Research and Graduate Studies

Lower Canada Militia (1792-1840)

By:: Roch Legault , Royal Military College, and associate professor Christian Dessureault, University of Montreal.
Description:: a military, social an comparative analysis of the British regime militia in Quebec.

Published articles

L'organisation de la milice de la région montréalaise de 1792 à 1837 : de la paroisse au comté. dans le Bulletin d'histoire politique, décembre 1999.
Évolution organisationnelle et sociale de la milice sédentaire canadienne; le cas du bataillon de Saint-Hyacinthe, 1808-1830, dans Journal of the CHA/ Revue de la S.H.C., vol. 8, mai 1998, pp. 97 à 112. En collaboration avec Christian Dessureault, professeur agrégé, Université de Montréal.

Abstract

The intention of this article is to conduct both an organization analysis of the militia and a social study of the Saint-Hyacinthe Bataillon at the beginning of the 19th century. This research has a number of purposes, among which is to verfy the duration of this traditional form of power in the rural society of Lower Canada. The command structure of the Saint-Hyacinthe Bataillon follows the hierarchy of the rural society. As a general rule, militia officers have a higher level of disposable income and own extensive properties. In addition, family links constitute an important cohesive factor within the institution.During the course of the period studied, the new civil and political responsibilities entrusted to the militia officers, the growing presence of merchants and professionnal people in the command structure, as well as the strengthening of family ties among the officers, testify to the vigour of this institution.