Canadian Militia (Coureur de Bois) from Northstar Miniatures

 

Canadian Militia from Northstar Miniatures.

My latest unit for the French and Indian War using the rules Rebels and Patriots. For my French Force they will be Skirmishers that are Sharpshooter for a total of 6 points.

Keeping track of the British advance into Canada.

Military service has been part of Canadian life since the 17th century in New France, where colonists were required to serve in local militia to support regular units of the French army and navy. In 1651, Pierre Boucher received a commission of captain from the Governor of New France and asked to raise a militia corps in Trois-Rivières. Until the arrival of the Carignan-Salières regiment in 1665, militia corps were the only defense of New France. In the long struggle between the French and British colonies, British and colonial American troops found the Indian-style tactics (i.e., Guerrilla warfare/ frontier warfare) of the Canadian militia to be a formidable adversary. Perhaps the two most famous Canadian attacks against New England were the Siege of Pemaquid (1696) and the Raid on Deerfield (1704).

Working with Native American allies in conducting a raid on a British foraging party.

The success of the Canadians was underscored during the French and Indian War by George Washington's defeat at Great Meadows and Edward Braddock's embarrassment at the Monongahela River. The British response was to create new "Ranger" and "Light infantry" units adept at woodland warfare. 

"Je vais couvrir et vous passez à l'arbre suivant. Alors je te suivrai quand tu seras en place"

Approximate numbers of militiamen in New France in 1759 during the French and Indian War:

• Acadian Militia – 150 militiamen
• Canadian Cavalry: 200 cavalrymen
• District of Québec: 5,640 militiamen
• District of Montréal: 5,455 militiamen; 4,200 sent to Quebec City
• District of Trois-Rivière: 1,300 militiamen; 1,100 to Quebec City
• First Nations: 1,800

Not all of the Canadian Militia were natural woodsmen but the unit I painted will be and based on the coureur de bois lifestyle. The Coureur de Bois (literally woods runners) were independent traders who knew the woods well and dealt directly with the Indians. During the French Colonial period, the coureurs de bois operated in the upper Mississippi valley, extending their reach into the American bottom, an area stretching almost one hundred miles south from the point where the Missouri River flows into the Mississippi. 

The ancestor of "Yukon Cornelius."

The French government tried to control the activities of the coureurs de bois, and put many restrictions on them, trying to compel the Indians to bring their pelts directly to government-sanctioned trading posts.