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 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 Iroquois 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.
thumb|left|The Blockade of Orbetello, 1646, engraving by [[Matthäus Merian the Elder]]
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.
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 Iroquois invaded Wendake (Huronia), the homeland of New France's allies the Wendat (Huron). The Iroquois 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 Iroquois 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. Iroquois war parties blockaded the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers, intercepted canoes bringing furs to Montreal, and took numerous captives.
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 Iroquois, 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 Iroquois "menace" had to be addressed.
{| class=wikitable
! 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)
|-
| || 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.
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.
Third expedition
The regiment's third campaign against the Mohawk was led by Tracy. 600 soldiers, 600 volunteers, and 100 Algonquin and Wendat warriors gathered at Fort Sainte Anne in the early fall of 1666. The first of three contingents set out on 29 September. The main body departed on 3 October followed by the rear guard four days later. The expedition crossed Lake Champlain and Lake George (then called ) in canoes and bateaux, then marched overland to reach the Mohawk villages in mid-October. All four villages had been hastily abandoned. The Mohawk, faced with Tracy's overwhelming force, had elected not to engage the French in battle. On 17 October 1666, the French symbolically claimed the four villages and surrounding territory in the name of Louis XIV. After burning the villages, the expedition returned to Fort Sainte Anne. The only casualties were eight men who drowned when their canoes overturned on Lake Champlain during a storm. The soldiers wore grey-lined brown coats, brown leather boots, and a wide-brimmed felt slouch hat that shielded the face from rain. The Carignan-Salières were one of the first French regiments to wear a standardized uniform. Most of the soldiers carried matchlock muskets, however, 200 of the new flintlock muskets with bayonets were issued before departing La Rochelle, as well as 100 flintlock pistols. The flintlock had increased reliability, a higher rate of fire, and the ability to be fired without the use of an external flame. Black powder was carried in wooden powder flasks or a powder horn. In cold weather the soldiers wore fur hats, moccasins, leggings and blanket coats. Officers wore a white sash with their uniform and carried a half-pike as a symbol of their authority. Both officers and soldiers carried rapiers.
Departure and settlement in Canada
thumb|upright|Roll of Soldiers of the Carignan-Salières Regiment who became inhabitants of Canada in 1668.
With the end to the Iroquois threat, King Louis XIV and Colbert decided to offer the men of the regiment the opportunity to remain in New France to help increase the population. As incentive, ordinary soldiers were offered either 100 or 50 and a year's worth of rations. Sergeants, were offered either 150 or 100 and a year's worth of rations. Officers were offered land grants in the forms of seigneuries.
The granting of seigneurial tenure to officers who wished to remain in New France served an ulterior purpose. The properties granted to Contrecœur and Pierre de Saurel, for example, were placed in strategic areas that could be used as a buffer against the Iroquois and English. These newly created seigneurs rented land to former members of their companies, thus creating a cadre of veterans in strategic areas.
The French had a practice of giving (nicknames) to their soldiers. Many of these nicknames gradually became the official surnames of the soldiers who elected to remain in New France when their service expired. These names are also reflected in the names of cities and towns throughout the region.
Notable people
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- Vincent Basset Du Tartre (fl. 1665 – 1668), was the regiment's surgeon major