The Carignan-Salières Regiment was a 17th-century French military unit formed by the merging of two other regiments in 1659. Approximately 1,100 men from the regiment were sent to New France in 1665 to deal with the threat of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) to the colony. While in New France they were under the command of the Lieutenant Général of the Americas, Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy; the Governor General, Daniel de Rémy de Courcelle; and their colonel, Henri de Chastelard de Salières. The regiment constructed fortifications along the Richelieu River, and took part in three expeditions against the Haudenosaunee in 1666. A peace settlement was reached the following year. Roughly 400 officers and soldiers remained behind in New France as settlers when the regiment returned to France in 1668.
Early history The Carignan-Salières Regiment was the result of the merger of the Carignan Regiment with the Salières Regiment in 1659. The Carignan Regiment was raised in Piedmont in 1644 during the Franco-Spanish War by Thomas Francis of Savoy, Prince of Carignano. Until the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees ended the war, the regiment served with the French Army as an auxiliary unit. While the prince was the proprietary colonel, command of the regiment was assigned to a mestre de camp whom the prince appointed.
In 1645, the regiment participated in the siege of Vigevano in Lombardy, and in the engagement at La Morra in Piedmont. The following year it took part in the expedition against the Spanish-controlled town of Orbetello in Tuscany. The regiment sailed from Genoa aboard the French fleet commanded by the Marquis of Brézé. The regiment disembarked at the harbour of Talamone, and was present at the capture of Forte delle Saline. It faced strong resistance at the foot of Monte Argentario, and withdrew to Piedmont after Spanish reinforcements relieved the siege of Orbetello.
When French regiments were recalled to France during the civil wars known as the Fronde, the Carignan Regiment crossed the Alps and served in Guyenne. It was part of the royalist army commanded by the Viscount of Turenne that fought at the Battle of the Faubourg St Antoine in July 1652. The regiment returned to Piedmont in 1653, and in the summer of 1655 took part in the unsuccessful siege of Pavia in the Duchy of Milan.
Following the death of Prince Thomas in 1656, his son Prince Emmanuel Philibert became proprietary colonel. Two years later the prince ceded the regiment to the French crown as he could no longer afford to maintain it. When the Treaty of the Pyrenees ended the war with Spain, the regiment was reduced in strength to ten companies and merged with the Salières Regiment (formerly the Balthazard Regiment). The Balthazard had been raised in Germany near the beginning of the Thirty Years War by Johann von Balthazard. Balthazard retired in 1658 and turned over command to Henri de Chastelard de Salières, who was subsequently given command of the merged regiment. The Carignan-Salières spent the next several years in garrison along the northeastern frontier of France.
Crisis in New France Founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608, New France began as a proprietary colony granted by the Crown to a succession of merchant companies. In 1627, following the failure of the Compagnie de Montmorency to fulfill its contractual obligations, control of New France was granted by Louis XIII to the Company of One Hundred Associates, founded by Cardinal Richelieu.
In 1649, during the Beaver Wars, the Haudenosaunee invaded Wendake (Huronia), the homeland of New France's allies the Wendat (Huron). The Haudenosaunee wanted to expand their hunting grounds, increase their population through the adoption of captives, and control the fur trade with New France. The disruption of the fur trade brought the Haudenosaunee into conflict with the French as it was through the Wendat that the Odawa and Ojibwe traded furs to the French. Significant raids on the French settlements in the St. Lawrence River valley began in the early 1650s. Haudenosaunee war parties blockaded the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers, intercepted canoes bringing furs to Montreal, and took numerous captives.
In 1660, the total population of New France was 3,035, of which 1,928 were considered adults. There were about 900 people living in Quebec and about 200 each in Montreal and Trois-Rivières, with the rest spread out in small settlements along the St. Lawrence. Almost two-thirds of the population were male. The Company of One Hundred Associates had tried to fulfill the terms of its charter to bring settlers to New France; however, many of the inhabitants were indentured laborers who left after their three-to-five-year contracts expired. The harsh winters, the shortage of women, and the threat of being carried off by the Haudenosaunee led to very few wanting to stay. As a result, New France lacked the manpower to effectively counter the Haudenosaunee.
Throughout the struggle, the authorities in New France sent desperate appeals for help to Paris, only to be told that France was fully engaged in a war with Spain and there were no soldiers to spare. Additionally, France was caught up in the Fronde and it was therefore impossible to send a force across the Atlantic. Even after the Treaty of the Pyrenees ended the war with Spain in 1659, the Crown remained indifferent to New France. Pierre Boucher, the governor of Trois-Rivières, visited Paris in 1661 to plead for help, saying that people in Trois-Rivières were afraid to hunt lest they be carried off by the Haudenosaunee, only to be politely told that the responsibility of the defence of New France rested with the Company of One Hundred Associates not the Crown. In 1663, however, Louis XIV asked the Company of One Hundred Associates to relinquish its charter, and declared New France a royal province under his direct rule.
The decision to make New France a royal province was as much, if not more, motivated by mercantile ambitions than pleas for help. Louis XIV's influential finance minister, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, advised the king that revenues from the fur trade could be used to finance plans to push France to its "natural frontiers" in Europe. But if New France was to have a thriving fur trade and a self-sustaining economy, the Haudenosaunee "menace" had to be addressed.
Louis XIV and Colbert took several steps to ensure the survival of New France. Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy was commissioned Lieutenant Général of the Americas and tasked with ending the Haudenosaunee threat. Daniel de Remy de Courcelle was appointed Governor General to replace Augustin de Saffray de Mézy, and Jean Talon was appointed Intendant. In a 1664 letter to Bishop Laval, Colbert wrote: "His Majesty has resolved to send a good regiment of infantry at the end of the year, or in the month of February next, in order to destroy these barbarians completely".
Arrival in New France The Carignan-Salières Regiment marched across France to La Rochelle on the Atlantic coast. Each of the twenty companies had a nominal strength of 50 men and three officers; however, many were understrength. At La Rochelle, men from eight companies that were overstrength were transferred to the understrength companies. Other men were recruited from young men looking for free passage to New France or from the surplus of workman that had been hired for the colony.
Seven ships were required to transport the regiment and its equipment to New France. The first, carrying four companies, departed La Rochelle on 19 April 1665 and arrived at Quebec on 19 June 1665. Four companies from other regiments that had been with Tracy in Martinique arrived with the Lieutenant Général on 30 June 1665. These companies were attached to, but never formally integrated into, the Carignan-Salières. Salières and eight companies arrived in mid-August. The last two transports with Courcelle, Talon and eight companies sailed on 25 May 1665 but did not arrive until mid-September. 35 men aboard the two ships had died during the voyage while 130 were hospitalized upon arrival suffering from scurvy, typhus or cholera. 20 did not survive. The regiment's supply ship depart La Rochelle on 22 June 1665 and arrived at Quebec on 12 September. The ships that brought the Carignan-Salières Regiment to New France were as follows:
Ship Date of arrival at Quebec Companies carried 19 June 1665 Chambly, Froment, La Tour, Petit 30 June 1665 La Durantaye (Chambellé), Berthier (L'Allier), La Brisardière (Orléans), Monteil (Poitou)These four companies had sailed to the West Indies with Tracy in 1664. 18 August 1665 Grandfontaine, La Fredière, La Motte, Salières 19 August 1665 La Colonelle, Contrecœur, Maximy, Saurel 12 September 1665 Supply ship 12 September 1665 Rougemont, Boisbriand, Des Portes, Varenne 14 September 1665 La Fouille, Laubia, Saint-Ours, Naurois
Almost immediately after their arrival many of the companies were dispatched to the Richelieu River valley to begin construction of fortifications. Companies were also sent to garrison Montreal and Trois-Rivières.
Reception in New France
The soldiers of the Carignan-Salières were welcomed as saviours. Marie de l'Incarnation, head of the Ursuline convent, wrote of their arrival:
Although Marie de l'Incarnation viewed them as saviours, modern-day scholars like Jack Verney argue that their mission, contrary to what she states, was "a secular rather than sacred one" since Louis XIV and Colbert expected that the regiment would ensure that the colony became a source of revenue for the Crown.
In Montreal, the Sulpician priest, François Dollier de Casson, reacted to the soldiers negatively, saying that "vices which have, in fact, risen and grown here since that time along with many other troubles and misfortunes which had not up to that time made their appearance here". In Verney's view, this is a much more realistic account given how the men had "marked their progress along the road to La Rochelle with outbreaks of disorder and indiscipline".
Fort building
The arrival of the Carignan-Salières in the summer of 1665 temporarily increased the population of New France by more than a quarter. To avoid overcrowding at Quebec, Tracy dispatched four of the companies to the Richelieu River shortly after his arrival. Their task was to construct a series of wooden forts along the main Haudenosaunee invasion route. Other companies of the regiment were dispatched almost as soon as they disembarked. Fort St. Louis (now known as Fort Chambly) was completed first followed by Fort Saint-Jean and Fort Sainte Thérèse. Fort Richelieu at the confluence of the Richelieu and St. Lawrence Rivers was restored, and Fort Sainte Anne was built on Isle La Motte at the northern end of Lake Champlain the following spring. The forts were used as advance bases for the three expeditions against the Mohawk in 1666, and served to deter Indigenous raids and possible English attacks.
Campaigns First expedition
The first of the regiment's campaigns took place in the winter of 1666. The expedition against the Mohawk was initiated by Courcelle and approved by Tracy. Tracy recognized that the Mohawk, the easternmost of the five Haudenosaunee nations, were the most aggressive towards the French. In December 1665, an Onondaga and Oneida delegation arrived at Quebec to begin negotiations on behalf of themselves and the Seneca and Cayuga. Although the western Haudenosaunee nations appeared willing to discuss peace, the Mohawk did not.
Salières recognized that a winter campaign would not succeed without basic necessities such as snowshoes, winter clothing and cooking equipment. He thought the expedition was doomed to failure as his men were ill-equipped to operate in the cold and deep snow. In his memoirs he wrote: