Snowshoes

Wet powder was what saved them. The horseshoe shaped ambush would have been

devastating in the tight confines of the ravine, but the horrific weather of rain and snow had

turned the powder in about half of the ambusher’s muskets to a thick sludge. The volley was

weak, but still balls struck home, killing 2 and wounding several more. The central figure in the

kill zone, the one who had several muskets pointed at him, suffered a glancing blow across his

forehead that removed his hat and staggered him as blood cascaded into his eyes. Robert Rogers and his Rangers had been clamped in a deadly ambush by a numerically superior force of French troops, Canadian militia, and Ottowa and Potawatomie warriors. Only hours earlier, Rogers and his 74 Rangers had ambushed a sleigh convoy heading north from Fort Carillon to Crown Point for fresh supplies. The Rangers had captured seven prisoners, but three French had slipped out of the ambush and were now frantically riding back to Carillon. Rogers had the prisoners separated and conducted field interrogations and discovered that the garrison at Fort Carillon had been recently augmented with fresh troops. The escapees could be back at the fort within the hour, the sun was still far from setting, and with the heavy snowfall the best speed his Rangers could make on their snowshoes was about 3 miles per hour.

Rogers quickly appraised his situation. His men had been in the field for 5 days, their

weapons and powder were wet as well as their clothing and moccasins. Rogers decided to retrace his steps back to the bivouac site he had used the previous night and start fires to allow his Rangers to dry out their powder and clothing and get some food down their necks. After a brief respite, the Rangers tucked their dried weapons under their cloaks to shield them from the rain and they stepped off in the awkward gait caused by their snowshoes. Rogers led his men into a deep ravine in the hopes of using it to camouflage his Rangers from being spotted by French pursuers. The rattle of musketry shattered the winter tranquility as the lead elements of the Ranger column crested the opposite side of the ravine and Ottawa warriors let out a whoop as

they rushed the Rangers with bayonets and tomahawk. As the French and their native allies

rushed into the kill zone, a volley snapped like dried thorns thrown onto a ripping hot fire. The Ranger’s rear guard remained on the opposite side of the ravine and had fired over the heads of their recoiling comrades, bloodying the enemy’s nose and blunting his advance at a crucial moment. Dry powder had made all the difference.

Rangers in the ravine attempted to beat a hasty retreat, but in the process had to fight four

feet of snow up an incline with enemy hot on their heels. With their guns emptied, the fight in the

ravine turned into a cauldron of hot blood and cold snow. The Ranger rear guard provided

support with continued volleys of lead being poured into the ravine. The French pursuit was

stymied by their lack of snowshoes, requiring them to posthole through waist deep snow and

allowing the Rangers to reconsolidate on high ground. The French dispatched a band of Ottawa to flank the consolidated Ranger position. Rogers dispatched a team of sharpshooters to intercept them. The sharpshooters drew first blood and beat back the flanking maneuver before the Ottawa could even get a shot off. The French shifted to a frontal assault, which only provided more targets for the Rangers who slammed volley after volley into the twitching mass of French bodies that slowly advanced towards them. The attack floundered under the heavy weight of fire brought to bear by the Rangers. The French once again attempted a flanking maneuver which was also intercepted by Ranger sharpshooters with similar results. The French extolled Rogers for his bravery but encouraged him to surrender. Shouting to him that they may not be able to breach his perimeter now, but Fort Carillon was only a short distance away with more men and ammunition. Rogers replied with a promise to “do some scalping” if another charge were attempted.

Rogers and the French sniped at each other throughout the afternoon in a series of small

skirmishes. At dusk, Rogers ordered his men to cease firing. The Ottawa crawled forward into

the ravine and toward the Ranger lines thinking the enemy had fled or run out of ammunition to

scalp the dead and wounded. When the Ottawa were only yards away Rogers gave the order to

fire and a murderous fusillade thumped home at nearly point blank range. In the following exchange of fire Rogers had a French musket ball smash through his wrist, requiring him to cut off his ponytail and fashion it as a tourniquet. By nightfall the Ranger’s ammunition was running low. If they were to survive they would have to break out tonight or else the enemy could bring reinforcements and fresh supplies in the morning and crush the remaining 57 Rangers. The seven prisoners were no longer a concern as they had their skulls bashed in with tomahawks during the ambush to prevent their recapture by the enemy. Dead men tell no tales. Thankfully all the wounded within the defensive position did not have leg wounds so they could walk out under their own power. The Rangers tightened their snowshoes and prepared to move out under cover of darkness back to Fort William Henry and safety. The Ranger party successfully evaded the French in their nighttime escape and returned to Fort William Henry. The Rangers had turned a disastrous situation into a stubborn defense. The Battle of the Snowshoes on January 21, 1757 had very little strategic significance in the

wider French and Indian War. However, the story of Robert Rogers and his gallant group of

independent Rangers fighting their way out of a bloody French ambush had spread across the

colonies in newspapers from New York to Virginia and buoyed morale in a conflict devoid of

major British victories to this point. In the fallout of this battle, Rogers was authorized to expand his Ranger force by 100 men and was given the brevet rank of major. The Battle of the Snowshoes cemented Rogers’ legacy as a cunning frontier fighter and established the legend of the Rangers.