There are no official records that militia of New France ever used a flag. In lieu or official records, however, we do have a legend about "the Carillon banner." This flag appeared in 1847 when an attorney announced he had found it among the belongings of a recently deceased monk. The monk had saved "the flag of the French Militia al Carillon" from flames when Rocollet church burned in 1796.

This Carillon banner was a prominant feature in polemics between conservative and radical French Canadians. The conservatives, heavily dominated by the Roman Catholic Church, delighted in "the flag of the French militia." The main reason for that enthusiasm was, of course, the large Madonna at its center. The radicals, on the other hand, fought for a blue, white and red flag: the flag of Revolutionary France. They denounced the Carillon banner as an outright fraud.

The radicals were defeated. In 1948, the Province of Quebec adopted a blue flag with a white cross separating four fleur-de-lys. This design was presented as a simplified version of the "Carillon relic." Harsh polemics against its use existed into the 1960s.

To the impartial historian, it seems obvious that the "Carillon relic" is a genuine XVIIIth century artifact. It is also obvious that it was designed as a church banner, not as a military flag (the arms on the reverse are those of Beauharnois, governor of Canada from 1726 to 1747). Was it ever used as a non-official flag by French Canadian militia? Possible, though not certain. An ancient legend says the Virgin miraculously intervened at the battle of Carillon. This could be an echo of the banner actually being used there to bolster morale.

Wargamers with French Canadian militia units will have to make up their own minds about this historical puzzle. My own opinion? Let me ask a question first: why would you ever want French Canadian units in your army? After all, they were the guys who handed victory to Wolfe by disobeying critical orders from Montcalm: they thought the had a better idea than those continental French ....

According to a 1929 description, the fluers-de-lys were white and the Virgin and the arms of France "painted in color in artistic fashion." The silk ground is said to be of "a greenish yellow". The author of the 1929 description speculated that it could actually he faded light blue (a marial color).

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