Frères chasseurs

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The Frères chasseurs (French for "Hunter Brothers," though they were also refered to as the Hunter Patriots and Hunters' Lodges) were a paramilitary organization that fought in the Patriote Rebellion on the Patriote side, seeking to make Lower Canada, now Quebec, an independent and democratic republic. They appear to have somewhat resembled Freemasons structurally and were dedicated to the eviction of the British Empire from North America and the "liberation" of Canada. It is claimed that their lodges may have numbered as many as 60,000 members.

After the failiure of the first uprising of 1837, the Frères chasseurs organization was founded in 1838 by Robert Nelson (the president), Cyrille-Hector-Octave Côté (the vice president), Edmond-Élisée Malhiot, Antoine Doré, Julien Gagnon, Louis-Guillaume Lévesque, François Mercure, François Lemaître, Célestin Beausoleil et David Rochon. In September, it was comprised of at least 35 lodges.

The Hunters attacked Windsor, Ontario in 1838 and were driven off and dispersed after a pitched battle (the Patriot War). In November 1838, a force of about 1500 men started from New York to seal off the St Lawrence River and thereby allow a hypothetical revolt to take place in Upper Canada. About 300 men actually occupied and held a stone windmill at Prescott, Ontario where the five day Battle of the Windmill was fought against British regulars and Canadian militia.

The Frères chasseurs attempted to invade Canada from the United States to defeat the British army and its volunteers. On 22 February 1839, president Robert Nelson declared the independence of Lower Canada. Bishop Jean-Jacques Lartigue obtained information about the group and communicated it to John Colborne, who in turn used it to quell the Frères chasseurs. Members of the Frères chasseurs such as François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier were executed at the Pied-du-Courant Prison by English authorities for their actions.