STANDING ORDERS ROGERS RANGERS
- Don't forget nothing.
- Have your musket clean as a whistle, hatchet scoured,
sixty rounds powder and ball, and be ready to march at a
minute's warning.
- When you're on the march, act the way you would if you
was sneaking up on a deer. See the enemy first.
- Tell the truth about what you see and what you do. There
is an army depending on us for correct information. You
can lie all you please when you tell other folks about
the Rangers, but don't never lie to a Ranger or officer.
- Don't never take a chance you don't have to.
- When we're on the march we march single file, far enough
apart so one shot can't go through two men.
- If we strike swamps, or soft ground, we spread out
abreast, so it's hard to track us.
- When we march, we keep moving till dark, so as to give
the enemy the least possible chance at us.
- When we camp, half the party stays awake while the other
half sleeps.
- If we take prisoners, we keep'em separate till we have
had time to examine them, so they can't cook up a story
between'em.
- Don't ever march home the same way. Take a different
route so you won't be ambushed.
- No matter whether we travel in big parties or little
ones, each party has to keep a scout 20 yards ahead, 20
yards on each flank, and 20 yards in the rear so the main
body can't be surprised and wiped out.
- Every night you'll be told where to meet if surrounded by
a superior force.
- Don't sit down to eat without posting sentries.
- Don't sleep beyond dawn. Dawn's when the French and
Indians attack.
- Don't cross a river by a regular ford.
- If somebody's trailing you, make a circle, come back onto
your own tracks, and ambush the folks that aim to ambush
you.
- Don't stand up when the enemy's coming against you. Kneel
down, lie down, hide behind a tree.
- Let the enemy come till he's almost close enough to
touch, then let him have it and jump out and finish him
up with your hatchet.
MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS 1759
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