Colonial Troops and American Rangers
The American Colonies Militias in the Great War for Empire
Sep 17, 2008
American colonial military forces played a minimal role in the Great Power struggle for domination of North America. British regulars, with the support and assistance of the British Navy, were able to bring the Great War for Empire between Britain and France to a victorious conclusion for the British, according to Allan R. Millet in his seminal work For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States, the colonial units raised and incorporated against France were not the cream of the crop. The units, often filled by draftees and those too poor to pay for a substitute, were a poor representation of the colonies’ ability to produce fighting men which met the standards of the British Army.
Colonial Rangers in British Units
John Grenier, in his work The First Way of War,showed that those colonists who could fight could be found within the ranks of the ranger companies raised to bring the attack to the Native Americans when war between the Native Americans and colonists broke out. British commanders used both ranger companies and Native Americans to negate Canadian militiamen and France’s Native American allies. Regardless of the martial abilities of the ranger companies raised, the colonial troops overall did not impress the British commanders. The rangers were a minority amongst the colonial troops, and thus the effectiveness of the rangers was small when compared to the colonies’ overall contributions to the war between Britain and France.
While the rangers were seen as necessary for successful operations in the wilds of North America by the British commanders, the regular militia of the colonies did not hold a place of honor in the strategic planning of the British commanders, according to Richard Frank in a lecture at Norwich University.
Lack of Discipline and Menial Labor for Colonial Troops
Rangers were but a small percentage of the colonial forces available. The remainder of colonial troops which did serve during the Great War for Empire did little fighting. British regulars bore the brunt of the fighting while colonial troops were relegated to the menial details which make up such a large part of military life. When the colonials did fight it was not with the discipline which the British commanders were familiar with. This lack of discipline amongst the colonial troops was a direct result, however, of the drafted colonial troops combined with a lack of proper military training combined with the distance between their homes and the positions of their enemies. Thus the colonial forces employed by the British in the Great War for Empire played but a small part in the struggle for North America between Britain and France.
Sources
Frank, Richard. Lecture to Norwich University Military History Program (January 2008).
Grenier, John. The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607-1814. Boston: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Millet, Allan R. For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States of America. New York: The Free Press, 1984.
