GORHAM RANGERS: Lydia Gorham's Military Family

SMITH (Post, Dort, Winsor, Secord, Harris, Harris, McCall, Otis, Thacher, 9thGGM Lydia Gorham, Howland, Tilley, Hurst)

1745 Siege of Louisbourg, Cape Breton Island

LYDIA GORHAM'S MILITARY FAMILY

Name	Relationship	Rank – Service
John Gorham, I 10th GGFather	1635 Immigrant (c1619-1676)	Capt., King Philip’s War	Capt. of town militia, Yarmouth, Mass.; march on Mt. Hope; Great (Narragansett) Swamp Fight, 1675 Posthumous Land grant: Narragansett #7-Gorham, Maine
John Gorham, II	Son of John I & bro. of 9GGM Lydia (1652-1716)	Lieut. Col., French & Indian Wars 1689-1704	Served with his father in King Philip’s War 1690 Canada Expedition Commanded critical “Whale Boat Fleets”
Shubael Gorham	Son of John II (1686-1746)	Col., King George’s War	Secured the land grants earned by grandfather at  Gorham “Gorhamtown,” Maine Provincial military leader for Nova Scotia
John Gorham, III	Son of Shubael (1709-1751)	Lieut. Col. Nova Scotia defense, King George’s War	Battle of Louisburg; led colonial and frontier forces in Nova Scotia; member of N.S. Council; Commanded “GORHAM’s Independent Co. of RANGERS” to defend British control of Nova Scotia -1744-51 Participated in varied battles incl. Fr. Le Loutre’s War,-Battles at St. Croix and Chignecto; built Fort Sackville Audience w/King; died of smallpox in London
Joseph Gorham	Son of Shubael (1725-1790)	Maj. Gen. Nova Scotia defense	Continued GORHAM RANGERS following bro’s death in 1751 Led defensive Loyalist “Royal Fencible American Regiment” at Ft. Cumberland-Eddy Rebellion At Battles of Louisburg and Quebec
David Gorham	Son of Shubael (1712-1786)	Col.	Fought w/John III at Cape Breton and the taking of Louisburg, likely a RANGER
Christopher Gorham	Son of John III (1737-1762)	Lieutenant	GORHAM RANGER Under command of uncle Joseph in expedition which captured Havana, Cuba in 1762. Died at Havana (where half the co. died from tropical disease)
Charles Gorham	Son of John III (1743-1762)		GORHAM RANGER Under command of uncle Joseph, with brother Christopher, in expedition which captured Havana in 1762. Died at Grenada
John Gorham, IV*	Son of John* the bro of Shubael (1730-1762)		GORHAM RANGER Company clerk, 1749-50

(Note: This listing above and table below refer to only the Gorham Rangers I was able to verify by historical publications. It is very likely that many more siblings and cousins joined the ranks, including at least one Thacher.)

Lydia Gorham’s father:

JOHN GORHAM I (King Philip’s War)

(excerpt from a letter written by then-captain of the militia, John Gorham I, Oct. 1, 1675)

“…but as for my own part, I shall be ready to serve God and the country

in this just war, so long as I have life and health…”

Three days later, he was appointed captain of the second company of the Plymouth forces in King Philip’s war. Capt. Gorham and his company fought at Swamp Fort on Dec. 19, 1675, a decisive battle in the Narraganset country against King Philip and his allies. The forces were exposed to the cold and severe elements of winter during this battle and Captain Gorham never recovered from the ill effects of exposure. He developed a fatal fever and died at Swansea about five weeks later.

Lydia Gorham’s brother:

JOHN GORHAM II, Lieut. Col. (The Whaleboat Fleet)

(from Genealogical notes of Barnstable families, pg 421-422)

“During the French and Indian wars, from 1689 to 1704, five expeditions were fitted out to operate against the enemy in the eastern country under the command of the renowned Col. Benjamin Church. Connected with these expeditions, there was a “whale-boat fleet,” manned by whalemen, sailors, and friendly Indians. In most, if not all these expeditions, the “whaleboat fleet was under the direction and command of Mr. John Gorham[II], who, in the fourth and fifth expeditions, was commissioned a Lieut. Col., was second in command, and in case of accident was named as Col. Church’s successor. Without this fleet, all the expeditions would have proved abortive. The French and Indians, excepting at a few prominent points, had established their headquarters at places where the transports could not approach sufficiently near to be of service, and to have marched the troops to the attack through the wilderness, would have exposed them to almost certain destruction.”

Col. Church in his letter to Governor Dudley, dated Feb. 5, 1703-4, advised the Governor to provide for the expedition, “Four and forty or fifty good whaleboats, well fitted with five good oars and twelve or fifteen good paddles to every boat. And upon the wale of each boat, five pieces of strong leather be fastened on each side to slip five small ash bars through: that so whenever they land the men may step overboard, and slip in said bars across, and take up said boat that she may not be hurt against the rocks.” This maneuverable mode of amphibious transport could take hundreds of troops up into shallow bays and rivers, out of sight of heavily-manned harbors. At night, or during storms, the boats were taken on shore and turned over to provide shelter for the soldiers.

Lydia Gorham’s nephew:

SHUBAEL GORHAM, Col. (Narragansett No. 7, now Gorham, Maine)

(from North America, Family Histories 1500-2000, p. 131-132)  

“Colonel Shubael Gorham took an active part in obtaining the grants made by the Legislature of Massachusetts, to the officers and soldiers actively engaged in King Philip’s War; and was chairman of the Committee for Narragansett No. 7 (now Gorham, Maine) which township was granted to the officers and soldiers in the company under command of Captain John Gorham. He was Colonel of the 7^th Massachusetts Regiment in the Louisburg expedition, his commission being dated February 20^th, 1744; and he was also captain of the 1^st Company of that Regiment; he died at Louisburg, February 20^th, 1745-6. The fortress of Louisburg, which was built by the French, was captured by the English and Colonial forces, June 17^th 1745…Shubael Gorham the 7^th [Regiment] and he was Captain of the 1^st Company thereof with John Gorham (his son) as Lieutenant Colonel and Captain of the 2^nd Company. This last regiment (the 7^th) was posted at Light House Point.”

(Regarding the founding of Gorham, Maine)

“…Seven (7) townships were granted in the province of Maine, called Narragansett townships… The last township, No. 7, was assigned to the officers and men who served under Captain John Gorham and to a few additional ones; and it was afterwards incorporated at the town of Gorham, but was generally known as ‘Gorhamtown.’ By an order in Council, dated February 2^nd, 1736, Shubael Gorham, Esq., was empowered to assemble the grantees of this township. In this order occurs a curious mistake [later corrected.] It is therein stated that the grant was made to the soldiers under the command of Captain John Gorham in the Canada Expedition in 1690. Captain Gorham, of the Canada Expedition, was the father of Colonel Shubael Gorham; the grant was made to the officers and soldiers who served under his grandfather, Captain John Gorham, in the Narragansett War.”

[Note: When Shubael died, he left an indebted estate valued in today’s currency at roughly $689,250 which including over 55 ounces of silver plate, a part of which was marked with the heraldic arms of the Gorham family that was passed down through the descendants of his son John.) A namesake descendant of Lydia’s brother Jabez Gorham (who moved to Rhode Island), Jabez Gorham (1792-1869) was an American silversmith and founder of Gorham Silver.]

Lydia Gorham’s great nephews:

JOHN GORHAM III  & JOSEPH GORHAM (“Gorham Rangers”)

From history website article about Gorham’s Rangers at: kronoskafdotcom

“One of the most famous and effective ranger units raised in colonial North America, Gorham's Rangers started out as a Massachusetts provincial auxiliary company, recruited in the summer of 1744 at the start of King George's War. Governor William Shirley ordered the unit raised as part of the reinforcements he sent to Nova Scotia to relieve the then-besieged British garrison at Fort Anne in Annapolis Royal. Over the next seven years the unit proved remarkably effective at suppressing Acadian and Mi'kmaq resistance to British rule in Nova Scotia and helped to both expand and secure the British sphere of influence in the region. The company were reconnaissance experts as well as renowned for their expertise at both water-borne operations and frontier guerrilla warfare. Their signature tactic was a surprise amphibious raid on either Acadian and Mi'kmaq coastal or riverine settlements. Their primary mode of transport were large whaleboats that carried between ten to fifteen rangers each. This small unit was the main British military force defending Nova Scotia from 1744 to 1749.

“Initially the rangers were a sixty man all-Indian unit led by British colonial officers and non-commissioned officers. The unit was captained by the politically well-connected and ambitious John Gorham III (1709-1751), who, prior to leading the rangers, had been a whaling captain and merchant from Yarmouth, Massachusetts, a small coastal town on Cape Cod. While his family had historically played an important role in colonial New England's military affairs, besides basic militia training in conventional warfare, Gorham had no prior ranger training or experience at frontier warfare. Nor did the company's junior officers, most of whom were his relatives. In the early days of the company's first deployment the officers learned their trade from the many veteran Native American soldiers who made up the company's rank and file. Most of the forty-eight privates were Wampanoag and Nauset Indians from Cape Cod.”