Territories | The Battle of Saint-Denis

Every corner of Quebec is full of stories that are as incredible as they are little-known. Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin takes advantage of the beautiful weather to explore some of them. Today, he returns to the Battle of Saint-Denis.

Politically, it can be said that patriots are the real winners of history.^⁠1. However, militarily, they had only one single victory, that of Saint-Denis. I went to walk on the site of the battle, on the banks of the superb Richelieu, in the heart of one of the most beautiful villages in Quebec. The traces of the tragedy are numerous there.

Back to the past^⁠2.

Exploited by the British colonizer, the inhabitants of Lower Canada (Quebec) demanded reforms. After extensive consultations, village tours, numerous public assemblies, and with the massive support of the population, they adopted the famous 92 resolutions. In the 1834 elections, the Parti Patriote won a landslide victory (77 out of 88 seats). In March 1837, the British response to the 92 resolutions was known: it was no to absolutely all the demands. There were even setbacks: London strengthened the power of the colonial authorities to the detriment of the local government. The Patriots organized popular assemblies in support of the 92 resolutions, and the colony became agitated. The British decided to decapitate the political movement by arresting its leaders.

Wolfred Nelson, Louis-Joseph Papineau and Edmund Bailey O’Callaghan took refuge in Saint-Denis.

In 1837, the patriots protected their political leaders against unworthy arrests. This was not a rebellion, it was an act of resistance to tyranny.

On the morning of November 23, 1837, the patriots knew that 500 British soldiers were approaching Saint-Denis. While the Church forbade helping the patriots, the verger Édouard L’Hussier ignored this and rang the tocsin to rally the inhabitants of the surrounding area.^⁠3The patriots will number some 300, armed with pitchforks, sticks and rifles. Nelson is in command.

They built a barricade in the heart of the village, on what is now called the Chemin des Patriotes, and took refuge in stone houses that line the street.

The English arrive and, all morning, the patriots resist. Some have military experience, many are good hunters, they know how to shoot. In the afternoon, Nelson is informed that a troop of 150 redcoats is trying to get around them through the fields. The patriot leader sends 50 men to meet them. They are armed with a few rifles and… fence sticks! These are stakes with sharpened tips that are hardened by fire. It took powerful convictions to fight with Stone Age methods! Deceived by appearances, believing the patriots to be armed to the teeth, the English troop retreats! In the village, the confrontation continues.

Young George-Étienne Cartier, future premier of Canada East, was sent to Saint-Antoine, on the other side of the Richelieu, to fetch ammunition. He returned with bullets and reinforcements: men from the villages of Saint-Antoine, Contrecœur, Saint-Ours, Saint-Roch and Verchères. The Patriots did not retreat an inch.

At the end of the day, seeing their heavy losses, short of ammunition, and faced with the determination of the peasants facing them, two companies of the most powerful army in the world retreat in disorder, abandoning their cannon on the spot, humiliated. The patriots are masters of the battlefield.

Historian Gérard Filteau estimates the English losses at 30 dead and several dozen wounded. The patriots also took 10 prisoners. Among the patriots, there were 11 dead and 7 wounded.

Excommunicated like many patriots, the heroes who fell in combat will not have access to the cemetery. It is unknown where they are buried.

In 1987, for the 150^e anniversary of the battle, the Church will allow the installation of symbolic tombstones in the cemetery, stones restored and inaugurated on June 24. To see. It is moving.

But the English did not let themselves be humiliated like that. On December 2, they returned, pillaged and burned 60 houses in the village. The soldiers even destroyed the monument erected by Nelson in honor of Louis Marcoux, a patriot killed in 1834. This work, patched up, still stands in the heart of the village. The village, a regional economic center, would take decades to recover from the ransacking.

Today, six monuments commemorate the events. They constitute an interesting circuit to visit.

Walking through the village, in the footsteps of the patriots, I tried to understand their courage. They had thought, debated, asked for specific, reasonable reforms. They had played the game of democracy. The colonial state, corrupt, violent and racist, had answered no, no and no. Now it wanted to take away their leaders. It had to stop. But the patriots had before them the greatest power of the time. They were facing an empire, they had no chance of winning, none.

I thought of this exchange between Victor Hugo, who opposed Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte’s coup d’état in 1848, and a citizen, certain of defeat.

Citizen: “What do you hope for?”

Hugo: “Nothing.”

Citizen: “What are you going to do?”

Hugo: “Everything.”

In Saint-Denis, on November 23, 1837, the patriots had little hope, they did everything and they won.

1. Read the column “Patriots, true winners of history”

2. The number of men and soldiers present, the figures for losses, all these data are debated. The story of the battle is also debated. To know all the nuances of the story, read Gérard Filteau, Gilles Laporte or Laurent-Olivier David.

3. The bell is still there. It dates from 1802 and comes from a London foundry that also cast the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and the Big Ben in London. It is listed as a historic monument. Christened on 1^er October 1806, she received the name Marguerite-Michel. The first name Michel was probably given to her in honor of Michel Gervaise (1717-1787), the second missionary to serve Saint-Denis, but the reasons justifying the choice of Marguerite are unknown. Source: Répertoire du patrimoine culturel du Québec