Charles de Salaberry

Charles-Michel d'Irumberry de Salaberry was born at the Manor of Beauport into an illustrious French-Canadian military family. Enlisting in the British Army at fourteen, he fought in the West Indies and Europe before returning to Lower Canada to raise the Voltigeurs Canadiens, an elite light infantry corps of French-Canadian volunteers.

On October 26, 1813, at the Battle of the Châteauguay, Salaberry commanded an allied force of three hundred Voltigeurs and Kahnawake Mohawk warriors against General Wade Hampton's advancing army of four thousand Americans. Utilizing thick abatis barricades, bugle tricks, and disciplined fire, Salaberry repulsed the invasion with negligible losses, saving Montreal and ensuring Canada remained independent of the United States.