French Canadians are by
far Canada’s largest minority, with some 7.2 million (20.6 per cent)
Canadians having French as their mother tongue in the 2016 Canadian
Census. French Canadians are considered to be one of the country’s three
founding nations, along with English Canadians and indigenous peoples.
Most are Catholic and trace their heritage to French colonists who
settled in the Atlantic region and along the St Lawrence River in the
1600s and 1700s. French is one of Canada’s two official languages, along
with English, and it enjoys special protection under the Canadian
Constitution. Many French-speakers consider the homeland of French
culture in North America to be the province of Quebec, where the large
majority (6.2 million in the 2016 Census) of native French–speakers are
based. Not all French-speakers are of French descent, especially in
modern-day Quebec, and not all people of French-Canadian heritage are
exclusively or primarily French-speaking.
339 vs 4,000: The Impossible
Victory That Saved Canada
October 26, 1813. Three hundred and thirty-nine French-Canadian
soldiers stand in an autumn forest, facing an impossible choice:
hold their ground against 4,000 American troops marching to capture
Montreal, or watch their homeland fall to invasion.
Lieutenant-Colonel Charles-Michel de Salaberry commanded the
Voltigeurs Canadiens that day, and what he accomplished became one
of the most brilliant tactical victories in North American military
history. Using forest terrain, acoustic deception with bugles and
echoes, and dispersed defensive tactics that modern special forces
still study today, de Salaberry turned the impossible into reality.
This is the untold story of how one French-Canadian officer saved
Canada from American conquest using nothing but tactical genius,
psychological warfare, and the courage of men who refused to
surrender their homeland. The Battle of Châteauguay changed the
course of the War of 1812 and helped forge Canadian national
identity.
Discover how bugles created the illusion of thousands of troops.
Learn why American General Wade Hampton's 4,000-man army retreated
in defeat. Understand the innovative tactics that made 339 men more
effective than an army ten times their size. This is military
history at its finest—the forgotten hero who achieved the
impossible.
