Robert Rogers’ map
Following his return from the attack on St. Francis, Robert Rogers informed Amherst that, in response to the latter=s request, he would soon be sending him Aa Plan of all the Country I have travelled over.@ As promised, three months later he wrote from Crown Point on 20 March 1760 enclosing what he described as Aa Sketch of my Travels To and from Saint Francis.@ Thus alerted, John Cuneo in his biography of Rogers noted that ARogers sent a map of his route to Amherst but it cannot now be found.@ A few years after Cuneo=s book appeared in 1959, however, the map turned up in England and was eventually sold at auction by Parke-Bernet in New York in October 1970. In response to an enquiry as to its whereabouts until then, the following information was provided by the original consignee, Parke-Bernet=s London partner, Sotheby=s:
I am afraid that I can only tell you that the map was bound in an eighteenth-century atlas with other manuscript maps relating to the wars in North America and one or two drawings of the campaigns. They came from the Worcestershire house of a direct descendant of a junior officer who served in these campaigns, and who regretfully but firmly wishes to remain anonymous.
Aside from its interest in tracing Rogers= route to and from St. Francis, the mapCamong the earliest topographic plans of the interior of the future State of VermontCis notable for its accuracy. Measuring 22 x 18 inches, it bears a notation that its scale is based upon the distance AAllowd@ between Montreal and Quebec (160 miles): AThe other Part of it is Drew in proportion.@ The route followed by Rogers (AThe way I came home@) is clearly indicated: AThe prict Line from Missisque Bay to Saint Francus [sic] is the way I March=d as also from Saint Francis to Connecticut River.@
Evidence suggests the map to have been the work of Capt. James Abercrombie of the 42nd Regiment, an engineer and skilled cartographer, aide-de-camp to his uncle General James Abercromby and later to Amherst. It bears a marked similarity to another map by him of the same region and period, now in the Crown Collection in the British Library: a Map of the Scene of Action, dedicated to His Excellency Major General Abercrombie. (Apparently as a result of a misreading of the lettering on this map, itCand other maps of hisCare incorrectly attributed to an otherwise unknown ACaptain Thomas Abercrombie.@) In December 1759, Capt. James Abercrombie was summoned to England to attend the court-martial of Major General Lord Charles Hay (charged with disrespectful speeches against Lord Loudon) and therefore must have prepared the map about this time for Rogers= use in furnishing the information requested by Amherst. Abercrombie was a friend and admirer of Rogers and accompanied the rangers on a number of occasions. Several years later, then Lt. Col. of the 22nd Regiment, he was mortally wounded at Bunker Hill at the head of the grenadiers. As he was carried from the field, one of his final concerns was for an old friend from the ranging service: Israel Putnam, then in command of the enemy=s forces. AIf you take General Putnam alive,@ he is recorded as saying Adon=t hang him; for he=s a brave man.@
En route to St. Francis, Rogers and his party had been detected almost immediately after disembarking on the eastern shore of Mississquoi Bay. After destroying the boats and seizing the provisions left there for Rogers= return, a detachment of two hundred French and Indians had started in close pursuit. With no hope of returning the way they had come, Rogers sent word back to Amherst at Crown Point that alternatively he would attempt to return by way of the Connecticut River to Fort No. 4. Amherst accordingly immediately dispatched Lt. Samuel Stevens of the rangers to No. 4 with orders to secure provisions there Asufficient to Victual Major Rogers and his party Y from Wells River to No. 4, by which Major Rogers proposes to Return.@ The destruction of the village of St. Francis being completed by 7 o=clock on the morning of the raid, Rogers started on the harrowing return journey, pursued by a relentless enemy thirsting for revenge. After eight days, having reached the outlet of Lake Memphremagog and with provisions running short, he concluded that smaller parties would have a better chance of finding game and eluding pursuit. Accordingly, as he noted on the map, AI parted hear [sic] the detachment Into Small Companies.@
Amherst=s orders to Lt. Stevens were that he wait at the appointed rendezvous at Wells River for Aas long as You shall think there is any probability of Major Rogers returning that way.@ In Stevens= subsequent court-martial for neglect of duty in failing to wait long enough to accomplish his mission, Rogers testified that Ahad he delayed but a day, or even some hours longer, he would have saved the Lives of a Number of his party, who Perished in the Woods, as it was 17 days afterwards before he could procure the remainder of his People relief.@ Stevens, in Rogers= eyes Aan indolent fellow,@ was eventually dismissed from the service.
J. Robert Maguire
———–Legend on Robert Rogers’ St. Francis Map
The Prict Line from Messisque Bay
To Saint Francus, is the way I March’d
as Also from Saint Francis to Connecticut River
On the River Wigg-Wam Martinic, the french Settlement Consist of About
Two hundred Houses
The Indian Town Ollinok has About Thirty fighting
Men, The Upper Cohorse is About a Hundred Miles Long, and About
Six Miles Broad, the Land is Very good, and Made a Rich Soil, by the
Wash of the High Mountains all Round it, The Lower Cohorse is About Eighteen
Miles Long and About three Miles Broad, the greatest part of it is
Clear from Trees, And in my Opinion the best Lands, that Ever I have Travell’d
Over, The Groth of Trees on the Swampey Ground, the South Side of the River
Saint Lawrence is Cheifly Cedar, a mossy Clay Bottom Entermix’d with Water
and this Land is Uncultivable
Robt Rogers
