Benoni Danks

Benoni Danks (ca 1716 – 1762) was a New England Ranger and political figure in Nova Scotia. His son, Benoni Danks II (d. 1776) represented Cumberland County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1765 to 1770.

Benoni Danks I was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, the son of Robert Danks and Rebecca Rust. In 1745, he married Mary Morris. He first commanded a company of rangers during Father Le Loutre's War in the early 1750s, and did so again, later, during the Seven Years' War (1756-1762). During the latter, his company operated in the Chignecto area during the Petitcodiac River Campaign and later the St. John River Campaign, both part of the Expulsion of the Acadians. He was active against the French and their native allies--for the most part the Mi'kmaq. In 1755 his company, men raised mainly in New England, was expanded and became an independent ranger unit in the British Army--often referred to as Danks' Rangers. The company was active between 1755 and 1762 (when it was disbanded). It averaged between 90 and 100 men, although was augmented to 125 for the attack on Havana in 1762. The unit was based out of Fort Cumberland on the Isthmus of Chignecto, and frequently skirmished with Mi'kmaq Indians and Acadian rebels during a prolonged insurgency against British rule in the area (lasting from 1755 to 1760). It is alleged that his unit turned in the scalps of Acadians for bounties, claiming that they were from natives. The rangers carried out raids against French settlers on the Petitcodiac River and also participated in the siege of Quebec. The unit suffered heavy causalities in the skirmishing around the edges of the siege, and for a time, after Danks was seriously wounded, were incorporated into the ranger company of Captain Moses Hazen. In 1761, he was granted land in Cumberland County. His company was often operated in tandem with Gorham's Rangers, based out of Halifax, and after 1761, the two companies were combined into a Nova Scotia ranging corps, led by Major Joseph Gorham. As part of this corps, Danks and his company took part in the Siege of Havana in 1762, where, according to Israel Putnam, he sold his commission in the rangers and died from illness, a common fate of many who participated in that expedition. Two years later, another Benoni Danks (probbly his son) was named a justice of the peace and militia commander for Cumberland County. In 1767, he was named collector of duties on alcohol, tea, coffee and playing cards.

Sympathetic to the American Revolution, Benoni Danks II was captured after taking part in a rebellion - the Battle of Fort Cumberland - led by Jonathan Eddy and died at Windsor, Nova Scotia from an infected wound.

The father or son (or possibly both) is the namesake of Danks Point in Baie Verte, New Brunswick.

References

• Blakely, Phyllis R (1979). "Benoni Danks". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Retrieved 2008-10-03.