PATHS OF GLORY
 


 
THE FRENCH ARMY IN CANADA, 1759-60
 

The colors carried by French infantry regiments in Canada during the Seven Years War followed the standard eighteenth-century French pattern. Regiments with royal or princely titles generally had gold fleurs-de-lis on the arms of the cross of both the Colonel's Color and the drapeau d'ordonnance. The Compagnies Franches de la Marine was not a marine corps in the usual sense since it did not serve at sea with the Navy. Because the Ministry of Marine was responsible for colonial defense, troops raised specifically for colonial service were under its control or "of the Navy." The drapeaux illustrated above for this corps may have been carried in Canada, but this is uncertain.

Note on the Illustrations: For each regiment, the Colonel's Color is shown on the left and the drapeau d'ordonnance is shown on the right.
 



 

Régiment de La Reine


 

Régiment Royal-Roussillon

 

Compagnies Franches de La Marine

 

Régiment de Bearn

 

Régiment de Guyenne

 

Régiment de Languedoc
 

 

Régiment de La Sarre
 


"The paths of glory lead but to the grave. . ."

At the Battle of Quebec (13 September 1759), both Major-General James Wolfe, commanding the British army, and Major-General the Marquis de Montcalm, the French commander, were killed in action. "Wolfe…beguiled the officers by reciting Gray's Elegy…" on the eve of battle (Winston Churchill in The Age of Revolution). This famous action on the Plains of Abraham produced a decisive British victory and ended forever the dream of a French colonial empire in North America.
 



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