Raid on St. Francis

The Raid on St. Francis, 1759

Of all the episodes embraced within Robert Roger’s chequered career, none gained him greater fame than his 1759 raid upon the Abenaki village of St. Francis. It could be said to be the most incredible feat of the French and Indian War.

The three pronged attack to complete the conquest of French Canada was losing momentum. Wolfe had reached a stalemate at Quebec. Gage was making slow progress at Oswego on Lake Ontario, and Amherst, the Commander in Chief wasat Crown point awaiting the construction of his fleet for his advance on Montreal.

The British needed a safe communication route to Wolfe, as well as a diversion to draw the French forces away from the siege at Quebec.
Major Robert Rogers’ raid on the notorious Abenaki Indian town of St. Francis, deep in French Canada, was the answer.
The American colonial New Englanders, who had long suffered at the hands of the raiding Abenaki from St. Francis, had good reasons to encourage this daring venture.

Where better to start the story of the Raid on St.Francis than at “Fort Number Four”. This was the outpost which marked the northern limit of British settlement in the fertile valley of the Connecticut River, in New Hampshire and whose settlers lived in fear from the frequent raids from the Woodland Indians of the Abenaki tribe. Now known as Charlestown, it was more than 30 miles from the nearest other English settlement at Fort Dummer. Construction began in 1740 by brothers Stephen, Samuel and David Farnsworth. By 1743, there were 10 families settled in a square of interconnected houses, enclosed in a stockade with a guard tower.