Rivière-du-Loup, at one time officially called Fraserville (1850-1919), is a small city on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Quebec. The city is the seat for the Rivière-du-Loup Regional County Municipality. In 2011 its population was 19,447.
Riviere-du-Loup in Southern Victory[]
Riviere-du-Loup was a small town in Quebec.[1] It was overrun by US forces in the first year of the Great War, when Quebec was still part of Canada. It was headquarters of a small occupational garrison commanded by French-speaking Major Jedediah Quigley.
The US established a field hospital outside of Riviere-du-Loup on a section of farmland bought from Lucien Galtier. Lucien's daughter Nicole worked as a nurse in this hospital, where she met her husband, US Army surgeon Leonard O'Doull. (After the war, O'Doull would remain in Riviere-du-Loup as a country doctor until rejoining the US Army's Medical Corps in the Second Great War.) Ernie, a US ambulance driver, was wounded when his ambulance was illegally strafed by a Canadian aeroplane en route to this hospital.
In 1916, when the Republic of Quebec was founded, Riviere-du-Loup became the center of a Catholic diocese, and pro-US priest Pascal Talon was elevated to bishop. (Talon would eventually be removed from the diocese when he became involved in a scandal by fathering twins; the second bishop of Riviere-du-Loup was Father Guillaume.)
Life was quiet in Riviere-du-Loup throughout the interwar years, but for the occasional scandal. During the Second Great War, however, Riviere-du-Loup became caught up in the tensions going through the Republic as Quebecois soldiers were sent to restive Canada to relieve US forces for deployment on the front against Confederate forces.
