Coos, New Hampshire refers to the

frontier A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. Australia The term "frontier" was frequently used in colonial Australia in the meaning of country that borders the unknown or uncivilised, th ...

area of northern

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. During the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

a military command was located at

Haverhill, New Hampshire Haverhill is a town and the seat of Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,585 at the 2020 census. Haverhill includes the villages of Woodsville, Pike, and North Haverhill, the historic town center at Haverhill Corn ...

to protect the

New Hampshire Grants The New Hampshire Grants or Benning Wentworth Grants were land grants made between 1749 and 1764 by the colonial governor of the Province of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth. The land grants, totaling about 135 (including 131 towns), were made ...

and to support military efforts in the invasion of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The name was later given to a portion of northern Grafton County in 1803 when a new county, named Coos, was created. The location was originally a name associated with a part of the migratory

Abenaki The Abenaki ( Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was pred ...

tribe. The location was known before 1704 to have military significance for several provincial governments and the leaders in

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

. In 1755, a Fort Wentworth was to be constructed by

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 French and Indian War. The unit was quickly adopted into the New England Colonies army as an i ...

at the junction of the

Upper Ammonoosuc River The Upper Ammonoosuc River is a tributary of the Connecticut River that flows through Coös County in the northern part of the northeastern U.S. state of New Hampshire. Despite its name, the river is not an upstream portion of the Ammonoosuc Ri ...

with the

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

in present-day

Northumberland, New Hampshire Northumberland is a town located in western Coös County, New Hampshire, United States, north of Lancaster. It is part of the Berlin, NH– VT micropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 2,126, of whom 1,06 ...

. A river with a similar name, the Ammonoosuc River, flows through Grafton County, joining the Connecticut opposite Newbury, Vermont. The upper Coos refers to the area around

Lancaster, New Hampshire Lancaster is a town located along the Connecticut River in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States. The town is named after the city of Lancaster in England. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,218, the second largest in the cou ...

, the county seat of Coos County, and the lower Coos to Newbury, Vermont. The distance between these locations is approximately .

References

*
The Frontier In American History
by Frederick Jackson Turner *{{cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tY9Lxurlpu0C&dq=bayley%20newbury%20vermont&pg=RA1-PA76, title=History of Newbury, Vermont, first=Frederic P, last=Wells, publisher=The Caledonian Company, location=St. Johnsbury, VT, ref=Wells, year=1902, oclc=383086 Pre-statehood history of New Hampshire Pre-statehood history of Vermont New Hampshire in the American Revolution