A Journal of the Operations of the Queen's Rangers from the End of the Year 1777

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John Graves Simcoe (1752 –1806) was first a British army officer who saw action in the American Revolutionary War, in the Siege of Boston. During the siege, he purchased a captaincy in the grenadier company of the 40th Regiment of Foot. In 1777, Simcoe was offered the command of the Queen's Rangers. Simcoe is a central villain in the 2014 AMC drama Turn, portrayed by Samuel Roukin. Simcoe wrote a book on his experiences with the Rangers, titled "A Journal of the Operations of the Queen's Rangers" from the end of the year 1777 to the conclusion of the late American War, which was published in 1787. THE military journal of Lt. Col. Simcoe, was printed by the author in 1787, for distribution among a few of his personal friends. The production has hitherto, it would seem, entirely escaped the attention of those who are curious in the history of our Revolutionary War. As a record of some interesting particulars and local occurrences of that memorable struggle, and as a well written documentary illustration of the times and the circumstances of the American Rebellion, it deserves circulation and favour. Simcoe's ambition invariably led him to aspire at command; and even when the army first landed at Staten Island he went to New York to request the command of the Queen's Rangers a provincial corps then newly raised, which he did not finally obtain until after the battle of Brandywine, in October, 1777. He knew that common opinion had imprinted on the partisan the most dishonourable stain, and associated the idea with that of dishonesty, rapine, and falsehood. Yet, on the other hand, he also knew that the command of a light corps had been considered as the best source of instruction, as a means of acquiring a habit of self-dependence for resources, and of prompt decision so peculiarly requisite in trusts of importance. The corps of Rangers claimed all the attention of the now Major-commandant Simcoe, and contributed greatly to lessen his paternal fortune, for though warmly alive to the interests of others, he was always inattentive to his own. The incidents, as recorded, were written out just after the war, while fresh in the memory and the note book of the author. In the narrative we get an interior view of the camp of the best of the royal partisan warriors, and receive an impression of the spirit of' the contest, the feelings of parties, and the state of the country and people, not so well imparted by any previous publication. Simcoe was a highly educated gentleman, and a brave and ingenuous soldier, enjoying the confidence of his superiors in command, the affection of his Rangers, and the respect of his American opponents. We perceive so much of interest to the inhabitants and natives of several parts of the country, that we do not doubt the book will be sought with eager curiosity, and it certainly will well repay a careful perusal. We can merely indicate, here, the neighborhoods of New York and Philadelphia, the grounds of New Jersey, North and South Carolina, and Virginia, and those quarters, generally, where the war was waged at different times, as the fields in which the operations of the corps were performed. We may mention that no account so full and circumstantial of the British campaign of 1781, in Virginia, including Arnold's doings, and Cornwallis’s movements, assisted by Simcoe and Tarleton, has, till now, come before us in print. A large proportion of the volume is filled with the details of this concluding scene of the Revolution, finely illustrated by military maps from the author’s clever drawings.

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