Charles Hindelang (March 29, 1810 – February 15, 1839) was a French-born military man who fought for the independence of

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada () was a British colonization of the Americas, British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence established in 1791 and abolished in 1841. It covered the southern portion o ...

(present-day

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

). For these actions, he was hanged by the British authorities. Born in Paris, he also had a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

heritage and was a

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

. Hindelang took part in the

French Revolution of 1830 The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution (), Second French Revolution, or ("Three Glorious ays), was a second French Revolution after the first of 1789–99. It led to the overthrow of King Charles X, the French B ...

(the July Revolution), in which he became an officer. He declared that he came to the Americas to do commerce at the demand of his parents. This was however contradicted by P. H. Touvrey, a compatriot of Hindelang present during the Rebellion, who said that Hindelang specifically came to join the Lower Canada Rebellion. Recruited by

Ludger Duvernay Ludger Duvernay (January 22, 1799 – November 28, 1852), born in Verchères, Quebec, was a printer by profession and published a number of newspapers including the '' Gazette des Trois-Rivières,'' the first newspaper in Lower Canada outside ...

in the United States, he arrived in Lower Canada on November 4, 1838. During the

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (), commonly referred to as the Patriots' Rebellion () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now southern Quebec). Together wit ...

of 1838, he fought the Battle of Odelltown on Patriote ranks, the last battle of the conflict. The Patriotes were defeated. Hindelang was apprehended shortly after as he attempted to flee back to the United States, and was

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

. He was

hanged Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

February 15, 1839 ''February 15, 1839'' () is a 2001 Quebec historical drama film. Directed by Pierre Falardeau, it is about the incarceration at the Pied-du-Courant Prison and the execution by hanging there of Patriote participants of the Lower Canada Rebellio ...

at the

Pied-du-Courant Prison The Pied-du-Courant Prison () is a prison museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada near the Saint Lawrence River and the Jacques-Cartier Bridge. Overview The original plan for a prison in Montreal was designed by Quebec architect George Blaikloc ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

with such people as

François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier François-Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier (December 27, 1803 – February 15, 1839), also known under shorter names such as François-Marie-Thomas de Lorimier, Marie-Thomas Chevalier de Lorimier or Chevalier de Lorimier, was a Notary public, no ...

. In front of the crowd, before the execution, he shouted: "The cause for which I am sacrificed is noble and great ..

Canadiens French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French colonists first arriving in France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of French Canadians live in the provi ...

, my last goodbye is the old cry of France: Long live freedom! (''

Vive Vive may refer to: *Vive, viva, and vivat, a Romance language expression * ''Vive'' (José José album), 1974 * ''Vive'' (Lucía Méndez album), 2004 *Vive (a cappella group) Vive was a six-part a cappella group from England, United Kingdom. ...

la liberté!'')""On a choisi le meilleur"
by Jean-Claude Germain, L'aut'journal, n.196, February 2001 His character plays a notable role in

Pierre Falardeau Pierre Falardeau (; December 28, 1946 – September 25, 2009) was a Québécois film and documentary director, pamphleteer and noted activist for Quebec independence. Falardeau wrote at least one book, ''Rien n'est plus précieux que la liber ...

's film ''

'' about the incarceration and execution of the Patriotes.

References

1810 births 1839 deaths French Calvinist and Reformed Christians French soldiers Military personnel from Paris Executed revolutionaries Lower Canada Rebellion people French emigrants to pre-Confederation Canada Quebec revolutionaries French people executed abroad 19th-century executions by the United Kingdom People executed by Lower Canada People executed for treason against the United Kingdom People executed in British North America by hanging {{France-mil-bio-stub

See also

References