[hannay] history of THE QUEEN'S KANGERS 139 



head of Elk took place on the 25th August, four and a half months be- 

 fore. 



A considerable portion of the duty of the Queen's, Rangers during 

 the winter was to secure the country and facilitate the inhabitants in 

 bringing their produce to market for the supply of the army. This was 

 a veiy important duty, as it was above all things necessary to assure the 

 country people of protection in order that the army might be properly 

 fed. Simcoe so gained the confidence of the people that they were always 

 ready to give him every information of the enemy's movements. The 

 American patrols who came to stop the markets were considered by the 

 country people as robbers; and private signals were everywhere estab- 

 lished, by which the smallest party of the Eangers would have been safe 

 in patrolling the country. " The general mode adopted," says Simcoe, 

 " was to keep perfectly secret the hour, the road and the manner of his 

 march; to penetrate in one body about ten miles into the country. This 

 body generally marched in three divisions, one hundred yards from each 

 other, so that it would have required a large force to have embraced the 

 whole in an ambiuscade, and, either division being upon the flank, it would 

 have been hazardous for an enemy so inferior in every respect but num- 

 bers, as the Eebels were, to have encountered it; at ten or twelve miles 

 the corps divided and ambuscaded different roads, and at the appointed 

 time returned home. There was not a bye-path or ford unknown, and 

 the Hussars would generally patrol some miles in front of the infantry. 

 The market people, who over night would get into the woods, came out 

 on the appearance of the corps and proceeded uninterruptedly, and from 

 market they had an escort, whenever it was presumed that the enemy 

 was on the Philadelphia side of Frankfort to intercept them on their 

 return into the woods. The infantry, however inclement the weather, 

 seldom marched less than ninety miles a week; the flank companies, 

 Highlanders and Hussars, frequently more. These marches were by 

 many people deemed adventurous and the destruction of the corps was 

 frequently prophesied. The detail that has been exhibited and experi- 

 ence takes away all appearance of improper temerity; and by these pa- 

 troles the corps was formed to that tolerance of fatigue and marching, 

 which excelled that of the chosen light troops of the army, as will here- 

 after be shown." 



Parties of the Queen's Rangers were almost every day at Frankfort 

 where, since the surprise already mentioned, the Americans did not keep 

 a fixed post. Simcoe had trained his men to quick and energetic move- 

 ments with the bayonet, and his standing order was, " Take as many 

 prisoners as possible, but never destroy life unless absolutely necessary.'^ 

 On one occasion a patrolling party of Rangers approached Frankfort 



