War of 1812: Corps of Canadian Voyageurs

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With all but a handful of British regulars tied down in the war raging in Europe against the ‘Little Corporal’ from Corsica, the defense of British North America in the face of American aggression fell to Canadian militia and a host of irregular units. Of all that motley collection, none was more unusual and colorful than the Corps of Canadian Voyageurs — hard drinkers, carousers and undisciplined rowdies, true enough, but invaluable in the conflict’s first critical year of campaigning.

The War of 1812 is an oft-overlooked conflict, perhaps because it ended in status quo, or maybe because it was overshadowed by the Napoleonic wars. For the young Canada, however, it was a defining moment in that future nation’s history.

There were several key issues behind the United States’ decision to declare war against Britain in June 1812. The British practice of stopping American ships at sea and arbitrarily impressing American seamen into Royal Navy service was the most widely decried, but perhaps the most contentious issue — and the one with greatest implications for the future — was control of the western frontier. American settlers were moving into Indiana and Michigan, brushing up against a hostile native confederation led by Tecumseh. Since the Indians were intimately linked to the fur trade enterprise of the British North West Company (NWC) and firmly allied with the British against American western expansion, many Americans blamed English mischief for the Indian troubles.

Along with the issue of who controlled frontier settlement was the revival of American hopes, first kindled in the ill-fated Quebec expedition of 1775-76, of extending their hegemony to the north. In August 1812, former president Thomas Jefferson wrote that ‘the acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighbourhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us experience for the attack on Halifax the next, and the final expulsion of England from the American continent.’

Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe had tried to warn Britain of the dangers of border conflict with the United States as early as the 1790s. He also recognized the inherent weakness of Britain’s reliance on the Great Lakes as lines of communication, since they could be interdicted by American naval forces at multiple points. Soon after war was declared, Simcoe’s concerns regarding the precariousness of the British position were proven accurate when Americans based at Ogdensburg, N.Y., began frequent interceptions of convoys headed from Lachine (Montreal) to the naval base at Kingston. This threatened the supply of all British forces farther to the west.

It was partly in response to this threat that the North West Company raised the Corps of Canadian Voyageurs from among its seasonal employees. On October 1, 1812, at least 500 voyageurs and their ‘bourgeois,’ the wealthy Scottish merchants in the company, offered their services to the governor-general, Sir George Prevost, who gratefully accepted the offer. The corps was designed to militarize the voyageurs, who — utilizing their secure French River route across northern Ontario (running west from the Ottawa River to Lake Huron) — were integral to keeping supplies moving from Montreal to the western outposts and maintaining the vital fur trade.

William McGillivray and Angus Shaw, both important officials in the NWC, served respectively as commandant and vice commandant of the corps. The unit consisted of a captain, 10 lieutenants, 10 ‘conductors’ (sergeants promoted from among the voyageurs) and some 400 privates. Only ‘the most robust and well made’ men were selected from the more than 500 who stepped forward, all of whom were expert boat handlers and adept hunters and woodsmen.

Originally, the British intended to dress the voyageurs in the distinctive red coatee of the army, but the men refused, saying they were impractical for their work. Instead, it was agreed that they would wear clothes more typical of their standard utilitarian dress. They thus wore a capot (woolen overcoat made from thick blankets) and red toque, with moccasins and loose-fitting leggings. In humid weather, these clothes were often stripped off, and the individual might wear only a shirt and breeches.

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Tags: 19th Century, Historical Conflicts

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