For a good number of years, one could easily find references to the milice in New France wearing red, blue or white toques (knitted caps) depending on whether they were from Quebec, Montreal or Trois Rivieres.
Well........my latest, hot off the press after years of research by professionals Rene Chartrand, and Kevin Gelinas, 2 volume set has just crossed that out. During the ancien regime, only red caps were sent from France or made in Quebec.
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| Milice in the woods. |
So,,,,,,,,I shall slowly update my lads when convenient, such as when I needed to replace a missing head after an accident. (The habitant standing next to the kneeling one.)
A very interesting fact, good to know.
ReplyDeleteThere goes 50 years of what I thought was right!
DeleteFascinating fact and stops other woolly thinking…
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
Yeah, they managed to pull it over our eyes.
DeleteI tend to regard units already painted as "grandfathered"--to be altered in response to new information only when and if I feel like it. It is also true that I'm still trying to track down comments I saw decades ago that from time to time woodland Indians in the F&I War, the AWI and the War of 1812 were issued uniform breechclouts by one side or the other to prevent friendly fire incidents. Rest assured that if I can ever find such a comment again, I will be very careful not to look for anything which contradicts it. When it comes to painting miniatures, certain information really can be "too good to check."
ReplyDeleteWell.......this all started when a...let's call it a 'very local earthquake' which resulted in several figures being damaged including this habitant. By the time I had gotten around to fixing this fellow, , dug out a new head, I I had just read that tidbit and so.......
DeleteWell, Ross, there is a naughty word in Quebecois that I am suddenly thinking.... But, I suppose, it is what it is. Anything new, will have les toques rouge. Love those figures, too, by the way. Milice are always fun to paint.
ReplyDeleteEric
It was good timing for me. There are several campaigns or battles where milice outnumbered uniformed regulars, so I'm planning to add more.
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