Solving a Canadian Militia Mystery

There is a red jacket in the Museum’s collection. It was one of the first jackets I looked at when I began this cataloging and reorganizing project and it immediately captured my attention. A red coat, it must be old, right? Pre – 1900 for sure! And sure enough, when I looked it up in the system it said that it was a military tunic worn during the War of 1812. Wow, I thought, that is a phenomenal artefact, but then I looked closer. It was in such good condition and was so well put together. Could it really be from 1812? I had to find out.

For the next few hours I searched and searched for information about War of 1812. I found a few resources that showed me red jackets with white stripes leading from the buttons, many that were double breasted, lots with wide lapel collars, but none that looked like the jacket that sat in front of me.

Now, in the early years of British North America (what would later become the American Colonies, Upper and Lower Canada and eventually just Canada) military organization was far different from what it is now. Because of the nature of the colonies of New France and British North America there were of course plenty of conflicts and after the defeat of the French in Quebec during the Seven Years War (also called the French and Indian War: 1755-1763) Britain began to build a military force in Upper and Lower Canada to defend against invasion or rebellion as tensions began to rise between the British and the American colonists. These soldiers were usually garrisoned in British forts and of course wore the iconic “red coat”.[1] The British also began to muster a militia to help the regular soldiers in case of future conflicts. As time went on and Britain dealt with the American Revolution (1775-1783)[2] and then became focused handling the Napoleonic Wars (1803 -1814)[3] there wasn’t a lot of money to buy militia troops in the Upper and Lower Canada matching uniforms. As such, men in early Canadian militias were asked to supply their own uniforms and weapons (read more about how ragtag this group was here). Because of this, we know that there is some leeway in differing styles that they could play with. But even still, something about this jacket just was not hitting the right notes for me, especially since early militia uniforms tended to be green or brown. I scoured the jacket again for clues. This time I looked at the seams. Knowing how to hand and machine stitch myself it was clear that most of the body seams in this jacket were machine stitched. A quick google jump down the sewing machine history rabbit hole taught me that the first widely used sewing machine was introduced in 1830 by French tailor, Barthélemy Thimonnier[4], and the incredibly popular Singer treadle machine was not introduced until 1851.[5] And so if I was right, and this jacket was machine stitched, there is no way it was from the early 19th century. But, if it was not from the War of 1812, when was it from?

My knowledge of Canadian military history told me that this was still an early example of a Canadian uniform. But, googling “red coat Canadian military” doesn’t often give you exactly the results you want on the first page – especially if you are looking for a very specific image. Wikipedia is not the best place to go for answers, but it can be a useful tool for getting to the next step of research and finding the proper primary and secondary sources that you need. As such, I kept looking and ended up down a rabbit hole that started on the Red Coat (Millitary Uniform) Wikipedia page, led me to the Canadian Militia Wikipedia page, and left me with this image:

That was it! That was the jacket! It was described as a Permanent Active Militia jacket and so I clicked the corresponding Wikipedia link – a dead end. No more photos, no more description of the uniform, nothing that I needed to take me to the next level of research. Back to the google search. This time, I had a bit more of a lead and a search of “Canadian permanent active militia” led me to Pinterest and then to Militaryheritage.com where I landed on the “Victorian Soldier Page”. Aha! The page was an excerpt from the book Military Uniforms in Canada, 1665-1970 published by the Canadian War Museum and I had finally found the details I was looking for. Under the description of the Canadian Militia uniform from 1884 this is what it said:

“The infantry uniform consisted of a scarlet cloth tunic with dark-blue collar, cuffs, and shoulder-straps. The front opening, collar base, and shoulder-straps were piped with white tape; the pointed cuffs were trimmed with a crow's-foot of white braid. The tunic skirt was closed behind, and had a plait on each side edged with white braid. There were eight buttons down the front of the tunic, and two at the waist behind.”

I could say, without much doubt, that the red jacket I was looking at was from a Permanent Active Militia member c. 1884 –? To get an end date, I dove into the iconography on the buttons down the front of the jacket. According to Eric Smylie’s book Buttons of the Canadian Militia, Army, Naval, and Air Forces: 1900 – 1990 the button design with the Queen Victoria Crown dates from 1855 - 1901. Perfect, the date range for this jacket then, based on stitching, buttons, and description is 1884 – 1901 – mystery solved!

Let’s look a little at what the Permanent Active Militia was to get a better understanding of this jacket’s history. I have already told you how the militia came about after the end of the French and Indian War to help with the defense of the new colony. Later on, after the War of 1812, new citadels had been built, and there was relatively minimal conflict in the Americas, Britain slowly began to pull its troops out of what was now the Province of Canada and began to leave the defense of the colony to its own government. As such, in 1845 when Americans were yelling “fifty four forty or fight” as they pressured Britain to cede territory west of the Rockies to them, the Province of Canada passed the first Militia Act which created a formal militia[6]. The government offered it practically no assistance however and volunteers had to provide their own uniforms, horses, and training before receiving weapons from the government – essentially this militia was no less rag-tag than the one that came before it.

As the British pulled more and more troops out of Canada and it became increasingly apparent that a formal military was needed and the Parliament of the Province of Canada passed the Militia Act of 1855 which created the Active Militia. Finally, this was a proper militia for a proper country where the government was responsible for training, reimbursement of uniform expenses, and actually paying volunteers for drill days (all on Britain’s dime, however)[7]. This militia was split into the Permanent Active Militia and the Non-Permanent Active Militia (reserve). After confederation in 1867 (and Britain pulling funding) the PAM was involved in a number of military movements including the Fenian Raids, The Wolseley Expedition, The North West Rebellion, and the Boer War. The PAM existed throughout the First World War but was separate from the Canadian Expeditionary Force that was mobilized for combat. PAM existed into the 20th century, engaging in various labour disputes and strike breaking activities in the interwar years, until it was renamed the Canadian Army (Active) in 1940.

All of this means that the jacket we have in the collection is most likely an example of the earliest permanently organized militia in Canada which is the origin of our contemporary Canadian Army. We still cannot be sure when exactly between 1884 and 1901 it was worn or by whom. We do not know exactly what military service it saw but, based on the date range if it did see service it may have marched west to Batoche to suppress the Metis uprising led by Louis Riel during the North West Rebellion in 1885. This event was significant part of Canadian history which was the culmination of years of perceived mistreatment and government neglect towards the Metis and Indigenous people of Western Canada. It began with the Red River Rebellion which saw the rise of Louis Riel as a Metis political leader in 1869. After that rebellion was quelled by the federal government sending Colonel Wolseley West with a contingent of militia soldiers in 1870, the province of Manitoba was created by the Manitoba Act (note: Wosleley marched through “The Depot” creating Red River Road and named the community Prince Arthur’s Landing on his way west). For the next 15 years, Metis and Indigenous people in the West waited for the government to make good on their promises to respect Metis land claims.

The North West Rebellion began when Louis Riel returned from exile and encouraged those with grievances to bring them to the government. Thus began a violent, 5-month engagement primarily in Saskatchewan that pitted Metis and Indigenous “rebels” against the government which mobilized the PAM. By the following spring Riel and the Metis had seized a church in Batoche and announced a provisional government. After multiple battles in March 1885 the rebels were eventually defeated at Batoche during a three-day engagement and Riel surrendered. The end result of the rebellion was the execution of Louis Riel for treason, a move highly criticized by French Canadians as well as Wilfred Laurier, and the continued and increased control of Metis and Indigenous people in the prairies. You can read more about the events of 1885 and the militia’s march West by grabbing a copy of William Skrepichuk’s book “Troop Treks of 1885: Documents and Illustrations” which details the trek of nearly 3,000 militia soldiers as they moved West to quell the rebellion. To read more about the battles themselves and the experiences of the Indigenous and Metis people that lead to the two uprisings check out the entries in The Canadian Encyclopedia about the Red River Rebellion and the North West Rebellion.

And so, while we have done some research and answered one question, our investigation has brought about many more queries. And, as is often the case, some ethical considerations. Who was this soldier who wore this uniform? Did he participate in The North West Rebellion? If so, did he agree with the cause that he was fighting for? These questions we may never be able to answer with the information that we have but, through this research, we have come closer to the truth and the history of this particular piece of clothing. This is all part of history, all part of engaging with the past and trying to figure out how, where, and why things have come to be part of the Thunder Bay Museum’s collection.

Do you have a piece of a military uniform that you think is interesting? Let us know in the comments!

UPDATE:

Since posting this article we have been in conversation with Dr. David Ratz, a local military historian and he has informed us that it is possible that this uniform is from the 96th Lake Superior Regiment c. 1907 - 1918. He said that the buttons may have just been reused but that everything else is accurate for such a uniform. He has also provided photos to illustrate that point. Very special thanks to Dr. Ratz for his knowledge and assistance!

Dr. Ratz also pointed out that the caption on the image of the Fort William Militia was incorrect and it is most likely 1892, not 1882. I have updated the caption accordingly.

[1] https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/british-colonial-era.aspx [2] https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Revolution [3] https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/napoleonic-wars [4] https://www.britannica.com/technology/sewing-machine [5] https://time.com/3985665/sewing-machine-invented/ [6] http://cmhg-phmc.forces.gc.ca/cmh-pmc/page-443-eng.aspx [7] http://cmhg-phmc.forces.gc.ca/cmh-pmc/page-448-eng.aspx