Hi, Nancy,

I forwarded your query to a friend who has interests in European military history.  He suggested that if you can find the names of the French officers, you might try contacting the SHAT (Service Historique d'Armee de Terre) archives at Chateau Vincennes in Paris to see if they can track their personnel files.  These might identify their regiments, training, service experience, etc. to give you a better idea of which ones may have been capable of organizing a siege tunnel operation.  My colleague also pointed out that in European terms, a place like Boonsborough would have been thought of merely as a field work , not a true fortification.  Also, non-engineer trained militia officers may have been just winging it, with little knowledge of siege tunneling, which could help account for the collapse of the tunnel.

Good luck,

Robert Keeler
Professor of Anthropology & Geography
Clackamas Community College

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of O'Malley, Nancy
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2012 10:38 AM
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Subject: military training of militia

As part of my research on the Siege of Fort Boonesborough (Kentucky) in 1778, I've been looking with little success for information on the level of formal military training that French militia officers (in British employ) operating out of Detroit would have had. I know that training of American militia was limited (although I'd like to know more about that too). One of the classic siege tactics tried at Boonesborough was the excavation of a tunnel from the river to the fort wall, a tactic that was probably suggested by the French militia officers accompanying the large Indian force. The archival sources I have suggest that the French may have anticipated digging a tunnel and brought tools along so I'm thinking they might have been better trained in military tactics than the settlers. On the other hand, it rained all through the siege and the tunnel collapsed so it doesn't seem to have been adequately shored up.  I'm trying to characterize and contrast the levels of knowledge of military strategies between the settlers in the fort, the French militia officers and the Indians. Does anyone know of sources?





Nancy O'Malley
Assistant Director
William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology and Office of State Archaeology 1020A Export Street University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky 40506 Ph. 859-257-1944
FAX: 859-323-1968