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Tag Archives: The North-West Mounted Police

The North-West Rebellion, concluded

15 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by michelinewalker in Canadian History, Colonialism, Métis

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Assiniboines and Crees, Big Bear, District of Saskatchewan, Father Alexis Andre OMI, General Frederick Middleton, L. F. Crozier, Skirmishes and Battles, The North-West Mounted Police, the North-West Rebellion, the Rebellion Chronology of Egents

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Boat Encampment, Sketch Paul Kane, circa 1846, watercolour. Sketch made by Kane on the Columbia River, BC (courtesy Stark Foundation, Orange, Texas). (Photo credit: The Canadian Encyclopedia)

North-West Rebellion: Events

Much took place during the North-West Rebellion. There were skirmishes, battles, and a massacre. For a complete list of events, one should read the University of Saskatchewan‘s North-West Resistance: Chronology of Events. Missing from this list is a battle between Amerindians. It is Gabriel Dumont’s first experience as a “warrior” and, therefore, marginal information.

In 1851, at the young age of 13, Dumont was introduced to plains warfare when he fought at the Battle of Grand Coteau, defending a Métis encampment against a large Dakota war party.

(See Gabriel Dumont, The Canadian Encyclopedia.)

North-West Rebellion

  • maps: please click on the name of each conflict
  • the main “battles”
  1. Battle of Duck Lake 26 March 1885 –Métis victory
    Duck Lake Métis force under Gabriel Dumont engage in an unplanned skirmish with Superintendent L. F. Crozier‘s Mounted Police and volunteers at Duck Lake. The Police are routed. 
  2. Frog Lake Massacre 2  April 1885 –Cree success
    Members of Mistahimaskwa’s (Big Bear) Cree Nation led by Ayimisis (Little Bear) and Kapapamahchakwew (Wandering Spirit) kill Indian Agent Quinn and eight other whites.
  3. Battle of Fish Creek 4 April 1885 –Métis victory
  4. Battle of Fort Pitt 17 April 1885 –Cree victory
    Fort Pitt is taken by warriors of Mistahimaskwa‘s (Big Bear) band. Mistahimaskwa negotiates the evacuation of the fort by the North-West Mounted Police.
    Gabriel Dumont ambushes Middleton‘s column at Fish Creek.
  5. Battle of Cut Knife Hill 2 May 1885 –Cree Assiniboine victory
    Colonel Otter‘s column attacks Pitikwahahnapiwiyin‘s (Poundmaker) camp at Cut Knife Hill.  
    Otter is forced to retreat to Battleford. Pitikwahahnapiwiyin prevents Indians from attacking retreating forces.
  6. Battle of Batoche 9 – 12 May 1885 –Canadian victory
    General Frederick Dobson Middleton decisively defeats the Métis force in a three-day battle
  7. Battle of Frenchman’s Butte (28 May 1885) –Canadian victory
  8. Battle of Loon Lake (3 June 1885) –Canadian victory

(See North-West Resistance: Chronology of Events, University of Saskatchewan.)

Louis Riel: Trial, Conviction and Execution

  • 20 – 31 July 1885
    Riel is tried and convicted of High Treason
  • 16 November 1885 Riel is hanged in Regina, Saskatchewan

List of the Skirmishes, Massacres, and Battles

  1. Battle of Duck Lake
  2. Frog Lake Massacre
  3. Battle of Fish Creek
  4. Battle of Fort Pitt
  5. Battle of Cut Knife
  6. Battle of Batoche
  7. Battle of Frenchman’s Butte
  8. Battle of Loon Lake

(See Battles of the North-West Rebellion, Wikipedia)

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Pitikwahanapiwiyin
Cree Chief (Poundmaker)
(COURTESY GLENBOW ARCHIVES) (Photo credit: The Canadian Encyclopedia)

 

Everything that is bad has been laid against me this summer, there is nothing of it true… Had I wanted war, I would not be here now. I should be on the prairie. You did not catch me. I gave myself up. You have got me because I wanted justice. Pîtikwahanapiwiyin (Poundmaker) 

(See Pîtikwahanapiwiyin, Wikipedia.)

Amerindians and the North-West Rebellion

  • Poundmaker
  • Big Bear
  • Etc.

Amerindians (North-American “Indians”) participated in the North-West Rebellion. Pîtikwahanapiwiyin is Poundmaker and Mistahimaskwa, Big Bear (Gros Ours). Pîtikwahanapiwiyn surrendered to General Middleton at Fort Battleford. Mistahimaskwa surrendered at Fort Pitt. Kapapamahchakwew is Wandering Spirit (Esprit Errant).

Sources disagree on whether the Amerindians I have mentioned served a prison sentence or were hanged. I have read that many were hanged.

Gros Ours’ (Big Bear) statement is totally justifiable. As Joseph Boyden noted, all the Métis wanted was title to their land, their rectangular lots abutting a river. This is how Métis and the whites had lived from the time the fur trade began, or from the 17th  century until the 19th century and Confederation (1867), or the purchase of Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company, by the Dominion of Canada in 1869. The Hudson’s Bay Company fought the North West Company until 1821, but the Earl of Selkirk had settled the Red River Colony (1812) in a manner that was acceptable to its inhabitants, diverse as they were.

Moreover, although Amerindians had been conquered, they had been free to roam their land since Jacques Cartier claimed Canada for France, in 1534, until 1763, when Nouvelle France was ceded to England. French settlers had married Amerindian women when the number of European women in Nouvelle-France was much lower than the number of European men. (See King’s Daughters, Wikipedia.) The King’s Daughters, 800 women, arrived between 1663 and 1670. Sixty years are a long time.

The Iroquois often attacked the French settlers. They also tortured and killed missionaries (see Canadian Martyrs, Wikipedia), but other tribes, the Algonquian tribes, the Abenakis especially, were friendly tribes. Many Quebecers have Amerindian ancestry. However, it is difficult for Québécois-es to be recognized as Métis. Métis are the descendants of persons involved in the fur trade.

1755_Bellin_Map_of_the_Great_Lakes_-_Geographicus_-_GreatLakes-bellin-1755
Pays d’en Haut New France on a map by Jacques Nicholas Bellin in 1755. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Conclusion

  • Royal Proclamation of 1763
  • Quebec Act of 1774
  • Official Languages Act of 1969
  • Constitution Act of 1982

To a certain extent, Confederation was a mixed blessing. It created a Canada that would stretch from coast to coast, which all Canadians enjoy, but Confederation happened at a cost, as did colonialism in general.

  • Amerindians would be sent to Indian Reserves and their children were forced to enter Residential Schools,
  • Métis who had no title to their lots, lost their land and they had no status,
    and,
  • the execution of Louis Riel alienated the French-speaking citizens of Québec. Quebec was one of the four provinces that joined Confederation in 1867. They believed they would be able to live and maintain their culture in Quebec and outside Quebec. However, William McDougall and Orangemen were anti-Catholic, anti-French, and racist.

In other words, when provinces joined the Confederation, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 was brushed aside and so was the Quebec Act of 1774. Canada has been officially bilingual since it passed the Official Languages Act of 1969. As for the rights of Métis, they were not recognized until the Constitution Act of 1982, otherwise known as the “patriated” constitution, which Quebec has not signed.

I will not discuss what I would call the “Amerindian question.” It is an extremely complex issue.

—ooo—

I reset my computer successfully. As for my diagnostic, it cannot be established with certainty. Mild cognitive impairment is a symptom of chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), which has bedevilled me for decades. In other words, all is well.

Love to everyone ♥

RELATED ARTICLES

  • Journeys into Canada
  • Residential Schools for Canada’s Amerindians (21 May 2015)

Sources and Resources

  • Carte de l’Amérique septentrionale;
  • Gabriel Dumont (biography), Virtual Museum of Canada;
  • Gabriel Dumont serves as Louis Riel’s Chief Military Officer, Stories and Innovation.ca; (map) ←
  • Denis Combet, Gabriel Dumont, the Last of Great Métis Leaders, Encyclopedia of French Cultural Heritage in North America;
  • Louis Riel Stuff you missed in history class;
  • British Columbia Entering Confederation, A People’s History, CBC.ca;
  • The North West Rebellion, Anger in the West, A People’s History, CBC.ca;
  • North-West Résistance: Chronology of Events, University of Saskatchewan;
  • Canada’s Human Rights History;
  • Joseph Boyden “Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont.” Penguin Canada. 2010;
  • Ô Canada! mon pays! mes amours! The Canadian Encyclopedia;
  • Ô Canada! mon pays! mes amours! Wikipedia (words).

Ô Canada! mon pays! mes amours! chant patriotique canadien-français
words by George-Étienne Cartier; music by Jean-Baptiste Labelle
(Cartier’s Canada could be Quebec)

Sir_George_Etienne_Cartier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
12 May 2018
WordPress

 

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Gabriel Dumont, a Métis Leader

10 Thursday May 2018

Posted by michelinewalker in Aboriginals, Canada, Métis

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Alexis André, Bison exterminated, British Columbia enters Confederation, Gabriel Dumont, General Frederick Middleton, Joseph Boyden, Louis Riel, The Battle of Batoche, The North-West Mounted Police, The Railroad

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Gabriel Dumont, resistance fighter
Gabriel Dumont was a man of great chivalry and military skill, superbly adapted to the presettlement prairie life (courtesy Glenbow Archives). (Photo credit: The Canadian Encyclopedia)

We do not require a long post on Gabriel Dumont (1837 – 1906), not at this point. A synopsis will suffice.

Dumont, the Bison Hunter

What we need to know is that Dumont was famous as a bison hunter. “In the 1860s, Gabriel was the chief of the Métis bison hunters and commanded approximately 200 hunters.” (Virtual Museum of Canada). As noted in the caption above, below his photograph, he was “superbly adapted to the presettlement prairie life.” His life gives us an insight into the life of Métis before the bison disappeared. The bison/buffalo fed the Métis, prairie Amerindians (North-American Indians), and voyageurs.

I should also point out that Dumont was among the Métis who left the former Red River Colony at the time of the Red River Rebellion, hoping Métis could settle on river lots further west, in Saskatchewan or Alberta. They did, briefly. Gabriel Dumont operated a ferry service, “Gabriel’s Crossing,” and opened a General Store with a billiard table, on the South Saskatchewan River.

Father Alexis André

Once Métis arrived, so did a priest. Father Alexis André (1832 – 1893), an Oblate born in France, would minister to the Métis who had left the Red River. He helped Gabriel Dumont form a Provisional Government for the community he was founding, Saint-Laurent de Grandin. As you know, Gabriel Dumont, a linguist, could not write.

At times, Father André was a spokesman for Métis. For instance, he feared for their well-being as he saw the bison disappear. Father André and North-West Mounted Police commissioner George Arthur French  “urged the federal government to exercise tighter control over these hunts so as to prevent the extermination of the bison.” (See Alexis André, Dictionary of Canadian Biography.) But the federal government had turned its back on petitions, which is why Gabriel Dumont sought Louis Riel’s assistance. Louis Riel was well educated and possessed charisma.

Louis Riel returns

Dumont is, in fact, best remembered for going to Montana to ask for Louis Riel’s help. Therefore, the two figures are inextricably linked. Riel was to be the political leader of the North-West Rebellion and Gabriel Dumont, its military leader.

But the Canadian government was pushing its way west not realizing that Métis and Amerindians could remain on their rectangular lots abutting a river. Petitions went unanswered. So, blood was shed. At the Battle of Batoche (9 – 12 May 1885), 250 Métis fought Major-General Frederick Middleton’s superior force of 916 regulars and militia. Dumont escaped, but, on 15 May 1885, Louis Riel surrendered. (See The Battle of Batoche, Wikipedia.)

Father André also tended to the spiritual needs of Louis Riel during the period Riel awaited his execution. Father André believed Riel was insane, but Riel left a good impression on Father André.

The priest spent hours in conversation with the Métis leader and was impressed with Riel’s sincerity, yet convinced of his insanity.

(See Alexis André, The Dictionary of Canadian Biography.)

Joseph Boyden on Riel and Dumont

Writer Joseph Boyden published Extraordinary Canadians, Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont, a fine book on Riel and Dumont. The video below (click on the link) is short, but very informative.

Joseph-Boyden-on-Louis-Riel-and-Gabriel-Dumont-600x313

http://nationtalk.ca/story/featured-video-of-the-day-joseph-boyden-on-louis-riel-and-gabriel-dumont

A Mari usque ad Mare

As we know, moving west was a mere respite for Métis and the indigenous people of the Prairie Provinces. On 20 July 1871, a year after Manitoba entered Confederation, British Columbia also joined. A dream came true. Canada stretched from sea to sea: A Mari usque ad Mare. The people of British Columbia wanted a wagon road built between Lake Superior and the Pacific Ocean, but Cartier offered a railway instead. Construction would begin without two years and be completed in ten years. Cartier/Canada also agreed to take over the colony’s considerable debt of almost $1.5 million and provide an annual subsidy of $216,000.

(See British Columbia Entering Confederation, A People’s History, CBC.ca.)

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Hoping to attract white settlers to B.C., land commissioner Joseph Trutch refused to recognize Indian land rights in the 1860s. (Courtesy of the National Archives of Canada) (Photo credit: CBC.ca)

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During the 1860s, B.C. refused to recognize Indian land titles and often usurped Indian land and gave it to speculators and settlers. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress) (Photo credit: CBC.ca)

Conclusion, later…

I will not conclude at this point, because my computer no longer works properly.  It has to be repaired. Something went wrong.

https://www.amazon.ca/Extraordinary-Canadians-Gabriel-Penguin-Biography/dp/01430

http://nationtalk.ca/story/featured-video-of-the-day-joseph-boyden-on-louis-riel-and-gabriel-dumont (VIDEO)

© Micheline Walker
10 May 2018
WordPress

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