Colonial American military history

Rangers

During the 1600s and 1700s, colonial governments created ranger units because regular soldiers struggled with frontier combat against Native American tribes. These full-time troops patrolled between frontier forts, giving early warnings of attacks and serving as scouts and guides for offensive missions. Colonel Benjamin Church, who led the first American ranger company in 1676 under a commission from Plymouth Colony Governor Josiah Winslow during King Philip's War, is considered the founder of American ranging.

He later used his company to raid Acadia in King William's War and Queen Anne's War. Church modeled his force on Native American warfare, learning directly from Native allies and mixing white colonists with allied Native Americans in a dedicated unit for strikes against hostile tribes. Among those who served under Church were the father and grandfather of later famous rangers John Lovewell and John Gorham. In 1751, Major Robert Rogers established Rogers' Rangers, organizing nine such companies.

These colonial light infantry units, called Rangers during the French and Indian War, are seen as the spiritual origin of modern Army Rangers.

Provincial troops

Provincial troops were a step up from the local militia. Colonial governors and legislatures raised them for long campaigns during the French and Indian Wars. Unlike part-time militiamen, these soldiers served full-time for an entire campaign season, but unlike the regular British Army, they were only hired for that single season. Officers got their positions from the provincial governments.

The first such forces appeared in the 1670s, when some colonies created ranger companies paid for a year to guard their borders. In King William’s War, Massachusetts Bay’s provincial troops handled the main fighting. During Queen Anne’s War, the bulk of English forces came from Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. For King George’s War, the entire land force that captured Louisbourg was supplied by Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

By the French and Indian War, London took charge, pushing provincial troops into non-combat roles like pioneers and transport. Still, the contributions from Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island proved essential. Over the 1700s, militia service became a mark of the well-established, while provincial troops drew from less rooted community members.

France and Britain at war

Beginning in 1689, the colonies became involved in four major wars between England and France for control of North America. The most important were Queen Anne's War, in which the British won French Acadia, and the final French and Indian War, when France lost all of Canada. This final war gave thousands of colonists military experience, including George Washington. The French settlers in New France were outnumbered 15–1 by the 13 American colonies, so the French relied heavily on Indian allies.

The wars caused immense suffering; many Indians were on the losing side as Spain and France were defeated. Frontier settlers faced sudden Indian raids; many were killed or captured. One profitable wartime activity was privateering—legalized piracy against enemy merchant ships. Another was hunting enemy Indians for scalping bounties.

King William's War was a phase of the larger Anglo-French conflict. New France and the Wabanaki Confederacy launched raids against New England settlements. Sir William Phips moved with his New England militia in 1690 to take French strongholds at Port Royal and Quebec. Phips conquered the capital of Acadia and other communities.

His written ultimatum to Comte de Frontenac at Quebec prompted Frontenac to say his reply would come from the mouths of his cannon and muskets.

Pontiac's War

When Lord Amherst took over as British commander in 1760, he stopped the French custom of giving ironware, weapons, and ammunition to Native Americans—a practice many tribes had come to rely on. In the Detroit region, Ottawa chief Pontiac stepped forward to lead, and in the spring of 1763, a loose alliance of tribes attacked British forts across the Great Lakes. They overran eight outposts and cut supply lines on Lake Erie, but their sieges at Fort Detroit and Fort Pitt failed.

Word then arrived that France had fully surrendered and left North America, which quickly deflated the Indian offensive. British regulars handled most of the fighting, with few American colonial units involved. To prevent more trouble, the British Crown issued a proclamation in October 1763 barring English settlers from moving into Indian lands west of the Appalachians. By pushing out the French, Britain ended the ability of the Iroquois and other groups to play European powers against each other.

Tribes that had sided with France struck back after Amherst cut off gifts, trying to drive British troops from their forts. Their raids sent English refugees fleeing east in panic. The coalition forced the British to reverse their policies and resume gift-giving. By 1764, the tribes made peace, but they realized they could no longer fight effectively without a rival European power to supply them with gunpowder and goods.

The Proclamation angered settlers who wanted to move west; they mostly ignored it and viewed the British government as siding with the Indians and blocking their ambitions.

Did You Know?

• Kieft's War was a conflict between Dutch settlers and Indians in New Netherland from 1643 to 1645; more than 1,600 natives were killed when the European population of New Amsterdam was only 250.
• The British fought the Spanish in the War of Jenkins' Ear, 1739–1748, which after 1742 merged into the larger War of the Austrian Succession.
• Military actions in the colonies included the Pequot War of 1637, King Philip's War in 1675, the Susquehannock war in 1675–77, and the Yamasee War in 1715.