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Guide to Indian Country Page 20
Under the direction of Gabriel Dumont, a small group of men raid a local
store at Duck Lake and help themselves to guns and ammunition. They
escape to the west where they meet up with the police. After a brief
argument, the police head to Fort Carlton to notify Superintendent Leif
Crozier of the raid. Dumont and his men dig in and wait for the fight.
They send scouts to Riel at Batoche to request reinforcements. Crozier,
in command of 100 men, engages the Metis in battle. Crozier is
defeated. Twelve of Crozier's men are killed and 11 are wounded. Five
Metis and one Indian are also killed. Riel prevents further bloodshed
by stopping his men from perusing the retreating force. Reinforcements
arrive at Fort Carlton just as the defeated force arrives back at the
fort. It is decided that Fort Carlton cannot be defended and an
evacuation is ordered. Sometime after midnight on March 28, some hay,
lieing too close to a chimney, catches fire. The post, in flames is
abandoned.
Battle at Fort Pitt
A meeting held at Big Bear's camp with W. J. McLean, the Hudson's Bay
Company's chief trader. McLean is told that the Natives argument is not
with the company or any of the civilians at the Fort. The rebellion is
against the government and the police. The three scouts who had been
sent to search out Big Bear's camp the day before happen upon the Indian
camp. The Indians, convinced they are under attack from the police,
begin firing upon the intruders. One constable is killed. Hudson's Bay
Company employees, 44 in all, surrender to Big Bear. The police
stationed at Fort Pitt under the command of Inspector Francis Jeffrey
Dickens (son of novelist Charles Dickens) retreat by scow down the river
to Battleford.
The Battle of Batoche
This battle marked the end of the Metis involvement in the rebellion.
The battle was fought over four days. Fewer than 300 Metis and Indians
led by Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont defended Batoche against an attack
by the Northwest Field Force commanded by Maj-Gen. Frederick Middleton.
On the first day, Middleton had planned to attack the Metis on two
fronts. The steamer Northcote was to sail down the river while
Middleton and his men would approach by land. The Metis foiled the
attack by lowering a ferry cable and decapitating the smokestacks of the
Northcote. The land forces were also in difficulty. The Metis harassed
them with gunfire all night, depleting their own stores of ammunition.
On the fourth day of the battle, the field forces swept down on the
Metis and ended their resistance. Over 25 men from both sides were
killed in the battle.
Poundmaker was a Cree adopted by the great Blackfoot chief Crowfoot.
The Cree of central Saskatchewan chose him as a spokesperson the Plains
Cree in treaty negotiations with the Canadian government in 1867.
Though he first resisted the terms of Treaty Six, he eventually signed
and agreed to a reserve for his people. Poundmaker's people ransacked
the abandoned village of Battleford during the 1885 resistance. A force
of some 300 men was sent to retaliate but, when they came upon
Poundmaker's camp at Cutknife Hill, the army suffered extensive
casualties and was forced to retreat. Poundmaker prevented further
bloodshed by stopping his people from pursuing the retiring forces.
Poundmaker surrendered to authorities after hearing of the defeat of
Louis Riel at Batoche. Poundmaker was sentenced to three years but was
granted early release. He died in 1886, just months after getting out
of jail.
Gabriel Dumont was a great hunter and captain of the Metis buffalo
hunt. He was also a skilled fighter and, as a young teen, took part in
the defence of a Metis encampment when it was attacked by the Sioux.
Dumont was a part of a treaty-making process between the Sioux and the
Metis and also participated in the treaty between the Blackfoot nation
and the Metis. In 1884, Dumont travelled to Montana to convince Louis
Riel to return to Canada to lead the fiht for Metis rights. Dumont
was made leader of the military under Riel's provisional government of
1885.Dumont was instrumental in attaining may of the Metis victories of
the North-West Rebellion. After the Metis defeat at Batoche., Dumont
escaped to the United States where he lived until 1890. He returned to
Canada and died in 1906.
Page 21
Louis Riel was born in St. Boniface, Man., on Oct 23, 1844. As a young
man Riel was sent to Montreal to study for the priesthood, but soon
turned his attention to the study of law. He lived in the United States
for a few years, but returned home to Manitoba in 1868 and became the
Metis most important leader. His most impressive moment came as leader
of the Red River Rebellion in 1869, when Riel and the Metis took over
Fort Garry and announced a provisional government. A court martial,
headed by the new government, and the subsequent execution of an
Orangeman, led to the undoing of Riel and his people. With Canada
enraged, Riel retreated to the United States, where he took citizenship
and taught until 1884. At that time he was persuaded by Gabriel Dumont
and other Metis leaders to return to Canada to lead the fight for Metis
rights. Riel was hanged for high treason on Nov. 16, 1885, in Regina.
Big Bear was born near Fort Carlton, Sask., and became a powerful leader
for the Plains Cree. Big Bear was a main participant in Treaty Six
negotiations, fighting for better terms for his people. He refused to
sign the treaty in 1876, believing it did not provide sufficiently for
his band. He was strongly against the herding of native nations onto
reserves and the increased pressure put on Native people to turn from
traditional hunting practices to farming. Big Bear worked at uniting
the Native nations and toward what has been described as
pan-AmerIndianism. He wanted Native leaders to choose reserves that
were in close proximity so that throughout the plains there would be a
distinct Native presence. Big Bear concerned himself so muh with his
vision of a Native nation that he lost touch with his people. By 1885,
when the people were suffering from starvation with the loss of the
buffalo, Big Bear's influence had waned enough that two of his war
chiefs, Imasees and Wandering Spirits, were able to spur the Plains Cree
on the rebellion. Big Bear always preferred negotiation over violence
but, in the end, it would be the violent acts of his people that would
result in his imprisonment. Big Bear was sentenced to three years in
the Stony Mountain Penitentiary. He was released after serving two
years. He died on the Poundmaker Reserve within a year of his release.
Edgar Dewdney was Indian Commission in Ottawa from 1879 to 1888. His
mishandling of Aboriginal concerns led to frustration. In her book,
Canada's First Nations, Olive Dickason writes; While the troubles
(rebellion) were going on, the residents of Wolseley, Man.. passed a
motion to send to Ottawa:
It is now time for the Government to take decisive action, and that
their first shall be that orders be issued to hang Riel to the first
tree when he is caught; but, if there must be a delay, that it shall
only be long enough to capture Dewdney and hang the two together."
Col. Samuel B. Steele of the North-West Mounted Police was part of
Northwest Field Force. After the force engaged the Cree at Frenchman
Butte, and the Indians retired to Makwa Lake, Steele and his scouts went
in pursuit. The scouts caught up to the Cree at the ford between Makwa
Lake and Sanderson Bay. They engaged the Cree and killed four Indians,
including Seekaskootch, leader of the Onion Lake Band. The Crees'
strong position, however, forced Steele to retire to await
reinforcements. The Cree escaped through the marsh. The terrain made
it impossible for the force to follow.
Superintendent Leif Crozier of the North-West Mounted Police was in
command of Fort Carlton at the time of the Duck Lake incident. Crozier
and 100 of his men and volunteers engaged Gabriel Dumont, Louis iel and
the Metis at a spot near Duck Lake on March 26, 1885. The government
forces were defeated. Casualties included 12 men dead and 11 wounded
for Crozier and five Metis and one Indian dead for the rebellion
forces. Crozier and company retreated to the fort. Despite
reinforcements, it was decided Fort Carlton couldn't be defended. The
fort was evacuated to Prince Albert.
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