When the members of John Harmon’s Company of Snowshoemen wanted to do more Revolutionary War reenacting, we were in a bit of a quandary. We wanted to continue the approach we had taken in both Harmon’s and Benjamin Church’s Company, essentially, New England frontiersmen who operated in the mode of wood’s warfare or la petite guerre. We discovered this unit of New Hampshire men who obviously drew on past experience to call themselves rangers, and since the name of the commander of the recreated unit is “Eames” and the original unit was commanded by an “Eames” it seemed a no-brainer.
That Jeremiah Eames’s Company of Rangers participated in no battles was not important (although we are in the firm belief that the British army was fortunate they decided not to invade the colonies through New Hampshire because Jeremiah Eames and his fifty men would have made it warm for them), what is important is the tactical, clothing and gear, and camping approach. As with our other impressions, we would show Eames’s Rangers on their scouting missions, wearing coats and carrying provisions and blankets. Tactically, we wanted to provide the Continental Line with a unit that could: 1. Contain British Indians and irregulars; 2. Harass the British flanks and rear; 3. Provide advance, flank or rear guards/scouts. Like the original rangers we would not demonstrate an ability to stand in ranks in the open field (we tend to run away from the bayonet charge, as anyone without proper training would do), we would serve a distinct tactical purpose of harassment. As we always do, we would go through difficult terrain to achieve tactical surprise.