| Summary: | <p class="first" id="d1344518e80">
In the North American British colonies, the 1812 war led to a great mobilization of
militia corps to protect the Empire’s possessions. For colonial authorities, such
context represented an opportunity to measure local militia officers’ loyalty to the
Crown, particularly those who resided in the French traditional countryside. What
can we understand of the French-Canadian involvement in the War of 1812 as officers?
What is the impact of their relation to the Crown on their capacity to hold on to
positions in their respective communities? By bringing to life a few case studies,
this paper wishes to examine the formation of the French-Canadian identity through
the involvement of local elites in the militia. This study is based on an analysis
of the correspondence of the principal officers of the battalions with the central
authorities and prosopographical research of those same officers in the rural regions
of Lower Canada. The analysis of the strategies, values and interests of the militia
officers, will serve to enlighten the parameters of the collaboration between the
local elite and the colonial elite.
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