Pierre Ayotte was a

French-Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fr ...

soldier and

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

r who served with American revolutionary foreces during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. Ayotte, who was an inhabitant of Kamouraska, was just as devoted to the revolutionary cause as other Quebecois soldiers on the American side of the conflict such as

Clément Gosselin Clément Gosselin (June 12, 1747 – March 9, 1816) was a French Canadian soldier who served in Moses Hazen's 2nd Canadian Regiment of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He recruited other French Canadians, assisted in A ...

, with whom he served in the

2nd Canadian Regiment The 2nd Canadian Regiment (1776–1783), also known as Congress' Own or Hazen's Regiment, was authorized on January 20, 1776, as an Extra Continental regiment and raised in the province of Quebec for service with the American Continental Arm ...

. Both Ayotte and Gosselin were Canadian volunteers who first served with General

Richard Montgomery Richard Montgomery (2 December 1738 – 31 December 1775) was an Irish soldier who first served in the British Army. He later became a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and he is most famous for l ...

, then went on to become recruiters and agitators for American revolutionary groups on the south shore of the lower portion of the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

. Following Montgomery's death at the Battle of Quebec, the two became captains in Colonel

Jeremiah Duggan Jeremiah, Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning "Yahweh, Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major proph ...

's Canadian regiment. The

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

subsequently transferred command of the regiment to

Moses Hazen Moses Hazen (June 1, 1733 – February 5, 1803) was a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Born in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, he saw action in the French and Indian War with Rogers' Rang ...

. Ayotte helped to raise troops for the American cause and fought at the

Battle of Saint-Pierre The Battle of Saint-Pierre was a military confrontation on March 25, 1776, near the Quebec village of Saint-Pierre, south of Quebec City. This confrontation, which occurred during the Continental Army's siege of Quebec following its defeat at t ...

. He was captured near Quebec City in May 1776. Once the British surrendered to American forces at the

Battle of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virgi ...

the American Revolutionary war was mostly ended. In 1783, Congress granted Ayotte land in the

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 = , ...

area in recognition of his service.

References

Continental Army officers from Canada French Canadians in the American Revolution French Quebecers People of pre-Confederation Canada American spies during the American Revolution {{Canada-mil-bio-stub