Gorham's Rangers was one of the most famous and effective ranger units raised in colonial North America and served as the prototype for many subsequent ranger forces, including the better known Rogers' Rangers. The unit started out as a Massachusetts provincial auxiliary company, recruited in the summer of 1744 at the start of King George's War. Governor William Shirley ordered the unit raised as reinforcements for the then-besieged British garrison at Fort Anne in Annapolis Royal. Over the next eight years the unit proved remarkably effective at suppressing Acadian and Mi'kmaq resistance to British rule in Nova Scotia and helped to both expand and secure the British sphere of influence in the region. Initially a sixty man all-Indian company led by British colonial officers, the original N