Beating Order - 15 September 1777

Quebec
15 September 1777

To John Butler, Esqr, appointed Major Commandant of a Corps of Rangers to serve with the Indians.

By Virtue of the power and authority in me vested by the King, I do hereby authorize and empower you, or such officers as you shall direct, by Beat of Drum or otherwise, forthwith to raise on the frontiers of the Province, so many able bodied men of His Majesty's loyal subjects as will form one company of Rangers, to serve with the Indians as occasion shall require.

Which company shall consist of a Captain, a First Lieutenant, a Second Lieutenant, three Sergeants, three Corporals and fifty Private Men; and when you shall have completed one company as aforesaid, you are further empowered to raise and form another, in like manner and of like numbers as the first and so on, until you shall have competed a number of companies of Rangers not exceeding in the whole eight companies; observing that the first be completed, armed and fit for service and have passed muster before such person as shall be appointed for that purpose by some one of the Commanding Officers of His Majesty's Troops nearest to where the said companies so raised shall be at the time, before another is begun to be raised. And of which eight companies or such part thereof, as you shall be able to raise, you shall be Major Commandant. Two of the companies aforesaid (to be composed of people speaking the Indian language and acquainted with their customs and manner of making war), for their encouragement shall be paid at the rate of four shillings New York Currency by the day, non-commissioned officers in proportion, from the day of their enlisting, and the other said companies (to be composed of people well acquainted with the woods) in consideration of the fatigues they are liable to undergo, shall be paid at the rate of two shillings New York Currency by the day, non-commissioned officers in proportion; the whole to clothe and arm themselves at their own expense.

You and the officers so raised to be paid as is customary to other officers of the like rank in His Majesty's service, and you are carefully to obey and follow such orders and directions as you shall receive from me or the Commander in Chief for the time being or any other, your superior officer, according to the rules and discipline of War, in pursuance of the trust hereby reposed in you.

Given under my hand and Seal at Arms at Quebec, this fifteenth day of September, one thousand seven hundred and seventy seven and in the seventeenth year of the reign,

                                    Guy Carleton