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 L’Ingénieur du roi | The King’s Engineer

Although engineers had lived and worked in New France during much of the 17th century, it wasn’t until the 1680s that the position of engineer was permanently established and the general staff was expanded to include a "king's engineer." Those named to this position held commissions as captains in the Navy troops. With the arrival of the first king's engineer, Robert de Villeneuve, in 1685, the era of military engineering really began in Canada. These engineers drew up the plans for the colony's fortifications and supervised work on them as they were constructed. The king's engineers were also called upon to construct civilian buildings, thereby becoming de facto architects.

In 1712, the king's engineer in Quebec City was assigned two junior engineers. The king's engineers in the colonies were less affected than their counterparts in France by the reorganization of their military corps after 1743. Thereafter, they were assigned to the Ministry of the Navy, but their duties remained similar and they even continued to wear the same scarlet uniform.

Men who occupied the post of King’s Engineer in New France include:

• Josué Berthelot de Beaucours

• Michel Chartier de Lotbinière

• Gaspard Joseph Chaussegros de Léry

• Gédéon de Catalogne

• Robert de Villeneuve

• Claude Dorothée Laguerre de Morville

• François Lajoue

• Jacques Levasseur de Neré

• Claude-Michel Sarrazin de Létang

• Etienne Verrier

Source: Government of Canada, “The King's Engineers And Military And Civil Construction”, Canadian Military History Gateway, http://www.cmhg.gc.ca/cmh-pmc/page-159-eng.aspx.