CHAPTER IX.

MONTCALM AND LEVIS AT CARILLON.-MILITARY

TH

FORCE OF CANADA.

HE point of the Canadian frontier which it appeared the English were likely to attack in 1756, was Carillon, or Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. During the previous autumn, after Dieskau's defeat, the Marquis de Vaudreuil had ordered M. de Lotbiniere, a colonial engineer, to begin a fort at that place. The work was continued early the next year. It was a square construction, with four bastions, defended by a redoubt situated upon a hill which commanded the position. In the early part of June, the batalions of La Reine, and Languedoc with a body of Canadians and Indians, were encamped there.

On the 27th of June, Montcalm and Levis left Montreal and arrived at Carillon on the 3rd of July, and Montcalm remained there until the fifteenth.

In a letter to the Count d'Argenson he gives the following report of his inspection :

"The fort commenced last year, cannot, before a month at the earliest, be in a condition to risk a garrison in it, in case of an untoward event. And moreover, it would be necessary to maintain the same activity that I introduced

there during my visit. The fort consists of pieces of timber in layers, bound together with traverses, the interstices filled in with earth. Such construction is proof against cannon, and in that respect is as good as masonry, and much better than earthen work; but it is not durable. The site of the fort is well adapted as a first line at the head of Lake Champlain. I should have wished it to be somewhat larger, capable of containing five hundred men, whereas it can accommodate, at most, only three hundred. "To understand the ground, I took two long walks afoot with Chevalier de Lévis. I am indebted to him for a third, which was necessary to acquire a knowledge of a part called the Mohawk road, of which every one speaks without being acquainted with it. He has been sleeping three days in the woods au bivouac. I do not believe there are many superior officers in Europe who are obliged to make such journeys afoot. It would be impossible for me, my Lord, to speak too highly of him to you; without possessing much genius, he has considerable practical knowledge, good sense, is quick-sighted, and though I had served with him, I could not have believed that he had so much readiness. He has derived profit from his campaigns. ....His present position is necessarily difficult. I left him fully aware of it as well as of his resources. It may be delicate if we have to contend against an enemy aware of their advantages, and able to attack him with a very superior force. I wished he had at least 3000 good men, exclusive of the Indians who come and go. I left him only 2000, fourteen or fifteen hundred of whom are Regular or Marine forces; the remainder Militia. About 400

recruits, soldiers or Militia men are on the march to join him. I urge M. de Vaudreuil to augment them still further." (1)

The military force of the colony at this time might be divided as follows:

1. Les troupes de terre, or the regulars from France, the battalions of La Reine, Guyenne, Béarn, Languedoc, La Sarre, and Royal Roussillon. 2. les troupes de la marine; 3. The militia.

The battalions of La Reine, Guyenne, Béarn and Languedoc had been sent to Canada in 1755 under the baron de Dieskau, but four companies of La Reine, and four companies of Languedoc's regiment had been captured on board the ship "Le Lys ", which reduced the battalions to nine companies each.

At that time the French army, so far as concerns the infantry, consisted of eighty regiments, which was divided into two battalions each, designated as the first and second battalions.

Each battalion was subdivided into thirteen companies, -(twelve companies of fusiliers, of one hundred and forty men, and one company of grenadiers composed of one hundred and forty-five men.

(2)

A great many of these regiments bore the name of a province or part of a province, as Guyenne, Béarn, Languedoc, la Sarre.

(1) Montcalm à d'Argenson, 20 juillet 1756.

(2) Ordonnance du roi, 10 février 1749; Comme on servait autrefois, by father Sommervogel, p. 40; Le Grand Dictionnaire, under the word Battalion; Lettres de la Cour de Versailles, p. 26.

The troops despatched to New France in 1755, under Dieskau, were composed of the second battalions of Béarn, La Reine, Languedoc and Guyenne; fifty companies, numbering two thousand and one hundred men. These numbers were diminished by several circumstances. Three hundred and thirty men were captured on board Le Lys, which reduced Dieskau's contingent to seventeen hundred and seventy men. In addition to this, thirty-four men died at sea, fifty-seven died in the hospitals of Canada, and twenty-seven were killed at the battle of Lake George, so that in the spring of 1756, " the strength was reduced to sixteen hundred and fifty-two. With the arrival of Montcalm, however the army was augmented by the second battalion of La Sarre, and the second battalion of Royal Roussillon, consisting of one thousand and fifty men. M. le Chevalier de Montreuil, writing after the arrival of the troops made the following recapitulation: La Reine, 327 men; La Sarre, 515; Royal Roussillon, 520; Languedoc, 326; Guyenne, 492; Béarn, 498 = 2678, to which were to be added 156 volunteers and 918 recruits, forming a total of 3,752.

Besides les troupes de terre or the battalions selected from the French regiments, there were les troupes de la marine, so called not because they belonged to the navy, but on account of their being under the jurisdiction of the Marine department, whilst the battalions of regulars were dealt with by the War department. They had been in existence for about half a century in New France, and

(1) Paris Documents, Vol. X., page 417.

they formed a permanent force, being employed in the garrisons and towns, in defending the frontiers of the colony and in maintaining good order within its limits. Many of the officers were of Canadian birth, while some were natives of France, but were closely connected with Canada, either by marriage or by property which they had acquired in the colony. They consisted of thirty companies, of sixty five men each, forming a total of fifteen hundred and fifty soldiers.

The militia of Canada was composed of all the male. population from the age of fifteen to fifty. In every parish there was a Capitaine de la côte, chosen from amongst the most able and intelligent of the inhabitants, and he was placed at the head of a company which virtually included every man fit for military service.

When requested to do so, the captains were bound to summon and select the number of men required, and lead them to the army. The militia received the same equipment as the other soldiers, and during the period of their service they were fed by the king. They did not however receive any pay, but when called upon to do some corvées—namely in the way of conveyances, they were entitled to a remuneration. (1)

In 1750, M. Fleury d'Eschambault, agent of la Compagnie des Indes, had matured a plan for the better organisation of the militia; which he submitted during the following year to the consideration of the Minister, with the approbation and recommendation of M. de la Jonquière,

Malartic., Journal des Campagnes au Canada, p. 38.