Description

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 independent ranger company. Rogers was inspired by colonial Frontiersman Ranger groups across North America and the teachings of unconventional warfare from Rangers such as Benjamin Church. Rogers trained and commanded his own rapidly deployable light infantry force, which was tasked mainly with reconnaissance and conducting special operations against distant targets. Their tactics were built on earlier Colonial precedents and were codified for the first time by Rogers as his 28 "Rules of Ranging". The tactics proved remarkably effective, and the initial company was expanded into a ranging corps of more than a dozen companies containing as many as 1,200–1,400 men at its peak. The ranger corps became the chief scouting arm of British Crown forces by the late 1750s. The British forces in America valued Rogers' Rangers for their ability to gather intelligence about the enemy. They were disbanded in 1761.