3. The legend of Robert Rogers’ 400-foot slide
During the French and Indian War in North America, a company, which was later expanded into several companies, of American rangers was formed to battle the French coureurs du bois and their Indian allies. Based on at Fort William Henry, and later on Rogers’ Island near Fort Edward, the rangers carried out raids and reconnaissance expeditions against the French and Indians and their patrols on Lake George and other waterways, as well as in the deep woods of what later became upstate New York and Canada. One of their tactics when hard pressed in battle was to split into small groups to evade capture and certain torture by their enemies. Rogers’ Rangers operated throughout the winter, unlike the European armies which went into winter quarters when the area was covered in snow.
In March 1758 Rogers led an unusually large party of Rangers on a mission in which they encountered a strong French and Indian party which gave battle. The Rangers had been traveling the still snow covered terrain on snowshoes, and the fight became known as the Second Battle on Horseshoes (the first having involved the Rangers the year before), which soon began to turn against the Rangers. After taking heavy casualties Rogers ordered his remaining men to disperse, and according to local legend Rogers himself escaped by sliding down a 400 foot granite mountainside to the frozen surface of Lake George below, where he strapped on the ice skates that the Rangers carried during winter operations, and skated off to safety. Whether or not the exploit was real is unknown, but the site is known today as Rogers’ Rock, or Rogers Slide in local lore.