68 An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
sachusetts is named-commanded the British army in the North
American theater of the Seven Ye ars' War. In 1759, Amherst ap
pointed Major Robert Rogers, the seasoned leader of New England's
Rogers's Rangers and perhaps the most famous and admired ranger
in frontier lore, to lead a force of settler-rangers, British volunteers,
and allied Stockbridge Indigenous scouts-all to be handpicked by
Rogers. Amherst ordered them to attack a resistant Abenaki village
in the St. Lawrence River Valley. Although Amherst ordered Rogers
not to allow torture or killing of women or children, the commander
would have known about these rangers' reputation of sparing no
one in their blood-drenched raids on Indigenous villages. In com
missioning Rogers, Amherst effectively sanctioned settler-ranger
counterinsurgent warfare. In general, the British military not only
tolerated but made use of the settlers' dirty war, in the Cherokee
war, the subsequent French and Indian War, and in the effort to
crush Pontiac's Rebellion of 1763 , in which Amherst is best known
for his support of using germ warfare against Indigenous people. 3^2
"Could it not be contrived," Amherst wrote to a subordinate officer,
"to Send the Small Pox among those Disaffected Tr ibes of Indians?
We must, on this occasion, Use Every Stratagem in our power to
Reduce them." The colonel promised to do his best. 33 Amherst then
gave orders "to bring them [Pontiac's forces and allies] to a proper
Subjection" until "there was not an Indian Settlement within a thou
sand Miles of our Country."34
In the southern part of the French and Indian War, the British in
1760 found their war-making capacity overwhelmed by the Chero
kee Nation. So here too they turned to rangers. In the spring, when
the Cherokee Nation challenged British authority, Amherst rushed
regular regiments to Charleston under the command of Colonel Ar
chibald Montgomery with orders to punish the Cherokees as quickly
as possible so the soldiers could return north and join in the im
minent attack on Montreal. In previous wars against Indigenous
nations, British commanders had assigned ranger groups specific
missions, but in the Cherokee war, the British military forces, in
cluding regulars, would target noncombatants. A few months ear
lier, the North Carolina governor had conjured the strategy that
would be used: