Unlike the regular French army, the Compagnies Franches de la Marine were increasingly led by officers born in Canada — sons of the colonial nobility like the Le Moyne and Hertel families, who grew up on the frontier, spoke Indigenous languages, and learned war in the forest rather than on the parade ground. These men led la petite guerre, the raiding war of ambush and small war parties that carried fire deep into the British colonies from New York to the Carolinas. It was a style of fighting the regular armies of Europe found barbaric and could not match, and it let New France strike far beyond what its small garrison should ever have allowed.

W. Britain poses the officer at ease, one hand on his hip and the other grasping the halberd that marked his rank. He wears the white justaucorps with blue-and-gold facings, blue cuffs, a laced tricorne, white breeches and stockings, and a gilt gorget at the throat — the dress of a gentleman-officer of New France. He commands the cluster: the ensign with the Colonel's Color beside him, the marine making ready in the ranks, and the drummer to beat his orders.

W. Britain model 47042. 54mm scale, gloss-finished metal. Single foot figure on a plain rectangular base. Boxed.