"Bougainville's Corps at Québec , 1759." Topic

Hello fellow forum members,

I may of course have been a bit inefficient but I have been unable to find in the last 20 years decent secondary sources which specifically detail the make up of Bougainville's Corps above the city of Québec monitoring the British navy and possible landings.

I do know there were the Corps de Cavalerie, as well as Grenadier companies and piquets from all five regiments stationed in the vicinity of the city. However, just how many soldiers of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine, how many Militia (Repentigny?) and Indians were there under Bougainville?

Thanks

Oh boy, wrong board methinks….

I have been doing a lot of searching and have found limited information only giving totals of types of troops, regulars, militia etc but no breakdown into an exact OofB that identifies numbers in the mounted unit ( less than a 100? ) or the converged grenadiers ( 2 companies) .

Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe. Appendix K gives a breakdown but not exact like you are requesting.

The number of the French, after they had all reached the field, was, in truth, about seven thousand; at the beginning of the fight it seems not to have exceeded five thousand. The Relation de la seconde Bataille de Quebec says: "Notre petite armee consistoit au moment de l'action en 3,000 hommes de troupes reglees et 2,000 Canadiens ou sauvages." A large number of Canadians came up from Sillery while the affair went on, and as the whole French army, except the detachments mentioned by Garneau, had passed the night at no greater distance from the field than Ste-Foy and Sillery, the last man must have reached it before the firing was half over.

link

Thanks for your input Mapleleaf, unfortunately what you tell from Parkman is what many have been using as sources and that data is quite inexact.

I have muddled this theme in two different topics, here's a link to where a kind fellow TMPer has come up with information regarding that flying column I was on about.

TMP link

Sorry I misead your query as the information I gave you is for the Battle of Ste Foy in 1760 and is for Levis' army.

There are two other sources you can try for. The first is the wargaming rules "Highlander and Habitants" put out by the Canadian Wargaming Group which covers the period and has battle orders in there for both 1759 and 1760. The second is an older Osprey: Quebec 1759 , Order of battle #3 ( not the current Battle Orders) by Rene Chartrand published in 1999 but not listed in current catalogues. That should have some good facts as well.

I have both books but unfortunately they are back home in storage in canada and I am in China. !!

Mapleleaf, I have both books and they are fine, but both contribute to my doubts!

You might also consider:

3-996121 121 QUEBEC 1759 as above1 vol, 96 pgs 2004 US, PRAGER PUBLISHING
NEW-hardcover ……$8.00

Dennis from OMM
onmilitarymatters.com

Thanks Dennis, I have it…and it contributes to my doubts!