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The 'Patriotes' of '37

Note 1 — Chapter V

W. Stewart (William Stewart) Wallace translation

The name Chouayen or Chouaguen appears to have been first used as a term of reproach at the siege of Oswego in 1756. It is said that after the fall of the forts there to Montcalm's armies a number of Canadian soldiers arrived too late to take part in the fighting. By the soldiers who had borne the brunt of the battle the late-comers were dubbed Chouaguens, this being the way the rank and file of the French soldiers pronounced the Indian name of Oswego. Thus the term came to mean one who refuses to follow, or who lets others do the fighting and keeps out of it himself. Perhaps the nearest English, or rather American, equivalent is the name Mugwump.

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