I am interested to learn about the French Brigade.

I'm wondering if the French Brigade is where "H. C. Canning" came from. I'm told he left the Louisiana Militia and showed up in Havana, bound for Europe (meaning France, his home). This is most likely the same man as "George P. Canning" of the CSS Shenandoah. This "George P." was almost certainly my ancestor's brother George Botrinne Canning, brother of Rafton Canning, my ancestor.

George P. Canning was put in charge of the Whitworth guns on board the Shenandoah, and may have fired, or commanded to be fired, the last shots of the Civil War. I think he was assisting France in the effort to wipe out the US whaling fleet, and I wonder if there was a motive behind it of getting rid of the old source of oil (whale oil), so that petroleum could be more aggressively developed. George P's family ended up in the US, very successful in steel and oil.

Kim Salisbury
La Mirada, CA