![Franche de la Marine1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Franche_de_la_Marine1.jpg)
The
Troupes de la marine served in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
during the period 1683–1715. The Marines were first sent to Canada in 1683 after an upsurge of Iroquois hostilities. The basic unit of the Marines in Canada was the company, with three or four officers, two sergeants, four corporals and lance-corporals, and a total complement of 33 to 52 officers and
other ranks. The number of marines during the period peaked in 1688 with a total strength of 1,750 officers and other ranks. The other ranks were recruited in France, and were mostly volunteers, although Canada was not an attractive place to serve. Unskilled labourers dominated and almost a third of them came from the western parts of France. On the other hand, the officer corps was the subject of a gradual process of canadianization, with about a third of the officers serving in 1715 born in Canada.
Background
The
war with the Iroquois forced the French to deploy a regular army regiment to Canada in 1665. The additional military manpower of the
Carignan-Salières Regiment
The Carignan-Salières Regiment was a Piedmont French military unit formed by merging two other regiments in 1659. They were led by the new Governor, Daniel de Rémy de Courcelles, and Lieutenant-General Alexandre de Prouville, Sieur de Tracy. ...
tipped the scale in favour of the French, and the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
sued for peace in 1667. By 1671 all regular army soldiers were back in France, or settled as colonists. When the Iroquois resumed hostilities ten years later, the colony was once again unable to defend itself in spite of the foundation of a
militia system in 1669. The minister of marine, also in charge of the French colonies, therefore began to deploy
Troupes de la marine to Canada in 1683.
Organization
The object of the first ''troupes de la marine'' sent to Canada in 1683 was to defeat the Iroquois, and then return to France.
La Barre's failed expedition against the
Senecas
The Seneca () ( see, Onödowáʼga:, "Great Hill People") are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthest to the west w ...
in 1684 changed this, and from the following year the ''troupes'' became a permanent standing force in the colony, the colonial regular troops.
Table of organization
The basic structure of the ''
compagnies franches de la marine'', as the infantry of the ''troupes de la marine'' were called after 1690, remained unchanged between 1690 and 1761. Through the initiative of governor
Denonville, the rank of second ensign was added to the complement in 1699, explicitly in order to recruit young Canadians of good families to the officer corps. Although the free companies per definition lacked a higher organization, a small staff existed above company level, containing a surgeon, a chaplain, a clerk of the muster, and a drum-major. In 1687 the rank of "commandant of the troops in Canada" was created, with a major as his chief of staff added to the organization in 1691.
Strength
The original 150 marines of 1683 increased the next year to 500, and with the arrival of governor Denonville, bringing an additional 300 men, reached a strength of 800 marines in 1685. Two years later an additional 800 marines arrived from France. In 1688 the required strength was 1,750 other ranks, although due to losses the actual strength was 1,418. The 35 substrenght companies were consolidated to 28, with 50 other ranks in each. A reduction from 50 to 30 men per company took place in 1699, reducing the required strength to 840 other ranks.
The actual strength were always somewhat lower than the required strength. Officer's billets were always filled, but the actual number of private marines were almost always lower than the required strength. With the reduction of the number of companies from 1689, there were a small surplus of officers from the reduced companies, serving as extra officers.
Recruitment
Recruits had to be 20–30 years old, 158 cm tall, and fit for service. Single men were preferred. Most of the recruits were volunteers, but since service in Canada was not attractive, sometimes deception or violence was used to induce young men into the Marines. Wishing to avoid such chicanery, the government removed the height requirement and gradually lowered the age requirement until it was set at 15 in 1706. Catholic
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
from Ireland and Scotland also became available for recruitment. When Canada urgently needed more marines, both
deserter
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...
s and civilian criminals, who had not been subject to
corporal punishment, were released if they enlisted for military service in Canada. Sometimes prisoners were sentenced to serve in the Marines in Canada, something that hurt volunteer recruitment. From 1686, each newly raised company also included a veteran core of 14 non-commissioned officers and men from the Marine guards in French ports.
Pay
Stoppages were made from the pay for the uniform and for the extra blanket needed in the Canadian climate. Further deductions were for the pay of the
drum major and the
surgeon
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
, and for keeping the
muster-roll and maintaining the military hospital. Even the recruitment expenses were deducted. Sometimes the marines could work for the civilian population, or as officers servants, earning welcome additional income.
Quarters
![Ville-Marie dans l-isle de Montreal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Ville-Marie_dans_l-isle_de_Montreal.jpg)
Most of the marines were stationed in and around
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
. A
barracks
Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...
housing 100 marines were built but most of the troops were in wintertime billeted with the inhabitants. In
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
and
Trois-Rivieres the barracks was big enough to house the marines stationed in those towns. In summer the marines lived in tents.
Campaigns
Drill and duties
The marines
drill
A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driverchuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to ...
ed with
musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...
s twice a week, and practiced with
grenades
A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade gene ...
once a week. One marine from each company were selected for extended training in handling
cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
s,
mortars and grenades. When trained, these marines were replaced by another set of marines. Standing guard was a perpetual duty, winter or summer. When living in tents in summertime, the marines were doing road work or working on the colony's fortifications. Transportation of goods to the Western posts, and of fur back to Montreal, was also the task of the marines. Military
patrol
A patrol is commonly a group of personnel, such as Law enforcement officer, law enforcement officers, military personnel, or Security guard, security personnel, that are assigned to monitor or secure a specific geographic area.
Etymology
Fro ...
s on the large rivers and through the settled areas in search of hostile Indians were the most important military duty performed outside actual combat.
Major campaigns and engagements
![fort frontenac](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Fort_Frontenac.JPG)
*
La Barre's expedition against the
Senecas
The Seneca () ( see, Onödowáʼga:, "Great Hill People") are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthest to the west w ...
, 1684.
*
Troyes' Hudson Bay expedition
The Hudson Bay expedition was a series of military raids on the North American fur trade, fur trading outposts and fortifications of the British Hudson's Bay Company on the shores of Hudson Bay by a French Navy, French Royal Navy squadron under t ...
, 1686.
*
Denonville's expedition against the
Senecas
The Seneca () ( see, Onödowáʼga:, "Great Hill People") are a group of Indigenous Iroquoian-speaking people who historically lived south of Lake Ontario, one of the five Great Lakes in North America. Their nation was the farthest to the west w ...
, 1687.
*
Defence of Lachine against the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
, 1689.
*
Manthet's and
Sainte-Hélène's expedition against Schenectady, 1690.
*
Engagement
An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...
on
Lac des Chats
Lac des Chats (English: Lake of Cats), commonly known as Chats Lake, is a lake on the Ottawa River that forms the boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec (Canada). It is formed by the Chats Falls Dam and serves as the reservoir for t ...
with the Iroquois, 1690.
*
Defence of Quebec against the English, 1690.
* Engagement at
Îles-Bouchard with the Iroquois, 1691.
*
Defence of La Prairie against the English, 1691.
* Engagement at
Chambly against the English, 1691.
* Engagement on
Lake Saint Francis with the Iroquois, 1692.
* Defense of
Fort Verchères against the Iroquois, 1692.
* Manthet's and
Courtemanche's expedition against the
Mohawks
The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people of North America ...
, 1693.
*
Frontenac's expedition against the
Oneidas
The Oneida people (autonym: Onʌyoteˀa·ká·, Onyota'a:ka, ''the People of the Upright Stone, or standing stone'', ''Thwahrù·nęʼ'' in Tuscarora) are a Native American tribe and First Nations band. They are one of the five founding nat ...
and the
Onondagas
The Onondaga people ( Onondaga: , ''Hill Place people'') are one of the original five constituent nations of the Iroquois (''Haudenosaunee'') Confederacy in northeast North America. Their traditional homeland is in and around present-day Onondag ...
, 1696.
*
Iberville's expedition against Pemaquid, 1696.
* Iberville's
Avalon Peninsula campaign, 1696–1697.
* The
battle of Hudson's Bay
The Battle of Hudson's Bay, also known as the Battle of York Factory, was a naval battle fought during the Nine Years' War, War of the Grand Alliance (known in England's North American colonies as "King William's War"). The battle took place o ...
, 1697.
*
Beaubassin's New England campaign, 1703.
*
Rouville's expedition against Deerfield, 1704
*
Subercase's expedition against Newfoundland, 1705.
*
Saint-Ovide's and
Costebelle's expedition against Newfoundland, 1708–1709.
*
Ramezay's expedition against the English at
Lake Champlain
, native_name_lang =
, image = Champlainmap.svg
, caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed
, image_bathymetry =
, caption_bathymetry =
, location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada
, coords =
, type =
, ...
, 1709.
Source:
Social history
Social origin
The majority of marines in Canada had been unskilled labourers in civilian life. Yet, there were also skilled craftsmen among them, such as masons, carpenters, and tailors.
Geographical origin
Canadianization of the officer corps
Several factors led to a gradual canadianization of the officer corps. Young Canadians of good family were from 1699 encouraged to become officers in the marines. Retired marine corps officers settling in Canada, also sent their sons into the corps as
cadets, although the formal rank of cadet was not introduced until 1731. A Canadian military elite emerged; already in 1690 a quarter of the officers were born in Canada, and in 1720 about half.
Integration and marriage
From 1683 to 1688, 35 marine companies of 50 soldiers each landed in the city of Quebec and were stationed in the three governments of
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. Taking into account death and disability leave, at least 1,400 soldiers arrived into a New France which had no more than 11,000 inhabitants in 1685. Before 1715 a total of 3,000 to 3,500 marine recruits arrived in Canada. With the exception of 200
indentured servant
Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an " indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment ...
s that arrived 1684 and 1685, the marines were the only external additions to the population of Canada during the period 1783-1715.
[Sevigny 1995, p. 10.]
Integration of the large number of marines arriving was aided by several factors. Canada lacked
barracks
Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...
and the marines were - like their predecessors of the
Carignan-Salières Regiment
The Carignan-Salières Regiment was a Piedmont French military unit formed by merging two other regiments in 1659. They were led by the new Governor, Daniel de Rémy de Courcelles, and Lieutenant-General Alexandre de Prouville, Sieur de Tracy. ...
-
billeted on the people of the local community, especially during the cold season. Brought about by utter necessity, this probably constituted the principal element in the rapid integration of the marines into the host society.
Another factor favorable for integration was the two privileges granted the marines by the
Intendant of New France The Intendant of New France was an administrative position in the French colony of New France. He controlled the colony's entire civil administration. He gave particular attention to settlement and economic development, and to the administration of ...
,
Jacques de Meulles Jacques de Meulles, seigneur of La Source (died 1703), was intendant (1682–86) and interim governor general of New France. He was the son of Pierre de Meulles, king's councillor, treasurer-general of war supplies; d. 1703.
As chief administrato ...
, in 1685. One was the right for every marine to take work among the inhabitants of the country; the other authorized those who had a trade to practice it for 15
sous
The Sous region (also spelt Sus, Suss, Souss or Sousse) ( ar, سوس, sūs, shi, ⵙⵓⵙ, sus) is an area in mid-southern Morocco. Geologically, it is the alluvial basin of the Sous River (''Asif n Sus''), separated from the Sahara desert ...
daily. The marines, who was paid 6 sous daily, but only had 3 sous left after stoppages, were happy to be able to work for 10-15 sous per day and food in addition, and the settlers and bourgeoisie were glad to be able to hire workers for less than was normally demanded. The captains of the marine companies were in their turn more than happy to give soldiers leave for work, as they then pocketed their military pay; an illegal but common practice.
In 1686 the King confirmed, that any soldier who wished to marry and become a settler cultivating uncleared land was to be released from service and during a year thereafter be paid as if he still was serving. In 1686,
Governor Denonville released 100 marines from service and the following year another 48.
King William's War
King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand All ...
and
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. In E ...
made the authorities less likely to grant early discharges for marriage, but they did not totally cease.
[Sevigny 1991, pp. 64-65.] A total of more than 700 marines married and settled in Canada.
[
]
References
Citations
Cited literature
* Cassel, Jay (1987). ''The troupes de la marine in Canada, 1683–1760.'' Thesis. University of Toronto.
* Chartrand, René (1993). ''Canadian Military Heritage. Vol. 1.'' Montreal: Art Global, Inc.
* Dechêne, Louise (2008). ''Le Peuple, l’État et la Guerre au Canada sous le Régime français.'' Montréal: Les Éditions du Boreal.
* Lalancette, Louis (2015). ''Les capitaines des troupes de la Marine de 1683 à 1739.'' Département d’histoire, Université de Montréal, Faculté des arts et des sciences. Mémoire du grade de maître ès arts.
* Russ, Christopher John (1971). ''Les troupes de la marine, 1683–1713.'' Thesis. Department of History. McGill University.
* Sévigny, André (1989). "Le soldat des troupes de la marine (1683–1715)." ''Les Cahiers des dix'' 44: 39–74.
*Sévigny, André. (1991). "«S'habituer dans le pays» : facteurs d'établissement du soldat en Nouvelle-France à la fin du grand siècle." ''Les Cahiers des dix'' 44: 61–86.
*Sévigny, André. (1995). "Ces militaires qui ont peuplé la Nouvelle-France (1683-1715)." ''Cap-aux-Diamants'' 43: 10-13.
{{DEFAULTSORT:French Marines in Canada, 1683-1715
Marines in Canada, 1683-1715
History of New France
Military history of Canada
1683 establishments in Canada
Military units and formations established in 1683
Marines
Canada, 1683-1715