what they would do when the
Americans came, but when the Americans did come, and the loyalist troops
showed a determined front of opposition, they quietly slunk into the
background or even betrayed their former professions. Others of these
malcontents confined themselves to secret action, such as furnishing
information of what was going on within the city, harboring those who
were tracked for treason, or affording supplies of food and ammunition
to such of their friends as needed them for use. Finally, there were a
determined few, chiefly old soldiers or the sons of old soldiers of
Montcalm and Levis, who, having never become reconciled to their English
masters, in the sixteen years which had elapsed since the Conquest,
hailed the appearance of the Americans as the prelude of deliverance,
and openly raised the standard of revolt. Of these there were again two
classes. One formed into a duly equipped battalion which joined the army
of Arnold and took part in all the subsequent events of the siege. The
second class consisted of farmers around Quebec, who, not being able to
quit their families and perform regular military service, engaged in a
species of guerilla warfare which was both effective and romantic.
Among these were ranged Barbin and his companions. Among them Batoche
was called to take a position. His well-known skill with the carbine,
his rare knowledge of all the woods for miles in circumference, his
remarkable powers of endurance, his reckless bravery and fertility of
expedient in the midst of most critical danger, all fitted him for the
trying events which circumstances thrust upon him and his friends. But
the oddities of his mode of life, the eccentricities of his character,
his generally accredited relations with the spirits of the departed, and
the gift of divination which all the country-side accorded him, spite of
occasional and deriding criticism, went still further to point him out
as a foremost man in the secret insurrection of the farmers. He himself,
in his own way, favored the movement with enthusiasm. He was not a
Canadian, but a Frenchman born. His youth had been spent in the wars of
his country. When the great Marquis de Montcalm was ordered to New
France, he followed him as a member of the famous Roussillon regiment In
that capacity, he fought at Carillon, and shared the glory of the
campaign of 1758. In the same capacity, he shared the stupendous defeat
of Sept. 13th, 1759, on the Plains of Abr