Counterfeit Money led to Rogers Rangers
Rogers Rangers never came to Fort Loudoun. They operated in NY and Canada mostly. They got most of the glory. In many ways deservedly so. The Rangers were the closest to the style of Indian warfare.
We had our own Rangers at Fort Loudoun.
For a time Rutherford's Rangers garrisoned Fort Loudoun. We had other Ranger companies at 2 Ranger forts on the Patterson Creek too - Fort Cocks and Fort Ashby.
But for now, we just take a look
at those legendary Rogers Rangers.
In particular we want to know if Robert Rogers was guilty of counterfeiting money.
According to several sources, Rogers is guilty.
Summary of story:
A counterfeiter, mostly known
as Sullivan from Boston
and who had many aliases
for his operations in different colonies
approached Robert Rogers
in the Fall of 1754.
While paying Rogers one of those paper currencies to stable his horse, the counterfeiter dazzled Rogers with a show of extra money in his hand. Rogers took him to the side to cut a deal and presumably got more of those counterfeit paper monies.
The counterfeiter sells the horse he had paid to rent an overnight stable from Rogers. The counterfeiter leaves with real money, leaving Rogers holding fake money.
Rogers being thus ripped off, schemes to use the counterfeit money to buy some oxen to resell for real money.
He asks his good friend John Stark (yes the famous Stark) if anyone had oxen to sell to recover his losses.
At around Jan 1755, Rogers is alleged in Boston and may have contacted the counterfeiter known as Sullivan. At that same time Rogers was recruiting men for Frye's Massachusetts regiment.
The authorities get wind of counterfeit money in the area, arresting Rogers and others 7 Feb 1755.
At the preliminary trial, Stark cannot tell a lie,
but he tries to sweeten it, saying
Rogers was only going to do it once and be done with it.
After the arrest arraignment, Rogers is let out on bond for 4 days before full trial.
Rogers is looking at the penalty of death, or cropping of ears and branding as a rogue for all to see.
He gets busy. He writes a letter pleading to a witness to cover up. That witness is later arrested and tries to eat that letter but the authorities grab it out of his mouth. That letter is entered into the testimony.
Rogers later recruits that same witness into the Rangers, just in case the authorities continue to bother the witness.
But before the hammer comes down, Rogers' successful recruiting of men using money from Massachusetts is then used instead to hand over these recruits instead to a grateful New Hampshire.
The Governor of NH backs up Rogers.
Also the Judge in the trial on Rogers is one of the captains of these New Hampshire companies.
Compiled and authored by Jim Moyer 1/24/2022, updated 1/25/2022, 1/26/2022, 1/28/2022
According to the source below,
Robert Rogers is guilty.
That author's observations
and his report of the court trial are in (blue italics),
intermixed with links (light blue).
intermixed with captions and notes in black.
Source for text below:
We break long sentences into short segments.
This allows for "reading at a glance."
Skip around.
Read bits and pieces.
Page 17 of above link:
Rogers Rangers
might never have been born
had not an 18th Century Confidence man
stealthily approached
young Robert Rogers in the Fall of 1754.
How it all started
Rogers was hunting at Martin's farm
when John McDaniel, alias, "Sullivan of Boston",
a notorious maker of counterfeit notes, approached him.
On this map link, click on the icons in this area where Rogers hunted, especially touch the icon on the Amoskeag Falls Merrimack River NH.
Sullivan's aliases
The Counterfeiter, Sullivan, had more than one alias.
They were John McDaniel, James Tice, John Pierson, Isaac Washington, Benjamin Parlon.
"Even Owen Sullivan was a fake name, although his best known; he reinvented himself so often that his real name is unknown. . . . . "
"As James Tice he made New Hampshire money; as Isaac Washington he handed out Rhode Island bills."
Telling Rogers he was in the market for three yoke of oxen, he confidentially showed Rogers a handful of new bills and gave him one for pasturing his horse on Rogers' farm.
Rogers, always anxious to turn an honest penny or not so honest, hoped to get a large quantity of the counterfeit money and glancing
nervously about, ushered "Sullivan" into Martin's house and made a deal in the presence of the Martin brothers [this looks like Rogers got spotted more counterfeit money]; telling Sullivan that he would obtain the oxen and have them at Martin's farm at an appointed time.
Roger continues with his own scheme:
Rogers asked his friend, John Stark, if he had any oxen to sell and Stark told him John McCurdy had some.
Rogers, with visions of getting rich quick, arrived at the rendezvous with the oxen, only to find that Sullivan, alarmed, had fled the country.
Sullivan's MO method of operation:
According to another source, maybe Sullivan was not so alarmed.
Maybe it was part of this MO.
"Once he quit an area, he had no control over what happened to the plates and notes he left behind. The strategy had its advantages. As a colleague, rather than a boss, he could concentrate on making as much money as possible without worry about preserving his authority. But his hands-off policy also meant that he couldn't affect how people used his products." See A Counterfeiter's Paradise: The Wicked Lives and Surprising Adventures of ...By Ben Tarnoff
His bubble now burst, Rogers was later heard to grumble to John Stark that "he was cheated".
Rogers was further disgruntled by the fact that McDaniel [aka Sullivan of Boston] had not even left him his horse but had sold it to Nathaniel Martin before he fled.
Page 18
Rogers made Nathaniel produce his brother, Samuel, who had been a witness to the transaction and then he reluctantly turned the horse over to Nathaniel.
The Authorities find out
But, unfortunately for Rogers, the Martin brothers and others,
who had felt the illegal flutter of "Boston Sullivan's" homemade money,
were hauled into the New Hampshire Inferior Court at Rumford
and their houses searched "
for any such Counterfeit
and for any Plate or Places for making such bills
and for any tool or instrument
for making, cutting such plates
and to 'bring them in with any one:
concerned in making - or knowingly passing any such bills".
There was strong evidence that Rogers was implicated,
in not only knowingly passing the faked bills
but in making the money as well.
A farmer, Garty Gilman, was later dragged in
and confessed
that he had received several bills from Rogers,
some of which he had passed; the others he had returned.
From this evidence it appears that Rogers was either making the money or receiving it from someone else.
"Boston Sullivan" [aka John McDaniel]
was no longer around
but there seems to be a possibility
that Rogers had met him again
while in Boston in January, 1755,
engaging with Major Frye to enlist New Hampshire men
for his battalion of Shirley's Massachusetts Provincial regiment.
Rogers could very well have been Sullivan's go-between and returned to the Merrimac Valley loaded with counterfeit money as well as a commission to raise recruits.
[Ctrl F to find 36 references to counterfeiter Sullivan of Boston in this link below.]
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Page 19
Undoubtedly he had immediately set about to dispose of his money and raise recruits.
Twenty four men have been enlisted
and ordered to assemble at Portsmouth
when his various enterprises were rudely interrupted
by his arrest on February 7th. [1755]
Rogers was tried with fifteen other suspects before the Inferior Court at Rumford.
The two Joseph Blanchards, John Goffe and Matthew Thornton, were the Justices who conducted the examination.
In an effort to detract attention from himself
during the hearing
Rogers stated that he had asked one of the Justices, Joseph Blanchard, Jr.,
to become his partner to discover if he was concerned in the counterfeiting.
Rogers close friend, John Stark,
was among those examined as witnesses and he tried to stand by him.
Torn between the desire
to tell the truth
and still save Rogers,
he revealed Rogers' conversation to him:
"that he was cheated for he intended (selling the oxen to Sullivan) for a large quantity of Counterfeit money".
However, he tried to help
by adding that Rogers
"said he would not be concerned anymore in any such things".
The general impression to be gained
from the answers of Rogers
to the Justices questions
is that he had been temporarily led astray
in part by native dishonesty,
in part by a rural want of judgment,
but had early forsaken his evil course in alarm.
In spite of this impression
and the fact that he had pleaded not guilty,
Rogers was in a bad spot.
The crime was punishable by death
Page 20
and the evidence against him was very incriminating.
Four of those who were tried with Rogers were sent to jail, and five others besides Rogers were admitted to bond.
Placed under bond of 500 pounds,
Rogers was to appear
before the Superior Court
at Portsmouth
on February 12th.[1755]
He was badly frightened.
Even if he did escape the extreme penalty
he might be branded
and have "both his ears crop' d"
which was the customary light sentence
for like criminals
tried in the neighboring province of Massachusetts.
Rogers had only four days to find means of clearing himself.
[Rogers was arrested 7 Feb 1755. Arraignment took a day, which left 4 days to show up for trial 12 Feb 1755]
Rogers working on his Defense
The first thing he had to do
was try to keep his principal customers quiet.
He wrote one of them, Garty Gilman, a farmer of Exeter, to destroy his counterfeit notes.
His letter to Gilman reveals how scared he actually was:
"Mr. Gilman, for God's sake do the work
that you promised me that you would do.
By no means fail, or you will destroy me forever.
Sir, my. life lies at your providence,
once more I adjure you by your Maker to do it,
for why should such an honest man be killed?".
Raises men for New Hampshire
instead of Massachusetts
Meanwhile the twenty-four men
whom he had enlisted
for Massachusetts
had gathered at Portsmouth,
When Rogers arrived
and saw them
a happy thought struck him.
Finding that Governor Wentworth
of New Hampshire
was raising a Regiment
to serve in the Crown Point Expedition,
Rogers managed to
secure a commission
and the next day
turned over all his recruits
to the New Hampshire Regiment.
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Page 21
When the hour
of his trial arrived
on the 12th,
[12 Feb 1755]
he had so wormed his way
into Wentworth's favor
that he was admitted
as King's evidence,
and escaped scot free.
Wentworth of NH appreciates Robert Rogers
His crisis over, Rogers returned to the Merrimac Valley
and set about enlisting the balance of his company
and met with such success
that he was given the Captaincy of the first Company of Blanchard' s New Hampshire Regiment.
When Major Frye of Massachusetts
heard of Rogers' absconding with his twenty-four recruits,
he secured Governor Shirley's backing
and complained to Wentworth of his conduct,
stating that Rogers had secured his first volunteers
by the use of the King's money,
and demanding that he be given exemplary punishment
for treacherously and illegally returning them to New Hampshire.
Wentworth, however, shielded Rogers
and replied that Frye' s agreement with him
was utterly irregular,
and that since Rogers ''whom I am told is recognized for a capital offense," was out of his reach.
"Captain Rogers" had so embedded himself
in Wentworth's favor
by raising so many recruits
that all his subordinates followed suit
and accepted Rogers
and
when Garty Gilman was hauled into Court on April 24-th [1755] producing fresh and definite evidence against Rogers being involved in passing counterfeit notes. he was not bothered any further.
Consequently, out of this dramatic interlude in Rogers' life and by his adroit method of untying the Gallows' noose from about him,
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Page 22
Rogers Rangers were born in this shadow
to step into the fray
of the French and Indian War
to establish a history
that has seldom been equaled
by a partisan military corps,
for its daring accomplishments,
heroic defeats, and
versatility of characters.*
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Court Trial Testimony
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Page 264
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Rogers' counterfeiting trial
(EXTRACTS FROM THE PROVINCIAL COURT FILES IN SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE, CONCORD, N. H.)
WARRANT FOR ROGERS ARREST AND EXAMINATION:
Province of New Hampshire to the Sheriff Province of New Hampshire and his under Sheriff or Deputy and to any and of every of the Constables of the Province afore Said.-
Greetings:
Whereas Information has been given to me the Subscriber one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the Province afore Said
Counterfeit Denominations:
That there are many Bills passing Supposed to be Counterfeited -
in Imitations of the forty Shilling Bills
and of the Twenty Shilling Bills
and of the Ten Shilling Bill
and of the Six Shilling Bills of the Province afore Said.-
and that there is Just Grounds to Suspect that there are many Persons Concerned in making and knowingly Passing such Bills.
The Original Rogers Rangers:
And in Particular that there is Reason to Suspect that
Samuel Duaton of Haverhill, Essex Co., Mass., a Physician.
Timothy Sanders of Salem, New Hampshire.
Lacheriah Witney of Groton, Mass., Husbandman.
Ezekial Grale of Nottingham West, New Hampshire.
Jamea Moor* of Merrimack, New Hampshire, Miller.
Jamea McKnight of Merrimack, N.H., a Weaver.
Jamea Matthewa of Bedford, N. H. , a Husbandman.
Joseph Winalow of Nottingham West, a Husbandman.
ROBERT ROGERS* of Starkstown, N.H., Husbandman.
RICHARD ROGERS* of Starkstown, N. H. , Husbandman.
Jamea Michael of Derryfield, N. H. , Husbandman.
Nathaniel Martin of Goffstown, N.H. , Husbandman.
William Walker of Rumford, N.H., • Husbandman.
Wiliam McAdama of Londonderry, N.H. , Husbandman.
Benjamin Wilson of Nottingham West, Carpenter.
William AUard of Merrimac, N.H. , Husbandman.
Lacher iah Ramsor of Merrimac, N. H. . Husbandman.
Robert Gilson of Bedford, N. H. , Husbandman.
Samuel Barnet of Merrimac, N.H., Husbandman.
Are concerned in making or knowingly passing such
Became members of Rogers Rangers,
however J. Moore did not enter until Mar 10, 1757.
Any names asterisked in other pages likewise became Rangers.
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265
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Bills. -
You are therefore in his Majesty's Name
to Require you and every (one) of you
forth with to make Diligent Search
in all Suspected places
within your Precinct
for any such Counterfeit Bills
and for any Plate or Places for making such Bills
and for any tools or Instruments for making (or) Cutting Such plates
and to Apprehend any Person or Persons
in whose Custody Such Bills, Plate, or Tools, or Instruments
shall be found
or that there may be Just Grounds to Suspect
are Concerned in making or knowingly
passing any Such Bills and to bring them
with the Bills, Plates or Instruments so found
and also to apprehend (the above list of suspects)
if they may be found in your Precinct
and bring them before me
or Some other of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace
for the Province afore Said to be Examined
....
and dealt with as Law Directs here of.
Fail not and make due Return.
Dated at Portsmouth in said Province the 24th day of January in the 28th year of his Majesty's Reign, 1755.
Signed Mesheck Wear'.
Wear sent the Warrant to Joseph Blanchard, his subordinate .
Witnesses summoned were
Thomas Hall of Goffstown,
Robert MacKeen of Rumford,
Moses Barret of Londonderry,
Reuben Spaulding of Londonderry,
Benjamin Win of Nottingham West,
William Allen of Merrimac, and Stephen Spaulding .
The next day, Jan. 25,
John Chamber in of Merrimac
and James Walker of Bedford, New Hampshire
were authorized to appear before Joseph Blanchard to be deputized .
Chamberlain was sworn in on Jan 27th and Walker on Feb. 8th;
so it is probable that Chamberlain arrested Rogers
for he was picked up prior to Walker's deputization.
-(Provincial Court Files, Case No. 27267-5 folios.).
ROGERS' PRELIMINARY TRIAL
AT RUMFORD. N.H:
On February 7th
R
ogers was tried with fifteen others of the nineteen suspects before the Inferior Court at Rumford, N.H.
In the Following Examination Rogers ' naive pose is revealed:
QUESTION:
Are you Guilty?
ANSWER:
Not Guilty,
QUESTION:
Do you know Sullivan?
ANSWER:
I saw a man when I was Hunting in Goffstown near Martin's house,
that called himself John McDaniel,
and had some conversation with him,
he wanted to buy a number of fat cattle
and told me he would pay me as much as they would fetch in any market,
and gave me my money (and told me) it
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266
would go through all the Laws in any of the Provinces, & maintain(ed that) his money (was) good.
QUESTION:
What was the Occasion of his mentioning going through the law with his money?
ANSWER:
I asked if his money was good.
QUESTION:
Did you get and bring to any place appointed any oxen in consequence of your conversation with him at that time?
ANSWER:
I got three pair and brought to Eben Martin's the place appointed in Goffstown, but the said McDaniel, otherwise Sullivan, was gone and I sold them to other people.
QUESTION:
Did you know that McDaniel or Sullivan the man you saw there could make money or plates, or had so designed any such thing when you bought your oxen?
ANSWER:
No, never. I saw him only that (one) time.
QUESTION:
Did you ever propose to any body to be- come p Partner in Counterfeiting Bills?
ANSWER:
Only to see if I could discover if they were concerned .
QUESTION: Who did you ask?
ANSWER:
Joseph Blanchard .
(This must have created a stir in the courtroom for Captain Joseph Blanchard, Jr., was one of the four Justices of the Peace who conducted the examination . )
QUESTION:
What did he say?
ANSWER:
That he was not concerned nor never should be in such a devilish act and hoped that men would be honest and strongly cautioned me against being concerned in any such thing.
QUESTION:
Have you proposed it to any other person
ANSWER:
Not that I remember now.
QUESTION:
Who was at Martin's when you saw McDonald or Sullivan there?
ANSWER:
James McNeil, Eben Martin, Samuel Martin and Nathaniel Martin.
QUESTION:
Did Sullivan show you any bills?
ANSWER:
Yes, he opened his book & showed me a handful and said here is enough & gave me a 20 pd bill to pasture his horse he then had there at my place, and I was to bring him there again in two days. Which I did, when I brought the oxen, and Nathaniel Martin brought his brother Samuel for evidence that he had bought the horse of Sullivan & I then delivered the horse to Nathaniel Martin.
QUESTION:
Did you meet McCurdy when you were carrying the horse to pasture?
ANSWER:
Yes, to come out and go down to Capt Cum-
.
[The source document seems to be missing a portion of the testimony here]
Source:
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QUESTION:
Whether he had any time seen any quantity of money on a table to the nature of a half a bushel full; or whether or not there was three men seen at his house one morning before day on a table counting money. Who answered there never had been .
[The source document seems to be missing a portion of the testimony here]
Source:
THE EXAMINATION OF JOHN STARK:
Who says Robert Rogers some time last
asked him if he (had)
any oxen to sell.
He answered yes, six oxen.
Where are they?
And he said they were at McCurdy' s .
And he asked Rogers
what he was a going to do with them.
Who said , a Gentleman from Boston wanted 3 yoke of oxen. . .
Some time after he saw Rogers
and asked him what he had done with his oxen,
he said he sold them
but not to the man he purposed them for,
and said he was cheated f
or he intended the oxen for Sullivan
and thought to have
had a large quantity
of Counterfeit money.
But said he would not be concerned anymore in any such things.
THE JUSTICES MEMORANDUM
ON THE RESULTS OF THEIR INVESTIGATION
Pursuant to a Warrant from the Honorable Mesheck were the following persons:
Ezekial Grale,
Benjamin Wilson,
Joseph Winslow,
James Moor,
Samuel Barnet ,
Lachariah Stearns (a new suspect ),
William Aid,
James Matthews
Robert Gilson,
Wm. McAdams
Nathaniel Martin,
James McNeil of DeerfieId , Husbandman (a new suspect),
ROBERT ROGERS of Starkstown , so called Husbandman ,
William Walker,
all of New Hampshire;
and Lacheriah Witney of Groton, Massachussetts
on suspicion of their being concerned in making or knowingly passing Counterfeit bills...
were brought before us the Subscribers:
Joseph Blanchard, John Goffe, Matthew Thornton and Joseph Blanchard, Jr.,
four of his Majesty' s Justices of the Peace
of the Province of New Hampshire
to be examined concerning the. . .aforesaid .
All of which persons we have carefully examined,
and also the following persons for Evidence:
Thomas Hall, Moses Barrett, Robert Murdough , John Parker, John Marshall, Ebenezer Pollard. M Barron. Joseph Blanchard , Jr., four of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace of the Province of New Hampshire to be examined concerning the . . . .a foresaid . All of which persons we have care fully examined , and also the following persons for evidence : Thomas Hall, Moses Barrett, Robert Murdough, John Parker, John Marshall, Ebenezer Pollard, '^'oses
Barcon, John hkCurdy* , Steven Spaulding , fhiniaa Underwood , John Marshall , John Stearns, Rodger Chase, Ezekiel Chase, Joseph Pollard, John Stark*, Samuel Page, Benjamin Smith, Jacob Hildreth, Reuben Greele, Robert Dorrah, James Blodget , Jeremiah B lodge t , Ebenezer Blodget, Arthur Graham, Reuben Spaulding, Isaac Page, Thomas Murdough, John Mc- Quigy, Abiel Love joy, Josiah Dutton* , Wm. Thornton James Wallace, Wm. Caldwell, Wm. Howard, John Sncm Benjamin Marshall, John Whitten, Wm. Moore*, David McNight , John Burns, Robert Fletcher, James Blood, Samuel Clark* (Parker), Nehemiah Woods of Groton,- Samuel Rank ins , Elisabeth Smith, Henry Bearing, Francis Diamond, Benjamin Hopkins, Annis and John Carson, James Caldwell, Samuel Patten, Matthew Thornton, Benjamin French, Archibald McCallister , Peter Russell, Jonathan Powers, Joseph Winslow, Lachiniah Stearns, Jr., and Robert Gilsen.
And upon the Examination of the aforenamed respondents and the evidence aforesaid we adjudged that there is just grounds to suspect that the said
E. Greele B. Wilson, James Moor, W. Alden, J. Matthews , Wm. McAdams, N. Martin, J. McNeil, ROBERT ROGERS , Z. Witney
Going to Jail
are concerned in making and knowingly passing the bills aforesaid,
and accordingly have given (orders) for
Benjamin Wilson, Wm. McAdams, James McNeill and Zacheriah Witney
to be sent to his Majesty's Gaol in Portsmouth,
there to be Received and Safely kept until they or others of them shall be from thence delivered by due course of law. -
And the said Ezekial Greele, William Aid , James Moor, James Matthews, Nathaniel Martin and ROBERT ROGERS
to be admitted to Bail
who recognized with sufficient suretys each for their appearance
before his Majesty's Superior Court now held at Portsmouth on
Wednesday next, the twelfth of February, at ten of the Clock forenoon
in the Sum of five hundred pounds lawful money each.
Wm. Walker, Samuel Barnard, Zachariah Stearns, Jr., Joseph Winslow and Robert Gilson
on their Examination and the Examination of the evidences it did not appear chat they had been concerned in the (Counterfeiting) therefor (they) were dismissed.
And upon the Examination of the evidences (witnesses) aforesaid, have thought it a necessity that Thomas Hall, John McCurdey, Wm. Moor, John Stark, Samuel Page. Ebenezer Blodget, Eben Pollard Ezekial Chase, Joseph Pollard, Jr.. Robert Donah, Isaac Page. Benjamin Marshall, John Parker, Thomas
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269
Murdough , John Marshal I , Robert Murdough , Arthur Graham and Phinias Underwood
make their appearance at his Majestys Superior Court new held at Portsmouth at the aforesaid (time), .
and there to give evidence of what they know concerning any persons Counterfeiting or passing any Bills in imitation of the bills of this Province or anything further on his Majesty's behalf that shall then be required of them and not to depart without the leave of the said Court and that they enter into Recognizance each in the Sum of one Hundred pounds lawful money, for performance (as witnesses).
Thereof which they did accordingly. The remainder of the Evidences on their Examination, appearing to us that they could say nothing material in the business, were dismissed. The several examinations of the respondents as also that of the (Witnesses) are hereunto annexed. (Provincial Court Files, Case No. 27267- 5 folios.)
ROGERS' TRIAL AT PORTSMOUTH
BEFORE THE SUPERIOR COURT ON
FEBRUARY 12TH 1755:
Unfortunately there are no records preserved of the minutes of his Superior Court trial.
However his extended liberty is revealed in a letter from Major Frye to Wentworth
in which he states that Rogers had gone to Portsmouth to take the steps to clear himself,
(Frye to Wentworth, N.H. Province Papers, VI. 364).
PROOF THAT ROGERS WAS PASSING COUNTERFEIT NOTES:
'The Examination of Carte Oilman* of Exeter.. New- Hampshire taken before Samuel GiIman . .
Justice of the Peace of said Province, taken this 24th Day of April 1755:
The Examenant Saith
that he passed the two 6 shiiling bills
in imitation of the six shilling bills
of the Province aforesaid
of Capt . Robert Rogers belonging to a place called Merimac in said Province.
And also he passed the Eight Pound Bill delivered to Phillip Celley his ken of the same man (Rogers). And further the Examenant saith that he has several more, the number he cant tell, of six. .pence and one shilling bills of said province of the said Robert Rogers, he declared it to be stump money but as good as ever was. And that the Examenant says he received part of said bill of Robt. Rogers in pay for a wagon..which the Exammenant sold to said Rogers. Said Examenant confessed he had put off several of said bills and la- tely returned the rest to the said Robert Rogers.
Page 270
The above taken on the day above mentioned before me Samuel Giliran Justice of Peace. Provincial Ct . Files, Case No. 26954-1 folio;
SUSPECTS AND WITNESSES
WHO SERVED IN ROGERS RANGERS :
It has been generally set forth by historians in the past
that Rogers and the other suspects
who escaped punishment joined up with Rogers immediately
and constituted the nucleous of Rogers Rangers.
This did not happen for the only other two Rangers
who were cleared were Dick Rogers and James Moor Richard
was cleared in the preliminary trial at Rumford
and Moor did not enter the Corps until 57'
and then it was to serve in John Stark's Company.
Probably the mistake was made due to the fact
that Rogers turned over his 24 Massachusetts recruits to Wentworth at this time.
It is interesting to note here that of the 19 suspects tried with Rogers
only 3 of them entered his Corps;
while 5 of the 62 witnesses also became Rogers Rangers.
This does not include Carty Gilman
who gave the most incriminating testimony against Rogers,
and whom Rogers gladly signed up when Gilman came to Lake George;
no doubt to keep him away from future examinations by curious New Hampshire Justices.
When picked up as a suspect in April,
Gilman was searched and two counterfeit notes and a letter from Rogers were found.
The letter he had stuffed in his mouth partially eating it before it could be recovered .
The portion remaining served as exhibit B during his examination (see text p20 for Rogers' imploring letter to Gilman).
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE ON SOURCES
FOR THE PROLOGUE
AND APPENDICE ON
ROGERS' COUNTERFEITING TRIAL: -
Provincial Court Files (as cited)
preserved in the Secretary of States Office, Concord, N.H.
-Allan Nevins' 'Ponteach', pp 39-42.
-Boston News-Letter , April 1, 1756.
-N.H. Province Papers, Vol. VI., p. 364.
-John Winslow' s Journal, Mass .Hist .Soc . ,1 , p. 9.
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Sources:
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Comparing Rangers, Militia, Virginia Regiment, Gentleman's Association:
This has a summary of the story.
It has the Counterfeit trial.
It also includes information on uniforms and equipment.
About Sullivan of Boston, the counterfeiter:
John Stark
Robert Rogers
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Correspondence of William Shirley : governor of Massachusetts and military commander in America, 1731-1760 / published 1912
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Other sidelights on Robert Rogers:
Other "takes" on the counterfeit trail:
Faced with the real possibility of having his ears cropped
and his cheeks branded
for the crime of passing counterfeit money,
Robert Rogers did what some young men who have found themselves "in a fix" have been doing since the dawn of organized warfare. But not content with simply enlisting, the charismatic Rodgers recruited some fifty of his fellow frontier New Hampshire-men, earning himself a captaincy in the process.
http://nyshmsithappenedhere.blogspot.com/2013/11/
Perhaps it was on one of his smuggling ventures through this wilderness that Rogers met a convicted forger named Owen Sullivan.
Court records show that in January, 1755, Rogers was arrested and imprisoned with eighteen others on charges of disbursing counterfeit money printed by Sullivan. The case, however, came to nothing, because the war drums were again beating throughout New England. Indians, led by French officers, once more terrorized English frontier settlements in an effort to deter further westward migration. As incentive the savages received sixty livres for every scalp.
Rogers came out of jail on bond and enlisted with the New Hampshire militia. Since he brought more than fifty men in with him, he was promptly commissioned captain and placed in command of Company One.
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Rogers, then 24, had already seen military action in skirmishes during King George’s War, so charges were dismissed against the veteran frontiersman in exchange for his agreeing to fight for the British.
Ctrl F to find 36 references to counterfeiter Sullivan of Boston:
Early in 1756 one of the most hardened and villainous counterfeiters in Colonial New York, one Owen Sullivan, at length fell into the hands of the authorities through the initiative of Cornet Eliphalet Beacher of New Haven, Connecticut. Sullivan, it will be recalled, had been indicted, along with Chase and Mace, in 1753 for making, having in his custody and passing false bills of Rhode Island. The first notice of him is found in the Boston Weekly News-Letter of August 31, 1749, which reported: "Last Monday Night, Owen Sullivan, and John Tyas, of Roxbury, were apprehended and committed to Goal here, for uttering counterfeit Ten Shilling Bills of this Province of the last Emission, about 30 of which were found upon them. Sullivan lately come from Louisburg where he had been convicted of uttering counterfeit Dollars; and in searching his Chest, there was found a Mould for casting them, as also Ink, and other things used in printing off a Copper Plate, and Pieces of Paper whereon attempts were made to imitate the Hand-Writing of the Signers of the Bills: The Bills were done off very black, and may be easily distinguished from the true ones by comparing them, especially the backside." Both prisoners were convicted at the assizes held in Boston and on September 13, 1750, Sullivan stood in the pillory for two hours and received twenty stripes, while Tyas was pilloried for one hour and given fifteen lashes. 16
Sullivan next seems to have transferred his activities to Rhode Island, for the Boston Evening Post of October 9, 1752, printed a report from Providence that "Sullivan, a well-known Engraver, has lately had both his Ears crop'd, and been branded on both his Cheeks with the Letter C, for counterfeiting the Bills of Credit of that Colony."
The punishment was severe, and Sullivan temporarily dropped out of the limelight but, it would seem, retired to the Oblong in Dutchess County, New York, where he continued to counterfeit the money of various colonies. On September 4, 1754, his name again appeared in the press, when the Boston Weekly New-Letter of that date remarked: "We hear from Newport, Rhode-Island, That several Persons have been taken up, and tried there last Week for counterfeiting the £16 Bills of that Colony, four of which were found guilty of passing them, knowing them to be such, and that they had confessed, that the noted Sullivan was the Engraver of the Plate; that they had struck off about 50,000 £. old Tenor, but spoiled 10,000 £. in signing them: A great Reward was offered to apprehend Sullivan, but was not taken." Lieutenant Governor De Lancey of New York was notified in a letter from Peter Bours of Newport that Sullivan, for whose capture the General Assembly of Rhode Island had offered a reward of £400, was at a place called the Oblong in New York, apparently under the alias of John Pierson. 17
Picture of Fake NH 40 shillings
On February 6, 2012, David Sundman of the Littleton Coin Company explained to me in an e-mail that the Notre Dame note is a contemporary counterfeit. It is very close to the original and thus is quite deceptive, but through careful analysis David has been able to uncover this previously unknown forgery. Using a modern reprint made from the original plate held in the New Hampshire Division of Archives and Records (in Concord, NH), and a left-half fragment of an original 40s note in his private collection, David determined that several of the letters on the front of the Notre Dame specimen varied from the norm. For example, the "of" in "of NEW=HAMPSHIRE" differs significantly, in the original the "of" has a very short cross stroke on the f, while the Notre Dame example displays a cross stroke that extends back to and touches the o. Several other points of difference can be seen. Here is David's marked version of the Notre Dame note showing some of the differences and here is an image of a modern reprint produce from the plate held in the New Hampshire Archives for comparison.
Provenance: Purchased through the Robert H. Gore, Jr. Numismatic Endowment from the R.M. Smythe Sixth Annual Chicago Paper Money Exposition 2/17-18/2000, Auction 196, lot 1018.
Note of February 6, 2012: Thanks to David Sundman for contributing information on this note.
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REV WAR YEARS
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Last week we learned that Robert Rogers, of Rogers’ Rangers fame, was the man who turned Nathan Hale over to General Howe, who hanged him as a spy. Rogers had duped Hale, saying he too was secretly on the American side.
Deceptive? Yes! However, the merciless game of spying is rooted in deception, and God help the loser.
In days past, Rogers has sometimes been portrayed as an American folk hero. However, that stems from focusing on what he did during the French and Indian War, but turning a blind eye to the disturbing remainder of his life.
Encyclopedia.com puts it nicely: “The strange career of Robert Rogers is ample proof that some skills and attitudes that produce success in war, such as aggressive ambition, daring, trickery, and contempt for rules, may be just the reverse of what is needed for success in peacetime.”
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