The story of the Canadian Voltigeurs must begin with their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Charles de Salaberry. De Salaberry, a French Canadian, came from a long military tradition. Entering the 60th Regiment of Foot, The Royal Americans, in 1793, de Salaberry pursued a very active career in the Caribbean and in Europe. Captain de Salaberry returned to Lower Canada in 1810 as aide to Major General Baron Francis de Rottenburg. In 1812 Governor General Sir George Prevost began serious preparations for war and directed de Salaberry to form a volunteer corps, the Provincial Corps of Light Infantry, to be enlisted for the duration of hostilities. However, this rough and ready unit was universally known as the Voltigeurs. The Voltigeurs recruited the requisite six companies very quickly. The Lower Canadians were happy to volunteer their service under an experienced fellow Canadian. Approximately 25% of the Voltigeurs were Anglophones and eight were black. The remainder, as might be imagined, were Francophone. Dressed in a distinctive gray uniform with black collar, shoulder straps, and cuffs, the Voltigeurs sported a unique, short bearskin hat. Equipped with the light infantry version of the Brown Bess musket and bayonet, they also carried a hunting knife. De Salaberry was a strict disciplinarian and soon had his battalion of light infantry passably well-trained. The Voltigeurs were posted on the traditional Richelieu River-Lake Champlain invasion route which intersected the Saint Lawrence River just east of Montreal. Skilled light infantrymen, the Voltigeurs habitually worked with Captain Lamothe’s company of natives to patrol the border. Their first action came in November 1812 as Major General Henry Dearborn brought his invading columns across the border on the western side of the Richelieu. De Salaberry brought about one hundred Voltigeurs into the fight, which amounted to an ongoing skirmish. Dearborn, having satisfied the very minimal requirements of honor, brought his army back south after just a few days. During the winter of 1812-13, the Voltigeurs were expanded to eight companies [some sources say ten]. Major Herriot took four of the companies to Lower Canada where two companies participated in the raid on Sackett’s Harbor. De Salaberry and the other half of the battalion remained watching the Americans across the border with New York. The Voltigeurs in Lower Canada spent most of 1813 scouting along the border. At this time, the regiment reported 510 soldiers, its peak strength. Then, in the fall, came the American’s two-pronged attack aimed at Montreal. The western prong was commanded by James Wilkinson and moved down the Saint Lawrence. The right column, under General Wade Hampton, started at Plattsburgh and first moved north along the route Dearborn had taken the year before. However, the Voltigeurs and militiamen soon blocked the path and Hampton withdrew to try another route, the Chateauguay River valley which led directly to Montreal. De Salaberry commanded the Canadian forces at the Battle of Chateauguay which were built around a hard core of four companies of Voltigeurs. After a few days of skirmishing, Hampton withdrew back into New York and he retired from the army. The Voltigeurs were also represented on the field at Crysler’s Farm where three companies helped halt Wilkinson’s advance. In 1814, the Voltigeurs continued guarding the direct approach to Montreal and a company participated in the Battle of La Colle Mill where Wilkinson’s last invasion was thrown back. The last major campaign for the Voltigeurs was Prevost’s invasion aimed at the American base at Plattsburgh. The Voltigeurs were assigned to Major General Brisbane’s Second Brigade. Prevost’s 11,000 experienced troops should have rolled over Alexander Macomb’s 3,000. But the naval battle of Plattsburgh Bay decided the campaign. With his accompanying naval squadron captured or destroyed, Prevost decided to withdraw from New York and return to Lower Canada. With the Treaty of Ghent, the British no longer had need of so many forces in Canada and the Voltigeurs were disbanded in March 1815. Back to Table of Contents -- War of 1812 #1 Back to War of 1812 List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Rich Barbuto. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com