S8 Ep277: THE DEATH OF A RANGER AND THE CREATION OF A HERO Colleague Professor Robert G. Parkinson. Michael Cresap marched his riflemen from the frontier to Boston in 1775, where the press hailed them
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THE DEATH OF A RANGER AND THE CREATION OF A HERO Colleague Professor Robert G. Parkinson. Michael Cresap marched his riflemen from the frontier to Boston in 1775, where the press hailed them as "secret weapons" against the British. However, these troops proved undisciplined, and Washington privately wished they had not come. Suffering likely from malaria, Cresap fell ill and died in a New York City boarding house in October 1775. Despite being a stranger, New York patriots gave Cresap a massive, lavish funeral at Trinity Church to rally support for the cause. The revolution transformed Cresap from a frontier instigator into a celebrated American patriot. NUMBER 5
