"Coureur des Bois Hats?" Topic

Front Rank shows them with fur caps, and the "Canadian Militia" with the red floppy hats I usually associate with the Coureur des bois. Which is correct or both?

Steve

I think the consensus is that there was really no such thing as 'Coureur des Bois' as a troop type. There was frontier militia vs. farmer militia, and no clear distinction between them. The Montreal and Detroit militia were more frontier types, the Quebec militia more farmers, but all Canadiens of this era had to have good wilderness survival skills.

So tuques were probably the most common headgear for any New France militia. Maybe a few guys showed up to muster in full buckskin suits, coon-skin caps and Lucky Pierre lumberjack beards. Cloth coats were more comfortable than rawhide, and shaving kept the vermin down.

See Robert Conrad as Pasquinel in Centennial, one of the gems from the Golden Age of Miniseries:
YouTube link

And for his bad ass death scene, go to 4:30 in this:
YouTube link
Not really authentic frontier camoflage, but probably authentic for these fierce individualists.
Montcalm would have sympathized with George Washington at Boston dealing with the frontier hillbillies.

I imagine they went with the fur cap to represent the CdB's association with the fur trade (and to have an extra type of figure to sell). Contemporary images show Cdb in fur caps, knit caps, and what I call slouch hats or floppy hats. They wore a wide variety of head gear based on personal choice and availability. If you are skirmish gaming, you will find CdB "brigades," which were trade caravans, and are probably the closest thing you will find to "units" of CdB.

Yes, "unit" is stretching things. "Gang" would be closer to the reality.

Sigh. Fur traders = voyageurs <> Coureurs des Bois.

In colonial New France, Coureurs des Bois were outlaws who defied government regulations, ran away into the forests to live with the Indians, and were subject to arrest if they returned. A few even defected to the English. Not a militia type. Regardless how the sculptors label their figures.

Zippy, Even I fall back into the voyageurs/CdB confussion, as do most gamers and figure manufacturers. That said, CdB did engage in the fur trade -- they just did it illegally. Some CdB were also significant explorers and map makers, and the government turned a blind eye to their illegal exploits when it served the greater good to do so.

OP: Any kind of hat, or no hat at all, is acceptable. As Zippy alludes to, the term CdB is thrown around quite loosely.

Check the heads from Kings Mountain. Placed on the OMM they will be fine for CdB

kingsmtminis.com/catalog

You can pretty much go any way you want with the courier de bois

As noted, renegades on the fringes who were tolerated mostly and used when necessary – some of them even renounced their wicked ways and joined the Compagnies Franches de la Marine – there is a neat little story about this in one of my all time favourite books, The Universal Soldier -14 Studies in Campaign Life

link

So can anyone cite, from a period account, the deployment of such forces?

Bienville differentiated between the militia companies and the voyageur company in his accounts of the Chickasaw War, so there is some evidence that there was a difference and that they were fielded separately. Of course he doesn't call the CdB, and this was an army from New Orleans, and two decades before what you are probably looking for…

So were the red floppy hats issued and wore by all Canadian Militia? I seem to recall that blue was favored by those from Montreal and white from another city, but I have no idea the basis for that notion.

Some further info on 1740s Montreal from wiki:

1740 – 22,000 people live under the government of Montréal. The population is mostly rural, the city having a population of 4,200.

So a city of 4,200 in 1740 (likely a bit larger during the F&I period), with most of the rest likely farmers. Farming did not necessarily give anyone frontier or military skills, though no doubt it could be a hard life, especially in Canada. A comparable situation would be the farmers found in PA, west of Philadelphia. Not frontiersman or traders, but farmers and craftsmen.

I'm fairly well read on the goings-on of the Western PA frontier, and I don't recall the Marines going out much on scouts and raids. The militia deployed there seemed to be largely confined to manual labor duties, such as carring and building. The few deployed at Braddock's Defeat ran away early in the battle according to French accounts. Chartrand says they rallied, but I have not seen his source for that ascertion. I have never seen any mention of CDB in that area of military operations. But I am always open to new information. :-)

For Militia units
Red = Quebec
Blue = Montreal
White = Trois Rivieres
The regional distinctions of red for Quebec, blue for Montreal and white for Trois Rivieres district appear to have been introduced in 1759.
from here link

Oh and yes there appear no evidence for any unit of Coureur des Bois at all – only individuals usually in charge of Indian or Militia units

Oh as for numbers
Milice du district de Montréal (5455 men in 1759)
Milice du district de Québec (5640 men in 1759)
Milice du district de Trois-Rivières (1300 men in 1759)
from here link

Fur hats are more likely for winter wear, tuques for summer.
19th century illustrations:

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

Hello All,
Some good points being made in the above posts. First I would like to respond to Steve's question. Headgear would have been in most cases the tuque. As far as the color, red seems to be the color documented,this according to Bruce Egli(French FIW Living History Interpreter/Re enactor). He also told me that these hats were shipped from Europe and that the shipping bill listed red tuques. With that being said, there are a few cases eluding to white and blue also. As far as a I know there is no documentation on these colors. Although with some mention of these colors(blue and white) and no other colors, who is to say they did not exist. I have no problem putting my militia in these colors as can be seen on my website(loyalhannaoutpost.com). If you want to put some in fur hats, keep it a very small ratio (1 in 15 or 20 figures). Remember, fur was a trade, and the furs were money to these men. So would you rather have your money on your head(hat) or in your pocket?
Also below is a link to a website of a Canadian Milice Living History/Reenacting group. They actually have things documented from sources of 1757 and Montcalms aide Bougainville. Be sure to take a look. By the way Zippyfusenet, your spot on with your references of the milice. I will be adding more about them soon, and it comes from first hand accounts. Stay tuned.
take care,
Keith

PDF link

Interesting picture and article here link
Also a number of them were of French / Indian descent known as Métis

Steve, exactly what period do you want to know about as the replies (time periods) are ranging all over the place?