The Frères chasseurs (French for "Hunter Brothers") were a paramilitary organization that fought in the Patriote Rebellion on the

Patriote The patriotes movement was a political movement that existed in Lower Canada (present-day Quebec) from the turn of the 19th century to the Patriote Rebellion of 1837 and 1838 and the subsequent Act of Union of 1840. The partisan embodiment of ...

side, seeking to make

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

, now

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 ...

, an independent and democratic republic. After the failure of the first uprising of 1837, the Frères chasseurs organization was founded in 1838 by Robert Nelson,

Cyrille-Hector-Octave Côté Cyrille-Hector-Octave Côté (September 1, 1809 – October 4, 1850) was a physician and political figure in Lower Canada. He was born Cyrille-Hector Côté in Quebec City in 1809, of Acadian descent, and studied at the Petit Séminaire de Qu ...

(the vice president), Edmond-Élisée Malhiot, Antoine Doré, Julien Gagnon, Louis-Guillaume Lévesque, François Mercure, François Lemaître, Célestin Beausoleil and David Rochon. In September, it was composed of at least 35 lodges. The Frères chasseurs attempted to invade Lower Canada from the United States to defeat the British army and its volunteers. On 22 February 1838, president Robert Nelson declared the independence of Lower Canada. Bishop

Jean-Jacques Lartigue Jean-Jacques Lartigue, S.S., (20 June 1777 – 19 April 1840) was a Canadian Sulpician, who served as the first Catholic Bishop of Montreal. Early life Lartigue was born to a noted Montreal family, the only son of Jacques Larthigue, a surg ...

obtained information about the group and communicated it to

John Colborne Field Marshal John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton, (16 February 1778 – 17 April 1863) was a British Army officer and colonial governor. After taking part as a junior officer in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, Sir Ralph Abercromby's expedi ...

, who in turn used it to quell the Frères chasseurs. Members of the Frères chasseurs such as François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier were executed at the

Pied-du-Courant Prison The Pied-du-Courant Prison (french: Prison du Pied-du-Courant) is a prison museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada near the Saint Lawrence River and the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. Overview The original plan for a prison in Montreal was designed by ...

by the British authorities for their actions.

See also