THE RANGERS Source: History of Charlestown, NH - Fort No. 4 by Rev. Henry H. Saunderson 1876 Chapter 5 p. 89 It has been necessary in this history to speak frequently of "Rangers" and, as from the great changes which have been wrought in the condition of this portion of the country, similar bodies of men can never be employed hereafter, so some further description of this peculiar class of partisans, showing what they did and suffered, can scarcely be without interest. "Compared with the life of the Ranger," says B. H. Hall in his History of Eastern Vermont, "that of the frontier settler was merely the training school in hardship and endurance. In the ranging corps were perfected lessons, the rudiments of which are, at the present day, but seldom taught. Their duties were to scour the woods, and ascertain the force and position of the enemy; to discover and prevent the effect of his own ambuscades and to ambush him in turn; to acquire information of his movements, by making prisoners of his sentinels and to clear the way for the advance of regular troops. In marching, flankers preceded the main army, and their system of tactics was embodied in the quickness with which, at a given signal, they could form in file, either single or otherwise, as occasion demanded. In fighting, if the enemy was Indian, they adopted his mode of war- fare, and were not inferior to him in artifice or fin- esse. To the use of all such weapons as were likely to be employed against them, they were well accustomed, and their antagonist, whoever he might be, was sure to find in them warriors whom he might hate, but could not des- pise. As marksmen none surpassed them." Nor was their training in other things less perfect. "With a sensitiveness to sound, approximating to that of instinct, they could detect the sly approach of the foe, or could mark, with an accuracy almost beyond be- lief, the place of his concealment. Their route was for the most part through a country thickly wooded, now over jagged hills and steep mountains, and anon across foam- ing rivers or gravelly bedded brooks." When an Indian track was discovered, a favorable point was chosen in its course, and there was formed an ambu- scade, where they would lie in wait, day after day, for the approach of the enemy. Nor were mountains, rivers and foes, the only obstacles with wich they were forced to contend. Loaded with pro- visions for a month's march, carrying a musket heavier by far than that of more modern make, with ammunition and appurtenances correspondent, thus equipped with the burden of a porter, did they do the duty of a soldier. At night the place of their encampment was always chosen with the utmost circumspection, and guards were ever on the alert to prevent a surprise. Were it summer, the ground sufficed for a bed, the clear sky or the outspread- ing branches of some giant oak, for a canopy. Were it winter, at the close of a weary march performed on snow shoes, a few gathered twigs pointed the couch made hard by necessity, and a rude hut served as a miserable shelter from the inclemency of the weather. Were the nights very dark and cold, and no fear of discovery entertained, gathered around the blazing brush heap, they enjoyed a kind of satisfaction in watching the towering of its bright, forked flame, relieved by the dark back- ground of the black forest; or encircling it in slumber dreamed that their heads were in Greenland, and their feet in Vesuvius. If a comrade were sick, the canteen or what herbs the forest offered were the only medicines obtainable; and, were he unable to proceed, a journey on a litter to the place whence his company started or to the point of their destination with the exposure con- sequent thereupon, was not always a certain warrant of recovery or the most gentle method of alleviating pain. But the great object was unattained so long as they did not return with a string of scalps or a retinue of capt- ives. When success attended their efforts, the officers and soldiers shared alike the bounty paid and strove to obtain equal proportions of praise and glory. The parti- sans of the valley of the Connecticut were mostly from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire. Some of them had borne for many years, the barbarities of the Indian, and were determined to hunt him like a beast in his own native woods. Not a few had seen father and mother tomahawked and scalped before their very eyes, and some, after spending their youth as captives in the wigwam, had returned, bringing with them a knowledge of Indian modes of warfare and a burning desire to exert that knowledge for the destruction of their teachers. To men in this situation, a bounty such as was offered by the State of Massachusetts was sufficient to change thought into action, and it did not require the eye of a prophet to foresee the result. Great were the dangers they encountered, arduous the labor they performed, pre- eminent the services they rendered" and to this we may add small was the reward which they received; and some modern historians without any proper appreciation of the true character of the Indian or the circumstances of the times which in the early settlements made such an order of men a necessity, would deprive them of the meed of praise, which is their due. But a due consideration of the barbarity of the enemy, by which was created an actual demand for such a class of partisans for the protection of the frontier settlements, will not only give us a higher and better view of their character, but will lead us to a cordial acknowledgement of their magnanimity and bravery, and the importance and value of the services which they rendered. End Part 1, Rangers. __________________________________________________________________ Transcribe by Janice Farnsworth