• General Notes

  John Gorham represented the fourth generation of Gorhams in America to serve in the military: his great-grandfather, John, rose to the rank of Colonel in a Massachusetts Regiment during King Phillip's War, dying of exposure following the Narragansett Swamp fight (1675); his grandfather, also named John, participated on the ill-fated expedition to Quebec in 1690; and his father, Shubael, became Colonel of the 7th Massachusetts Regiment during the Louisburg expedition of 1745.
  Born at Barnstable, Mass., on December 12, 1709, John Gorham began working on ships operating out of the port before he had turned twenty, trading at various ports in Canada, and he was occasionally involved in land speculation in Nova Scotia and Maine. Following the family pattern, however, he entered into military service before 1741. At the outbreak of King George's War in 1744, Gorham organized a group of about 50 Rangers in New England that was sent to reinforce the garrison at Annapolis Royal, N.S. Gorham's Rangers, mostly Mohawks or persons of mixed-blood, were a highly successful free-ranging unit that employed "unorthodox" tactics -- i.e., those not commonly employed by British regulars -- including the applied use of terror. Their arrival at Annapolis Royal shifted the military balance in favor of the English, and for this, Gorham received wide recognition. His Rangers rapidly gained a fearsome reputation among the French and indigenous populations. Early in 1745, Gorham returned to Massachusetts to recruit additional Rangers, and was persuaded by Governor Shirley and William Pepperell to join the expedition against Louisburg and Ile Royale. At their request, Gorham accepted a commission as Lt. Col. of the 7th Massachusetts Regiment commanded by his father. John Gorham organized the landing at Gabarus Bay on April 30, 1745 and, along with Lt. Col. Arthur Noble, led the failed assault on the Island Battery on 23 May. With his father's death on February 20, 1745/46, he was promoted to Colonel of the 7th Massachusetts and remained in effective command of New England forces at Louisburg until April 1746.
  The Louisburg victory, however, did not prove as beneficial as Gorham had wished. First, rivalries with other officers cost him the opportunity to deliver news of the victory personally to George II, effectively denying him a measure of recognition and monetary reward; second, his troops were not allowed to plunder the area around Louisburg as they had been promised, depriving him of a large, and fully expected source of compensation. Finally, Gorham and his troops never received any direct compensation from the crown for their services. The lack of financial support from the British government became an issue that occupied much of Gorham's time and energy during the last five years of his life.
  Throughout the remainder of 1746 and 1747, Gorham and his Rangers enhanced their reputation as being "far more terrible than European soldiers," and came to be viewed as the most effective fighting unit in the Province. It was said that their reputation was such that neither French nor Indians would meet with them, and the arrival of Gorham's Rangers was usually sufficient cause for attacking parties to disperse.
  After the defeat of Arthur Noble by French forces at Grand Pré, January 1747, Gorham returned to New England and received permission to form a much larger company of Rangers (about 100 men). With the support of the Duke of Newcastle and George II in England (gathered on a brief trip to London), and of Paul Mascarene and Gov. Shirley in the colonies, the defense of the entire province of Nova Scotia fell de facto into Gorham's hands. Following the peace treaty with France, the Rangers continued to play a vital role in furthering British interests in Nova Scotia. In 1748, Mascarene order Gorham to subdue French settlers along the disputed St. John River and to impose the Oath of Allegiance. In addition, he helped to establish Fort Sackville as a means of protecting the newly founded Halifax, and his Rangers were often involved in quelling disturbances of the Micmac and St. John Indians.
  Gorham's career reached its apex in July 1749 when he was appointed to the Nova Scotia Council, on which he served until August 1751. But beginning with the appointment of Edward Cornwallis as Governor in July 1749, his fortunes began to decline. Cornwallis and Gorham shared a mutual antipathy perhaps stemming from Cornwallis' feeling that Gorham had already received adequate compensation for his efforts and that the constant requests for additional payment were exorbitant.
  In 1751, Gorham traveled to England in an attempt to satisfy his financial claims. He died of smallpox in London in 1751.
  
  Time to Stop Honouring Monsters of Past
  
  By Daniel N. Paul
  
  This article appeared in
  The Chronicle-Herald
  Halifax, Friday, 16 January 1998
  
  
  I was shocked, but not surprised, when the Department of Transportation named the connector road between Bedford and Sackville after a man who was considered by the Mi'kmaq and Acadians, and by many of his peers, to be an "uncivilized savage." Captain John Gorham, the man honoured, and his kinfolks were not strangers to enforcing colonial scalping proclamations.
  
  In the late 1600s, his great-grandfather was involved in the New England "Indian wars," which virtually exterminated the area's native Americans.
  
  Gorham, Nova Scotia's first official bounty hunter, was set loose on the Mi'kmaq in 1744 by governor William Shirley of the Mass Bay colony. In 1744, the English and French, for the umpteenth time, declared war upon each other. The English fort at Annapolis Royal came under seige by French troops and Mi'kmaq warriors. In response, Nova Scotia's colonial governor, Paul Mascarene, wrote to the Mass Bay governor for assistance.
  
  Shirley, who was in everything but name governor of Nova Scotia, responded by issuing a proclamation declaring war upon the Mi'kmaq. It contained these infamous instructions:
  
  "That there be granted to be paid out of the public treasury to any company, party or person ... who shall voluntarily, and at their own cost, ... go out and kill a male Indian of the age of 12 or upwards ... for as long as the war shall continue, ... and produce his scalp in evidence of his death, the sum of 100 pounds in bills of credit of the Province of New England; and 105 pounds for any male ... who shall be taken captive; ... 50 pounds ... for women, and for children under the age of 12 ... killed in fight; ... and 55 ... (for those) taken prisoner, together with plunder."
  
  To enforce his monstrous proclamation, Shirley sent Capt. John Gorham and 50 of his blood-thirsty rangers to Annapolis. These first bounty hunters were mostly Mohawk warriors, historic enemies of the Mi'kmaq, with a sprinkling of whites and half-breeds. In later years, whites would make up the majority.
  
  Because of their murderous reputations, the civilian and military populations of the garrison did not welcome these barbarians with open arms. In fact — some say with good cause — many loyal British subjects were terrified of them.
  
  George T. Bates reports in a paper he read before the Nova Scotia Historical Society in 1951: "Not long after their arrival, Mascarene tells us, they fell upon a family of Indians lurking in the woods nearby. The rangers seized this opportunity to establish a reputation for themselves by killing some and scattering the rest."
  
  Gorham soon satisfied Mascarene that he was well qualified for the post. Father Maillard, a Catholic missionary, reports that among the first victims of these monsters were three pregnant women and two small children.
  
  When Edward Cornwallis became governor in June of 1749, Gorham was still plying his ungodly trade in Nova Scotia. After the new governor, in October 1749, had circulated his own proclamation for Mi'kmaq scalps — which was also for the heads of men, women and children — he became its chief enforcer.
  
  Bates reports: "It is reported that ... a party of Gorham's rangers one day brought in 25 scalps, claiming the bounty of £10 per scalp. It was strongly suspected that not all of the scalps were those of Indians, but included some Acadians too. The paymaster protested the payment, but was ordered to pay the £250 anyway. ... The records of Chignecto include several instances of extreme cruelty and barbarism by the rangers ..."
  
  Gorham profited from his assignment to Nova Scotia. He became a ship owner and his family lived quite handsomely. It was reported that at least one of his ships was built with slave labour. From what I've read about him, I have no doubt that he was capable of using humans as work animals.
  
  The Great Spirit intervened on behalf of the Mi'kmaq in December of 1751: John Gorham, while visiting London, contracted smallpox and died. However, his barbarous rangers continued to function in this province until 1761.
  
  One might be excused for asking what kind of mentality does the leadership of this province harbour. Here we have a bounty hunter, a man who also committed atrocities against Acadians and who probably used slaves, being honoured by having a highway named after him.
  
  Will this mentality some day lead to having Nova Scotia buildings, roads, etc., named after other historical monsters who undertook to exterminate people they considered inferior? It just might. After all, what is the real difference between the likes of Hitler and Stalin and the likes of Cornwallis and Gorham? They all tried to kill off what they deemed to be sub-human peoples.
  
  One can't help but think that the Mi'kmaq are still viewed by many in the white power structure as being less than human. Why else would these power brokers continue to honour men who tried to exterminate them? Possibly the answer is ignorance. Whatever it is, I think it's high time the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission took a hard look at this practice and did something to stop it!
  
  - Daniel N. Paul is a human rights activist, historian and author.
  
  They had the following children:
  
  Susannah Gorham,
  Mary Gorham,
  Anna Gorham,
  John Gorham,
  Christopher Gorham,
  Elizabeth Gorham,
  Daniel Gorham,
  James Allyn Gorham,
  Charles Gorham,
  Sea Deliverance Gorham,
  James Allyn Gorham,
  Marry Gorham,
  Solomon Gorham,
  Susannah Gorham,
  Susannah Gorham
  

Details of John's family with Elizabeth Allen