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.
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 2,190 acres (8.9 km2) 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.
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.
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 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.
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.