A headless Ranger at Fort Edwards?
Pinto Nag sends us a link to MSN that talks about a headless body of a possible member of the famed Rogers’ Rangers that was exhumed at Rogers Island in the Hudson River, in New York State;
In 2006, a local couple who served as caretakers for the then-privately owned property uncovered seven human skeletons buried at the site, including one that was missing its skull. State archaeologist later determined the burials were likely part of cemetery dating back to the French and Indian War (1754-63), when Fort Edward was Britain’s largest fortification in North America. The skeletons were reburied where they were found, and no excavations have been conducted at the site since.
Of course, modern-day Rangers trace their lineage to Robert Rogers’ Ranger company, a small force of frontiersmen who were primarily used for reconnaissance and special operations of the day. Historians say that some of the Rangers of Fort Edwards were at the battle at Concord Bridge. Strangely enough, when Rogers himself offered his services to George Washington, the general rejected his offer suspecting that Rogers might be a spy. Rogers, enraged by the rejection, joined the British Army and formed the King’s Rangers.
Category: Historical
“Rogers, enraged by the rejection, joined the British Army and formed the King’s Rangers.”
Washington was probably right then.
That does indeed make you wonder about his commitment to the cause of freedom.
They probably don’t like to talk about THAT at Benning!
Rogers created the Rangers in order to avoid being hung for counterfeiting – a capital crime at the time. His military service during the French and Indian War was outstanding. It was part of a bigger life that wasn’t all great. After the F&I War he walked to Detroit, fought a battle, walked to Fort Michilimackinac where he did a very good job until he was betrayed by one of his officers, held in irons, then returned to the east and tried. He died a pauper in England.
Most real people are imperfect. Rogers was real.
This:
http://www.amazon.com/The-History-Rogers-Rangers-Volume/dp/078841741X
… is a link to a set of books about the Rangers during the French & Indian Wars. While the writing itself is uninspiring the history is good and in my opinion they are worth the time and money. I bought the paper ones that are printed on demand. The book quality is low-moderate but information is the same.
And Happy Halloween to you all too!
I had to laugh that they mentioned Sleepy Hollow in the first sentence. I’m a born and raised Headless Horseman. Great place on Halloween. Proud alumnus of Sleepy Hollow High School. And…the coolest high school mascot in the world. Three guesses what it is and the first two don’t count!
It wouldn’t be the Horseless Headsman, would it? Before he ate the Snickers?
LOL! Give that man a kewpie doll!
“modern-day Rangers trace their lineage to Robert Rogers’ Ranger company”
Never knew Rodgers became a traitor, yet Benedict Arnold gets all the bad press.
This is a big surprise for me.
Modern rangers trace their lineage back to a traitor? Who knew?
Army Rangers have lineage that falls on both sides of most early US conflicts up to and including the Civil War.
Everybody focuses on Robert Rogers, but the true father of American Rangers is Benjamin Church. Ironically, Church’s great-grandson was the first Surgeon General of the Continental Army, but would later be arrest by Washington as a spy.
The drive for independence from England was not nearly as clear as our history lessons taught us….
Their politics were no less confused and tangled than ours is today — and Washington wasn’t a saint, either.
The AMC series “Turn” concerning Washington’s spy network during the Revolutionary War includes some of Rogers’ role in the war. The second season seems overdue, but maybe it’s because all those zombie series get in the way.
As Pappy Boyington wrote: “Scratch a hero, and I’ll show you a bum”. Often the character that makes a hero in war is flawed from a peacetime perspective.
During the American Revolution, there were good guys and there were bad guys. The good guys won and their military leader, the goodest of the good, was George Washington. The end. Quiz on Monday.
History is always written by the winners, usually in whitewash.
RLTW.