Officers provided the diplomatic link with the First Nations that attracted them to the French cause. The early promoters of the new tactical doctrine, such as Le Moyne and Hertel, had become familiar with Indigenous languages and lifestyles either as traders or prisoners. Once the Compagnies franches de la Marine became the permanent garrison of New France, the young French officer-cadets’ training included a residence with an allied nation to learn its language and culture, and many volunteered for raiding expeditions. Within a couple of decades the officer-cadets were usually the Canadian-born sons of the original officers, who then came to form the great majority of the regular officer corps in New France before 1755. They had a French education and training, and this dual legacy enabled them to provide the professional but locally experienced leadership required in raid warfare.
While theenlisted men of the Independent Naval Companies were recruited in France, many of them became attracted to life in the Canadian settlements, which offered many freedoms denied to Frenchmen at home under the Ancien Régime. Billeted in inhabitants’ homes, they often found love in the arms of Canadian girls and became settlers themselves. Others discovered a taste for postings in far-away forts. All soldiers in those stations were allowed some private trading with the First Nations, and this provided the means to accumulate some savings for when they came back to Montreal after the usual three-year tour. Some soldiers in these distant postings became so accustomed to frontier life that they never did come back. The gunner “J.C.B.” met some at Michilimackinac, including one who had been there for 30 years. The soldiers on the frontier often adopted features of the Indigenous lifestyle and became experts in forest-craft. Such men were ideal for the picked parties of regulars who could withstand, like Canadian coureurs-des-bois and voyageurs, the hardships of raid warfare.
Material culture: Canadian dress
To fully understand the military success of the New France raiders, one also has to consider the arms, equipment, and especially the clothing that they used. The latter was a practical adaptation that enabled them to fight, at any time of the year, after traveling significant distances through a trackless wilderness, in near-Arctic winter conditions or through dense primeval forest in summer.
The regular Naval troops posted in Quebec, Trois-Rivières and Montreal, as well as forts in the Richelieu River valley and major garrisons such as Forts Frontenac and Niagara, or large settlements such as Detroit, wore European-style uniform (see Plate C1). But such uniforms proved useless for long wilderness expeditions, so, to quote Philippe Aubert de Gaspé, officers and men alike took to wearing the “short capot, mitasses, breechclouts and deerskin shoes [moccasins]. This practical and light equipment gave them a great advantage over enemies dressed in the European fashion” (see Plates A1, C2 & C3). Such adaptation by French settlers to the Canadian environment started in the first half of the 17th century, in a distinct costume that was a mixture of French maritime and First Nations features. Typical dress and equipment did not change markedly from the middle of the 17th until well into the 18th century, though details such as cuffs and pockets might be influenced by French fashion.
Canadians (see Plate B) usually wore a wool cap of “stocking” shape, generally either red, white or blue; better-quality caps might be trimmed with fur, especially for colder weather. Another type was the tapabord, a round cap featuring a visor (peak) that could be turned up in front, and side and rear flaps that could be tied up above the crown or let down (see Plate A). Linen shirts were worn by all, or woolen shirts in winter. A neckcloth of linen or satin material might be worn by soldiers and militiamen.
G
RIVER TRANSPORT, c.1700
The vast network of rivers served as the roads of New France, and from spring to late fall canoes were the essential means for transporting men, arms, supplies and goods by soldiers, Canadians and First Nations alike. While the essential techniques and materials used for making the light, strong birchbark canoes were common to all, the profiles of bow and stern favored by particular Indigenous peoples and the Europeans who worked with them might differ. So too did the size; the largest carried about a metric ton’s weight of cargo, and accommodated up to 14 paddlers. The example we illustrate seems to have been the main type employed for trade and expeditions, and follows, for instance, the dimensions of three that were ordered by the government in June 1700. These were to be 30ft long (9.7m) by 4ft 1in wide (1.3m), the bottom being reinforced with pine planks, and with eight thwarts or cross-planks for paddlers to sit on. They would paddle for anything from eight to 14 hours a day, using their folded capots as seat cushions; the man in the bow acted as the pilot, and the man in the stern used his paddle as a rudder. (Here, the bow man has tattoos and a quill-decorated sash, suggesting long experience among the First Nations.) A sail might also be rolled around a dismounted mast and lashed along one side, to take advantage of favorable winds.
“Habillemens des Coureurs de bois Canadiens.” This unsigned drawing of c.1730 is a unique period view of Canadian wilderness clothing in late spring or summer. All wear short capots fastened by waist sashes. One (left) has breeches, mitasses, and apparently boot-moccasins, while the others have very wide skirt-like breechclouts and are bare-legged and barefoot, as was more likely when in often damp canoes. Pipe-smoking was very common. Bullet bags and (right) a tomahawk are carried from the sashes, and one (center) has a slung powder horn. The muskets appear to be (from left to right) a long “buccaneer” type, a shorter “half-buccaneer,” and a hunting or trade model. (Courtesy Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT; object 2001154)
The capot was a warm and ample woolen coat originally used by French sailors. In Canada its cut was more fitted, resembling the European justeaucorps coat, but without pocket flaps or many buttons. It came in several versions and lengths, the most common with knee-length skirts. A shorter style, presumably favored in warmer weather, reached only to the mid-thigh, while longer winter versions might reach low on the calves. Capots usually fastened across the breast to a button on the upper right side, though some might button down the front; buttons were of metal, leather, or cloth-covered wood or bone. Turnback “boot” cuffs, buttoned at the top as on European coats, seem to have been common, but cuffs might also be plain. (Detachable manches, or “sleeves,” are sometimes mentioned, but this probably refers to cuffs.) The capot’s most distinctive feature was its large hood, affording excellent protection against the elements, especially in winter; some hoods may have been detachable.
In the 1660s Montreal volunteers were nicknamed “les capots bleus,”butthere was no official uniform. While Canadian clothing was occasionally issued to militiamen right up to the end of the French regime, no specific color was prescribed, and records show that colors used by settlers varied widely. Probate records of settlers for the years 1650–1715 mention 232 capots; of these, 52.1 percent were blue, 10.3 percent white, 9.9 percent blue and red, 9 percent gray, 6 percent brown, 5.6 percent red, and the rest combined red and white or brownish red, with only 0.04 percent each black, green, buff, olive, “cinnamon,” or “musk.” Records for 1745–63 mention 85 capots, of which 28.2 percent were blue, 27 percent brown, 11.7 percent white and the same number gray, 9 percent black, 7 percent red or wine-red, 2.3 percent green, and 2.3 percent cinnamon. The notion sometimes seen in Canadian histories that blue, white, and red “uniforms” identified Montreal, Trois-Rivières, and Quebec militiamen, respectively, must be dismissed as unfounded.
Some leather capots were recorded, but it is clear that wool cloth was usually preferred and seemingly more valuable. Leather garments were seen as utilitarian items and probably used until worn out, so little evidence survives. Trade-store records mention capots in white, red, violet, light blue, and green amongst colors offered to First Nations in exchange for furs. Trade blankets could also be used to make what Anglo-Americans came to call “blanket coats”; such capots were usually tailored to show the contrasting stripes of the blanket at the lower skirt and sleeves.
To gather the capot, a woolen waist-sash was tied over it. This was generally of a single color, usually red, black, green, or brown, though sashes obtained from the First Nations were decorated with quill- or beadwork. (The multicolored cloth “Assumption” sashes only appeared after the end of the French regime.) A long-sleeved, single-breasted, collarless, thigh-length waistcoat (veste), as usually worn beneath the European justaucorps, might also be worn with the capot in winter. Alternatives were a waist-length gilet,or a sweater-like camisole.
Knee-breeches of light material in summer, of cloth lined with soft leather in winter, and long knitted or woven cloth stockings might be worn. Often, however, the lower garments worn by Canadians and even soldiers in the field were Indigenous. The breechclout – a rectangle of cloth which passed between the legs and hung down front and back over a supporting belt – was popular with Canadian raiders during the warm seasons (see Plate B3). The mitasses were long leggings, originally of fringed deerskin but now often of trade cloth sometimes edged with contrasting ribbon or tape. They were held up by knee garters, often decorated in Indigenous style, and also by side thongs to a waist belt if worn with a breechclout.
“Équipage des Chasseurs Sauvages Canadiens.” This matching drawing gives a rare contemporary view of an Indigenous hunting party of c.1730; summer raiders might present a very similar appearance. They wear blankets over both shoulders, fastened at the breast and gathered at the waist. The warrior on the left is armed only with a bow, the others with long-barreled muskets. Note powder horns slung on cords to the left hip (left & center), and bullet bags and a tomahawk (right) tucked under the sashes. All three are barefoot, and wear their hair long and loose, as was the Abenaki custom; again, two are smoking pipes. (Courtesy Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT; object 1004504)
The moccasins were soft deerskin shoes without heels. Summer moccasins were usually worn over bare feet; winter versions were made of stouter leather, and were larger to accommodate ankle-length, slipper-like cloth nipes for warmth. Canadians were also fond of “boot-moccasins,” extending most of the way up the calf, in both summer and winter versions. Knitted gloves could be worn in chilly weather, but mittens were required in winter – made either of cloth or deer, raccoon or seal hide. The mitts were often united by a long thong around the neck and shoulders, since to lose one might condemn a man to disabling frostbite. Moose hide was considered the best material for extreme cold-weather clothing and mitts, and Beauchêne writes that such hides traded from the First Nations were made into winter clothing in several parts of Canada.
Snowshoes, 1680s; these “raquetes” are of the wider, more rounded type worn in deep snow. The European artist/engraver’s rendering of a warrior wearing them while naked is unconvincing; Indigenous peoples wore heavy winter clothing. (Print after La Hontan’s 1705 Amsterdam edn; author’s photo)
This unsigned oil painting is one of very few contemporary renderings of Canadian costume,1710–30. A detail from an ex-voto painting whose colors have degraded over the years, it shows two dead men with the surviving third man giving thanks to Notre-Dame-de-Liesse. The scene might be related to deaths of militiamen. All three wear the capot, the two in the foreground (with boot cuffs) entirely brown including buttons, and the third gray. The sashes are green (left) and reddish hues for the others; breeches are brown (left) and red (right), and boot-moccasins are also shown. Parts of two muskets are seen lying on snow, which suggests the late fall or early spring. (Church of Rivière-Ouelle, Quebec, in situ; photo courtesy André Gousse)
By the late 17th century Indigenous warriors (see Plate D) were already using much trade-cloth clothing, including linen shirts. In temperate weather they went lightly dressed, usually in only a shirt perhaps with a sash, breechclout, mitasses, and moccasins. Before combat they would often strip almost naked except for moccasins and breechclouts, and daub themselves with bold areas of war-paint to enhance their tattoos in creating a terrifying appearance. For winter raids they were generally dressed and equipped like the Canadians, though their clothing tended to be somewhat more colorful: La Hontan notes that some decorated their capots with beads. Records of 1743 mention that 70 cloth capots trimmed with false-silver lace were sent to trade for furs at Fort La Baye (Green Bay). Eight of these were specified as being of white cloth, but the others’ colors are not described. The same document lists pairs of cloth mitasses: some white, some violet, some blue, and some red and trimmed with silk edging (Monière, LAC micro M-849).
1720s: First Nations warriors with a Canadian officer, or possibly a chief who has been presented with European clothing. He wears a cocked hat and justaucorps coat with mitasses and moccasins. At right, note the blanket worn over both shoulders, and the fringed breechclout. (Detail from print in Le Beau’s Voyages curieux et sauvage,1738; Library and Archives Canada, NL16410)
In late spring, summer and early fall, Canadian or regular raiders wore a cap of lighter material or a bandana, a linen shirt, a shorter capot that might be of lighter material, a sash, breeches or breechclout, mitasses and moccasins. In summer, which could be torrid in southern Canada, the capot might be laid aside for just the shirt with a waist-sash. No matter what their order of dress, regular and militia officers wore a crescent-shaped gilded gorget usually engraved with the royal arms, on a ribbon or cord around the neck, as the badge of their status (see Plate B1). Versions of these were sometimes presented to Indigenous chiefs.
Weapons
The three Compagnies franches de la Marine that landed at Quebec city in November 1683 had matchlock muskets. Correspondence of 1685 mentions barrels about 119cm (46.8in) long. The caliber was initially rather light, at “20 balls to the pound” (16mm caliber – the old French pound equaled 489mg), but was soon stabilized at “18 balls to the pound” (16.5mm).
The cumbersome matchlocks were soon replaced with lighter and more practical flintlocks. From the early 1690s the Tulle factory became the quasi-exclusive supplier of firearms to the French Navy, made to specifications issued by the Ministry of the Navy (successive models are illustrated and described in Plate H). From 1743, Tulle muskets were made with three iron barrel-bands replacing the previous fixing pins. They were thus very similar to the Army’s Model 1728 musket, and the Navy increasingly ordered Army muskets, improved with steel ramrods from 1741. From 1743, muskets issued in Canada were to be marked Au Roy (“The King’s”), with the mark of the company’s captain on the butt. The old plug bayonet, whose narrow handle fitted into the barrel’s muzzle, was replaced in Canada between 1721 and 1725 with socket bayonets. Those made for Tulle muskets initially had a noticeable shank about 10.8cm (4.2in) long between the socket and a triangular, guttered blade about 24cm (9.4in) long. Conventional bayonets with a longer blade and almost no shank became common during the 1740s.
Canadian settlers and First Nations warriors always preferred lighter flintlocks. Probate records indicate this from the 1650s on, but there is practically no descriptive data until 1696. That year Tulle contracts specified hunting muskets of a light caliber at “28 to the pound” (14mm), with barrels 121.8cm (47.6in) long, reducing to 113.6cm (44.5in) from 1716 onwards. The furnishings might be of iron or more expensive brass. Probate records also occasionally reveal “buccaneer” muskets with long barrels, and even a few rifled carbines, but hunting muskets were the overwhelming favorite among the expert Canadians. The trade muskets shipped over for the First Nations were usually similar, although they might be fitted with somewhat fancier brass furniture for added “customer appeal.”
H
WEAPONS
The firearms used by raiders were not usually the standard issues of the metropolitan French Army, but weapons ordered by the Navy Ministry for shipboard marines, or made specially for hunting and trading.
Long arms (1)–(5) are drawn approximately to scale:
(1) 1696 Navy ordinaire infantry musket made at Tulle, used into the early 18th century. Initially the barrel was 121.8cm long (47.6in) but was shortened to 119cm (46.5in) from 1697 to 1716; the caliber was 16.5mm. Ramrods were of wood with a steel tip. Plug bayonets were used in Canada until 1721–25, when they were gradually replaced with socket bayonets.
(2) 1716 Navy musket made at Tulle, with a single barrel-band and sling rings. Slings à la grenadiere were henceforward standard for all muskets. The barrel length was now 113.6cm (44.7in).
(3) 1729 or 1734 contract Navy musket made at Tulle, and used well into the mid-century. Note that the barrel from the breech forward to a molded ring was octagonally faceted; barrel length now reverted to 119.8cm (46.8in).
(4) 1743 Navy muskets made at Tulle became almost identical to the Model 1728 Army musket, with three barrel-bands added to replace the pins securing barrel to stock. Ramrods were all-steel from 1741 onwards.
(5) The hunting muskets preferred by Canadians and traded to Indigenous warriors imitated the Tulle 1716 and 1729/1734 contracts, also later made at Saint-Étienne. Barrel lengths followed successive military specifications (here, 113.6cm/44.7in) but were usually of 14mm caliber. The furniture was usually of iron, but some high-quality examples like this one had fancier brasswork: (5a) top view of buttplate, (5b) bottom view of trigger guard, (5c) lock counter-plate.
Hand weapons (6)–(10) are drawn approximately to scale:
(6) 1729/1734 contract Navy pistol made at Tulle. The basic features of this solid and dependable weapon were little changed between the late 17th century and the 1760s. The barrel is 30.5cm (12in) long, and all the furniture is of iron; note the belt-hook on the left side.
(7) Along with blankets, boucheron (“butcher”) knives were a basic trade item, used by Canadians and First Nations alike, who might carry as many as three per man. (It is recorded that a militiaman named Cardinal once used a garter-knife to kill an Iroquois.) This 23.6cm (9.3in) example is apparently marked for the French manufacturer Barthélémy Doron; its boxwood hilt has windings of copper wire, and the pommel has been carved into a pig’s-head shape.
(8) Mid-18th century knife and sheath also possibly manufactured by Doron, but locally decorated in First Nations style with sewn quillwork and beads.
(9) While soldiers were issued the straight-blade infantry swords, these were not used by raiders, though cutlasses or sabers seem sometimes to have been carried. More ubiquitous was the tomahawk, useful both in combat and as an everyday tool. They were made in both France and Canada, and sometimes bore a stamped lily mark. This typical casse-téte (“head-breaker”) may be either French- or Canadian-made.
(10) Elaborately decorated and voided head of a French-made pipe-tomahawk, marked “A. Kepoivrer F. P. Lecompte 1761.” (Russel Bouchard, Les armes à feu en Nouvelle-France (Septentrion, Quebec;1999); René Chartrand, French Arms and Armor in America 1503–1783 (Mowbray, Woonsocket, RI; 2016); Kevin Gladysz, The French Trade Gun in North America 1662–1759 (Mowbray,Woonsocket, RI; 2011); Kevin Gladysz & Ken Hamilton, “French Knives in North America” in Journal of the Early Americas (December 2011/January 2012), and “Axes in New France” in Journal of the Early Americas (December 2012/January 2013); ANQQ, Génaples, no. 1622)
Canadian militiamen, and even some soldiers, usually had three knives: one at the waist belt, a smaller one suspended from the neck to hang on the breast, and another on a mitasse garter. Pistols, especially for officers, are sometimes mentioned, as are “swords,” the latter actually being sabers or naval cutlasses. Tomahawks, which came in several slightly varying types, were the raiders’ favorite edged weapon. First Nations warriors carried basically the same weapons as Canadians, but with more variations.
Mounting a raid
As mentioned above regarding the 1686 raid, logistics were vital in wilderness expeditions. Raiders had to rely on what they carried with them in order to survive in forests where game was usually scarce. Ideally, food, tools, weapons, and ammunition were loaded on canoes or toboggans, and on the way out caches were hidden along the route for the return journey. The food was nourishing: mostly corn and dried peas, dried meat, and hard biscuits, though with fortifying shots of brandy.
For winter raids the party would put on snowshoes to travel easily over snow, pulling toboggans with food, arms, and ammunition, and carrying the musket in its protective cloth sleeve. January or February temperatures might fall to between 5°F and -31°F (-15°C and -35°C), with strong, icy winds. A man standing sentry, especially at night, might rapidly suffer serious frostbite.
Since this contemporary unsigned sketch from the first half of the 18th century is inscribed “Indiens du Canada,” it must have been made by a Canadian or a Frenchman in New France. The two nearly naked warriors are obviously in summer dress; the figure on the left may be a chief (sachem), while note that the other carries a European saber. (Library of Congress)
When the party landed to make its final approach march on the objective, the canoes were hidden. From then on, the journey was made on foot, each man carrying his own pack and weapons. No fires or pipes were lit, and strict silence was imposed, giving the raiders the best chance of arriving within sight of the enemy target without having been detected. Snowshoes would be taken off before the surprise attack was launched, preferably under cover of night or bad weather. The fighting would be fast and ruthless; shocked defenders or settlers were often shot or cut down in a matter of moments, with their houses set ablaze above their heads.
After gathering up booty, the party’s return march had to be swift, in spite of any accompanying prisoners, and the journey was utterly exhausting. (“When they come back, they are unrecognizable and need a lot of time to recover” – Relation par lettres…). It was to be expected that Anglo-American militiamen would pursue the retreating party. Any seriously wounded raiders who could not be brought back were left to die or to be killed by the pursuers; practically no such casualties are known ever to have survived. Once in the wilderness, however, the pursuers too faced danger, because New France raiders had often previously identified good spots to set ambushes (see Plate E).
There is nothing anachronistic for our period – not even the chair – in this 19th-century print of a Canadian woodsman in winter clothing repairing one of his snowshoes. Note the characteristic fastening of his capot to one button at the upper right of the breast. (Private collection; author’s photo)
Prisoners and scalp bounties
This darker side of wilderness warfare cannot be ignored. Scalping had been practiced by First Nations warriors since time immemorial, and the historian of the Abenaki writes that scalps were much-prized war trophies. Early 17th-century Europeans were initially horrified by this practice, but by the end of that century Anglo-American colonists, in particular, had turned scalps into a gruesome commodity.
During the 1690s the legislatures of both Massachusetts and New Hampshire offered cash bounties of £40 for each enemy warrior’s scalp or for a prisoner ten years old or above, and £20 for younger captive children. In 1706, according to Penhallow, the prices paid per scalp by Massachusetts were £10 to regular soldiers; £20 to volunteers on service; £50 to volunteers serving without pay; and £30 to “any troops or company that go to the relief of a town or garrison.” The authorities also paid “benefit” for captive women, and children under 12 years old. By 1746, however, Massachusetts had extended the bounties to include any inhabitants of French origin in Canada, and offered £19 for “every scalp of such female or male” children and £20 for those taken prisoner; scalps of “every male” of above 12 years old were worth £38, but adult live prisoners only £40 (Drake). With such narrow margins between the dead or the living, these bounties were in fact an invitation to systematically kill Indigenous, Canadian or French captives of all ages and both sexes.
Since they had virtually no chance of receiving quarter themselves, Indigenous raiders from New France adopted much the same practices, although First Nations warriors all had a traditional preference for taking prisoners over outright killing and scalping. (The pressure on their population numbers was always dangerously high, and in this sense captives who might be adoptable were an economic resource.) Canadian woodsmen were also familiar with scalping, but did not practice it widely. In the late 17th century Canadians had even burned a few Iroquois warriors at the stake in revenge for settlers who had suffered that hideous fate, but they soon ceased a practice that proved useless as a deterrent. While the prospect of such a death was the ultimate horror for Europeans, it was seen by the warriors as the ultimate act of bravery and defiance.
Back view of a Woodlands warrior, 18th century. He carries a pipe-tomahawk, and a small knife hangs from his belt to the right of the pelt of a furred animal. Note the quilled or beaded “bandoliers,” the silver armlets, and the elaborate ornament handing from the scalp-lock. (Courtesy Library and Archives Canada, C108983)
The authorities in New France were much less likely to pay attractive amounts for scalps. There are a few references from Anglo-American colonists of French governors offering scalp bounties, but when they did so it was usually at the behest of the converted “Praying” warriors, who wanted some compensation. On the whole, according to historian Cornelius Jaenen, the French paid as little as one-tenth the bounty offered by the Anglo-Americans; for all their alleged “barbarism,” the French in Canada were more inclined to pay handsomely for prisoners and next to nothing for scalps. (The philosopher Henry David Thoreau mentioned one John Lovewell, whose “scalp was worth nothing, since the French Governor offered no bounty for such.”)
Many Anglo-Americans were kidnapped during raids by warriors and brought back to Indigenous villages in Canada, where some were certainly put to death, but others enslaved or even adopted. However, in New France there was a system by which officers would buy New England captives from the warriors, which saved many lives. According to MacLeod, in the 18th century a live prisoner could be sold for up to 140 livres compared to only 33 livres paidfor a scalp, and in 1756 offers of up to 1,000 livres for a captive are recorded. The most valuable were captured African Americans, who commanded prices of anywhere between 600 and 1,500 livres (presumably as slaves).
Redeemed white captives were then brought to Montreal or Quebec City, where there was a detention center to house them until they could be exchanged. According to Norton in 1747, this large “guard-house” held well over a hundred persons – in 1746, as many as 240. Many of these thoroughly traumatized captives later published their experiences, with graphic descriptions of cruelty at the hands of warriors, and, occasionally, some gratitude to the officers who had negotiated their release. Since there were few Canadian or French prisoners in New England, exchanges could take a long time, and Norton mentions that some redeemed New Englanders had been waiting there for “near sixteen month.” They were fed, clothed, and might even have social contacts, although language was obviously a barrier. They were not strictly guarded, and “had the free liberty of exercise of our religion, which was a matter of comfort to us in our affliction.” Some of the captives eventually even chose to remain in New France and integrated into Canadian society.
By contrast, the fleeting references to them suggest that few Canadian prisoners ever survived capture by Iroquois raiders. The disparity in the bounties offered makes it clear that death was almost always the fate of captured raiders and kidnapped settlers from New France.
Impression of captive Anglo-American settlers being taken back to Canada after a raid. Though such unfortunates suffered severely, a proportion of them survived, and might eventually be exchanged, thanks to French officers who routinely ransomed them from their Indigenous captors. The authorities in New France always offered much higher bounties for live prisoners than for scalps; the same could not be said of those in New England, where very few Canadian captives taken by the Iroquois survived. (Print in Lawler’s Essentials of American History, 1902; author’s photo)
