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Chapter 19 Spring of Unrest A Canadian Battle in the Quebec District The Canadians taking up Arms so early against us, is of the most Important consequence. | Colonel Moses Hazen to General Philip Schuyler, Montréal, 1 April 1776 Even as Captains Clément Gosselin and Pierre Ayotte roved the southshore parishes recruiting Canadian Continentals,loyalist resistance began to congeal in the very same region (see Map 10). Ste-Anne-de-la-Pocatière’s priest Pierre-Antoine Porlier served as a secret Tory rallying point.In the late winter of 1776,the parish’s elderly Militia-Captain Augustin Roy dit Lauzier consulted with the curé about launching an uprising; loyalists had been chafing under the rebels, especially the Canadian Continental officers—Porlier counseled patience.More surprisingly,shortly thereafter,a patriot commissary agent, Jean-Baptiste Féré, shared a late-winter political confession with the priest.Although Féré had played an important role in promoting the United Colonies’ invasion, serving as a key 1775 Lake Champlain messenger, he had since reconsidered his allegiance. The unrelieved Continental weakness following Montgomery’s defeat opened the commissary’s eyes to the reality of the situation: the rebels were destined to fail. Now, Féré hoped to lead an insurrection to drive the rebels from Pointe-Lévy, restoring government authority and redeeming himself. Porlier, however, advised Féré to bide his time as well—the right time for action would come soon.1 Suddenly, on 20 March the situation changed. Loyalist couriers Joseph Riverin and Jean-Baptiste Chasseur arrived in La-Pocatière,having completed a long, bone-chilling downriver trip from Québec City. The two brought news and instructions to mobilize the south shore. The previous day, they had stopped on a narrow Laurentian island,twenty-five miles upstream from Porlier’s parish, to deliver the governor’s orders for Ile-aux-Grues seigneur 276 The Battle for the Fourteenth Colony Louis-Liénard de Beaujeu-de-Villemonde to lead the operation. This sixty -year-old noble son of New France was one of the few prominent loyalist leaders remaining in the district, sheltered by his insular existence.2 In a thirty-seven-year military career, ranging from the Mississippi to Acadia,de Beaujeu earned the Croix de St-Louis for dedicated French service. After the Conquest, he warmed slowly to British rule, initially remaining on the remote Mississippi. In 1769, he moved to his wife’s Ile-aux-Grues seigneury , settling into the life of a country lord. Despite de Beaujeu’s age and unproven loyalties, Carleton had Riverin deliver a new commission to him with orders to immediately raise regional militia for the King’s service, and provided an amnesty for all volunteers,as well as the 14 March Quebec Gazette with Wooster’s inflammatory letter. As the two messengers left the island for La-Pocatière, de Beaujeu took several hours to prepare for the coming redemptive fight, hoping to drive the rebels from the Quebec District.3 La-Pocatière loyalists were excited by the news that Riverin and Chasseur delivered. After a short hesitation to weigh the consequences of their commitment, the habitants decided to save their parishes “from the stain of rebellion”and rallied to their loyalist militia-captain. Lauzier raised a Union Jack near his home,and localTories buzzed with energy,rushing to spread the word to other parishes. The next day, de Beaujeu landed on the south shore as Canadians gathered from Kamouraska,Rivière-Ouelle,La-Pocatière,and St-Roch-des-Aulnaies. While these lower parishes provided critical initial support, success depended on an equally positive reception in the southern upstream parishes; so a seminary priest,Charles-François Bailly-de-Messein was sent to gather intelligence there, before the main party marched on the Continentals at Pointe-Lévy.4 Abbot Bailly was a Montréal-born, Paris-educated director of Québec City’s Petit-Séminaire, sent to the south shore early in 1776 to encourage the habitants’ loyalty; he found kindred spirits in Porlier and Lauzier. Now, de Beaujeu gave him a small party of men to visit the Rivière-du-Sud, a Laurentian tributary,on the pretext of buying seed,but really to evaluate regional loyalist support. In the little ten-mile valley that joins the St. Lawrence in Montmagny,the party was shocked to find very few habitants willing to take up arms for the government.Yet Abbot Bailly still called de Beaujeu...

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