also contains extensive appendices which detail Rogers'
efforts at Detroit as well as the circumstances surrounding his return
to the colonies during the American Revolution.
