Robert Rogers

Robert Rogers 1731-95, American frontiersman, b. Methuen, Mass. As a child he moved with his family to the New Hampshire frontier. In King George's War (1744-48) he served briefly as a scout. In the last of the French and Indian Wars he was appointed (1758) major in command of all rangers. Rogers led (1759) his men in a daring expedition that resulted in the destruction of the Native Americans of the Saint Francis branch of the Abnaki . In 1760 he was sent to receive the submission of the French posts on the Great Lakes, and in 1763 he served on the expedition to defend Fort Detroit, which was threatened by Pontiac's Rebellion. His many exploits made him a popular hero, but his participation in illicit trade with the Native Americans brought him into official disgrace. He went (1765) to England to obtain pay for his service. There he was much feted, and his Journals and A Concise Account of North America were published in 1765. He also wrote a crude play, Ponteach (1766), important primarily as an early American drama. Successful in securing an appointment as commander of the post at Mackinac , he returned to the Northwest. His career there has been the subject of much speculation and discussion. Rogers, who was ambitious to find the Northwest Passage, sent out the mysterious expedition of Jonathan Carver to the Northwest, quarreled with his associates, was accused of plotting to set up an independent state, and was arrested on charges of treasonable dealings with the French. Brought to Montreal in chains and court-martialed, he was acquitted of all charges. He went (1769) to England but returned (1775) to America and played such an equivocal role at the beginning of the American Revolution that he was imprisoned as a Loyalist spy. He escaped and openly joined the Loyalists, but his record in the war was anything but distinguished. In 1780 he returned to England, dying there in 1795 in obscurity.

Bibliography: See his play, Ponteach, ed. with a biographical account by A. Nevins (1914, repr. 1973); his journals, ed. by F. B. Hough (1883, repr. 1966); biography by J. R. Cuneo (1959).

Rogers, Robert (1731–95), born in Massachusetts, distinguished himself in the last of the French and Indian Wars, commanding some 600 Rangers who used the independent guerrilla technique of Indian warfare. After the British victory Rogers was sent to Detroit to receive the surrender of western French posts, as recorded in his Journal (1933). He later defended Detroit against the attack of Pontiac, but his illicit trading with the Indians disgraced him, and he went to England, where he published his Journals (1765), A Concise Account of North America (1765), and his play Ponteach (1766). Appointed to command a Michigan fort, he commissioned the exploration of Jonathan Carver, but again found himself in difficulties when he administered the territory for his own profit and was suspected of treasonable relations with the French. After another period in England (1769–75), he returned to America, where he was apparently unable to decide if British or American service was of more value to himself, and was accordingly imprisoned as a spy by Washington. Escaping to the British, he took to the field unsuccessfully, and was then set to recruiting, in which he reverted to his former dishonest practices. In 1780 he returned to England, where he remained the rest of his life. He figures in most of the fiction and history concerning Pontiac, as well as in Kenneth Roberts's Northwest Passage.

Rogers, Robert (1731–95) American frontier soldier. He formed the Rogers Rangers, a force of 600 New England frontiersmen who fought with great bravery in the FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR at Lake George (1758) and the capture of Quebec (1759). He served in the relief of Detroit in PONTIAC's Rebellion. His loyalty to the Revolution was questioned and Washington had him arrested as a spy in 1776. Such treatment converted him into a loyalist and in 1780 he went to live in London.