Benjamin Church (ranger)

Early life and family

Born in Plymouth Colony in about 1639, Church was brought up according to colonial practices on the frontier. He married Alice Southworth on December 26, 1667 in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He resided for a time in Duxbury and later moved to Bristol. He later lived in Little Compton, Rhode Island, where he and his wife were both buried. Her gravesite is marked by a historically significant stone known as a table grave.

King Philip's War

During King Philip's War, Church was the principal military aide to Governor Josiah Winslow of Plymouth Colony. Commissioned by Winslow as a captain on July 24, 1675, he fought during King Philip's War (1675–1678) on the New England frontier against the Wampanoag, Nipmuck and Podunk tribes of Indians. He is best known during this time for commanding a company of Englishmen and Native Americans independently of the governor's direction. Church's men were the first colonial force to be successful in raiding the hostile Indians' camps in forests and swamps. During previous decades, colonists had been on the defense against the Natives, who knew their territory intimately. Relations were generally peaceful until 1675, but tensions had been growing as the colonists and their views of property encroached on Indian territory and hunting grounds.

Church was allowed to recruit Native Americans after he and other leaders realized that traditional European military tactics were ineffective in frontier warfare. He also persuaded many neutral or formerly hostile Indians to surrender and join his unit, where they operated skillfully as irregular troops. Some of these men had converted to Christianity in settlements before the war. They were known as Praying Indians. After being organized by Church, these troops tracked hostile Indians into the forests and swamps, and conducted effective raids and ambushes on their camps.

Great Swamp Fight

During the Great Swamp Fight on December 19, 1675, Church was wounded while playing a leading role in the battle. His forces killed an estimated 300 Narragansett warriors.

After the Great Swamp Fight, Church and his forces hoped to follow the surviving Narragansett to their villages. Instead, Church and others became stranded in enemy territory and without provisions. Their expedition had to fight to survive and eventually were forced to eat their horses rather than starve.

The war soon ended after an operation by Church's company on August 12, 1676. John Alderman, one of Church's Indian allies killed the chieftain King Philip (also known as Metacomet). Upon inspection of Philip's body, Church is quoted as saying "a doleful, great, naked, dirty beast." Philip was butchered in a manner standard with English punishment for treason, drawing and quartering.

King William's War

During King William's War (1688–97), Church led four New England raiding parties into Acadia (which included most of Maine) against the ethnic French Acadians and hostile Native Americans, including the Abenaki. On the first expedition into Acadia, on September 21, 1689, Major Church (who was promoted to major and given command of the expedition by the Council of War of Plymouth Colony on September 6) and 250 troops defended a group of English settlers in the Battle of Deering Oaks (also known as the Battle of Brackett's Woods). The British were trying to get established at Falmouth, Maine (present-day Portland, Maine). Although 21 of his men were killed, Church was successful and the hostile natives retreated.

Church returned to Boston, leaving the small group of English settlers unprotected. (The following spring, May 1690, over 400 French and native troops under the leadership of Castin returned to Falmouth and massacred all the English settlers in the Battle of Fort Loyal. When Church returned to the village later that summer, he buried the dead.)

In Church's second expedition a year later, on 11 September 1690 he commanded 300 men at Casco Bay. His mission was to relieve the English Fort Pejpescot (present day Brunswick, Maine), which had been taken by natives. He went up the Androscoggin River to Fort Pejepscot. From there he traveled 40 miles up river to Livermore Falls, Maine, where he attacked an Androscoggin native village. Church's men shot three or four native men as they were retreating. Church discovered five English captives in the wigwams. Church killed and butchered six or seven prisoners, and took nine prisoners. A few days later, in retaliation, the Androscoggin attacked Church at Cape Elizabeth on Purpooduc Point, killing seven of his men and wounding 24 others. On September 26, Church returned to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Church's third expedition during the war was in 1692, when he raided the Penobscot territory of (present-day Indian Island, Maine) with 450 men. Church and his men went on to raid Taconock (superseded by Winslow, Maine).

Four years later, Major Church conducted a fourth expedition. He carried out the Siege of Fort Nashwaak (1696) (present-day Fredericton, New Brunswick), which was then the capital of Acadia, and the Raid on Chignecto (1696) in Acadia. He was described as weighing approximately 250 pounds, but personally led his troops. They killed the inhabitants of Chignecto, looting their household goods, burning their houses, and slaughtering the livestock.

Queen Anne's War

During Queen Anne's War, Church went on his fifth and final expedition into Acadia. The Deerfield Massacre had taken place in western Massachusetts on February 29, 1704, believed conducted by Indians provoked by the French. In addition to killing many settlers, the Abenaki and allies took more than 100 captives overland to Montreal and the Mohawk village south of the river. The captives were often held for ransom by families and communities; some of the younger ones were adopted by Mohawk families.

On March 18, 1704 Church was commissioned as a colonel by Massachusetts Governor Joseph Dudley and placed in command of a force to raid French settlements in Acadia in retaliation for Deerfield. This expedition included the following actions: the Raid on Castine, Maine, Raid on St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Raid on Grand Pre, Raid on Pisiguit (present day Falmouth and Windsor), and the Raid on Chignecto.

Church meticulously planned the expedition. He specified the design of whaleboats to be used in the raids and what kind of hatchets his soldiers were to carry. Church took John Gyles, formerly held as a captive by the Maliseet, as his translator. Church took prisoners and claimed to have left only five houses standing in Acadia. In the Raid of Pisiguit (1704), he took the leader Noel Doiron as prisoner.

Tactics and war doctrine

While Church left no formal writings on military doctrine, his memoirs provided considerable detail about his practices. Through the study of his military experiences, scholars have summarized his practices according to the following principles:

1. Planning each operation in advance, not leaving anything to chance. 2. Ensuring that soldiers under his command were properly trained, fed, and equipped. 3. Building alliances with potential allies (i.e. Native Americans), who may have been overlooked or mistrusted by other commanders. 4. Not inflicting unnecessary damage or harm. 5. Using stealth and surprise to tactical advantage. 6. Understanding how a tactical operation fits in with strategic objectives. 7. Leading by example and from the front. 8. Maintaining communications with higher and lower echelons.

Later life

Church was elected to public office as the first representative of Bristol to the Plymouth Colony legislatur, serving between 1682 and 1684.

Church died at Little Compton in 1718 and was buried in the Little Compton Common cemetery.

Legacy

Church kept notes on his tactics and operations in 1675-1676. His work was eventually published in 1716 as Entertaining Passages relating to Philip's War. Church was the great-grandfather of Dr. Benjamin Church, the first "Surgeon General" (though that title came later) of the Continental Army. Dr. Church, thought to have been a staunch Whig, was later arrested by General George Washington as a suspected spy for British General Thomas Gage.

Rogers Rangers and Gorham's Rangers were militia developed according to the tradition begun by Church.

In 1992, in honor of his innovative tactical methods, Church was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame. A bronze Ranger Tab was affixed to his gravestone to mark this.

The Rhode Island Society of Colonial Wars placed a plaque near Colonel Church's grave in honor of his leadership and bravery during King Philip's War.

Popular Culture

Benjamin Church is a main character in the historical novel "The Prophet and the Witch" (James W. George 2017)