Throughout the course of time there have been a countless number of men that have performed tasks of great distinction and are forever remembered in the annals of history, yet there are even more men who have perform just as nobly and have all but been forgotten. Many of these forgotten men laid the very footing of the civilization that we live in today. Moreover, many of us can call them our ancestors, they are the roots of which we derive from; a thread in our lives’ fabrics, and an unknown moral compass within us. This is the story of one of these men; this is the story of Jonas Groves.
In researching the life of Jonas Groves, it quickly becomes apparent that much of his life is still submerged in the murky waters of history, yet to surface to the modern researcher. However, the story of his life that is known is that quite full of merit and well worth recording in the annuals of history. What is known is that Jonas Groves was born in 1743, and at the age of seventeen volunteered for service in the French and Indian War. He enlisted in 1761 with Major Robert Rogers and his Rangers, and quickly became one of the feared scouts.
Roberts’ Rangers were a fierce bunch of backwoods pioneers who fought for the British Crown against the French and Indians in the northwest frontier of the Great Lakes region. They were well known as being one of the only combatant groups, besides Indians, that could function in theses harsh terrains and harsher winters. Major Roberts led his Rangers on many raids in the dead of winter against French towns and encampments, using primitive snowshoes and walking across frozen lakes and rivers.
On February 10, 1763, the Treaty of Paris was signed by France and England ultimately ending formal warfare between the two countries and bringing the seven year French and Indian War to a close. As part of the surrender terms the French were to relinquish Fort Detroit over to British control, and Major Roberts and his Rangers were assigned the task of taking control of the fort and supplying it.
Jonas Groves was sent to Buffalo, New York along with several other Rangers to gather supplies and ferry them across Lake Erie to Fort Detroit. On May 30, 1763, while Jonas and 117 other Rangers were ferrying supplies in open boats to Fort Detroit they were attacked by a large band of Ottawa Indian warriors. Although they were twenty-five miles from the fort and in open water, they were surprised and ambushed, suffering heavy casualties. Of the one hundred and eighteen men on the lake, only eight Rangers, including Jonas Groves, survived and were taken captive.
