Frontier Soldiers of New France Volume 2: Campaign Clothing, Armament, and Equipment of the Colonial

Frontier Soldiers of New France Volume 2 explores the evolution of the French colonial troops' campaign attire and equipment adapted for North America's demanding climate and terrain, integrating European military methods with practical adjustments for wilderness warfare. It focuses on the material culture of the Compagnies franches de la Marine in New France from 1683 to 1760, examining their specific campaign clothing, arms, and equipment. The study highlights their adaptation to the local environment and interactions with Native American cultures, including the adoption of items such as breechcloths, leggings, toboggans, snowshoes, moccasins, scalping knives and tomahawks. The survival of New France owed much to a strategic doctrine of raiding warfare developed by Canadian colonial officers in collaboration with allied Native American tribes and the colonial militia. This groundbreaking study provides the first comprehensive survey detailing the clothing, weaponry, and equipment used by the stationed troops from 1683 to 1760 to maintain defensive pressure on New Englanders and engage hostile Native American tribes in warfare. Drawing from pioneering research based on archeology, extant pieces and newly discovered records, it illuminates their remarkable adaptability to North American conditions, encompassing both winter and summer wilderness campaigns. AUTHOR: Born in Montréal, Québec, in 1971, Kevin Gélinas studied at the Université de Montréal, where he graduated in 1995. This was followed by a Bachelor of Education from the University of Ottawa in 1996. Author of The French Trade Gun in North America 1662-1759. A museum consultant specializing in the military material culture of New France, Kevin has also published numerous articles on French-era colonial trade goods and shoulder weapons. He has also contributed to publications such as La Belle: The Archaeology of a Seventeenth-Century Vessel of New World Colonization and has been a guest speaker at numerous events. Kevin currently lives in Trois-Rivières, Québec, where he teaches and is actively continuing his extensive archival research into the history of New France's material culture, voyageurs and the Trois-Rivières region. 191 b/w illustrations, 152 colour illustrations, 6 tables