- First US Army Ranger Officer
- Veteran Officer of King Philip's War
- Veteran Officer of King William's War
- Veteran Officer of Queen Anne's War
Biography
Benjamin Church was born 1639 in Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts to Richard Church (1608-1668) and Elizabeth Warren (1616-1670) and died 17 January 1717 Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island of unspecified causes. He married Alice Southworth (1648-1719) 26 December 1671 in Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.
Benjamin Church was an English colonist in North America. He was a military leader of the historic predecessor of the United States Army Rangers,[1] captain of the first Ranger force in America (1676).[2] Church was commissioned by Josiah Winslow (1628-1680), the Governor of the Plymouth Colony, to form the first ranger company for King Philip's War. He later commanded the company to raid Acadia during King William's and Queen Anne's wars in the early 1700s, as French and English hostilities played out in North America. The two powers were competing for control in colonial territories. He was promoted to major and ended his service at the rank of colonel, as noted on his gravestone.
Church designed his forces to emulate Indian practices of warfare. Toward this end, he worked to adopt Indian techniques of small, flexible forces that used the woods and ground for cover, rather than mounting frontal attacks in military formation.[1] English colonists developed as rangers under the tutelage of their Native American allies. (Until the end of the colonial period, rangers depended on Indians as both allies and teachers.)[3]
Church developed a special full-time unit that combined European colonists, selected for their frontier skills, with friendly Indians in order to carry out offensive strikes against hostile Indians and French in difficult terrain. He used such rangers as militia where the normal practices of having troops march and attack in formation were ineffective. His memoirs, Entertaining Passages relating to Philip's War, were published in 1716 and are considered to constitute the first American military manual.
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (1675-1678) was an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day New England and English colonists and their Native American allies. The war continued in the most northern reaches of New England until the signing of the Treaty of Casco Bay in April 1678.
Military Engagements
King William's War
Queen Anne's War
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Elizabeth Church (1665-1691) | |||
| Thomas Church (1674-1746) | |||
| Constant Church (1676-1727) | |||
| Benjamin Church (1678-1718) | |||
| Edward Church (1680-1706) | |||
| Charles Church (1682-1746) | |||
| Elizabeth Church (1684-1757) | |||
| Nathaniel Church (1686-1687) | |||
| Martha Church (1688-1739) | |||
Siblings
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Elizabeth Church (1636-1658) | |||
| Joseph Church (1638-1711) | 9 March 1638 Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts | 5 March 1711 Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island | Mary Tucker (1640-1710) |
| Benjamin Church (1639-1717) | 1639 Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts | 17 January 1717 Little Compton, Newport County, Rhode Island | Alice Southworth (1648-1719) |
| Nathaniel Church (1642-1689) | |||
| Charles Church (1644-1659) | |||
| Richard Church (1645-1660) | |||
| Caleb Church (1646-1722) | 8 August 1647 Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts | 1 January 1722 Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts | Joanna Sprague (1644-1678) Deborah Church (1649-1690) Rebecca Scotto (1650-) |
| Hannah Church (1657-1696) | |||
| Abigail Church (1648-1677) | |||
| Sarah Church (1650-1688) | |||
| Lydia Church (1652-) | |||
| Mary Church (1654-1662) | |||
| Deborah Church (1657-1690) | |||
| Priscilla Church (1657-) | |||
Residences
Vital Records
Little Compton Gravestone
- Gravestone Location: Old Commons Burial Ground, Little Compton, Rhode Island
- PLOT MEETING HOUSE LANE AT THE COMMONS ->50 ft. N of tel pole #501
References
- Benjamin Church
- Church in Plymouth County, Massachusetts
- wikipedia:en:Benjamin Church (ranger) - Wikipedia
- Benjamin Church at Find A Grave #24720663
Primary Sources
- Church, Benjamin, as told to Thomas Church, The History of Philip's War, Commonly Called The Great Indian War of 1675 and 1676, edited by Samuel G. Drake,(Exeter, NH: J & B Williams, 1829); Facsimile Reprint by Heritage Books, Bowie, Maryland, 1989.
- The history of King Philip's War ; also of expeditions against the French and Indians in its Eastern parts of New England, in the years 1689, 1692, i696 AND 1704. With some account of the divine providence towards Col. Benjamin Church. By Benjamin Church, Thomas Church, Samuel Gardner Drake(See Benjamin Church - Online Book)
- Church, Thomas. The History of the Great Indian War Church's Book
Secondary Sources
- Drake, Samuel. The Border Wars of New England, commonly called King William's and Queen Anne's Wars. 1910. Drake's book
- Faragher, John Mack, A Great and Noble Scheme New York; W. W. Norton & Company, 2005. ISBN 0-393-05135-8
- Philip Gould. (1996). Reinventing Benjamin Church: Virtue, Citizenship and the History of King Philip's War in Early National America. Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Winter, 1996), pp. 645–657
- Grenier, John. The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2005).
- Philbrick, Nathaniel, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. New York: Viking Penguin, 2006. ISBN 0-670-03760-5
- Zelner, Kyle F. A Rabble in Arms: Massachusetts Towns and Militiamen during King Philip's War (New York: New York University Press, 2009) ISBN 978-0814797341