Bones by the River: The Dark and Complicated Story Behind Haverhill’s Rogers’ Rangers Marker
Along Route 10 in Haverhill stands a historical marker with one of the darkest inscriptions found anywhere in the region. It tells of starving soldiers, a rescue party that arrived too early and human bones reportedly discovered in the surrounding fields. The marker commemorates Rogers’ Rangers and their desperate 1759 retreat from an attack on the Abenaki community of St. Francis—known today as Odanak, Quebec. It is a remarkable story. It is also more complicated than the marker can explain in a few sentences. What happened along the Connecticut River in the autumn of 1759? Did Rangers really die in Haverhill? Were their bones later found in the intervales? Here is what history tells us—and what remains uncertain more than 260 years later.
The Marker Beside the Road
The Rogers’ Rangers marker stands on Route 10 in North Haverhill, approximately two miles south of the junction of the Connecticut and Ammonoosuc rivers. Its inscription explains that the rivers’ junction was supposed to be a rendezvous point for Rogers’ Rangers after their attack on St. Francis. It says starvation and pursuit plagued the retreat, the expected rescue party had already departed and early settlers later found the Rangers’ bones along the intervales. The Town of Haverhill’s historical-marker page lists the marker near South Court Street in North Haverhill. The marker was erected in 1968. The events it describes happened in 1759—four years before Haverhill was chartered.
Who Were Rogers’ Rangers?
Rogers’ Rangers were soldiers trained for scouting, raiding and fighting in the forests of colonial North America. Led by New Hampshire-born Robert Rogers, they traveled through difficult country using skills learned from generations of Native warriors and colonial frontiersmen. Their methods included moving in small groups, using natural cover, setting ambushes and surviving far from established forts. The Rangers served the British during the French and Indian War, the North American part of the larger Seven Years’ War between Britain and France. They are often described as early special-forces soldiers. Their story, however, involves more than wilderness courage and military innovation. Like many frontier forces, the Rangers took part in a brutal war that frequently harmed civilians and Native communities. The story behind Haverhill’s marker is one of the clearest examples.
Orders to Attack St. Francis
On September 13, 1759, British commander General Jeffery Amherst ordered Rogers to attack an Abenaki settlement known to the English as St. Francis. The community is now Odanak, Quebec, on the Saint-François River. Some Abenaki warriors from St. Francis had participated in attacks against British settlements and military forces. Amherst wanted revenge, but his written orders included an important restriction: Rogers was not to kill or injure women and children. Rogers left Crown Point with a force of approximately 200 men. His detachment included Rangers and other British troops, along with Stockbridge Mohican and Mohegan men serving with the British. Accidents, sickness and exhaustion reduced the attacking force to 142 by the time it reached St. Francis.
The Plan Begins to Fall Apart
Rogers originally planned to return using boats and provisions hidden near Missisquoi Bay. That plan quickly collapsed. French forces discovered the boats and the food stored with them. Rogers was now deep in enemy territory without supplies or a safe return route. He sent Lieutenant Andrew McMullen back through the wilderness to Crown Point with an urgent message: arrange for provisions to be delivered to the mouth of the Ammonoosuc River. The location Rogers selected is in present-day Woodsville, where the Ammonoosuc meets the Connecticut River. If Rogers survived the attack and the journey south, food would supposedly be waiting there.
The Attack on Odanak
Before sunrise on October 4, Rogers’ men attacked the sleeping community. Rogers later claimed that approximately 200 people were killed. Historians generally consider that number exaggerated. French reports placed the death toll closer to 30, approximately 20 of whom were reportedly women and children. Because accounts from the opposing sides differ so widely, the exact number may never be known. What is not disputed is that civilians were killed, homes were burned and the community was devastated. This happened despite Amherst’s instruction to spare women and children. Rogers’ report described the attack as a military success. The Abenaki remember it as a massacre. The Fort Odanak historical project provides the history from the community’s perspective. The Musée des Abénakiscloses every October 4 in commemoration of the 1759 raid. That part of the story matters. The Abenaki pursuers who later followed Rogers were not simply faceless enemies chasing retreating heroes. They were pursuing the force that had attacked and burned their community.
A 200-Mile Fight to Survive
After the raid, Rogers and his men began the long journey toward the Connecticut River. They carried corn taken from Odanak, but it did not last. Near Lake Memphremagog, with food running dangerously low, Rogers divided the force into small groups. He believed smaller parties would find it easier to hunt and would be less visible to anyone pursuing them. The decision came with terrible risks. The separate groups became scattered across unfamiliar country. Some men were attacked or captured. Others became lost, fell behind or died from hunger and exposure. The men ate whatever they could find. Surviving accounts describe Rangers eating roots, bark, squirrels, birds and anything else that offered a few calories. Some accounts say starving men resorted to eating human flesh. The evidence is disturbing but incomplete, and it would be irresponsible to present every later version of the story as proven. What can be said with confidence is that the retreat reduced experienced wilderness soldiers to extreme desperation. Estimates vary, but approximately 40 to 50 members of the expedition may have been killed, captured or lost during the retreat. Those deaths occurred across a vast area—not only in Haverhill.
The Food Was Gone
The surviving Rangers pushed toward the mouth of the Ammonoosuc, encouraging themselves with the belief that food would be waiting. A relief party led by Lieutenant Stephens had indeed traveled upriver with provisions. It reached the general rendezvous area and waited. But the Rangers did not appear. After two days, Stephens and his party started back down the Connecticut River with the food. According to Rogers, his starving men arrived approximately two hours later. They found an empty camp and a fire that was still burning. Rogers fired his gun repeatedly, hoping the relief party would hear the shots and return. Stephens apparently heard the gunfire but feared that it came from an enemy force. The food continued downriver while the starving Rangers remained behind. Rogers was furious. In his published journal, he called Stephens “an indolent fellow” and reported that the officer was later dismissed from military service following a court-martial. That is Rogers’ version. Stephens may have sincerely believed that returning toward unidentified gunfire would place his men and supplies in danger. Either way, the failure to connect had deadly consequences.
Stranded in the Coös Intervales
Rogers wrote that the disappointment was crushing. His men had crossed mountains, swamps and forests while suffering from exhaustion and hunger. Reaching the Connecticut River without finding food left some of them unable to continue. Rogers placed the struggling survivors under Lieutenant Grant in the Coös Intervales. “Intervales” are the rich, level floodplains found beside rivers. In this case, the name referred to the broad Connecticut River valley around present-day Haverhill and Newbury. Rogers then set out for Fort Number Four—present-day Charlestown, New Hampshire—with Captain Ogden, another Ranger and a captive Abenaki boy. They built a rough raft from dry pine and floated south on the Connecticut.
A Desperate Trip Downriver
The small group was almost too weak to manage its raft. Rogers wrote that they narrowly avoided being swept over the falls near the White River. Captain Ogden and the other Ranger hunted for anything they could eat, managing to kill squirrels and a partridge. When another raft was needed, Rogers said he lacked the strength to cut down trees. Instead, he burned through their trunks and then burned the fallen timber into usable lengths. After reaching Fort Number Four, Rogers immediately arranged for food to be sent back upriver. In a November 5 report to Amherst, Rogers wrote that one canoe carrying provisions had already been sent to Lieutenant Grant. Two more were sent toward the mouth of the Ammonoosuc to search for other scattered parties. Rogers’ original account can be read in the public-domain Journals of Major Robert Rogers.
Did Rangers Die in Haverhill?
Almost certainly—but we do not know how many. Rogers wrote that some men died of hunger because of the failed relief mission. However, he did not provide their names, exact locations or a total number. He also left men scattered throughout the intervales while he traveled downriver for help. It is reasonable to believe that at least some deaths occurred in or near what became Haverhill. It is not accurate to say that all 40 to 50 men lost during the expedition died here. Rangers were killed, captured or lost throughout the long journey from Quebec. The marker takes a large and confusing tragedy and concentrates it into one location. Real history is rarely that tidy.
Were Their Bones Really Found?
This is where documented history begins to blend with local lore. Rogers never wrote that settlers discovered the bodies of his men. The most substantial local source for the claim appears to be William F. Whitcher’s 1919 History of the Town of Haverhill, New Hampshire. Whitcher wrote that the remains of some Rangers were found years later on the meadows and nearby uplands. You can read the 1919 Haverhill history online.
Unfortunately, Whitcher did not explain:
- Who discovered the remains
- When the discovery happened
- Precisely where the remains were found
- How they were identified as Rangers
- Where they were buried afterward
- Which earlier record documented the discovery
The book was published 160 years after the retreat. The roadside marker, erected another 49 years later, repeated the claim more dramatically. Could settlers have found the remains of Rogers’ men? Absolutely. The land was unsettled by English colonists when the Rangers arrived, and starving men were scattered through the region. Early settlers could have encountered bones, equipment or other evidence of the retreat. But without an eyewitness account, burial record or archaeological evidence, we cannot call it proven. The most accurate conclusion is that the story of the bones is a longstanding piece of Haverhill history that remains unverified.
What the Marker Gets Right—and What It Leaves Out
Supported by historical evidence
- Rogers’ force attacked St. Francis on October 4, 1759.
- The Rangers retreated toward the Connecticut River.
- They were pursued and suffered from severe hunger.
- The mouth of the Ammonoosuc was the planned rendezvous.
- A relief party brought food but departed before Rogers arrived.
- Gunfire was heard after the party left.
- Some Rangers died of hunger during the retreat.
- Rogers traveled down the Connecticut to obtain help.
Less certain
- The exact number of Rangers who died
- How many died within present-day Haverhill
- Where those men were located
- Whether settlers found and correctly identified their bones
Missing from the marker
- St. Francis was an Abenaki community.
- Women and children were killed in the attack.
- Casualty estimates are heavily disputed.
- The pursuing Abenaki had just seen their community attacked and burned.
- Rogers’ journal provides only one side of the story.
Seven Rogers’ Rangers Tidbits
1. Haverhill did not officially exist yet
The retreat took place in 1759. Haverhill and neighboring Newbury, Vermont, were chartered in 1763.
2. The rendezvous was in present-day Woodsville
Rogers selected the mouth of the Ammonoosuc River, where it enters the Connecticut. The roadside marker stands about two miles south of that junction.
3. Fort Number Four was approximately 60 miles away
Located in present-day Charlestown, it was then the northernmost established British settlement on the Connecticut River.
4. The Rangers were not all from one military unit
Rogers’ force included Rangers, provincial soldiers, British regulars and Native men allied with the British.
5. The famous “200 killed” figure came from Rogers
It should not be repeated as an established fact. French and Abenaki accounts indicate a much lower death toll.
6. A famous novel helped turn the raid into legend
Kenneth Roberts used the St. Francis expedition in his 1937 novel Northwest Passage. Spencer Tracy played Robert Rogers in the 1940 film adaptation. Both helped establish the Rangers’ heroic image in popular culture.
7. The local landscape helped inspire Haverhill’s settlement
The same fertile intervales that offered the starving Rangers a route through the valley later attracted English settlers. Some of Haverhill’s founders had served during the French and Indian War and recognized the area’s agricultural potential.
Visiting the Marker
The Rogers’ Rangers marker is located along Route 10 in North Haverhill, near South Court Street. If you stop to see it, remember that the marker itself is not the site of the rivers’ junction. The confluence of the Connecticut and Ammonoosuc rivers is approximately two miles north in Woodsville. Please pull completely off the road only where it is legal and safe to do so. Route 10 can be busy, and no historical photograph is worth becoming part of another roadside tragedy.
History, Memory and a Few Bones
The darkest part of Haverhill’s Rogers’ Rangers story is not simply that starving men may have died beside the river. It is how easily a complicated event becomes a simple legend. One version celebrates a daring attack and an astonishing wilderness escape. Another remembers the destruction of an Abenaki community and the deaths of women and children. Haverhill’s marker focuses on the starving Rangers and the bones reportedly left behind. All three perspectives belong to the same story. We know that Rogers and his men reached the Coös Intervales desperately hungry. We know their expected food had disappeared downriver shortly before their arrival. We know some Rangers died during the retreat. We also know that the claim about settlers finding their bones appears much later and cannot currently be independently verified. Perhaps those bones were found. Perhaps a written account remains hidden in an old diary, family collection or town record. For now, they remain somewhere between history and legend—another Haverhill story waiting beside the river.
Further Reading
- Journals of Major Robert Rogers
- History of the Town of Haverhill, New Hampshire
- Haverhill’s historical markers
- Fort Odanak: The River Burns
- Musée des Abénakis
- Gordon Day’s “Rogers’ Raid in Indian Tradition”
