History Browser

Part of Quebec's defences is shown firing upon the invaders’ ships during October 1690. The upper town was protected by a good wall with intermittent batteries. There were more defensive works up towards the Chateau Saint-Louis near Cape Diamond. In the lower town, facing the harbour, there were two strong French shore batteries armed with heavy 18 and 24-pounder naval cannon. Inland, a line of earthworks punctuated with 11 redoubts enclosed the city from the western side. This 19th century print is inaccurate in some details (for instance, the Château Saint-Louis which only had one storey in 1690) but gives a good sense of the general action. (Library and Archives Canada, C-006022)

This reconstruction by Michel Pétard shows a drummer of the régiment de Carignan-Salières during the regiment's service in New France. He is wearing the livery of the princes of Carignan. The Carignan coat of arms is painted on his drum; the central shield of the arms shows a white cross on a red field. The drummer's role was to communicate the orders of his commander through patterns of drum beats. (Canadian Department of National Defence)

These French soldiers wear a style of clothing common through much of Western Europe in the early seventeenth century. Note the musket rest carried by the man at left, and the pike carried by the man in the background. Mid-19th century engraving after a drawing by Alfred de Marbot.

Gibbon's Regiment was the first regular British army unit to be stationed in present-day Canada. Noteworthy on the English musket of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centureis is the 'dog lock', a kind of small safety catch attached to the gun lock to hold the hammer. Reconstruction by Gerald A Embleton. (Canadian Department of National Defence)

This reconstruction shows an officer and men of the régiment de Carignan-Salières during their service in New France. The common soldiers at left and right carry muskets. Hanging from their shoulder belts are the powder flasks known as 'the Twelve Apostles'. The officer (centre) carries a half-pike and wears the white sash of a French officer around his waist. Reconstruction by Francis Back. (Parks Canada)

The tradition of raising the May pole in front of the Militia captain's house, which began in the era of New France, went on in French Canada until the middle of the 19th century.

This is how a soldier of the Compagnies franches would have looked when on the march during the winter expedition late in the 17th century. Note his mittens, snowshoes and hooded capot. Reconstruction by Francis Back. (Parks Canada)

Robert Cavelier de La Salle is shown taking part in a ceremony where he claimed Louisiana for France on 6 April 1682, after having descended the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. Even in the wilderness, the ceremony was done in full regalia with all the formalities.

When the colony of Massachusetts formed militia regiments in 1637, the new militiamen imitated European organization and tactics as closely as possible. This was a complete contrast with the militiamen in New France. Reconstruction by Don Troiani. (United States National Guard)

Sir William Phips (1650-1694) is shown on the deck of one of the ships hired on credit by the New England colonies to carry an army of Massachusetts militia to Quebec. It is probably when they arrived in October 1690 that Phips and his officers realized what a formidable natural fortress Quebec really was.