Militia of 1650-72
A Militia is a small military force raised from the civilian population and supplemented a regular army in emergincies. Some of the militias in New France wore buckskins and war paint, and possessed scalps and other trophies. The main weapon that they used were muskets.
An Intendants job was to organize a colony's militia. In new France people needed defense really badly. In the 1650's three towns in new France were organizing militia groups. All of them had special uniforms. Quebec had blue uniforms, Montreal had red uniforms, and the Trois Rivieres had white uniforms. In 1669, Louis the fourteenth stated that all men in the ages of 16-60 would be drilled once a month in case the colony needed militia groups. The priests and officers didn't have to partake in these drills. In 1672, Frontenac declared that nothing had happened in the last year but then he worked on it and said that it was complete.
One Intendant from a colony would elect a captain for the militia who was usually a strong man who possibly could have been in the army before. The captain of the militia group usually was pretty well know and had a seat in the front rows of the church (you had to be important to get a spot in the front rows).
Being in the militia would be an irritation because you would have to leave your families to go fight.
When natives such as Iroquois attacked a village the militia was their only defense. Usually it was the young people in the militia who knew how to use the natives tricks against them.
