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Caption: Soldier of the canonniers-bombardiers between 1750 and 1760

This is how 'J.C.B.' (the author of the only known memoir written by a common soldier stationed in New France) and his comrades in the Compagnie des canonniers-bombardiers of Canada were expected to look for guard duty or military reviews. This gunner wears the uniform used when serving as infantry grenadiers. They were armed with the fusils of the Canonniers-Bombardiers, noteworthy for brass-bound (rather than iron-bound) stocks. Instead of a sword they carried a saber, the weapon of elite soldiers. Their equipment included a cartridge pouch slung on a leather bandolier. It is very likely that these men had moustaches, just like the grenadiers in the army, another distinguishing mark of elite soldiers in the French military. Reconstruction by Eugène Lelièpvre.