Frontier Partisans

The Adventurers, Rangers and Scouts Who Fought the Battles of Empire

Rangers & Marshals

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Tim Todish just announced that the first volume of his magnum opus Rangers of the French and Indian War is at the printer. Looks like the earliest availability will be March. Heavily illustrated, this looks to be a major contribution to Frontier Partisan history, and it’s one of those that will be acquired as soon as it hits the trading post.

 

The Ranging Way of War is woven into the fabric of American military culture, and Rogers Rangers is the foundation stone of that tradition — although there were antecedents, contemporaries, and many descendants. And, as recently noted, their opponents in the French and Indian War were every bit as formidable.

The Global War on Terror and its major campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan saw U.S. Army Rangers deployed nearly constantly for 20 years — as powerful an example of Continuity & Persistence as one can find. The Rangers haven’t received anything like the press the SEALs get, but they are an important tool in the JSOC toolkit.

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Another storied outfit, the U.S. Marshal’s Service will be featured in upcoming “event” productions. Taylor Sheridan has folded his long-brewing project Bass Reeves into the Yellowstone Universe as 1883: The Bass Reeves Story. This is a smart marketing play, capitalizing on the momentum of the tornado he has created to bring additional interest to the story of the first Black deputy U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi — and one of the all-time great American badasses.

David Oyelowo has the titular role. Cole Hauser, who plays Rip Wheeler in My Cowboy Soap Opera Yellowstone recently indicated that he has a role. Sheridan will direct Ep. 1.

FX is starting to tease the release of Justified: City Primeval, featuring Elmore Leonard’s fictional deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens. Looks like the hat still fits…

 

Comments

  3. David Wrolson says

    Working my way through Justified as per your recommendation. Early in Season 5 at this time-thanks.

    Concurrent with that, I am doing Parks and Rec for a light diversion.

    I am not sure if I mentioned that sent Burnham’s “Scouting on Two Continents” and “Taking Chances” to my minister who I had previously sent a lot of GMF’s stuff (not Flashman”)

    I haven’t been to church in awhile because of chores-but he returned the Burnham’s to (in his phrase) “The Wonderful Library” though my wife.

    I have been thinking about future recs for him after a period of time and the best I can come up with are the 3 best of Alexandra Fuller’s books.

    1) Don’t go to the Dogs Tonight (or whatever it is)

    2) “Scribbling the Cat”-I know that some here have an understandable problem with the way she lead the old soldier on-But, I think you have to read these 2 to get to the 3rd which is one of my all-time favorite books.

    3) “Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness”

    The pastor does have some missionary experience in Ethiopia so modern Africa is not out of bounds.

    Reply

  4. Joe says

    Really looking forward to how this take on Bass Reeves is presented. As someone who is only vaguely aware of Robert Rogers but loves this period of history, I’m intrigued by Todish’s book.

    Reply

  5. David Wrolson says

    Anybody here ever dug into the Kenneth Roberts books? Historical fiction.

    I read a couple of them years ago-a lot of detail, but they might hit the X-Ring for relevant time periods-might have to relook at some of them.

    IIRC, I remember how he covered how hard the Continentals move across Maine was in the attack on Canada in the early years of the Revolution-“Northwest Passage” or “Rabble in Arms” Maybe?

    Reply

    • JimC says

      The one on the trek across Maine was Arundel, my favorite of his novels. I liked Northwest Passage quite a lot, of course (Rogers Rangers & the St. Francis Raid) but Arundel was very striking — and my first exposure to the understanding that Benedict Arnold was a hero as well as a traitor.

      Reply

  6. Padre says

    I hit major paydirt in my genealogical research last week when I found that one ancestor was captain of a company of Massachusetts rangers, another was a colonial New Jersey ranger, and another was captain of a company of Salem militia who worked with Benjamin Church and whose daughter (who I’m descended from) did six months gaol time during the witch trials. Pretty cool pedigree for a pastor!

    I was much more excited about discovering those rangers in my family tree than I’d be about finding some low-life famous politician or royal back there.

    I’m working my way through the Osprey military history of King Philip’s War to go along with the podcast. I also picked up the first volume of Matt Wulff’s ‘Ranger: North American Frontier Soldier’ since it’s been sitting on my wish list for far too long.

    Reply

    • JimC says

      That’s just outstanding. I need to check out Wulff’s work. He has a real good piece in the Jan/Feb Muzzleloader on the “Wender” swivel-breech rifle that Simon Kenton may have wielded.

      Reply

      • Padre says

        I really enjoyed his book on Roger’s rules for rangers. He hits that sweet spot between being a rigorous researcher and a good writer with a fair dose of experience from being a re-enactor thrown in.

        I’d consider myself relatively knowledgable about historic American weapons, but I never heard of a swivel breach until I saw an article by Mike Beliveau recently. I’m going to have to grab that copy of Muzzleloader, too. Sadly, the big box sporting goods and grocery stores quit carrying it which means I’ll have to venture into the Barnes & Noble. It might be worth a subscription jus to spare me that!

        Reply

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