BOISVERT HISTORY

The Rebellions of 1837 took place in both Upper and Lower Canada. In LOWER CANADA the rebellion was in large part an expression of a resurgent FRENCH CANADIAN NATIONALISM.The French Canadian majority constituted the overwhelming majority in the locally elected Assembly established by the Canada or CONSTITUTIONAL ACT, 1791.

Rebellion in Lower Canada
Following the WAR OF 1812, the Assembly was dominated by the representatives of the French Canadian middle class, who, under the leadership of a new professional elite, developed a national consciousness and sought to wrest power from the Roman Catholic Church, in areas such as education, and from the anglophone merchant class which was expanding its economic base because of the rapid growth in the timber trade.The nationalists, led by Louis-Joseph PAPINEAU, who was elected Speaker of the Assembly in 1815, first organized the PARTI CANADIEN and then the Patriote Party after 1826. They demanded the right to determine how all of the revenues raised within the colony were spent, challenged the authority of the appointed upper house or Legislative Council, and sought control over the provincial civil service, including the advisory body to the governor, the Executive Council.During the 1820s, these demands were vigorously resisted by Gov Gen the earl of Dalhousie, but after a select committee of the British House of Commons reported unfavourably on his activities in 1828, the British Colonial Office embarked upon a new policy of conciliating the Lower Canadian Assembly and replaced Dalhousie with a series of more conciliatory governors: Sir James KEMPT 1828-30, Lord AYLMER 1830-35 and Lord GOSFORD 1835-38. Yet despite their efforts, the situation in Lower Canada gradually deteriorated.The early 1830s was a period of widespread economic distress, fueled by a rapidly worsening agricultural crisis which brought many French Canadian habitants to the verge of starvation.At the same time, the province also saw a rapid increase in emigration from the British Isles, which gave the British minority close to a numerical majority in the urban centres of Montréal and Québec. The immigrants brought with them the dreaded CHOLERA which killed many thousands of French Canadians and fed the growing xenophobia of the French Canadian majority.A series of incidents, such as the shooting deaths of 3 French Canadians by British troops during an electoral riot in 1832, increased tensions between the majority and the minority and led to increased polarization. The Patriote Party, shorn of its moderate wing and of most anglophone support, became more extreme in its demands, which it embodied in 92 Resolutions adopted by the Assembly in 1834.The Assembly refused to vote any supplies, with the result that the civil service went unpaid, all public works ground to a halt and the government was virtually paralyzed. The British minority reacted by forming constitutional associations and appealing to the British government to resist the pretensions of the Assembly. Since neither the Patriote Party nor the British Party was a monolithic entity there was more to Lower Canadian politics than “two nations warring in the bosom of a single state,” as Lord DURHAM described the problem in 1838, but as the extremists on both sides drifted toward violence, the ethnic division became more pronounced.In Mar 1837 the British government reluctantly pushed through the British Parliament the 10 Russell Resolutions rejecting all the major demands of the PATRIOTES and gave Lord Gosford the power to take money from the provincial treasury to pay the officials in the colony. The Patriotes organized a boycott of British goods, held mass protest rallies across the colony and began seriously to prepare for an armed insurrection, although there were deep divisions among the Patriote leadership over this strategy and the moderates agreed to it in the belief that the British government would back down if faced by the prospect of an uprising.The Patriotes had fatally underestimated the resolve of the British government, which had already begun to despatch troops to Lower Canada from throughout the empire and which began to turn a blind eye to the rifle clubs organized by the British minority. In Montréal the militant Patriotes established the FILS DE LA LIBERTÉ and on Nov 6 there was a skirmish between the latter and the DORIC CLUB, which represented the militant Anglophones. Meanwhile British authority in the countryside rapidly deteriorated as French Canadians began to practise widespread civil disobedience.On 16 Nov 1837 the government sought to forestall the rebellion by arresting the Patriote leaders, who took refuge in the countryside. On Nov 23 the government forces under Col Charles Gore suffered a minor defeat in the first major engagement of the rebellion, at St-Denis (see ST-DENIS, BATTLE OF), but the ill-organized, poorly equipped and badly led Patriotes were crushed by a force of British regulars under Col Charles Wetherall 2 days later at St-Charles (see ST-CHARLES, BATTLE OF), despite the desperate courage displayed by the rebels.On Nov 30 Gore returned to St-Denis, but the town surrendered without a struggle and the soldiers sacked it, leaving 50 homes blazing. On Dec 14 the British commander in chief, Sir John COLBORNE, captured St-Eustache (see ST-EUSTACHE, BATTLE OF), after fierce resistance from the habitants under Jean-Olivier CHENIER’S leadership, and the first rebellion collapsed. There was widespread looting and burning of French Canadian settlements by the British volunteers.Papineau and a number of the Patriote leaders fled to the US. Several hundred insurgents were wounded or killed, many more were captured, and the Constitution was suspended. Lord Durham, sent out as governor general and special commissioner, issued an amnesty for most of the prisoners and tried to restore harmony, butwhen his measures were inadequately supported by the home government, he resigned.With the encouragement of American sympathizers who had organized themselves into HUNTERS’ LODGES, the rebels had been preparing for a second rebellion, which broke out immediately upon Durham’s departure in early Nov 1838. Led by Dr Robert Nelson and Dr Cyrille Côté, the rebels hoped to be able to cut communications between Montréal and the S shore of the St Lawrence and thus set off a mass uprising of the habitants. They were poorly organized and supplied and were defeated at Napierville and Odelltown. One group of rebels was captured at Caughnawaga by the Iroquois, who were allied with the British.The Patriotes defeated a small British force at Beauharnois on Nov 9 but then scattered as a larger force approached. Within a week the second outbreak had been put down, almost entirely by the actions of the volunteers, who rampaged across the country, leaving a trail of devastation. The makeshift prisons were filled with suspects and 108 men were convicted by court-martials. Rumours of risings and invasions from the US continued, but there was no substance to them and even Papineau left for exile in Paris.Of the 99 condemned to death, only 12 went to the gallows, while 58 were transported to Australia. In total the 6 battles of both campaigns left 325 dead, 27 of them soldiers and the rest rebels, while 13 men were executed (one by the rebels), one was murdered, one committed suicide and 2 prisoners were shot.
For more information go to: Rebellions of 1837

Most persons of French Canadian descent can claim one or more of these brave soldiers as ancestors. In addition to the list of soldiers and officers on the official “roll” of the Regiment, there were many others who participated in the successful campaign against the Iroquois, including many militiamen who resided in the colony but whose names were not recorded for posterity.The Carignan Regiment was one of the first in the French army to wear uniforms. Its soldiers were outfitted in brown and grey, with those who came to Canada carrying matchlock and flintlock muskets with bayonets, another novelty of the era. They left their pikes in France, since they were of little use against the Iroquois, but they all carried swords.After landing in Quebec, the regiment went to Montreal, built several forts on the Richelieu River, made a failed winter foray against the Iroquois to the south and followed with a successful one in September.This plan was not lacking in audacity. The newly arrived soldiers were unfamiliar with the country, its distances, Amerindian tactics and the climate.
All these factors made such an expedition extremely perilous, but the commanders did not wish to lose the initiative.In January 1666, therefore, some 300 soldiers under the command of Governor de Courcelles, accompanied by 200 Canadian volunteers, left Quebec on foot and set off doggedly through the snow, headed for Iroquois country. This was an astonishing undertaking, since at the time neither Europeans nor Amerindians usually fought in the winter.At Fort Sainte-Thérèse, a group of volunteers from Montreal swelled the ranks of the expedition, which continued on its way, though the men did not know exactly where they were. On February 17, the Dutch in the village of Schenectady were amazed to see large numbers of French soldiers pouring out of the woods, some shod in snowshoes and many pulling toboggans carrying their meager provisions. Since they were not at war, the Dutch were prepared to play host while the French recovered their strength.However, events overtook them. The French had barely arrived when a skirmish broke out with Mohawks, whom they had not seen until then. Then a British delegation arrived to call Courcelles to account for this incursion so close to the positions of the King of England! Courcelles was being faced with one surprise after another. He had found the Dutch when he thought he was among the Iroquois.New Holland was now the colony of New York, he learned, and Orange had been renamed Albany. Although the news had failed to reach Quebec before his departure, the English had in fact taken over the Dutch colony the year before. Even though the Mohawk villages were only a three-day march from Schenectady, the French were too exhausted and close to starvation to continue. They obtained some bread and peas from the Dutch, and, containing their anger, headed home.The losses in this campaign are difficult to evaluate on both sides. The Mohawks claimed to have killed a dozen French soldiers, captured two, and found five others dead of hunger and cold. They themselves had only three warriors killed and five wounded. They added, though, that they had been unable to inflict serious da mage on the French expedition, which was very mobile. All this was consistent with French reports. The colonists thought at first that they had lost about 60 men, but this was later revised because “most of the soldiers whom [they] believed lost [were] returning day by day.
”This first expedition of the Carignan-Salières Regiment turned out to be a total fiasco in relation to its objective of destroying the Iroquois villages. However, it had accomplished something almost unthinkable. A military campaign had been conducted in the middle of a Canadian winter, and more than 500 men had travelled over hundreds of kilometers of rough, wild country, in one of the world’s most hostile environments.In the spring and summer of 1666, the French and Iroquois seesawed between armed skirmishes and attempts to arrange peace talks. In July, Captain de Sorel succeeded in approaching an Iroquois village with of a party of 200 soldiers and volunteers and about 80 Amerindian allies. The Iroquois sent out a peace envoy and liberated a few French captives, with whom Sorel returned to Quebec. This expedition convinced his superiors that Iroquois territory could easily be penetrated. Weary of the incessant peace talks punctuated with bloody incidents, the Marquis de Tracy decided upon a major expedition.In September 1666, at the head of a small army of 700 soldiers and 400 Canadian volunteers (including one battalion of Montrealers, the most experienced in Amerindian warfare) as well as 100 Huron and Algonquin allies, Tracy, Courcelles and Salières marched, drums beating, to the very heart of Iroquois territory. The Iroquois hid in the forest and offered no resistance as the invaders burned four of their villages as well as their corn crops. These proud warriors, invincible in guerilla warfare but impotent when attacked at home, discovered that their friends and neighbours, the English and Dutch, were not prepared to provide military support.The success of the Carignan-Salières Regiment ensured an era of peace and prosperity in New France. The colonists could finally settle down to their tasks without having to fear constantly for their lives. The forts along the Richelieu not only inhibited all movement from the south but also provided bases from which to carry war into the heart of Iroquois country. In other words, the initiative had passed into the hands of the French. The routes to the West and its territory rich in fur lay open to their explorers and traders. Finally, the nations annihilated by the Iroquois were replaced by Ottawa’s, Ojibwas and Algonquin’s as trading partners and military allies. The military campaigns had indeed bestowed enormous benefits on New France

Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud is one of the oldest parishes in Cote-du-Sud. Founded in 1713 by the religious authorities and then civilly recognized in 1722, this small farming village takes its name from Brian White, donor of the land on which was built the first church in 1713. It is situated at this time north of the river.

After the erection of a second church on the same site, Monsignor Briand, bishop of Quebec, requires the construction of a third church more spacious, south of the river to facilitate the religious practices of people residing on this bank who could not go to church spring floods. The relocation of the church in 1785 began the shift in the centre of the village, which redraws the landscape of Saint-Pierre. The people gradually left the river-du-Sud to settle on the top of hills.

Creuseurs wells, the hard work of farmers and maple syrup producers contribute significantly to the economic development of the municipality. Today, the people of Saint-Pierre has about 900 inhabitants.

For more information go to: Saint-Pierre-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud

The causes of the American declaration of war against Great Britain on June 18, 1812 related to events far removed from Upper Canada geographically. Geography, however, determined that Upper Canada would be the primary battleground of the war. The long conflict between Britain and France from the French Revolution through the reign of Napoleon was fought to a great extent as an economic war. Britain and France attempted to interfere with the trade of neutrals, including the United States, that was deemed to benefit the enemy.

Britain issued Orders-in-Council which forbade trade through European ports under French control while France issued the Milan Decrees which outlawed trade with Britain.

The trade dispute with Britain was heightened by the policy of stopping American vessels and removing any crewmembers believed to be deserters from the Royal Navy. Further, there were several naval incidents in the decade before 1812 which brought the two countries near war.

For more information go to: The War of 1812

The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Enlightenment principles of nationalism, citizenship, and inalienable rights.

These changes were accompanied by violent turmoil, including executions and repression during the Reign of Terror, and warfare involving every other major European power. Subsequent events caused by the revolution include the Napoleonic wars, the restoration of the monarchy, and two additional revolutions as modern France took shape.

In the following century, France would be governed variously as a republic, a dictatorship, a constitutional monarchy, and two different empires.

For more information go to Links on the French Revolution

Tuberculosis was called the “White Plague” or the “Peoples Plague”, it reached epidemic proportions in the 1870’s and‘80s. Also called Consumption, a person would start coughing, at first intermittently, then constantly, coughing up phlegm, or blood streaked sputum, until he hemorrahaged and coughed up pure blood. His lungs were actually dissolving. He would develop a daily fever, tire easily and lose weight.

Often he would experience chest pain as the membranes around the lungs were affected. If untreated, truberculosis could spread to other parts of the body, to the bloodstream, the intestines or the bones and joints. Eventually, he died from lack of food, water, or by drowning in his own body fluids.

There were many treatments tried over time. Rest, living underground, drinking fresh milk. Some advised inactivity, some exercise. Some advocated sea air, mountain air, cold air, warm air or sunlight. Arsenic, creosote, gold and copper salts were all prescribed for patients. While some managed to recover, countless others continued to die.

Turberculosis became identified with the poor, especially those living crowded together in cities where air and water were tainted, ventilation poor, buildings neglected by landloards and living conditions generally unsanitary. Turberculosis, a contagious, airborne disease thrived in the immigrant neighborhoods of American cities, and it was well into the 20th century before science had caught up to the disease.

The American Revolution is one of Canada’s least-known, most important wars. For most Canadians, the revolution is something that happened somewhere else, south of the border. Yet without the events that happened around the St. Lawrence River, the Canada we know today might not exist. The Canadian victory at the siege of Quebec in 1775–1776 saved Canada from conquest and incorporation into the new United States. Loyalist refugees added a significant English-speaking element to the population and led to the creation of the provinces of Upper Canada (Ontario) and New Brunswick. In 1867, the British colonies that rejected the American Revolution came together to form the Dominion of Canada.

For more information go to:WarMuseum.ca

During Charles’ mid-twenties, there was constant turmoil between England, France, the Native Americans and emerging 13 colonies of America. Most of the American Revolution did not involve Canada, except for British troop movement.

Most French Canadians want no part of this English family squabble over power. Most refused to take up arms; no more than 600 French Canadians in all of Quebec were prepared to support the British English from the American English.

The one exception of conflict was in 1775. When the American army tried to threaten British control of Canada by attacking Quebec. While General Washington with the Continental Army was blockading Boston, Brigadier Richard Montgomery led an attack up the Lake Champlain route into Canada while Major General Benedict Arnold took his force across country through Maine. The purpose of the invasion of Canada was in part to bring the Canadian population into the war on the American side.

Fort St John and Montreal were captured by the Americans. In late October 1775 Arnold arrived on Point Levis across the St Lawrence from Quebec, having lost a substantial part of his force on the punishing journey from New England. On November 13, General Montgomery brought 300 men up the St.Lawrence, past the town of Lotbiniére where Charles and his family farmed. British Colonel Allen Maclean, hearing of Arnold’s arrival, force marched his recruits from Sorel to Quebec, being joined later by Carleton.
Sorel to Quebec is about a 120 mile journey up the St. Lawrence River. Colonel Allen MacLeans 1,200 men would have traveled by Alexis, now 60 and his family. Charles would have been 25 and more apt to join the battle. Question is, what side did our ancestors favour, if any?

On 13th November 1775, Arnold took his force across the St Lawrence, climbed onto the Plains of Abraham and summoned the garrison to surrender or come out and fight. The garrison did neither. Arnold launched a night attack that was beaten back.

On 31st December 1775, with the addition of Montgomery’s troops, Arnold launched night attacks at either end of the city in a snowstorm. The garrison alerted by premature feint attacks on other parts of the city perimeter. Montgomery’s assault was repelled with heavy grapeshot and Montgomery was killed. Arnold’s attack penetrated the city wall but he was wounded. Maclean arrived from dealing with Montgomery’s assault and led the counter attack. The American troops who had penetrated the walls were captured and the assault was driven off.

The American army at Quebec suffered extremely as the winter was one of great severity. The English, having received reinforcements, on May 5th, 1776, the disastrous retreat began. The British pursued and burned homes of all the French who were even suspected of being rebels.

May 17th, the weary American army wandered back down the St. Lawrence, arriving back at Sorel. At this time, Charles and other French farmers would have heard the results and rumors of the attack on Quebec, from the retreating American army and attacking British.

For more information on the Revolutionary War go to www.ushistory.org

Cholera, acute infectious disease of the intestines, resulting from water contaminated by the bacterium Vibrio comma. It first reached Canada in 1832, brought by immigrants from Britain. Epidemics occurred in 1832, 1834, 1849, 1851, 1852 and 1854. There were cases in Halifax in 1881. The epidemics killed at least 20 000 people in Canada. Cholera was feared because it was deadly and no one understood how it spread or how to treat it. The death rate for untreated cases is extremely high. Grosse Île, near Québec, was opened in 1832 as a quarantine station and all ships stopped there for inspection.

During epidemics, individual towns attempted to quarantine themselves against the disease. When quarantine failed to stop the disease, public-health measures were taken by towns and provincial and colonial governments. The response to cholera encouraged governments to act to protect the health of Canadians and to provide for the sick. Not all the actions were popular and in some areas riots ensued, with crowds burning the cholera hospitals. Anger over cholera contributed to the antigovernment agitation in Lower Canada in the 1830s. Familiarity with the disease reduced the fear in later epidemics and a better understanding of how it spread made more effective prevention possible.

For More Information go to: Killer Cholera

The Mediterranean coast of Languedoc has been settled by the Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans, and invaded by the Alamanni, Vandals, Visigoths, and Saracens. Languedoc was known in the Middle Ages as the county of Toulouse, an independent county which was in theory part of the kingdom of France. In the 12th century, Languedoc was the center of the Cathar religious movement. The Roman Catholic Church declared them heretics, and the Albigensian Crusade wiped them out. As a consequence, the county of Toulouse was taken by the crown of France in 1271, (the county of Toulouse was a vassal of the crown of France, but had many connections with the Crown of Aragon, which included Catalonia) and has been part of France ever since. Later the name given to the area was Languedoc, literally meaning “language of oc”, from the word “yes” in the local Occitan language (”oc”, as opposed to “oïl”, later “oui”, in the north of France). The kings of France made Languedoc one of the provinces of the kingdom, and established the parlement of Languedoc in Toulouse. The parlement and the province were abolished at the time of the French Revolution, like all the other parlements and provinces of France.

Albi

The first known human settlement in Albi dates from the Bronze Age, but little remains from this period. After the Roman conquest of Gaul in 51 BC, the town became “Civitas Albigensium”, the territory of the Albigeois, “Albiga”. Archaeological digs have not revealed any traces of Roman buildings, suggesting that Albiga must have been a modest Romans settlement.

In 1035 - 1040, a bridge now known as the Pont Vieux (Old Bridge) was built. The city grew rich at this time, a result of the trade that the bridge brought, and also to the tolls charged for crossing it. The Pont Vieux is still in use today. Originally built in stone), then clad with brick, it rests on 8 arches and is 151m long. In the 14th century, it was fortified and provided with a drawbridge. Houses were built over the piers.

Albi gave its name to a religious group more commonly known as the Cathars. The Roman Catholic authorities seem to have believed, mistakenly, that Albi was the religion’s centre in the Languedoc and so called Cathar believers Albigoise or Albigensians. When Pope Innocent II launched a war on the people of the Languedoc and their rulers, including the Viscounts of Albi, it came to be known as the Albigensian Crusade.

After the upheaval of the Crusade against the Cathars, the bishop Bernard de Castanet, in the late 13th century, completed work on the Palais de la Berbie, the Bishops’ Palace. It has the look of a fortress. Bernard also commissioned the building of the cathedral of Sainte-Cécile starting in 1282. Its deliberate external austerity represents an attempt by the Catholic authorities to avoid ostentation, as it was known that people favoured the Cathar religion over the Catholic religion partially because of the Cathars’ austerity and asceticism

From 1450 to 1560, Albi enjoyed a period of prosperity largely due to the cultivation of Isatis Tinctoria a dark blue dye known in French as pastel, in English as woad and in Occitan as Cocanha. This was the original Land of cocanha, or Land of Cocaigne. Renaissance town houses in Albi of the bear witness to the fortunes amassed by the cocanha merchants. An historic area built around the cathedral and episcopal buildings covers 63 hectares. Red brick and tiles are the main feature of most of the buildings.

Among the monuments of the town is the Sainte Cécile cathedral, claimed to be the world’s largest brick construction. This monument is in the Southern Gothic style. La Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile d’Albi was constructed from 1282 to 1480. There is a strong contrast between its austere, defensive exterior and its sumptuous interior decoration. Built as an assertion of Catholic power after the upheavals of the wars against the people of the Languedoc (The “Albigensian Crusade”).

Lavaur

Lavaur was a Cathar Castle. There is very little remaining from Cathar times, castles or anything else. All of the main “Cathar Castles” advertised to tourists as romantic vestiges of the Cathar period are no such thing. They are generally castles built by the French after the Cathar Crusade, and used to defend their new border with Aragon. These castles were slighted, or left to decay, after the Treaty of the Pyrenees in the seventeenth century. The justification for the deceit is that they are often built on the site of earlier castles occupied by vassals and allies of the Counts of Toulouse during the Cathar period.

In 1180-1181, well before the Crusade against the Cathars, There was another military expedition, led by a Cistercian against the people of the Languedoc. Henry of Marcy, Abbot of Clairvaux had taken part in a failed mission to the Languedoc in 1178. A little later, as Cardinal-Bishop of Albano, he tried again. His failure as a preacher led to him head a military expedition against the territories of Roger II Trencavel, Viscount of Beziers, anticipating Arnaud Amaury, the Cistercian Abbot who lead the Albigensian Crusade. Commanding armed forces provided by Raymond V of Toulouse, Henry successfully took Lavour in 1181, forcing the submission of its lord and capturing two Cathar Parfaits.

A generation later in March 1211, during the wars against the Cathars of the Languedoc, Lavaur was besieged again, this time by Simon de Montfort. The town fell on 3rd of May, 1211, following which the French crusaders excelled even themselves in cruelty and disregard for the accepted rules of war. The head of the garrison, Aimeric-de-Montréal, was hanged along with his knights. His widowed sister, the chatelaine of Lavaur, Gerauda (or Geralda) de Lavaur, was brutally murdered.