Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu is a village in the southwestern part of the Province of Quebec, Canada on the Richelieu River in the Regional County Municipality of La Vallée-du-Richelieu. The village currently has just under eight hundred inhabitants. In 1694, King Louis XIV granted the Seigneurie of Saint-Denis to the aristocrat French Army officer, Louis-François De Gannes, sieur de Falaise of Buxeuil, Vienne, France. He named his seigniory after his wife, Barbe Denys. A great stone Roman Catholic Saint-Denis Church was completed in 1796. On November 23, 1837, Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu was the site of the murder of British courier, Lieutenant George Weir by Patriotes. Subsequently, the Patriotes, calling themselves the The Sons of Liberty based on the American model, won a battle here against the British Army that marked the official beginning of the Lower Canada Rebellion. Today, Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu has a museum called the Maison nationale des Patriotes, an interpretation centre that presents a history of the Patriotes movement that was led by the villager's most famous resident, Wolfred Nelson.
References
- George Weir's "sadistic" murder at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography online
- History and architectural details of the Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu at the Quebec religious heritage Foundation (English & French languages)
- Maison nationale des Patriotes museum information website
- Information and photo of Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu, Quebec
