A French officer writes about Canadian Militia (Milice) 1758

http://flintlockandtomahawk.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/a-french-officer-writes-about-canadian.html

Thoughts on Wearing a Shirt.

It appears that some people think that the common shirt can be worn outside of the breeches. Now it has always been my understanding that the shirt was only worn out when wearing a breechclout. Further, it is my understanding that the undershirt was usually worn under other clothing, such as a waistcoat/weskit, jacket or  frock. There were acceptions of course, when men were working hard outside in summer they were known to remove outer clothing and work in shirt sleeves, but I have yet to see documentation that sais the shirt was deliberately pulled out of the breeches. The common shirt was in fact made very long, so that it could be tucked between the man's legs, & was in fact underwear.

This could be a shirt or a frock, depending on the weight of the material used. Frocks were generally made using a heavier material than was used for making an undershirt. This one appears to be buttoned at the neck, so it is more than likely a shirt and not a frock.

This claims to be a mid 18th century French undershirt, but it also claims to be made of a heavy flax linen. This is therefore in my opinion in fact a French froc/frock. Also note the linen ties at the neck. 

An 18th century bricklayer wearing a long sleeved weskit over a shirt.

A French peasant working in the fields. Note his undershirt is worn inside his breeches.

Again, no waistcoat for this peasant field worker, but his shirt is worn inside his breeches.

These two soap makers are wearing frocks.

This is a Dutch postman wearing a frock.

An Italian butcher wearing a frock.

A field worker in Brussels wearing a frock.

I think we can safely assume that these living historians interpreting French milice at Bedford Village are in fact either wearing breeches and frock, or they are wearing breechclout and shirt or frock.

Bedford Villiage- La Milice de la Belle Riviere 2009 

http://www.donegaltownshipriflemen.org/category/photo-gallery/milice-photos/

French Clothing in the New World. Part One.

By John Buxton.

“During their travels across Canada, the French [canadiens] dress as the Indians; they do not wear breeches.”

– Peter Kalm 1749

“Those who go to war receive a capot, two cotton shirts, one breechclout, one pair of leggings, on blanket, one pair of souliers de boeuf, a wood-handled knife, a worm and a musket when they do not bring any. The breechclout is a piece of broadcloth draped between the thighs in the Native manner and with the two ends held by a belt. One wears it without breeches to walk more easily in the woods.” - d’Aleyrac, 1755-1760

“The mitasses are some kind of very wide gaiters with the two sides sewn together approximately four fingers from the edge with no buttons or buttonholes. - d’Aleyrac,

1755-1760

“…& about sixty militiamen with a kerchief on their heads and wearing shirts and their backsides bare in the Canadian style.” - Pierre Pouchot , 1755-60

By John Buxton.

“The brahier  is a piece of deerhide or broadcloth that Europeans give them, it is a quarter or third (of an ell) of broadcloth that men pass between their legs as if they were riding a horse; this piece of cloth passes on a thong tied around the hips, the two ends hanging in front and in the back, the front is longer then the back.”

-J.C. Bonin, 1750’s.

French milita By Frances Back.

“What are called mitasses or mitassonnes in Native language are some kind of stockings that Canadiens make with two half-ells of broadcloth, or one ell of molleton cut in two, for each leg and sewn the length of the leg and the width of half the width of the calf so that the leg can get in, with an excess of four or five inches wide that is left free along the side of the leg, the bottom can be put in the shoe and the legging can be held in place with a garter tied above the calf. When one wants to be more fancy, one trims these with straight or wolfe-tooth pattern, along the edge.” -J.C. Bonin, 1750’s.

“To this end, I laid aside my English clothes, and covered myself only with a cloth, passed about the middle;

a shirt, hanging loose; a molleton , or blanket coat; and a large, red, milled worsted cap.” - Alexander Henry,

1761, disguising himself as a Canadien voyaguer.

“It is not uncommon to see a Frenchman with Indian shoes and stockings, without breeches, wearing a strip of woolen cloth to cover what decency requires him to conceal.” – Jonathan Carver in Detroit. 1766