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by Alan D. Gaff (Author)
A sober, evidence-based portrait chronicles the brutal tactics and controversial actions of Rogers and his Rangers in 1750s New York frontier warfare.
Major Robert Rogers is an icon in American history, but he does not deserve that status. Scalp Hunter provides the first exhaustive examination of Rogers and his Rangers. This is the most complete telling of the wartime Rangers' saga, told by the Rangers themselves, their officers of all ranks, including generals, and it is not a modern interpretation by writers lacking a military background. Warfare in New York Province during the 1750s was brutal. American editors praised British and Colonial troops, while depicting French and Indian enemies as blood-thirsty barbarians. Robert Rogers would organise a corps of woodsmen whose assignment was to scout the wilderness to frustrate the enemy and provide important intelligence. Rogers and his Rangers quickly descended into cold-blooded savagery, scalping wounded and deceased foes for bounties while killing unarmed prisoners in cold blood. During his famous raid to St Francis in 1759, Major Rogers and his force ruthlessly murdered women and children against specific orders from their commanding general. When Rogers published his heavily-edited Journals in 1765, he intentionally neglected to mention these atrocities.
Scalp Hunter provides the first in-depth account of Rogers and the men who served under him, including much new information unavailable previously. Rogers, his Rangers, and soldiers who served beside them relate fresh information in their own words. Over the last 250 years, Major Robert Rogers has become an icon alongside such frontiersmen as Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, Davy Crockett, and Kit Carson. Scalp Hunter will help remove Robert Rogers from that pantheon.
