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 Historical Overview of the: Militia of the French Enemy
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   In mid-seventeenth century the entire white population of Canada probably did not exceed 3000 adults. Although the French king had about 100,000 men in arms, he was loathe to send more than 2000 to Canada. Louis regarded Canada as a fur farm and warehouse and had little interest in colonization or exploration. He only reluctantly allowed Samuel de Champlain to establish colonies at Port Royal, Acadia [1605], Quebec [1608] and Montreal [1611]. To his favorites the king granted seigniories, medieval land grants from which the seignores earned fortunes by charging the rentiers for everything from rent to milling fees. The seigniories formed the base on which militia units were recruited. In 1665 he sent 24 companies consisting of 1500 men under Colonel de Sali‚res to build several forts wherewith to guard the trade routes. The forts were strategically located to block the Iroquois war routes. In 1666 the governor of Canada, de Tracy, sent a handful of these French troops and nearly all his militia against the Mohawks in New York. The Mohawks sued for peace and the majority of the French troops returned to France.
 
   The French countered the New England militia with Canadian militia of their own. In 1756 Louis Antoine de Bougainville noted in his diaries that "everyone quit work at four o'clock so that the workers may drill." By mid-summer 1756 there were 2500 Canadian militia and 1800 Amerindian warriors available to the French army. The Montreal militia alone numbered 300. The home government provided the militia with 1800 muskets and 400,000 shot, an appropriate number of cartridge boxes, flints and gunpowder, hospital supplies and artillery. They also gave the militia 150 special grenadier muskets. On 8 August 1756 they marched 800 militia to Frontenac as an advanced guard. On 29 July 1757 Bougainville provided a list of militia in the king's service in Canada. There were 3170 militia and 300 volunteers under Villiers.
 
   The regular winter equipment issued to French-Canadian militiamen and regulars included: an overcoat, a blanket, a wool cap, two cotton shorts, pair of loose leggings, a breech-cloth [regular army had breeches and drawers instead], two hanks of thread and six needles, an awl, a tinderbox, a butcher's knife, a comb, a worm [for musket], a tomahawk, two pairs of stockings, two pocket-knives, a pair of mittens, a waist-coat, two pairs of deer-hide moccasins, a dressed deer-hide, two breast straps used in hauling boats over portage, a drag rope, a pair of snow-shoes, a bear-skin, and one tarpaulin per four men or one per officer. Each item was valued and a militiaman might accept cash payment in lieu of the item. Each man also received twelve days' rations of bread, salt pork and peas. At appropriate times, men might be given sleds and a few were issued horses.
 
   The French under siege in the spring of 1758 suffered as the English had, from malnutrition and hunger. Bougainville noted that the soldiers could not function fully on a ration of two ounces of bread, a half-pound of beef or horse-meat, a half-pound of salt pork, and a quarter-pound of salt cod. Poor food and irregular pay and a dearth of able-bodied men made recruitment of additional volunteers and militia almost impossible. Most recruits were of the lowest sort and did more to weaken the army than to strengthen it. By 1 January 1758 the French had activated all reserve and active militia and were able to report only 2108 men in arms under Marquis de Vaudreuil.
 
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"Legislation begets Statutory, possibly Rape,
in and of it's purest and original formula."
You have been forewarned. -©2005 David Lee Ion