John Gorham (military officer)

John Gorham (Goreham, Gorum) was a New England Ranger and was the first significant British military presence on the frontier of Nova Scotia and Acadia to remain in the region for a substantial period after the Conquest of Acadia (1710). He established the famous "Gorham's Rangers". Gorham was first commissioned captain of a provincial auxiliary company in June 1744, and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the 7th Massachusetts provincial Infantry Regiment in February 1745. Two years later, in 1747, he was commissioned captain of an independent company in the British Army when his unit was adopted into the regular army. He is sometimes confused with his father, Shubael Gorham, a provincial colonel during King George's War. He was the second of five prominent American rangers - John Winslow (in 1740-41), Gorham, his younger brother Joseph Gorham, Benoni Danks, and later Robert Rogers - to earn such commissions in the British Army. (Many others, such as George Washington, were unsuccessful in their attempts to achieve a British rank). John Gorham was active during King Georges War and Father Le Loutre’s War.

Family
The Gorham family had a long history of ranging which began under Benjamin Church. John Gorham I died while fighting alongside Church in the famous Great Swamp Fight. (Gorham, Maine and Gorham, New Hampshire are named for John Gorham I.)  John Gorham II also served with Church during the fourth Eastward Expedition into Acadia, which involved the Raid on Chignecto (1696) during King William's War. His son Shubael Gorham was a provincial officer of note during Queen Anne's and King George's War, during the latter he commanded the 7th Massachusetts Provincial Regiment at the Siege of Louisbourg (1745). Finally, John Gorham III, the subject of this article, and his brother Joseph served in Acadia as rangers, as well as in their father's regiment about Louisburg.

Historical context
Despite the Conquest of 1710 and the subsequent signing of the Treat of Utrecht in 1713 with France, the British were not able to establish control in Nova Scotia/Acadia for decades. John Gorham and his Rangers arrived in Nova Scotia to move the military and political influence of the British beyond a defensive posture at Annapolis Royal and the fishing village of Canso. Gorham moved the British operation on to the offensive during King Georges War.

Siege of Annapolis Royal (1744)
During King Georges War, Gorham and his company of Indian rangers from New England were involved in defending Fort Anne from attacks from the French, Acadians, and Mi’kmaq. During the Siege of Annapolis Royal (1744), on 4 October, Gorham and his rangers massacred Mi'kmaq men along with five women and three children that were in two nearby wigwams. Governor Mascarene noted that the New England Rangers way of war was more effective than that practiced by conventional British troops. On another occasion in October, Gorham returned with three scalps and a live native baby.

Governor Shirley wrote in February 1746 that “the great Service which Lieut. Colonel Gorham’s Company of Rangers has been to the Garrison at Annapolis Royal, is a demonstration of the Usefulness of such a Corps.”

The Maliseet and Mi'kmaq sought revenge for the ranger's killing of Mi'kmaq families during the siege. During the Siege of Annapolis Royal (1745), the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet took prisoner the captain of a provincial transport vessel, William Pote, as well as some of Gorham's Rangers, including four Wampanoags from Cape Cod: Jacob Chammock, Philip Will, Caleb Popmonet, and Isaac Peck, as well as Peter Dogamus, a Nauset Indian from Yarmouth, Massachusetts. John Gorham himself was not at Annapolis because he was fighting alongside his father in the Siege of Louisbourg. Among other places, Pote and the Native rangers were taken to the Maliseet village Aukpaque on the Saint John River. While at the village, Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia arrived and, on July 6, 1745, tortured Pote and Chammock as retribution for the killing of family members by members of Gorham's company. On July 10, Pote witnessed another act of revenge when the Mi'kmaq tortured an Indian ranger (possibly Popmonet or Dogamus) at Meductic.

Siege of Louisbourg (1745)
Gorham fought alongside his father in the Siege of Louisbourg (1745). His father died just after the siege, apparently from natural causes.

Gorham received a commission to defend Nova Scotia. In 1748 he was in command of Gorham's Independent Company of Rangers. This company had in its ranks many of the Wampanoag people, and was stationed in Nova Scotia. During 1748, Gorham's Rangers continued to be with the British regulars at Annapolis Royal. In the autumn of 1748, Gorham destroyed the Acadian resistance at Minas and then sailed (October 19) over to the Saint John River to end the Acadian and Maliseet resistance.

Father Le Loutre's War
Soon after the arrival of Governor Edward Cornwallis, on July 14, 1749, Gorham was appointed to the Nova Scotia Council. In 1749, during Father Le Loutre's War, Gorham built Fort Sackville at present-day Bedford, Nova Scotia. He also participated in the Battle at St. Croix and the Battle at Chignecto.

Frontier warfare was the standard practice of warfare between New England and the Wabanaki Confederacy in Acadia since the beginning of King William's War in 1689. In Acadia and Nova Scotia, both the British and Mi'kmaq forces were engaged in frontier warfare or total war, that is, both sides of the conflict repeatedly killed families. While the British paid the New England Rangers for Mi'kmaq scalps, the French paid the Mi'kmaq for British scalps.

Led by the efforts of Daniel N. Paul, there has been much public attention in the twenty-first century on Gorham's use of frontier warfare, with little regard for the historical context and the Mi'kmaq leaders use of this type of warfare against the British.

Gorham held his position on the Council for two years and then in August 1751 Gorham left Nova Scotia for England. He died in London of smallpox in December 1751.

Legacy

 * John Gorham Lane, Bedford, Nova Scotia