Surprising Canadians

Guy Elliott looks at the largely unknown military history of his native land.

- Guy Elliott

Most people are unaware of the military history of the Canadian people. The readers of this magazine will, however, be far more knowledgeable than most on this topic. And yet I think there are many campaigns and military units in Canadian history that will be a surprise even to them. Let's see.

From its very founding in the early seventeenth century New France needed protection from the British, the American colonists, and their Iroquois allies. New France (Quebec), like all French colonies, came under the control of the French Navy and so most of the time the majority of the soldiers were raised by them and termed ‘Compagnies Franches de la Marine’. The men were always from France but very soon in New France all of their officers were Canadian-born. Recruitment was on the basis that the men would, upon the end of their service, remain and settle in Canada. In their off-duty time, the men worked in the local community and soon became veritable Canadians. They also worked and fought alongside the allied indigenous warriors and became feared guerilla fighters, helping eventually to inflict defeats on George Washington and later General Braddock. There was, in effect, the first Canadian military. Most of the fighting occurred in forests and along rivers and lakes, but when General Wolfe's troops arrived in 1759 the fighting also took place among settled farms and villages. To help scout and patrol the New France Cavalry Corps was raised with a strength of around two hundred men. Both these and the local militia sets were done by Bill Skinner of the Scottish Toy Soldier Company, who would do custom sets for any time period but who really loved the eighteenth century.