Gorham, John

John Gorham was born 12 December 1709 (OS) at Barnstable, Massachusetts, U.S.A., and died in London, England during December of 1751. Although descended from a number of generations of military men Gorham appears to have started a career as a merchant, landholder, whaler and trader before entering military service around 1741 in Massachusetts. During this phase of his life he was recorded as seeking a land grant on Sable Island and indeed appears to have been active in the affairs of the Island. He appears to have recruited, organized and led an auxiliary unit “of the Massachusetts provincial army” who became known as Gorham’s Rangers and who patrolled the inland waters in modified whaleboats that facilitated their ability to appear and strike anywhere. Some accounts suggest rangers also specialized in less conventional warfare taking more advantage of the natural ability to conceal and hide in the woods than would regular soldiers. As a captain in the military he was dispatched to Annapolis Royal in September of 1744 with his company of 50 described by Massachusetts Governor Shirley as “picked Indians and other men fit for ranging the woods,” to provide relief to the garrison then besieged by French forces based in Louisbourg, NS. The following year he returned to Boston and then was sent, with his Rangers, to Louisbourg where they participated in a series of actions that eventually led to the fall of the fortress. Although he returned to Boston in 1746 he was quickly back in the province and during the period 1746 to 1747 erected blockhouses at Chignecto and Cobequid to support the defense of Nova Scotia. In 1747 he was sent to London to unsuccessfully plead the case for imperial support to help Massachusetts subdue the remaining French forces in Nova Scotia and to ensure the safety of the Annapolis Royal settlement. The imperial denial of support left Gorham and his company of rangers the principal defenders of Nova Scotia in its then wider boundaries including modern New Brunswick. With the settlement of Halifax in June 1749 Gorham relocated to Halifax and was named a member of Council. To support the new settlement he built a fort at Sackville (head of Halifax Harbour) and was engaged in various skirmishes with French and Mi'kmaq forces. He died of smallpox in London in December of 1751 after having sailed there on his boat the Osborne, the first vessel built in Halifax. His death was reported in the first issue of the Halifax Gazette, 23 March 1752.

RAD

added 2014-11-28 by Karen White.