The 1757 Battle on Snowshoes was a skirmish fought between

Rogers' Rangers Rogers' Rangers was a company of soldiers from the Province of New Hampshire raised by Major Robert Rogers and attached to the British Army during the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War). The unit was quickly adopted into the British army as ...

and French and Indian troops during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

on January 21, 1757. The battle was given this name because the British combatants were wearing

snowshoes Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footwe ...

. On January 21, 1757, Captain

Robert Rogers Robert Rogers may refer to: Politics * Robert Rogers (Irish politician) (died 1719), Irish politician, MP for Cork City 1692–1699 *Robert Rogers (Manitoba politician) (1864–1936), Canadian politician * Robert Rogers, Baron Lisvane (born 1950), ...

and a band of his rangers were on a scouting expedition near

Fort Carillon Fort Carillon, presently known as Fort Ticonderoga, was constructed by Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada (New France), French Canada, to protect Lake Champlain from a British invasion. Situated on the lake some south of Fort S ...

Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type = , ...

when they were ambushed by a mixed troop of French regulars,

Canadien French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fre ...

militiamen, and Indians. The fighting ended when darkness set in, with significant casualties on both sides. The French in their reports claimed the British had a distinct advantage due to their snowshoes.

Background

The

broke out in 1754 between

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and French colonists over territorial disputes along their colonial frontiers, and escalated the following year to include

regular troops A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a standin ...

. Brumwell (2004), p. 55 By 1756, the French had enjoyed successes in most of their frontier battles against the British. Their only notable failure occurred when the British stopped their southward advance from

in the 1755

Battle of Lake George The Battle of Lake George was fought on 8 September 1755, in the north of the Province of New York. It was part of a campaign by the British to expel the French from North America, in the French and Indian War. On one side were 1,584 French, Can ...

. From bases at

Fort St. Frédéric A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

(located at what is now

Crown Point, New York Crown Point is a town in Essex County, New York, United States, located on the west shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 2,024 at the 2010 census. The name of the town is a direct translation of the original French name, . The town is on ...

) and Fort Carillon (known to the British as

Fort Ticonderoga Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain, in northern New York, in the United States. It was constructed by Canadian-born French mi ...

), the French and their Indian allies continued to scout and probe the British defenses on Lake George and the upper

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. Brumwell (2004), pp. 59–82 The British, who had fewer Indian allies, resorted to companies of rangers for their scouting and reconnaissance activities. Brumwell (2004), pp. 70–71 The ranger companies were organized and directed by

, and eventually became known as

. Brumwell (2004), pp. 103–105

Prelude

In the winter of 1757, Rogers and several companies of his rangers were stationed at

Fort William Henry Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George, in the province of New York. The fort's construction was ordered by Sir William Johnson in September 1755, during the French and Indian War, as a staging ground for ...

at the southern end of Lake George and at Fort Edward on the upper Hudson. These forts were principally garrisoned by elements of the 44th and 48th Regiments, and formed the

frontier A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts o ...

between the British

province of New York The Province of New York (1664–1776) was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Middle Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the Uni ...

and the French province of Canada. Captain Rogers led a scouting expedition from Fort Edward on January 15, stopping at Fort William Henry to acquire provisions, snowshoes, and additional soldiers. Rogers (1883), p. 66 The company left Fort William Henry on January 17 with 86 men, heading down the frozen Lake George. The next day twelve men turned back because of injuries. The remaining men continued north, reaching

at a point between Fort Carillon and Fort St. Frédéric on January 21. They spotted a sled moving on the lake toward Fort St. Frédéric, so Rogers sent Lieutenant

John Stark Major-General John Stark (August 28, 1728 – May 8, 1822) was an American military officer who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. He became known as the "Hero of Bennington" for his exemplary service at the Batt ...

and some men to intercept it. Rogers (1883), p. 67 However, more sleds were spotted, and Stark's men were seen before they could retreat back into the woods. The sleds turned back toward Carillon. The British gave chase, but most of the French escaped. Rogers succeeded in taking seven prisoners. Brumwell (2004), p. 83 Rogers learned from questioning the prisoners that a French and Indian war party had just arrived at Carillon, and that the two forts were garrisoned by a thousand regulars. Concerned that the escaped sleds would raise the alarm, Rogers immediately ordered a return to their last camp. His council disapproved of the return by the same route (a violation of Rogers' own ranging guidelines), but he overruled them, citing the need for speed and the deep snow. By early afternoon they had returned to their camp, rested, and were on their way south. Brumwell (2004), p. 84 M. de Rouilly, the leader of the supply convoy Rogers had intercepted, returned to Carillon and alerted Paul-Louis de Lusignan, the fort's commander. According to Lusignan's report, he immediately sent out a party of about 90 regulars from the Languedoc regiment under the command of Capitaine de Basserode, accompanied by about 90 Canadian militia and Indians. The Indians were primarily

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

under the command of

Charles Michel de Langlade Charles Michel Mouet de Langlade (9 May 1729 – after 26 July 1801)''Dictionnaire Généalogique Tanguay'' was a Great Lakes fur trader and war chief who was important in protecting French territory in North America. His mother was Ottawa and hi ...

, one of the French-Indian leaders at Braddock's defeat in 1755. Steele (1990), p. 74

Battle

Rogers' men then walked into an ambush, according to his estimate, by "250 French and Indians." Rogers (1883), p. 71 The British were fortunate that many of the French

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...

s misfired due to wet

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

, as the surprise was nearly complete. Lieutenant Stark, who was bringing up the rear of the ranger column, established a defensive line on a rise with some of his men, from which they gave covering fire as those in the front retreated to that position. As they retreated Rogers ordered his captives slain so that his men might move more freely. The fight lasted several hours and ended only after sunset, when neither side could see the other. Rogers was injured twice during the battle, once to the head and once to the hand. The French reported that they were at a disadvantage, since they were without snowshoes and "floundering in snow up to their knees". Bougainville (1964), p. 81 Once darkness set in, Rogers and his survivors retreated to Lake George, where he sent Stark with two men to Fort William Henry for assistance. Brumwell (2004), p. 85 On January 23, Rogers returned to Fort William Henry with 48 able-bodied and six wounded soldiers. Rogers (1883), p. 70

Aftermath

Bougainville questioned some of the men captured during the battle. He learned from them the disposition of men and materials all the way from Albany to Fort William Henry. Bougainville (1964), p. 84 Other captured British ended up as slaves to the Indians. Thomas Brown, who published a pamphlet that vividly described his captivity, spent almost two years in slavery, traveling as far as the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

before reaching Albany in November 1758. Brumwell (2004), pp. 86–90 A similar battle was fought the following year, in which Rogers was very nearly killed and his company was decimated. Brumwell (2004), pp. 115–118

References

Bibliography

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