rs pertaining to the Indians under instructions of the
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and to report upon all other matters
to the Commandant at Detroit, to whom he was made subordinate.[C]

[Footnote A: Journals, Hough's edition, p. 218.]

[Footnote B: Sir William Johnson in a letter to General Thomas Gage,
dated January 34, 1765, says of Rogers: "He was a soldier in my army in
1755, and, as we were in great want of active men at that time, his
readiness recommended him so far to me that I made him an officer and
got him continued in the Ranging service, where he soon became puffed up
with pride and folly from the extravagant encomiums and notices of some
of the Provinces. This spoiled a good Ranger, for he was fit for nothing
else--neither has nature calculated him for a large command in that
service."--[Journals, Hough's edition, p. 215.

The same to Captain Cochrane November 17, 1767, says: "I raised him
(Rogers) in 1755 from the lowest station on account of his abilities as
a Ranger, for which duty he seemed well calculated, but how people at
home, or anywhere else, could think him fit for any other purpose must
appear surprising to those acquainted with him. I believe he never
confined himself within the _disagreeable bounds of truth_, as you
mention, but I wonder much they did not see through him in
time."--[Journals, p. 241.]

[Footnote C: Journals, p. 217.]

Commander Rogers probably reached Michilimackinac in August, 1766. He
soon after demonstrated his entire unfitness for his position by
clandestinely engaging in the Indian trade,[A] and by involving the
government in unnecessary expenses, which he sought to meet by drafts
upon the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, which that officer was
obliged to dishonor. To still further curtail his power, a Commissary
was appointed to reside at the post and regulate the Indian trade. To
this Rogers sullenly submitted, but quarrelled with the officer. As time
went on matters grew worse. He engaged in foolish speculations; got
deeply into debt to the Indian traders; chafed under his limitations;
grew first discontented, and then desperate; entered into treasonable
correspondence with a French officer;[B] and finally conceived a plan of
seeking of the home government an independent governorship of
Michilimackinac, and in case of failure to rob his post and the traders
thereabout, and then desert to the French on the lower Mississippi.[C]

[Footnote A: Same, p. 242.