The efforts of the Continental Congress to gain
support for the American Revolution in Canada led to the organization of two pro-American
Canadian regiments, the 1st and 2nd Canadian
Regiments. There were many French
Canadians only too willing to help oust the British from North America.
On January 26, 1776, Father Louis Eustace Lotbiniere,
although more than sixty years old, was appointed chaplain of the First
Canadian Regiment and became the first Roman Catholic chaplain in the United
States Army. Father Lotbiniere was a
native French speaker and ministered to the French-Canadian troops rallying to
the American cause.
With the failure of the invasion of Canada, the First
Canadian Regiment was transferred to the vicinity of Philadelphia. Fathter Lotbiniere died in poverty in October
1786. In support of American liberty he
had given up his parish, his family associations, incurred the censure of his
Bishop and spent his last years in exile among a strange people whose language
he could scarcely speak.
Available from these ebook stores: