Benjamin Church (ranger)
| Benjamin Church | |
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Colonel Benjamin Church: Forerunner of the United States Army Rangers
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| Born | 1639 Plymouth Colony |
| Died | January 17, 1718 (aged 78–79) Little Compton, Rhode Island |
| Allegiance | Plymouth Colony (England) |
| Service/branch | Plymouth Colony Militia |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Battles/wars |
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| Other work | representative |
Colonel Benjamin Church (c. 1639 – January 17, 1718) is considered the forerunner of the United States Army Rangers. He was the captain of the first Ranger force in America (1676). Church was commissioned by the Governor of the Plymouth Colony, Josiah Winslow to form the first ranger company for King Philip's War. He later employed the company to raid Acadia during King William's War and Queen Anne's War.
Church designed his force primarily to emulate Indian patterns of war. Toward this end, he endeavored to learn to fight like Indians from Indians. Americans became rangers exclusively under the tutelage of the Indian allies. (Until the end of the colonial period, rangers depended on Indians as both allies and teachers.)
Church developed a special full-time unit mixing white colonists selected for frontier skills with friendly Indians to carry out offensive strikes against hostile Indians and French in terrain where normal militia units were ineffective. His memoirs "Entertaining Passages relating to Philip's War" were published in 1716 and are considered the first American military manual.
Born in Plymouth Colony in about 1639, Church married Alice Southworth on December 26, 1667 in Duxbury, Massachusetts. He resided for a time in Duxbury and later moved to Bristol. Alice Southworth Church's table grave is a particularly historically significant grave in Little Compton, Rhode Island.
Church was the principal aide to Governor Josiah Winslow of Plymouth Colony. Holding the rank of captain, 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 for his actions during this time in commanding a company of men independent of the governor's direct command. Church's men were the first colonial force successful in raiding the Indians' camps in forests and swamps. During previous decades, colonists were on the defense against the Natives, although relations were generally peaceful until 1675.
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