Rogers' Rangers - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

  • The historical novel Northwest Passage (1937), by American author Kenneth Roberts, portrayed the events of Rogers' Rangers' raid on the Abenaki town of St. Francis. The first half of the novel was adapted as the film called Northwest Passage (1940).
  • During the Second World War, the U.S. Army was interested in the tactics of the British Commando units. Recalling the colonial unit, they took the name "Rangers" as the official title; these units consider Rogers their founding father and distribute copies of Rogers' Rangers Standing Orders to all aspiring Ranger students.
  • In 1942, American novelist Howard Fast published The Unvanquished, a novel about George Washington's struggles commanding the army in the early days of the Revolution. In several places, Fast mentions Rogers in the book.
  • Steven Brumwell's history, White Devil - A True Story of War, Savagery, and Vengeance in Colonial America, (2005), contains an analysis of the St. Francis raid and controversy.
  • Mind Lab Films produced a documentary about Robert Rogers and his Rangers entitled The Battle On Snowshoes (2002.
  • Rogers' Rangers were depicted in the 2005 video game Age of Empires 3, from Ensemble Studios, in which they are a type of unique British light-infantry.
  • The Methuen, Massachusetts high school uses the nickname "Rangers". This is the birthplace of Robert Rogers.
  • The 2004 Warner Brothers motion picture, Spartan (film), directed by David Mamet and starring Val Kilmer, Rogers' Rangers Standing Orders are referred to in at least two scenes, one with Kilmer, 'Scott', and Derek Luke, 'Curtis', discussing Curtis' father having carried them "when he was over there", and another with Kilmer's character, Scott, using a torn part of them to 'produce' a cigarette for Kristen Bell, 'Laura Newton' while in the cargo container at the airport in Dubai. The hard-copy text actually shown on in the film is the fictional bulleted list from Kenneth Roberts' novel, Northwest Passage, "1. Don't forget nothing. 2. Have your musket clean as a whistle, hatchet scoured, ...".
  • The 2009 video game, Empire: Total War, has Rogers' Rangers as an available unit featured in the Special Forces Edition.
  • Adirondack singer-song writer Chris Shaw describes Rogers' famous Battle on Snowshoes in his 1999 song by the same name.
  • Bestselling Author Pamela Clare depicted the life of Rogers' Rangers in her Historical Romance Series, Mackinnon's Rangers (See SURRENDER Dec/11, UNTAMED Jan/12 and DEFIANT Jul/12); The stories of three Scottish Highland brothers pressed into service by the British crown to fight alongside their Mahican bloodbrothers during the French and Indian War.

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