Yale University library II III iiiii <" 39002005155685 ^* f^x mmm YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Major-General F. D. Middletox, C. !'¦ , Commander of the Canadian Miiitia. THE HISTORY op THE NORTH-WEST REBELLION O^' 1885. COMPEISINQ A PUIiL AND HTPABTIAL ACCOUNT OT THE OEIGIN AND PEOGEESS OF THE WAE, OP THE VAEIOUS ENGAGE MENTS WITH THE INDIANS AND HALF-BKEEDS, OF THE HEBOIC DEEDS PEEFOEMED BT OFFICERS AND MEN, AND OF TOUCHING SCENES IN THE Field, the camp, and the cabin; INCLUDING A HI8T0BY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH- WESTERN CANADA, THEIR NUMBERS, MODES OF LIVINO, HABITS, CUSTOMS, RELIGIOUS RITES AND CEREMONIES, V?ITH THRILLING NARRATIVES OP CAPTURES, IMPRISON MENT, MASSACRES, AND HAIE-BBEADTH ESCAPES OF WHITE SETTLERS, ETC. BY CHARLES PELHAM MULVANEY, A.M., M.D., Formerly of No. 1 Company, Queen's Own Bifles, author of " History of the County of Brant,'* " History of Liberalism," etc.. assisted by a ¦well-known jourtialist. TWELFTH THOUSAND. Illustrated with portraits of distinguished officers and men, maps, diagrams and engravings. TOEONTO, ONT.: PUBLISHED BT A. H. HOVET & CO., 10 KING STEEET EAST. 1886. Entered according to the Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-five, by Aiebet Hsnbt Hovet, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. DeSlcation. TO THE OFFICERS AND MEN OP THE CANADIAN VOLUNTEERS THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BT THE AUTHOR AND PUBLISHERS. LIST OF 63 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAOB Major-General F. D. Middleton, C. B Frontispiece. Lieut. -Col. A. A. Miller, Q.O.II 19 Louis Eiel 25 Fort Carleton 30 Major L. H. N. Crozier 31 Lieut.-Col. A. G. Irvine, N.-W.M.P, 45 Lord Melgund 65 Major Laurence Buchau . 66 Lieut.-Col. W. D. Otter 100 Map of Battleford. 106 Francis J. Dickens, N.-W.M.P 116 Plan of Fort Pitt 117 Hon. Edgar Dewdney 119 Piapot, Chief of the South Crees. 120 Capt. Charles Swinford 139 Col. W. M. Herchmer, N.-W.M.P 158 Geo. B. Cooper, Colour-Sergeant 167 Herbert Foulkes (Brigade Bugler) ; Capt. E. J. Brown 170, 185 Poundmaker 186 Mapof "Batoche," " Duck Lake " and "Fish Creek." 195 Capt. James Mason (Grenadiers) 213 Lieut.-Col. Van Straubenzie 222 Lieut. W. C. Fitch 235 Thomas Moor 237 Bugler Gaughan 241 Alexander Watson. , 242 Franklin Jackes 244 Lieut. A. L. Howard, in Command of Gatling Gun. 246 Lieut. A. M. Irving 257 Lieut.-Col. A. T. H. Williams, M.P 260 Lieut.-Col. H. J. Grasett 262 Major D. H. AUan, Q.O.K 274 Adjutant J. M. Delamere 287 Gatling Gun (four illustrations) 297, 298, 301, 304 Staff Sergeant Walker ' 371 Lieut.-Col. W. E. O'Brien, M.P '.'.'.'.'.'. 375 Gabriel Dumont, (f uU length portrait) , ,'.'.'.. 382 Sir John A. Macdonald 391 General Strange .' .' ' ' 394 Colonel James McLeod (Stipendiary Magistrate) 396 Father Lecombe : '. 397 Big Bear '_[['_ 399 Map of Frog Lake Massacre and Surroundings ; Mr. Dill 402 Lieut.-Col. Bremner and Major Welsh [[[ 4O9 Capt. James Peters , ' 4]^0 Inspector Joseph Howe ^j^ Capt. C. W. Drury '.]'][.'.['.'.'. 412 Col. MamiseU, 415 ; Col. Blaine, 416 ; Col. Morris ' 417 Gunner Walter Woodman 421 Christopher Robinson, Q.C., Crown Counsel in Biel's Triaj 424 6. W. Burbidge, _ " •' ¦;;.".¦; 425 F. X. Lemieux, Q.C., Biel's Counsel 42(j Catavloi FH^Mnbk, M. A., 430 ; Judge SJohardsoa i3i PREFACE, The building-up of a nation is not a mere effort of will on the part of an individual or a people. A people or an indi vidual may have much to do with shaping the destinies of a country, but when the events which constitute the salient points in the history of that country come to be viewed from the somewhat elevated standpoint which he who would write a history must necessarily occupy in order that his vision may have scope sufficient to include everything bearing on the situ ation, those actors who in the bustle of " history-making '' tower in magnitude and importance as primary causes, suddenly dwindle into "temporary agents," "creatures of circumstance," " mere puppets," moved and controlled by some unseen and unknown power, be it Providence, Destiny or Fate. But while the acts of one agent fit into those of another in making a history which so rises in importance and far-reaching effects as to dwarf the men who made its integral parts, we must not forget to hold each man morally responsible for his acts. An over-ruling Power may so control the acts of individuals as to cause good to result where only greed or selfish ambition prompted, but this must not blind us_^ to the moral responsi bility of the actors, who must be judged only by the motives which actuated them. To-day Canada has just shaken herself free from the clutches of Rebellion, which at one time threatened to bring with her her sisters Anarchy and Revolution. Somebody is to blame for all this, and if the reader after scanning the evidence as to the causes of the rebellion chooses to call prominent men by hard names, we cannot help it. It is not our business to call harsh names nor to judge our neighbours. It is ours to state the VI. PREFACE. facts as they are to be found, and leave to the people of Canada the exercise of judicial functions in this matter. We shall tell the truth regardless as to whom we shall hit and wholly indif ferent as to both the great political parties who jointly control the destinies of this country. When the arm of Rebellion had been raised and loyal citizens and Mounted Police shot down for striving to vindicate Canadian authority, it was not for us as Canadians to ask whether the rebels had any right on their side or not. Our National integ rity had been assailed, our National honour had been threatened, and it only remained for our citizen-soldiers to draw the sword in' their defence. How this has been done, and with what glorious results, it is for these pages to tell. What our future may be no one knows, but the immediate result of this rebellion has been that Canada has proved herself abundantly able to take care of herself. Her volunteers and her little handful of regulars have been pitted against a foe, as brave, as adroit, and as experienced in the hardships, perils and horrors of frontier warfare as can be found under the sun, and after meeting with a desperate and stubborn resistance our gallant fellows have triumphed brilliantly ; but it is a costly and blood-bought victory. The mighty unseen force that makes history has pushed us one stage further on in our National development, and it is fitting that some land mark should be fixed fo note our progress. With such materials as are now available, and with a fairly accurate and comprehensive knowledge of the North-West to help us, we shall try faithfully, fearlessly and conscientiously to mark this important stride that has just been made in our National history. The Author. CONTENTS. CHAPTER. PAGB. I. To Arms — The Call and the Response 17 II. Prelude to the Insurrection — The Hudson Bay Company — The Indians — The Half-breeds— The Buffa,lo 20 III. Louis Eiel — His first Insurrection — His Bill of Rights of 1870 and of 1885 25 IV. The Duck Lake Fight— How the Police and Prince Albert Volunteers Fought and Fell 27 V. After the Battle — Retreating to Prince Albert — Burying the Dead 44 VI. The Indian Tribes of Manitoba and the North-West — Their Numbers, Condition, etc 50 VII. Sketches of the Lives of General Middleton and Stafi' — Lord Melgund and Major Buchan 63 VIII. Canada's Soldiers to the Front — "Our Boys in the North-West Away." 68 IX. The War Cloud Bursts on Battleford 75 X. On Guard at Prince Albert — The Grievances of Settlers — Description of Country 76 XI. The Siege of Battleford— The Murder of Payne- Flight of Judge Rouleau and Applegarth — Major Walsh gives his Views 80 XII. The Frog Lake Massacre 89 XIII. Otter's March to Battleford— Relief of the Besieged Town — Houses Burned and Sacked — The Finding of Payne'sBody 100 XIV. General Middleton's Advance — Waiting for Supplies and Reinforcements 114 XV. The Fall of Fort Pitt — Gallant Defence by Inspector Dickens — Fort Pitt before its FaU — Big Bear — Dewdney — Pi-a-pot — Big Bear's Prisoners 115 XVL The Battle of Fish Creek— The Killed and Wounded— After the Battle — General Middleton's Letter — In Memoriam 126 via. CONTENTS. OHAPTBR. PAOB. XVII. Battle of Cut Knife Creek — Origin of the Name — Who took Part in it — Colonel Herchmer — The Killed and Wounded 156 XVm. Poundmaker — Lord Lome Visits him 186 XIX. Battle of Batoche's Ferry— The Killed and Wounded — Some of the Heroes — Thrilling Incidents — The Man with the Gatling Gun — " Shot Through the Heart "—"Victory at Batoche " 193 XX. Recollections of Batoche's Ferry — After the Battle — Colonel Williams of the Midland — Who led the Charge ? — Description of the Rifle Pits 251 XXI. The Prisoners and the Vanquished — Half-breed Discipline — Terror anfl Sufierings of the Rebels — Touching Scenes 271 XXII. The Gatling Gun Described and Illustrated 299 ^^"^rTT Poundmaker Heard From — General Middleton's Interview with the Cree Chief Beardy — Riel Captured — His Wonderful Influence — Our Volun teers 307 XXIV. Prince Albert — Colonel Irvine Explains — A Tribute to the Mounted Police— " The Riders of the Plains" — A Letter from Poundmaker — Journey to Battleford 334 XXV. At Battleford with Middleton — Life in the Town during Rebellion — Indian Cunning and War Craft — He is not Brave 361 XXVI- Poundmaker and Middleton — An Interesting Inter view 384 XXVII. General Strange's Column — Colonel McLeod — Father Lecombe — Big Bear Surrenders — The Stories of Mrs. Delaney and Mrs. Gowanlock 394 XXVIIL Martial Ardour in the Maritime Provinces — Return of the Troops 408 XXIX. Riel's Trial— Those Engaged in it, etc 415 The Troops in the Field 421 THE History of the North -West Rebellion CHAPTER I, "TO arms!" AT eleven o'clock on the night of March the 27th the citizens of every city in Canada, from Halifax to Victoria, were startled by the tidings that armed rebellion had broken oat in the Prince Albert region of the North-West, that the loyal forces under Major Crozier had been fired upon by rebel Half-breeds, and that two of the Mounted Police and ten Prince Albert Volun teers had been killed, while eleven more of the loyalists had been wounded. The response of every city in the Dominion was an instantaneous call to arms. It was immediately and uni versally responded to by the armed youth and manhood of our country. Emerson's noble verses received that night a new illustration : — So near is grandeur to our dust, So close is God to man, When duty whispered low " thou must," The youth replied " I can." Early on the next morning the peaceful slumbers of the inhabitants of Quebec, Kingston, and Toronto were broken by bugle calls and the unwonted sound of mili tary preparation. At eleven o'clock the night before tele grams had been received from Ottawa to the effect that the fight had taken place, and that the Quebec and Kingston batteries of field artillery, and contingents from 18 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. the Toronto Queen's Own, Royal Grenadiers, and.C Com pany Infantry (regulars) were to be called out at once for active service. Small rest that night in the usually tranquil streets of the cities of Champlain and Frontenac ! Even in ever-busy Toronto, the streets were unusually crowded by uniformed men hurrying to drill shed and armoury, and by officers driving about all through the night to seek out the members of the different companies and warn them of the parade next morning. The Queen's Own were to parade at the drill shed at 9 a.m., the Gren adiers at the armoury at 8 a.m. At the New Fort all was activity ; the men, sleepless with excitement, were cleaning arms and accoutrements. At a little table Colonel Miller and Adjutant Delamere sat arranging the details and writing the orders and despatches necessary for such a hasty call to arms. At Quebec, Colonel Cotton had been ordered by telegram to prepare Battery A and one hundred men for immediate departure to the North- West. At Kingston, in the barrack-yard, where stands the last vestige of a bastion of the fort named after the heroic Frontenac, the well-trained little corps of the Field Battery rejoiced at an opportunity of exercising the discipline in which they had been so long practised against the enemies of Canada. With the morning of Saturday the 28th the gen eral public learned with astonishment the sudden news of the rebellion against Canada. Some rumours then had been afloat for a week previously in the newspa pers of disaflection and discontent among the Half- breeds and of meetings held by Riel. But the Half-breeds are alwaya discontented ; as " Sir .John " had said in Par liament, " if you wait for a Half-breed or an Indian to be come contented, you may wait till the millennium." But here was bona fide intelligence endorsed by the Federal Government at Ottawa, that a secessionist rebellion against the Canadian Confederation had actually broken out, the first battle had been fought and lost by the loyal forces, and that the scattered settlements were exposed almost undefended to the horrors of Indian warfare. "TO ARMS." 19 Such were the rumours which that Saturday the 28th of March made the theme of conversation with excited groups in every city and town, nay, in every backwoods village in Canada. Happy were they who belonged to a volunteer company, even although not at once called on COLONEL MILLBB, Q.O.B. for service ; happiest of all those on whom the lot had fallen to belong to the contingent ordered to the front in the North-West. In Toronto the volunteers met on parade in busbies, great coats, and leggings, not an available man was 20 Canada's north-west rebellion. absent, all met in the spirit of what Colonel Miller had said the night before : " I don't care who a man is, or what he is doing, but I want every man in the regiment to be under arms and ready ! " The Royal Grenadiers showed equal alacrity. With all the struggle was as to who should be accepted as one of the contingent of two hundred and forty men to be drafted out of the two Toronto battalions. On Sunday the martial excitement continued. Even in douce Sabbath -keeping Toronto, Sunday editions of the Mail, World, News, and Telegram, were published with what purported to be "intelligence" from the seat of war. The churches assumed a martial aspect, the pews ever and anon displaying the scarlet uniform of the Grenadiers, and the dark green of the rifle corps. In many a household sad and excited groups gathered round the gallant soldier boy on whom the lot had fallen to go to the seat of war : excited as they thought of the glory of fighting in the cause of Canada, sad as they felt that this might be the last Sunday they were to pass together. For with all abhorrence for the mischievous alarmists who invariably make the most of such a crisis, there were serious grounds for apprehension. The blow of secession had been struck at the life of our Confederation ; the Half-breeds and Indians were dangerous foes ; already in the first skirmish defeat had been sustained by a Cana dian force, and more life lost than had been lost by Canada in the fighting of 1837, or the Fenian raids of 1866 and 1870. CHAPTER II. , THE PRELUDE OF INSURRECTION. THE real course of the events which gave rise to these military preparations was as follows : — As far back as the summer of 1884, it was known to the Ottawa Government and to those connected with the North-West Territories, that grave dissatisfaction, nay positive disaffection, existed among the Half-breeds. THE PRELUDE OF INSURRECTION. 21 The Half-breed population had been in process of growth ever since the Hudson's Bay Company received its charter. This nominally English company was, to a great ex tent, served by French cov/reurs de boia, officered by Scotchmen. The solitary life of the trading-post in the wilderness, with its sure provision for subsistence, its pension from the Hudson's Bay Company for old age, and its many casual opportunities for gain, were attraction enough to many a canny Scot. The French courev/r de hois, already half -Indian in blood and temperament, was the best servant the Company could possibly have secured for the fur trade of the sub- Arctic forests. The Spaniards made the Indians slaves, the British made them freemen, not as yet allowed the franchise, for which savage races are unfit, but protected by law ; but the French have intermarried with them and adopted their customs. The result has been a curious intermix ture of races. Captain Butler mentions as a case in point his Half- breed friend Batoche: "His grandfather had been a French- Canadian, his grandmother a Crow squaw ; English and Oree had contributed to his descent on the mother's side." —(Butler's Wild North Land, p. 46.) The Half-breeds by a very " natural " process of selection chose the hand somest and most vigorous squaws, they also escaped the curse of tribal intermarriage, which more than one factor of a Hudson ' Bay Company's fort has assured the writer is destined to cause the extinction of the North-West Indian. With the Half-breeds, even with many of Scotch descent, the language, manners and methods of surveying land for farms are French. So long as the Hudson Bay Company only had to do with the Indians of the Canadian North-West, they were not seriously demoralized. It is quite true that the Com pany made no attempt to civilize, enlighten or christian ize them ; while, on the other hand, they were rather inclined to encourage feuds between the Crees and Black- feet, as both bought ammunition at ruinous prices during 22 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. these wars, while these dissensions among the tribes rendered anything like a successful attack upon tho Com pany's stores out of the question. Should the Blackfeet threaten, the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company would call to their assistance the Crees ; thus it was easy for the great fur traders to retain the balance of power and the friendship of the tribes with a comparatively small force. As Dakota and Montana began tc be opened up for settlement, American traders, who make it their business to keep " on the frontier," pushed their way into British territory and soon began to sell whiskey to the Cree and Blackfeet tribes. Thousands of gallons are estimated to have been sold to the Blackfeet hunters at a price of a pint of whiskey for a buffalo robe ! When the Yankefe smuggler arrived in a Blackfeet camp the scene of grotesque horror, and damage to life, probably surpassed any spectacle of human degradation brought about by Man's greatest enemy, the " enemy put in the mouth to take away the reason " ! The smuggler's appearance with his gaudy canteen gave the signal for the liquor feast. The smuggler roamed triumphant through the camp, selecting everywhere the finest robes at will, and after getting rid of his stock of liquid devilry would im mediately drive away to escape the danger of the scene certain to follow. Then began the liquor feast. It lasted sometimes for days. The braves, old and young, drank greedily the undiluted firewater. The women and the young girls drank as eagerly as the men. The young bucks, the vanity and ferocity of their savage natures excited by the strong drink, stalked through camp bran dishing hunting knives or parading with careless osten tation revolvers and guns ready to challenge, shoot or stab their best friends. The horrors of this whiskey traffic rendered it necessary that its originators should be driven out of the country as speedily as possible, and for this purpose the North-West Mounted police force was or ganized and sent into the country. Of course settlement followed the advent of the police, and with the advance of the settlers the buffalo, the mainstay of the Indian, THB PRELUDE OF INSURRECTION. 23 his strength and his wealth, suddenly left the territory ; and then the condition of the Half-breed and the Indian was changed for the worse. In the old times millions of buffalo roamed the great plains, not only between the North Saskatchewan and the 49th parallel but away north of the great river. In those times it was not a matter of unusual occurrence for an outfit of carts to be compelled to camp for from half-a- day to a day and a-half to allow a herd of buffalo to troop past. At such times one might stand on an emin ence and for a belt many miles wide and as far in the direction whence the herd was advancing as the eye could reach, the prairie would be hidden by the vast, black, moving mass. And when such a herd had passed no running fire would leave the prairie more dry, dusty and destitute of grass. It is no wonder that when following the trails of such great bands Capt. Pallissier pronounced many of the best portions of the North-West arid, sterile deserts. In those days what was to them practically limitless wealth was within the reach of the Indians and Half- breeds and, as might have been expected, they were nearly all improvident. Close upon the advent of any thing in the shape of white settlement came the hard times incident to the departure of the buffalo, and it is not to be wondered at that the natives of the North- West, whether Indian or Half-breed, should not look upon the advancement of white immigration with any especial favour. The Half-breeds settled around Qu'Appelle and the Saskatchewan had learned to dread the conditions and methods of land settlement imposed on them from Ottawa. They especially dreaded being compelled io change the location of their farms which had been sur veyed on the old French methods of delimitation, for square blocks according to the new survey. With or without reason, they distrusted Lieut.-Governor Dewdney ; they looked with fear and hatred on the clique of land speculators which was so infiuential with those who con trolled the allotment of lands. For these reasons they 24 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. were thoroughly saturated with disaffection to the Ottawa government. This was remarked by Colonel Houghton, D.A.G., when, in June, 1884, he visited the Saskatchewan settle ments in order to remove the arms and ammunition from Fort Carleton and Prince Albert, a step the unwisdom of which this experienced soldier clearly saw. The Half-breeds and Indians naturally looked to Louis Riel to secure for them the same privileges which they believed him to have won for the Half-breeds of Manitoba. They knew that Riel had held his own against two suc cessive governments representing the two great parties of Canada. An armed rebellion and a judicial murder had been condoned in the teeth of exa,?;perated public opinion ; the French vote had supported Riel through everything, the Half-breeds of Manitoba had received what they most wished for : patents for their farms. Clearly, therefore, Riel was their best leader ; they invited him to visit their settlements ; during the long winter of 1884-1885 he was assiduously engaged in the work of agitation; all peaceful and constitutional means, he told them in a speech delivered at the Catholic church of Batoche, two days before the rising, had been tried and with no hope of redress : and when at length came the news that Eng land was likely to be engaged in a Russian war, he openly preached rebellion. To comprehend the secret of Riel's all-powerful influence with his compatriots, it may be well to take a brief survey of his career previous to the rising inaugurated in March, 1885. LOUIS KIKL, FBOM A PORTRAIT OF FIVE TEARS AOO. CHAPTER III. SKETCH OF LOUIS RIEL LOUIS RIEL was born at the town of St. Boniface, on the west branch of the Seine River. Riel's father was a white, of pure Scandinavian origin, his mother a Half-breed ; he was descended from a very mixed stock of Indians, Half-breeds and Irish whites. He was born in a small log-house, of the most primitive backwoods shanty pattern. It was thatched with straw, was one storey high, and contained but one room. As a boy Riel was known for his activity and bodily strength ; he was a skilful hunter and marksman, and at school was already the recognized leader among his schoolmates, among whom he sought to gain influence by every means in his power. In order to effect this he was known frequently to share 26 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. or give away his dinner to a poorer fellow-student. Like all of French descent, young Riel was deeply attached to his parents. Once a boy, who had some quarrel with him, challenged him to fight. Riel refused unless his father would sanction it. He was eight years old when he first attended school at St. Boniface College, now St. Boniface Town Hall, and at eleven was transferred to the Jesuit College, Montreal. He bore the reputation of being an apt scholar, and learned to read, write and speak English remarkably well. In 1866, Riel returned to St. Vital, Manitoba, where his parents lived, and where his mother now resides. At St. Vital, Riel lived as a farmer, and sought every means of gaining influence among the Half-breeds of Manitoba, whose minds he inflamed by dwelling on their grievances. This is not the place to recount the events of the rebellion of 1869, in which Riel was chosen leader. In passing, notice may be taken of the many recklessly-false tales set forth, as to Riel's career by writers who get up what pur port to be " histories," on the plan of the dime novel. One .such writer informs his readers that the reason Riel had for the Scott murder was that both were in love with the same girl. As a matter of fact, Riel could never have seen the young lady on whom Scott's affections were placed, who lived, or still lives, in a city of Ontario never visited by Riel. After the collapse of his first fiasco of revolt, Riel travelled a good deal, both in Canada and the United States. He spent much time in Washington, and at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, at the house of his aunt) Mrs. Joyce, mother of Mr. Joyce, formerly chief of police at St. Boniface. In 1879 he settled for a time in Montana, in the Sun River settlement, where he married a French Half-breed named Marguerite Bellimeure, of Fort Ell ice. Riel at this time acted as teacher in an Industrial School. He was very poor, and eked out his means by buffalo- hunting, at which he was expert. When the North-West Half-breeds asked him to lead them as ' e had led them in Manitoba, he at first refused, saying that he was an American citizen, and wished to 8KETCH OF LOUIS RIEL. 27 have no more to do with Canadian troubles, but their entreaties prevailed on him to consent. Riel is a total abstainer, can speak French, English, and four Indian languages. He speaks slowlj', deliber ately, and with effect. He is strong, of fair stature, square- shouldered, with features of greater mobility and expres sion than most half -Indians. At a meeting of the Half-breeds in September, 1884, the following Bill of Rights was adopted, on Riel's sug gestion : — BILL OF RIGHTS OF 1885.* First, the sub-division into Provinces of the North- West Territories. * It may interest the reader to compare with this the Half-breed Bill of Rights of 1870 :— L The right to elect our own Legislature. 2. The Legislature to have power to pass all laws local to the Territory over the veto of the Executive, by a two-thirds vote. 3. No Act of the Dominion Parliament (local to the Territory) to be binding on the people until sanctioned by their representatives. 4. All sheriffs, magistrates, constables, etc. , etc. , to be elected by the people ; a free homestead pre-emption law. 5. A portion of the public lands to be appropriated to the benefit ot schools, the building of roads, bridges, aud parish buildings. 6. A guarantee to connect Winnipeg by rail with the nearest line of railroad — the land grant for such road or roads to be subject to the Legisla. ture of the Territory. 7. For four years the public expenses of the Territory, civil, military and municipal, to be paid out of the Dominion treasury. 8. The military to be composed of the people now existing in the Ter ritory. 9. The French and English languages to be common in the Legislature aud Council, and all public documents and Acts of the Legislature to be published in both languages. 10. That the judge of the Superior Court speak French and English. 11. Treaties to be concluded and ratified between the Government and several tribes of Indians of this Territory, calculated to insure peace iu the future. 12. That all privileges, customs aud usages existing at the time of the transfer be respected. 13. That these rights be guaranteed by Mr. Macdougall before he be admitted into this Territory. 14. If he have not the power himself to grant them, he must get an Act of Parliament passed expressly securing us these rights ; and until such Act be obtained he must stay outside the Territory. 15. That we have a fuU and fair representation in, the Dominion Government. 28 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. Second, the Half-breeds to receive the same grants and other advantages as the Manitoba Half-breeds. Third, pat&nts to be issued at once to the Colonists in possession. Fourth, the sale of half-a-million acres of Dominion lands, the proceeds to be applied to the establishment in the Halt-breed settlements of schools, hospitals and such like institutions, and to the equipment of the poorer Half- breeds with seed grain and implements. Fifth, the reservation of a hundred townships of swamp land for distribution among the children of Half- breeds during the next 120 years. Sixth, a grant of at least $1,000 for the maintenance of an institution to be conducted by the nuns in each Half-breed settlement. Seventh, better provision for the support of the Indians. It was forwarded to Ottawa, and contemptuously thrown aside. This was a fatal error in policy, which was yet to cost our country a heavy price in blood and treasure. The Half-breeds were doubtless justified in demanding patents for their farms,*and it was iniquitous, _as well as impolitic, to refuse this simple act of justice. Had the Half- breeds but felt secure that the farms they had by hard work reclaimed from the wilderness would be safe from the clutches of the land-grabber, there would have been no rebellion. The other demands were purely political, and were introduced by Riel himself in order to found an exclusively French Province in the North-West. To grant this would have been to repeat the lamentable error by which England at the Conquest perpetuated the French language, law, and religion, and established an island of mediaevalism and of alien race in the midst of the spread of English Canadian civilization. CHAPTER IV. THE DUCK LAKE DISASTER. ALL through the first week of March, insurrectionary movements took place. Stores belonging to the Hudson Bay Company and to the Government were seized, loyal settlers were compelled to surrender their arms and ammunition. The Indians were tampered with, and were observed to leave their reserves. Riel began the insurrection on March 17. He seized arms and ammunition at the store of John Keer, a mer chant settled at " Batoche's Crossing," a small village on the South Saskatchewan, a short distance from Fort Carlton. He also imprisoned Trees, a magistrate, and several loyal Canadians ; Keeley, a miller ; Nash, Tom- kins, Ross, a freighter, and others, in the house of one Cavan, at Batoche. He used the village church of Batoche as a store-house, and afterwards as a prison. The Half-breeds with Riel formed a Council of Twelve, of which Jackson, formerly a druggist from near Wingham, was the only member of pure white race. This man be came a convert to Catholicism just before the rising. The Council appointed captains of the Half-breed force, and placed guards on the trail from Clark's Crossing to Batoche, so as to intercept supplies. The first reports of the insurrection were hardly cred ited in Ontario and Quebec. So entirely was this the case that, when the Globe published an account of Riel's first movements of rebellion, the story was openly ridi culed as a device of party tactics ! But on the afternoon of March 23, Sir John Macdonald, in his place in Parlia ment, confirmed the news of the insurrection, and on Wednesday, March 25, the 90th Regiment of Rifles, under Colonel Naughton, with a portion of the Winnipeg Field Battery, left Winnipeg for Qu'Appelle, en route for the 30 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. neighbourhood of Batoche, where Riel's headquarters were, and where the Cree reserve, under a chief named Beardy, was of doubtful fidelity. He was a small-sized man, but crafty, and had given much trouble already to the authorities. But on Thursday, the 26th of March, Major Crozier, with a hundred men, set out from Fort Carleton to a vil lage near Duck Lake, in order to secure some provisions and supplies which lay at that place, and in danger, being undefended, of falling into the hands of Riel. Duck FORT CARLETON, THE HUDSON BAT POST ABANDONED BT COI. IRVINE AND AFTERWARDS BURMT. Lake, whose name has attained such a sinister import as that of the spot where flowed the first blood shed in the rebellion, is situated thirteen and a-half miles south east of Fort Carleton, and twelve miles from Gabriel's Crossing, on the South Branch of the Saskatchewan. The village near which the fight took place is called Stobart, after the founder of its first settlement, a mem ber of the firm of Stobart & Eden, of Winnipeg. It consists of nine long one-storey log buildings. It is fronted by an ornamental fence, and at the sides has a common snake fence. There is no stockade, nor any means of defence whatever. It is sometimes called Duck Lake Village, from a long, low, marshy sheet of THE DUCK LAKE DISASTER. 31 water which extends to the west of it. The Half-breeds had already visited Duck Lake Village, had seized some of the provisions and arms, and threatened the loyal inhabitants. Crozier had with him, besides his party of Mounted Police, a number of volunteers from Carlton, some of them mounted and others riding in waggons. When they approached the village they saw a body of some fiftv armed Half-breeds, apparently about to dispute their ad vance. A parley ensued with Gabriel Dumont, a Half- breed much in Riel's confidence, who was the daring and fiery leader of the rebels. During the parley a shot was fired, as far as the evidence has been obtained, it would seem from the loyalist side, and on Croziers orders. It seems that he thought the Half-breeds were about to sur round him. Some brisk firing ensued on both sides. 32 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. The Half-breeds, according to their custom, sought cover behind a number of bushes. Crozier's men did the same, and the combat was maintained for about forty minutes. Crozier, seeing that his men were getting the worst of it, and that the civilians in the sleighs were exposed to danger, gave the order to withdraw. In their retreat the loyalists suffered still more than during the fight. Gabriel Dumont's deadly skill with the rifie encouraged his men. The Half-breeds fired more than one volley, with what good aim the number of the killed as compared with the number wounded is a sufficient proof. The names of the twelve who were killed are as follow: Captain Morton, a farmer from Bruce, Ontario, and an efficient volunteer officer ; Wm. Napier, a law student of Prince Albert, late of Edinburgh, Scotland, nephew of Sir Charles Napier (strange that the kinsman of the victor of Meeanee should fall in an obscure skirmish in the wilderness) ; A. W. R. Merkley, formerly of Ottawa ; S. C. Elliott, son of Judge Elliott, of London, Ont.; R. Middleton and D. McKenzie, both natives of Prince Edward Island; Charles Hewitt, of Portage la Prairie ; Daniel McPhail, of Prince Albert ; Alex. Fisher, a young Englishman ; Wm. Baikie, an old Hudson Bay employ^ ; and Joseph Anderson, a loyal Half-breed. The wounded Prince Albert volunteers were Captain Moore, whose leg was broken ; Sergeant A. McNabb ; and Alex. S. Stewart. But two of the Mounted Police were killed, viz. : Constables T. G. Gibson and Geo. P. Arnold. The wounded Policemen were Inspector Joseph Howe, of St. John, N.B., of the gun detachment, nephew of the once all-powerful Hon. Joseph Howe, the Nova Scotia statesman ; Corporal Gilchrist ; and Con stables M. K. Garrett, J. J. Wood, Sidney F. Gordon, A. M. Smith and A. Miller. This melancholy list con tains the names of young men from almost every part of the Dominion : the Maritime Provinces, London, Kings ton, Ottawa, and the North-West settlements are repre sented as well as England, Scotland and Ireland. At this engagement the rebel force numbered two hundred, and their loss was six killed and three wounded. THE DUCK LAKE DISASTER. 33 The party of Half-breeds which fought at Duck Lake was in reality the advance guard of a much larger force with which Riel had intended to attack Fort Carlton. This he did not do, as Colonel Irvine had arrived with a larger force of Mounted Police and sleighs from Swift Current. He had eluded the Half-breeds who had gone to intercept him at the ford of the South Saskatchewan known as Gabriel's Crossing — where the shelving banks covered with trees would have given great advantage to an enemy — by marching to Clark's Crossing instead, and reached Fort Carleton with his force in good condition just after the Duck Lake fight. ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF THE DUCK LAKE FIGMT. A gentleman from Prince Albert cognizant of the circumstances preceding and attending the Duck Lake fight, furnishes the following : It will be recollected that the Half-breeds of Mani toba received a grant of land (240 acres to each), when the North-West was taken over by the Dominion. A number of Half-breeds were living outside of the present boundary of Manitoba, in this and other parts of the North- West Territory at that time, and though many years have passed since the transfer, and frequent peti tions have been sent to the Government, they have never yet received the grant of land bestowed on their brethren in Manitoba. Other grievances, such as want of ( representation in the Dominion Parliament, the numberj of Government nominees in the North-West Council, thei management of the public lands, and the inattention of! the Government to petitions and representations on local matters began, among the white settlers as well as the French Half-breeds, to create during the last year or two a good deal of irritation. The great amount of destitu tion in this district during the past year added keenness to the feelings of dissatisfaction and indignation. 2 34 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. In these circumstances the French Half-breeds sent to Montana a deputation to invite Riel, whose term of out lawry had expired, to visit Prince Albert settlement, and give to the French-speaking population his counsel and aid in obtaining what they desired from the Government. Riel, on his arrival, was gladly received by the French, and even by many of the Canadian settlers. The latter, when taunted about the indecency of countenancing or employing a man who had been denounced as a bandit and a murderer, vindicated their conduct by pointing to the action of the Government. They said Riel had paid the penalty which was thought sufficient for his former crime. Look how the Government neglect to give atten tion to our wants ! Petition after petition is pigeon-holed in an office at Ottawa and receives no further notice. These French people are entitled to their lands ; why should they be so long withheld by the Government ? We, too, as well as they, are entitled to redress of other griev ances. Perhaps, now that Riel is here, the Government may at last condescend to recognize our existence. At the public meeting which Riel addressed he spoke with great prudence and propriety, urged above all things unity of action, and proposed to seek redress only by constitutional measures. Some of the discontented Indians came even from great distances to visit Riel and his friends, and it was feared that he was tampering with them. A number of the settlers formed a union, and continued for months to act in concert with Riel, whose agitation they regarded as quite loyal and constitutional. After a time Riel began to urge that the Indian title to the North-West had never been extinguished ; that it was not with the Hudson's Bay Company, but with the Indians, the Half-breeds, and pioneer white settlers, to whom the country really belonged, that the Government had to deal. It is believed also that he was bent on claiming from the Government indemnity for personal losses, which he had sustained by the confiscation of property once belonging to him in Winnipeg, and which has increased enormously in value since the time of his The DUCK LAKE DISASTER, 35 banishment. It is almost certain that he began to put forth claims such as the white settlers could have no sympathy with, and the Dominion could not for a moment enter tain ; and unknown to the English-speaking part of the community a secret combination was formed to attempt to enforce their demands by illegal and violent means. Some say that Riel began to use stronger language only with the hope that he might be arrested on insufficient grounds, and thus excite public sympathy on behalf of himself and the movement of which he was the leader. The language used by him at some meetings came to the knowledge of the police and others. The Ministers of the Dominion were informed, it is said, that there was imminent danger of an outbreak, that the Indians — starv ing, mutinous, and some of them almost desperate — would fall in with Riel and the Half-breeds, and that the plunder and massacre of many of the white settlers at this remote point might be accomplished before assistance could be obtained from below. Prince Albert is separated from the 0. P. R. by an almost unbroken and unsettled prairie 250 miles wide. The journey cannot easily be made in less than a week, and an armed force carrying its own supplies would of course take longer time. Riel could in a few hours raise a force of several hundred Half-breeds and an unknown quantity of Indians. The Police force in the district was not very strong and stationed at a most inconvenient point. The white settlers were therefore, if he had preparations made for a rising, really at his mercy. Major Crozier, commanding the force at Carleton, sent word to Prince Albert that in the case of an actual out break he would like to be assured of assistance. A meeting was consequently held on Wednesday, the 18th of March, when, though most felt that the gravity of the situation had been exaggerated, it was determined that a company of volunteers should be formed to be ready for service when called on by the authorities. During the very time when this meeting was held, Riel, at a point some 40 miles off, was proving that the situation was 38 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. quite as grave as any one could desire. He, followed by a crowd of Half-breeds, seized the store of Walters & Baker, at Batoche, and launched out on that insane and reckless course which has already brought terrible disas ter to some, and must bring still more terrible disaster to many more. It may be well at this point, before sketching the succeeding course of events, to give an idea of the country and the localities afterwards to be referred to in the narrative. The North and South Branches of the Saskatchewan unite at a point about thirty miles east of Prince Albert, called the Forks of the River. The North Branch from the west approaches the South Branch flowing from the south at a point called "the Elbow," some 150 miles west of the Forks ; then the rivers run parallel to each other, but some twenty or thirty miles apart, first in a northerly and then in an easterly direction, to their point of union. About fifty miles from the Elbow, Carleton Fort is situ ated on the southern bank of the North Branch, and almost opposite to it, on the South Branch, there is a village called Batoche, which is the centre of the French Half-breed settlement. On the road from Batoche to Carleton, about four miles from the former and fifteen from the latter, is another small village, near an Indian reserve, called Duck Lake. The town of Prince Albert, the centre of the English-speaking population, is fifty miles east from Carleton and about forty miles north-east from Batoche, the roads from these two places converging at a point twenty miles from Prince Albert. At Carleton there are a few Half-breed settlers and only one or two white families. The fort, facing the river to the north but distant from it almost half-a-mile, is enclosed on the south by a semi-circle of hills, which are about two hundred feet high, and less than one hundred yards distant from the fort, and covered on the sides with brush and small trees. It is hardly possible to conceive a worse situation on which to locate a fort, and station a body of armed men. In case of an attack THE DUCK LAKE DISASTER. 37 in force not a man would be allowed to show his head outside of the enclosure; and even inside the whole square could be commanded from the hills, except the part under shelter of the buildings on one side. Besides the Police barracks the only building in the fort is the Hudson's Bay store. Your readers may judge of the wisdom which stationed the mass of the police force in such a gravel pit, forty or fifty miles from the settlement which it was meant to protect. Rumour has it -that the Dominion Government is guided in making its appoint ments and arrangements more by private infiuences than by concern for the safety or benefit of the general community. Passing such subjects, however, I now return to the outbreak of Wednesday, 18th March, at the Village of Batoche. On the afternoon of that day Riel, followed by two or three score of men, entered the shop of Walters & Baker and said: " Well, gentlemen, it has commenced." " What has commenced ? " said Mr. Walters. " Oh, this movement for the rights of the country." He then asked for arms and ammunition, and urged that they should be given up quietly, saying : " If we succeed our government will pay you in full, and even if we are defeated you will be indemnified by your own." Mr. Walters refused to give up the powder in his store and reached for a rifle hanging unloaded on the wall. He was immediately seized by a number of men, and, along with his clerk, was made prisoner. The store was then plundered, the Half-breeds clothing themselves with coats, boots, etc., from the store. All the freight as it passed from day to day through Batoche from Troy, was seized. Private parties obtained a receipt for the goods taken from them, but all Government and Hudson's Bay freight was at once confiscated. Intelligence of the outbreak did not reach Prince Albert until after midnight on Thursday. The telegraph line had been cut, all travel stopped, and the first news came from Major Crozier, at Carleton, to Major Moffat, who was, in charge of the few police in Prince Albert. Crozier recommended the enrolment of volunteers, and 38 Canada's north-west rebellion. urged that as many as possible should be sent to his assistance. H^e was able also to report that Colonel Irvine, with one hundred men and sixty horses, had already started from Troy for Prince Albert. At the public meeting hastily summoned to hear these despatches, it was strongly felt that it would be much better for Crozier to abandon Carleton, burning what he could not carry off, and concentrate all the forces in the district at a point where they could protect the whites. Riel could also march from Batoche on Prince Albert long before the force could reach it from Carleton, and could plunder the place if he chose. It was determined, how ever, to comply with the request of the Government officials, and Captain Moore, with forty-seven men, started for Carleton after midday, and reached it by 10 o'clock that night. An operator was sent across the prairie by a circuitous route to Humboldt, seventy miles south of Batoche, to telegraph to the East for assistance, and also to urge Colonel Irvine to advance with all haste. On Satur day Walters and his clerk, having been liberated by Riel, came to Prince Albert. They reported that they had been as well treated as could be expected amid the confusion _at Batoche, and that Riel held a number of prisoners there, whom he had seized on different pretexts. In his conversation he spoke confidently of obtaining possession of the country, and said that his government would give one -seventh of the land to the Indians, one-seventh to the Half-breeds and pioneer whites, a seventh to the churches and schools, and hold the rest for public pur poses. His force was supposed to consist of three hun dred Half-breeds and about one hundred and fifty Indians, armed with guns and rifles. During the next two or three days, though freight was still being seized as it arrived at Batoche, the feeling of alarm was gradually passing away. All sorts of rumours were abroad of English and French Half-breeds in the different settle ments offering their services to Riel, and of his intentions to attack Carleton and plunder Prince Albert. The arrival uf Irvine with his force was daily expected, and it was the duck lake disaster. 39 confidently hoped that when he and Crozier united, they, with the aid of the volunteers, would scatter tho rebels at the first touch, and that Riel and his leading followers would take to flight across the prairie. On Tuesday night Colonel Irvine with his troop, arrived quietly at 9 o'clock and was greeted with rousing cheers as he passed through the town. The Colonel assured representatives of the town who waited on him that he was more con cerned about the safety of the whites than about saving the solitary store and rotten fort at Carleton ; and that the great purpose of his mission would be kept in view in all his movements. On the nest day he rested his force, as for several days he had been making forced marches, and about twenty of his men were snow blind. On Thursday, 26th March, he left at 3 a.m. for Carleton, taking with him eighty police and thirty more volunteers from the town. The people of Prince Albert have reason to be congratulated on their courage and public spirit — having thus sent on two occasions about eighty ^men, the flower of their manhood and strength, to aid the Government forces at a distant point, and leaving their own town and people almost naked to the attack of the enemy. Col. Irvine reached Carleton on Thursday afternoon just in time to learn the great disaster which had occurred in its neighbourhood. To reach this properly it may be well to return to the departure of the first con tingent of volunteers on the previous Friday in compli ance with the entreaty of Major Crozier. Thos. McKay, one of our most infiuential citizens, had gone up with the company. He and his family are well known and much respected all over the district. On reaching Carleton he went on his own account to Batoche to interview the insurgents and use his influence to restore peace and order without further violence. He went in company with a Mr. Mitchell, the storekeeper at Duck Lake, who had come, bearing a message from Riel to Major Crozier, requiring his surrender. On reaching 40 Canada's north-west rebellion. Batoche Mr. McKay told everj'^ one that the complete overthrow of their movement was only a question of a short time, and that their only hope of safety was to be found in their immediate dispersal, and the surrender of the leaders of the movement, who must be dealt with and punished by the law. Riel, findinjy that some were con fessing that they had been forced reluctantly into the movement, had Mr. McKay brought before his council, , charging him with endangering the success of their cause by statements which he could prove to be false. Mr. McKay had assured them that all the white settlers were against them, and that the English Half-breeds would, at the least, remain neutral. Riel proposed to bring forward witnesses to prove the reverse. The council, however, agreed to liberate Mr. McKay, and as he departed an arrangement was made by Mr. Mitchell by which two from Carleton and two from Batoche should meet near Duck 'Lake to consider the possibility of a settlement. Captain Moore and Mr. McKay met the representatives from Duck Lake, Nolan and Lepine, on the following day. No terms could be made, as the insurgents demanded the surrender of Carleton and of all Crozier's forces, and McKay and Moore demanded the dispersal of the French and that their leaders should be given up. On Thursday morning, when Col. Irvine was on the way from Prince Albert to Carleton, it was thought advisable to send a party of sixteen police and volunteers with teams to Duck Lake to get supplies from the store, which, as far as known, had not yet been seized by Riel. Mr. McKay again led this party. On approaching a point about two miles from Duck Lake he was met by a force of twenty-five or thirty armed horsemen. Having told for what purpose he had come, he was insolently chal lenged to go and take the stores if he dared. Prudently declining this, he was asked to surrender his arms and party to the rebels. This, he firmly said, would never be done while they were alive. Then he was challenged to commence firing, his teams were knocked about, and the duck lake disaster. 41 several shots fired over their heads to provoke them. Mr. McKay and his men remained cool, with rifles in hand. At length he proposed that his party should return as they came, and warned the insurgents not to follow them as he could not answer for his men if molested by pursuit. On getting clear of the rebels he sent word by a patrol to Carleton of what had occurred and followed leisurely with his teams. When the news reached Carleton there was great excitement and indig nation. It was not supposed that a very large number of Riel's party could be at Duck Lake. It would even seem that some of the Prince Albert party brought pressure to bear upon the commanding officer not to bear the indignity put upon them. Perhaps some thought that the insurgents might be crushed at once, or at least the stores secured with ease. Major Crozier, as we need not wonder, seems to have hesitated to incur the respon sibility of attacking, when his commanding officer was, as he well knew, approaching and within a few hours' march. Volunteers, however, were called for, and on the point of starting, when McKay and the teams reached the fort. Again there was a slight hesitation, but finally sixty police and twenty-five volunteers were commanded to start. They took with them the only field-piece in their possession — a seven-pounder of brass, which had seen service with Napier at Magdala. On arriving at the place where the teams had been stopped in the morning the scouts were again chased in by twenty or thirty horsemen, foUowed by a body of men on foot constantly increasing in numbers as others came from Duck Lake. Major Crozier halted his troops, and the police spread out to the left and the volunteers to the right of the road. One of the rebels was waving a blanket, and Major Crozier, with the interpreter, went forward to meet him and a few others who were advanc- ino' along the road. A short and unsatisfactory conver sation took place as to what was wanted by our men and where they were going. At the same time the rebels kept advancing and scattering across the front of our 42 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. men. The officer and interpreter insisted that they should be kept back, but no heed was paid to the warn ing. Crozier then retired to his men and told them to commence firing. The rebels had now mostly left the road and were getting under cover among the bluffs or groves in front of our men, and even around their flank. A number made their way into an empty log building to the right of our line, from which they poured a murder ous fire on the volunteers. The cannon fired three shots ; then, by a sad mistake, a shell was put in before the charge of powder, and the gun became useless until the engagement was over. The rebels' fire was very severe. Our men were in a hollow, while the enemy had good cover and higher ground. The Indians' and Half-breeds fired with great coolness, dropping on their blankets and taking sure aim. They were gradually working round the flank of our force and about surrounding it, when orders were given to retreat. A rush was made for the road, the teams were hitched up, the wounded, with the exception of one man^ who was not noticed, had already been put in the sleighs, and the force retreated, leaving nine men dead or dying on the field. Five horses, some of them shot, had also to be abandoned. Had our men remained but a little longer the whole force would have been sacrificed. It was almost a miracle that the gunners and their horses were not destroyed and the gun cap- .tured. It would seem to ordinary persons a fatal mistake to have taken it so far to the front, where it was under close rifle fire. About a quarter of a mile farther back there was rising ground, from which the gun could have poured its shot on the enemy, while our men could have advanced under the cover of its fire. It does not seem either to have occurred to the commanding officer after retiring out of rifle range to renew the fire from his ca^inon, and treat the rebels to a few shells to cover his retreat, even if he did not return to recover the dead. Of incidents during the skirmish there is not now time or space to write. Captain Morton, of the volunteers, a man much respected and loved, was shot in the breast. THE DUCK LAKE DISASTER. 43 He told those beside him who offered him aid that they could do nothing for him, but asked them to care for his wife and family. Poor Napier — one of that gallant Scot tish family which has given so many heroes to fight for their country — was hit first on the breast, and dropped to his knees. To the next man he said, " I am shot. Tell my father and mother I died like a man." He was afterwards shot through the neck and in the thigh. S. C. Elliot, our most promising lawyer, immediately after helping a wounded man into one of the sleighs, was shot from behind, the bullet which killed him being found in the front of his shirt after his body was brought home. Arnold, one of the Mounted Police, got a bullet through the upper part of his lungs, and said, " I'm shot, but good for them yet." He stooped forward a little, and fired several shots more, was shot again in the body, and then received a third bullet, but was lifted into the sleigh and reached Carleton, where he died next morning. Newith, a volunteer, wounded in the leg, crept down towards the road, but the sleighs had gone. An Indian came up, and began to club him with his gun. He held up his hands to cover his face and head, and was hit four times, and had two of his fingers broken, when a Half-breed noticed the Indian and compelled him to stop. He was carried to Duck Lake two hours after, and his life again threat ened by two Indians. Again the Half-breeds protected him. He was liberated on the following Monday, when the dead bodies were brought home. Two of the men were again shot through the head and one stabbed while lying on the field. Both of them, it is believed, must have been at the point of death, if not actually dead. None ot the dead were scalped, although until they were brought in, there was great fear that this had been done. Of the wounded Capt. Moore's leg is shattered below the knee. Gilchrist, a policeman, with broken thigh, has suffered intensely. Inspector Howe, Gordon, and McNab had only fiesh wounds. The last mentioned nearly had the artery of his arm severed. In all twelve died.june of them (all volunteers) on the field, and seven were wounded. CHAPTER V. ATTBR THE BATTLE. IT was plain that the defences of Fort Carleton were not such as to make the place tenable against the Half-breeds now well supplied with provisions and ammu nition, and full of triumph from their late success. Besides this, it was thought that Beardy, the Cree chief, whose reserve was a few miles from Carleton, was in league with Riel. Carleton was only defended by an old stockade ; it was situated close to a high hill which com pletely commanded it. On the next day, Friday, March 27, therefore. Colonel Irvine marched out of Fort Carle ton. Sacks of flour were emptied and scattered around and soaked with coal oil. The same day Sanderson, one of the prisoners in Riel's camp, was sent to Carleton with an offer to surrender the bodies of the dead. He gave up to Colonel Irvine also a letter from Riel to one Scott, near Prince Albert, who was suspected of sympathy with the rising. For some reason he was at first put under arrest, and the offer was not accepted lest it should prove to be a ruse to draw a party into an ambuscade. On Friday night, before the preparations for leaving were quite com pleted, a fire broke out accidentally in the fort. No ef fort was made to stay its progress, and on Saturday morning the whole force started for Prince Albert, which was reached at 3 p.m. Great relief was felt on their arrival. The people of Prince Albert received on Thursday night news of the skirmish and the death of so many of those whom they had sent off full of life, and confident of an easy if not "bloodless victory. It was expected that as soon as Irvine and Crozier had united their forces, the movement would collapse at once. Now a serious disaster had occurred, and Riel and his savage forces, flushed with victory, were AFTER THE BATTLE, 45 nearer to us than our own men. The citizens at once set to work 'to build a barricade of cord wood around the Presbyterian Church and manse grounds, in which the women and children might obtain shelter. Almost every man iu town, including three of the ministers, worked with a will, and in less time than could have been sup- a strong stockade was completed, in most places LIEUT. -COL. IRVINE, N.-W. MOUNTED POLIOB. eight feet high, and lined within by another pile of wood on which the men could stand. Stores and ice cut from the river were rapidly driven in. A large shed was run up in the enclosure, and a two-storey house across the street which commanded the square, and would have given protection to the enemy advancing, was pulled down and levelled with the ground. All through Friday 46 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. no courier came from Colonel Irvine. In the afternoon one of the scouts who had been as far as Carleton the previ ous night, and held communication with those in the fort, though not with the officers, reported seven nuns from the convent had the novel experience of spending two nights under the roof of a Presbyterian clergyman ; that sixteen men were dead and the seventeenth was dying, and that Big Bear, one of the most dangerous of the Indian Chiefs, , had crossed the prairie from Battleford with 100 braves on snowshoes, and was then with Riel at Duck Lake. This news confirmed the fears of a large Indian rising with all its attendant horrors. The sus pense on that night was very painful. It was expected that the savages would either at once attack Prince Albert or lie in wait for Colonel Irvine and his troops in " The Pines," where the Carleton trail passes for several miles through thick woods, from which the Indians could easily pick off our men as they passed. Not a little vexation and amazement were felt that Irvine had sent no despatch on which reliance could be placed. The manse, church, and shed were filled with the peo ple of the town. Three women with little babes only two or three days old were carried on mattresses into the manse. The houses near at hand were also filled with people ready to run into the stockade as soon as an alarm should be given. During the night Nolan came in to Prince Albert. He had been a member of Riel's Council, and acted as one of the French representatives at the meeting with Moore and McKay near Duck Lake. He asserted that he had been compelled to join the movement by threats that on refusal he would be put to death, and that after the skirmish he had contrived to make his escape. He reported that all of the French had been at the skirmish or close at hand ; and that only four Half- breeds and two Indians were killed. He stated that many were urging Riel to march at once on Prince Albert, and that what was to be expected was an attack by night from the Indians, who would perhaps cross the river and enter the town from the north side. Major Moffat, who was for giving Nolan his liberty, was induced AFTER THE BATTLE. 47 to keep him under surveillance, and on Col. Irvine's re turn on the Saturday he was placed in safe-keeping. Not till 1 p.m. on Saturday was intelligence received of Irvine's march from Carleton. Two hours after the wounded were driven in. It was with thankfulness learned that only twelve were dead and that the wounded had borne the journey v^ry well. Captain Moore, though the splints had been removed from his shattered leg, said he " came down quite comfortably, and had smoked eleven pipes by the way." The force had not been molested in " 'The Pines," nor was the enemy anywhere seen. The police and volunteers were greeted on their arrival with ringing cheers — the joy and gratitude shaded only by the thought that nine of their brave comrades were still lying dead upon the field, exposed, as far as was then known, to the hot sun by day and the frost at night, and possibly also to beasts of prey. About 7 p.m., just as people were hoping that all was safe, the scouts and telegraph operator came in from the road that leads to Batoche and reported that a force of Indians was approaching and close at hand. A shot was fired from the stockade, and messengers rushed in all di rections to alarm the people, and bring them within the stockade. The church bell was rung ; and even in the midst of the alarm there were many who noticed how different is the effect on the soul of the same sound in different circumstances. The bell which had rung out joj' and gladness after a wedding, which had filled them with solemn, and devout feelings as they went to the house of prayer, seemed now to be pouring out sounds of horror and m,aking the heart quake with alarm. " Hear the tolling of the bells ! Iron bells ! What a tale of terror now their turbulency tells — In the silence of the night. How we shudder with affright At the melancholy menace of their tone — For every sound that floats From the rust within their throats Is a groan." 48 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. Such a panic many pray to God that they may not ever see again. Women arose from their sick beds and rushed into the enclosure ; children snatched up in their nightclothes were carried into the manse in blankets. Another woman with a babe only a few hours old was added to the number of those previously carried in. The minister and others guarded the door, admitting women and children only, and sternly refusing admittance to selfish or timid men and boys. Some sad and one or two amusing scenes might be described. Two or three of the women fainted and the doctor was passed in to attend to the sick. After the first rush was oVer all behaved very well, keeping quiet as they sat on the floor, and receiving as well as could be expected the assurance that there was no sufficient cause for the alarm. Meanwhile the stock ade was lined with police and volunteers in arms ready to receive the enemy. After a time it was discovered that the scouts had been far too hasty in giving the alarm, as they had not actually seen the Indians at all. A few days after, however, it was said that the Indians had been on the march, but coming to the Carleton Road, and noticing the traces of the passage of the police force, they returned to Riel's camp. On the Sabbath Sanderson and two others went with sleighs to Duck Lake to bring in the dead. They found that Riel had permitted the prisoners whom he held, and some of the French to go out and carry the bodies into the house from which so many had been shot. On Monday at noon they returned, bringing along with the corpses, Newith, the wounded prisoner, whom Riel had liberated. The bodies were laid out in an empty build ing, and with great thankfulness it was found that none of them had been grossly mutilated by the savages. The nine bodies lying side by side, the faces of two blackened with powder, formed a ghastly spectacle. A few days before they went forth, fuU of Hfe and spirit, too eager, poor fellows, for the fray, and too contemptuous of their foes, and there now they lay — stiff, discoloured, and silent in death. But they went at the call of duty, and they AFTER THE BATTLB. 4? died on " the field of honour." Loving and gentle hands carried them to different places and prepared their bodies for the burial Well may the people of Prince Albert cherish their memory with sorrowing affection and solemn pride. Like Him in whom we trust for salvation, though of course in a lower sense, they " laid down their lives tor their friends." On Tuesday, at 2 p.m., the funeral procession started for the Church of England cemetery, where it was thought best to lay the nine together in one common grave. The Prince Albert band led the way playing a funeral march. Then followed the volunteers, a body of police, and the ministers of the town. Next came the coffins, the mourners, and the general public. The Bishop and two of his clergy read the ordinary burial service. There was no sermon nor address, nor allusion to the peculiar circumstances. To some it seemed a pity that the order of the Church should be so rigid as to prevent any more honour being done to these brave men brought in from the field of battle, than would be shown at the burial of a newborn child. The Bishop of Saskatchewan, and the Presbyterian minister, however, both preached funeral sermons appropriate to the circumstances on the following Sabbath. Thus closes the story of the first act in the great tragedy. The story is a pathetic one, telling as it does of true heroes whose blood was poured out upon the snow, not in the cause of freedom and the defence of their hearths and homes, but in obedience to that stern call of duty that forbids us to argue as to the justice of the cause and only commands us to defend the honour of the ol'd flag, and ask no questions of the cause. By-and- bye somebody may be called to answer for the blood of those gallant fellows who perished nobly with words of defiance and unquenchable bravery on their lips ; but for the present we can only shed bitter tears over the untimely flight of spirits, the bravest of the brave. As might have been expected, the result of the Duck Lake skirmish aroused the Half-breeds to more active 3 60 CANADA S NOHIEH-WEST REBELLION. rebellion. Everywhere the telegraph wires were cut, and the stores and ammunition plundered. The Mounted Police and what volunteers could be armed held Prince Albert, Battleford, Fort Pitt, Fort Saskatchewan, and Edmonton in the North. CHAPTER VI THE INDIANS OF MANITOBA AND THE NORTH-WEST. THE great problem now to be solved was the extent to which the Indians would assist in the rebellion upon which the Half-breeds had now fairly launched them selves. The following pretty accurate estimate of the force and disposition of the Indians was made at this time by a gentleman well-posted in matters pertaining to the Indians and tp the North-West generally. The question has been answered. This estimate of the pro babilities is particularly interesting, as it serves to illus trate the nature and extent of our national peril at this time : There were in Manitoba and the North-West Territories very nearly or quite 34,000 Indians who were under the care of and to a certain extent dependent upon the Cana dian Government. They are divided into several great nations, prominent among which are the " Ojibewas," " Crees," " Sioux," and " Blackfeet." Besides these, how ever, there are many sub-divisions indicating tribal and sectional distinctions rather than those of race and na tionality; at least a general similarity of the languages of the various groups would indicate this. The Ojibewas, very often corrupted into " Chippewas," besides embracing nearly all of the " bush " Indians of Manitoba, are closely allied to the Saulteux of the more open country west of Red River Valley. Their language is in many respects similar to that of the Crees, and inter marriages with the latter are not infrequent. The THE INDIANS OF MANITOifA AND NORTH-WEST. 51 Swampies, wh'b occupy the country about the mouth of Red River, and bordering on Lake Winnipeg, are also of this same nation. In the event of any serious troubles among the Indians, it was not probable that the Ojibewas would take any very active part, as most of their bands were located so as to be nearly or quite surrounded by white settlements of considerable magnitude. They are, as a rule, very peaceably inclined, and poorly armed, most of them using old-fashioned Hudson Bay Company shot guns, which, however, will throw bullets of heavy calibre with considerable accuracy. There are very few of the Ojibewas proper to be found west of the Red River Valley, and most of them occupy the bush country east of Red River, though some bands might be found in portions of Northern Manitoba. There were probably of the Ojibewas proper in Manitoba and the extreme west of Ontario about 4,000. The Saulteux (pronounced " Sotos ") were so inter mingled with the Crees in the eastern portion of the North-West Territory and the west of Manitoba that it was not easy to ascertain their numbers. There were, however, not less than 2,500 of them. They are for the most part to be found in the regions of Fort Pelly, Fort Ellice, Moose Mountain, Qu'Appelle, and Crooked Lakes. Among the more well-inclined Cree Half-breeds these Saulteux have the reputation of being rather clever, and often very plausible mischief-makers. Some of them are remarkably well off for Indians, and not a few of them are exceedingly ambitious. They are, as a rule, rather intelligent and extremely active and energetic. Their reserves are for the most part well located. The Crees largely outnumber any other tribe of the/ North-West, and it is in a great measure owing to the; thoroughly pacific disposition of these people that Cana-j dian supremacy has been so easily maintained thus far.i It has long been the boast of the Crees that as a nation' they have never shed the blood of the white man. In times past they proved themselves capable fighting men, however, in their struggles with the Sioux and Blackfeet, 52 CANADA'S, Sqjst^-^EST REBELLION. and they think they are still as capable^)f fighting as they ever were. There is no doubt, however, that they are not nearly so warlike a people as the Blackfeet, and nothing but a real sense of wrong would ever induce them to take up arms against British authority. Of course it is not saying that they are wronged to say that they have experienced a sense of wrong, and it is just here that the great danger lies so far as they are concerned. They were for many generations accustomed to meeting no white men except the agents of the Hudson's Bay Com pany, and whatever may be said against that great corporation the offence of lying to the Indians can never be laid to their charge. Aside from the moral aspect of the case altogether, it was a part of their business policy to conduct their traffic with the Indians in such a way that the latter would never have the shadow of a cause for doubting the word of any officer or agent of the Com pany.. If an indiscreet trader made a promise to the huni'blfest member of a tribe, that promise was invariably fulfilled, no matter what the cost might be. In the old times an insignificant- order of the value of two or three shillings has been sent all the way to the Old Country, via York Factory, merely because something not in stock had been promised to an Indian. As the shipments of goods to "Y'ork Factory were not very frequent, the dark- skinned customer would sometimes have long to wait before receiving what was promised him, but he rested safe in the assurance that it would not be forgotten, and that however long in coming it was sure to come at last, (Und so he was satisfied. Accustomed to this sort of treatment, it is not surprising that the Cree became the firm friend of the white man. He could rely implicitly on all that was told him, and he came to look upon the white man as well-nigh all-powerful. In this way the Crees were brought up for many generations in a good school, and it is only a pity that they have not always had such an example of thorough truthfulness before them. Inexperienced men, who knew nothing of Indian character, have been brought in contact with them THE INDIANS OF MANIJSiBkAND NORTH-WEMT. 53 through the agency of the Indian Department, and these people, too often pressed by the exigencies of what they deemed a trying situation, have made promises to them which have not been fulfilled. Promises had been made which could not with propriety be carried out, and too often promises had been made which had been wholly forgotten. '" These broken promises might seem little things to the men who made and broke them, but they were big things to these simple-minded children of the wilds. Truthfulness was the one virtue which {they prized above all others, and knowing nothing of the nature of the resources upon which the Indian Agent or Farm Instructor had to fall back, they supposed them to be unlimited, and therefore regarded the plefi of inability no excuse for the non-fulfilment of any promise. Big Bear, witli a band of about five hundred, had always been a troublesome and dangerous man, more fond i of hunting buffaloes, whether north or south of the line,/ than of tilling the soil. His reserve was not definitely/ located, and it was not known just where he was at that time to be found. He was of the South Crees, but in common with the rest of that branch of the Cree nation, he had been induced to go north. The policy of the Government in taking the South Crees as far as possible from the international boundary, and from the line of railway, was doubtless a good one. In the South they were frequently getting into difficulty with the Indians and Half-breeds south of the line, as well as with the Bloods and Blackfeet of the South-West, and had they remained there the danger of a collision with the railway navvies was always to be feared. __ Had the insurgents had the opportunity of choosing their own time for an outbreak, they could not have selected a season more thoroughly opportune for their own purposes. The winter had been a severe one, and, in any event, these improvident Red-men were always worse off in the spring than at any other season of the year. This was the season at which the Agercy supplies , wete most apt to fall short, and the advent of spring 54 CANADA'S NO^fc-WEST REBELLION. weather would soon render transportation a matter of very grave difficulty. In the immediate vicinity of the outbreak it was to be presumed that there was more to be feared from the Half-breeds than from the Indians, as the majority of the latter had always had the name of being peaceable and well-inclined. Mis-ta-was-sis (Big Child) was the most powerful chief in the Carleton Agency, and his band only numbered two hundred and twenty-six. He himself was a devout Pres byterian, as were many of his band, and while it was easy to understand that they would not feel inclined to rise in arms against people of their own race, and perhaps in some instances their own relatives, it was not at all probable they would take any part in the outbreak. Ahtah-ka-koop had a band of one hundred and ninety- six, and what has been said of the band of Mis-ta-was-sis was mainly true of his followers. They were not at all likely to take action for or against the insurgents. Beardy, on whose reserve the first battle had taken place, was not by any means an amiable Indian. His band numbered something over one hundred and fifty, and, like their chief, they had small respect for the white man or his institutions. Uidike many of the Indians in theCarleton Agency, they were pagans and had no religious instruction of any kind. They managed to raise some grain and roots, but not nearly enough to supply them with the necessaries of life. It was extremely probable, therefore, that Beardy would cast his fortunes in with the rebels, if he had not already done so. Altogether, however, it was not probable that many of the Indians of the Carleton Agency would take any part , in the insurrection, and those who would do so would i very probably be actuated more by a desire to obtain food , and clothing, than that of avenging real or fancied I wrongs. The condition of these unfortunate people was j deplorable. Their staple food, muskrats, had become I scarce, their crops even on the very limited acreage broken on their reserves were bad, and as early as July, 1884, it THE INDIANS OF MANITO:^ AND NORTH-WEST. 55 was prophesied that their principal dependence for food the following winter would be upon rabbits. The Crees in the Carleton Agency numbered about one thousand six hundred, and as they subsisted chiefly on the products of the chase, they were doubtless fairly armed. They are divided into about a dozen small bands, and were scattered over a very considerable extent of country. There were at the Battleford Agency, which lies west of the Carleton Agency, upwards of two thousand Crees and some three hundred Stoneys or Assiniboines, and these were divided into about a dozen separate bands. There was none of them in a particularly prosperous condition, though most of their reserves were well located. The most influential chief in this Agency, and perhaps the most infiuential chief in the Northern Territory, was , Poundmaker, a Cree chief, whose individual following! was about one hundred and fifty. His reserve was onl Battle River, a short distance west of Battleford. He is| a particularly fine-looking specimen of his race, being considerably over six feet high, of rather slight build, and singularly erect. He has an intelligent and rather refined looking face, a high, prominent forehead, and a nose of the purely Grecian type, while there is nothing coarse or sensual about the lower portion of his face. His hands are small and delicate in appearance, his fingers being long and tapered. He is accounted an orator among his own people, but has none of the noise and bluster that too often characterize Indian oratory. He speaks slowly and distinctly and in a maimer that gives the hearer the idea of suppressed power. His gestures are invariably very graceful, and his manner thoroughly dig nified, without the faintest suspicion of pomposity or self-consciousness. He is always solemn and earnest in his utterances, and generally bears himself after the manner of a religious enthusiast who was oppressed with the idea that he had some great mission to accomplish. Though a pagan, he has more than once betrayed a strong inclination to embrace Catholicism. His father was a Cree and his mother a half-sister to the great Blackfoot 56 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. chief, Crowfoot. His grandmother on the side of his mother was said to have been a Stoney, and this is cor roborated by the great chief's peculiar cast of countenance. Poundmaker's career has been in many respects a remark able one. To use his own language, he often went among the Blackfeet during his boyhood for the purpose of kiU ing their people and stealing their ponies, but when he grew to be a man he conceived the idea of making peace between the Crees and Blackfeet. Crowfoot, his uncle, was then all-powerful in the councils of the latter, but often when he was absent from the camp Poundmaker lay pretending to sleep while he heard the Blackfeet debating whether to kill him or not. Many a night had he lain hour after hour with his right hand grasping his big Remington revolver at full cock under his pillow. /After a winter of terror, and several tri|is from Eagle ' Hills to Blackfoot Crossing during the following summer, his gjeat object was accomplished, and peace was made I between the two great nations of the plains. As the friend of Crowfoot, the great chief of the Blackfeet, and as one of the most intelligent and influ ential of the Cree chiefs, Poundmaker could, if he chose, become the most dangerous Indian in the North-West. His influence with Crowfoot had always been/extraordi nary, and he was universally looked up to ami respected by all the Crees of the North. He had trouble with the Indian Department in the winter of 1883-84, and he was not a man to quickly forget an indignity offered to himself or his people. There was not an Indian in the North- West who knew the country better than Poundmaker. In 1881, when Lord Lome went across the plains, Poundmaker joined the party for the purpose of interpret ing the language of the Blackfeet into Cree, as the Cree interpreter accompanying the party did not understand Blackfoot. Johnny Saskatchewan was taken along to act as guide, but between Battleford and the crossing of the Red Deer the Half-breed lost himself, and for the last two days Poundmaker was " guiding the guide." After crossing the Red Deer, Poundmaker took the lead, and THE INDIANS OF MANITOBA AND NORTH-WEST. 67 travelled in almost an air-line to the Blackfoot Crossing, though there was no trail, and what was even more remarkable, arranged his time-table so that he hit the best grass and water to be had just about camping time on every occasion. Little Pine had the large,'=t following of any chief in the Battleford district. His land numbered well toward four hundred and fifty, and as he had but recently settled on his reserve, too much dependence was not to be placed upon his loyalty. He had been one of the South Crees, and one of the last to settle on a Northern reserve. His men were well-armed and well-mounted. Lucky Man was an Indian of very much the same style as Little Pine, he taking treaty and going North at the same time. His band numbered about three hundred and fifty, and, like those of Little Pine, his men were well-armed and well-mounted. Like all buffalo hunters, they were experts with both pony and rifle. There were upwards of two thousand Crees in the Battleford Agency, besides some three hundred Stoneys or Assiniboines. In the Edmonton district there were about a dozen small bands of Crees, and half-a-dozen bands of Assini boines. Altogether they numbered nearly three thousand. They were, like the othei- Indians in the North, in a miserably destitute condition, and though disposed to be pacific it was difficult to say what influence the prospect of unlimited food and clothing might have had upon their loyalty. The Fort Pitt Agency only embraced about seven hundred people, though at one time, during the summer of 1884, Big Bear and his band of five hundred were located there. So far as the Crees properly belonging to Fort Pitt were concerned, there was not much feared from them, or much expected of them. Like all the rest, they were badly off, and would have done a great deal for a liberal supply of food and clothing. The Crees of Treaty Four were numerous and well armed and equipped ; but as they were for the most part pretty well settled on their reserves, and many of them 58 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. fairly well off for Indians, they were not likely to take part in any uprising unless it should ha\ e become general. The only chief in this treaty who was at all likely to become troublesome was Piapot, who with his band of five hundred and fifty was located at Indian Head, near Qu'Appelle. He was known to have no very friendly feeling toward the Indian Department, and particularly towards Lieutenant-Governor Dewdney. He was so near the railway, and as it were almost in the heart of a fairly settled district, it was thought that he would have some difficulty in getting away unobserved. If there should have come anything like a general uprising among the Indians, however, Piapot would without doubt have taken an active part on the side of the Crees, and unfortunately should he have done so, and made anything like a success ful stand, it was only too probable that a large portion of the seven thousand in Treaty Four would have joined him. I Those who knew anything of Indian affairs in the North-West were now watching, with a great deal of anxiety, the attitude of the Blackfeet nation in any future crisis. Though not so numerous as the Crees, these people, if roused, could not fail to become far more dan gerous. They^ numbered nearly six thousand, and instead of being scattered about in small bands over a large extent of country, they were compactly placed as follows, according to their tribal distinctions : Of the Blackfeet proper there were nearly two thou sand two hundred at Blackfoot Crossing, on Bow River, some sixty miles from Calgary. Of the Bloods there were nearly two thousand three hundred on the Blood reserve, near Fort McLeod. Of the Piegans (anotherbranchof the Blackfeet family) there were over nine hundred on the Piegan reserve, on Old Man's River, a few miles west of Fort McLeod. Of the Sarcees there were over four hundred on their reserve near Calgary. These people were not of the Blackfeet tribe, but they had for years been under the protection of and had formed a portion of the Blackfeet nation. The legend concerning tliem is that they were THE INDIANS OF MANITOBA AND NORTH-WEST, 59 formerly a powerful and very warlike tribe, occupying a portion of the Peace River country. Their turbulent disposition involved them in one war after another, till by their constant fighting, often against superior numbers, they became so reduced that they were no longer able to exist among the fierce and constantly warring tribes of the North-West. Admiring their unquestionable bravery, the Blackfeet nation took them under their protection, since which time, though they have preserved their own customs, language, and traditions, and though they have to a great extent abstained from inter-marriage with the Blackfeet, they have been to all intents and purposes a portion of the Blackfeet nation. Thus it will be seen that within a radius of some sixty miles these four powerful branches of the Blackfeet nation were concentrated. They were all of them much more fond of war and pillage than of tilling the soil. Of the four tribes forming this great nation the Bloods had always been regarded as the most powerful and dangerous. Besides being the most numerous they were the most warlike, and were provided with Winchester rifles, re volvers, and abundance of ammunition. The Bloods had again and again been accused, and often convicted, of horse-stealing, and the unfortunate Police Constable Greyburn was murdered by a Blood Indian. In fact, this tribe had always enjoyed a most unenviable reputation amongst the ranchmen of the vicinity. What made them still more dangerous was their close proximity to the cattle ranches, and to the extensive supplies of the Indian Department, and those of the local traders at Fort McLeod. They had no conscientious scruples against the robbery of either the white men or of their own people. Neither they nor any of the Blackfeet tribe had ever had much to do with the Hudson Bay Company, and they had, as a consequence, received nothing like the lesson of honesty and good faith impressed upon those whose traffic had been with the Hudson Bay Company. The Bloods were particularly fond of " Counting Coo," and regarded such a prosy and unromantic occupation as farming as 60 Canada's north-west rebellion. quite beneath the dignity of individuals calling them selves men. Nothing but the pressure of circumstances ever compelled them to adopt farming as an occupation, and should they have discovered that there had been a pros pect of a general Indian uprising, they would have been very much disappointed if they had not been permitted to play a part in it on one side or the other. They had no affection for the Crees, nor indeed for any tribe outside of the Blackfeet nation ; but, at the same time, as they would probably have imagined the white settlers, ranch men, and traders in their immediate vicinity would have made much better "picking" for them than the Half- breeds and Crees, it was not improbable that they might have been induced to join the latter, in view of richer plunder. The Bloods were probably the most accom plished horsemen in the North- West, they having had a large number of good ponies of considerable size and speed. What was true of the Bloods was also true, to a less extent, of the Piegans. They were' less numerous, less warlike, than the Bloods ; but they were, for all that, sufficiently numerous, powerful, and warlike to have given ground for very serious apprehension in case of a general uprising among the Indians. They, too, were well-armed, and had in their band some four hundred horses. Though the acknowledged head of the Blackfeet nation, and though under the immediate leadership of Crowfoot, the chief of the Blackfeet, the Blackfeet tribe was scarcely as powerful in the councils of the nation as were the Bloods. They were rich in horses, and were always well supplied with arms and ammunition, and in the use of all these appliances of war and the chase they had always been adepts. That they were less trouble some than the Bloods was probably less attributable to their disposition than to their suiTOundings. They were in a measure out of the way of settlement, and their reserve was one of the most charming spots in the North- West, if not on this Continent. They were in the valley of that .ost beautiful of mountain streams, Bow River, and their land was wonderfully rich and productive. the INDIANS OF MANITOBA AND NORTH-WEST. 61 They had an unlimited range for their ponies, and thus far had been very liberally rationed by the Government. They had for a few years made very satisfactory progress in farming, but it would not do to place too much de pendence on this circumstance. When Lord Lome was crossing from Battleford to Blackfoot Crossing, Commis sioner Dewdney was fondly hoping that the Blackfeet at the Crossing would have made a grand showing from an agricultural point of view, as it was known that they had broken, fenced, and seeded a considerable tract of land ; but alas, before the Governor-General aixived the Black feet had received the news that a few buffaloes had crossed the line and were coming northward 1 This news sealed the fate of the growing crops which the Commissioner had hoped to show Lord Lome with so much pride, for in order to get their ponies into condition for running buffaloes as rapidly as possible, they had thrown down their fences and turned the animals into the fields, and the highly-prized crops presented a sorry picture by the time His Excellency pitched his first camp on the banks of the crystal Bow. Crowfoot was an Indian of more than ordinary intelli gence, and the comparatively good behaviour of the Blackfeet tribe, and indeed that of the whole Blackfeet nation, was largely due to his rational counsel. He had sense enough to see that there was nothing for it but that the Blackfeet should bow to the inevitable, as the Red- men have always been compelled to do in the long run on the advent of the white man. There was no longer game enough in the country to support his people, and the neighbouring tribes were so poor that they were not worth robbing. Should his people have risen against the whites they would always have felt that besides the white men they would have had their old-time enemies, the Crees, to fight ; and, taking all these things into consid eration, Crowfoot had evidently come to the conclusion that, as there was nothing else for him to do, it only remained for the Blackfeet to settle down and become peaceable farmers. What infiuence the news of an 62 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. outbreak in the North-West might have upon him it was hard to tell. It was not improbable that he and his people might want to take part in it, and not impossible that through Poundmaker's influence they might have been inclined to join the insurgents. And in this connection there was another circumstance worth considering. Crow foot was getting old, and his younger brother-in-law. Yellow Horse, has a great deal of influence with the more youthful members of the tribe, who had as yet no scalps with which to fringe their deer-skin shirts, and no " Coo to count." Yellow Horse, though an active and intelligent Indian of some means, and a particularly fine appearance, had nothing like the intellectual ballast possessed by Crowfoot. Should Crowfoot have heeded his counsel, there could be little doubt that the Blackfeet would have got into trouble in a very short time. Like One Spot of the Bloods, Yellow Horse bore no very choice reputation among the white men who knew him. He was particularly fond of talking of the good old days when the Blackfeet were nearly always on the warpath. The Sarcees, though few in point of numbers, would have counted for a good deal in case the Blackfeet had gone to war. They were savages of the most degraded and vicious type. They hated farming, were thoroughly warlike, and, like all the Blackfeet nations, had arms, auimunition, and ponies. Though a formidable tribe in the more recent histories of American wars, it was thought improbable that either the Sioux proper or their near relatives, the Stoneys, would have taken any part against the whites should there have been an Indian uprising in the Canadian North-West. They were scattered about in small bands all the way from Fort Ellice to the Rocky Mountains. There were some few of them in nearly every agency, aud they were, as a rule, active and industrious. They had little to do with either the Crees or the Blackfeet, and were perhaps more remarkable for minding their own business than any other Indians of the North-West. White Cap, the Sioux chief, occupied a reserve at Moose THE INDIANS OF MANITOBA AND NORTH-WEST. 63 Woods, only a short distance south of Duck Lake. His band consisted of about two hundred and fifty, and it was not long before he allied himself to the rebel cause, though such a course was not expected of him. He and the elder members of his band had fled to Canada from the United States after the Minnesota massacre, and knew quite well that should they become involved in a second war upon the whites they would have nowhere to go for rest and protection in the event of defeat. CHAPTER VII. GENERAL MIDDLETON AND STAFF ON THE SCENE. IT has been mentioned that the 90th Rifles had been ordered from Winnipeg to Qu'Appelle, together with the Winnipeg artillery. They arrived on Sunday, 29th of March, and were established in comfortable barracks at the immigrant quarters, the division which arrived earliest being placed in Fort Qu'Appelle, eighteen miles to the north. General Middleton, Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Militia, on his arrival at Qu'Appelle, de cided that it would be unwise to proceed to the scene of the rebellion with the force on hand, and resolved to await the reinforcements on the point of arrival from the East. This distinguished officer began his military career in 1842, his commission as ensign bearing date December 30 of that year. His first experiences of active service were in South New Zealand, where the insurgent Maoris carried on a fierce guerilla warfare much the same as that of the Indians and Half-breeds in the North-West. He took part in the successful attack which carried the strongly intrenched " pah " of Wauganui. He was next engaged in the suppression of the Santhal rebellion in India, and took a leading part in the desperate, but glorious, struggle of the few British soldiers who faced the terrible storm of the Hindoo Mutiny in 1857-58. 64 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. ^ Captain Middleton served as orderly officer to General Franks at the battle of Sultanpore, and took part in the advance on Lucknow. While thus engaged he was A. D. C. to General Luard. He took part in the storming of Bank-i-Houn and the Martiniere ; Major Middleton was recommended by the general officer under whom he served to Lord Clyde for the Victoria Cross on account of two signal acts of valor in the field. At the Battle of Azemghur, on April 15, 1858, he was ordered to take command of a troop of the Military Train and to charge a dense column of the rebels. Just as the troop, led by Captain Middleton, had swept sword in hand into the midst of the Sepoys, one of the officers, Lieut. Hamilton, fell wounded from his horse. The wound had completely disabled him, and a number of Sepoys rushed forward to cut him to pieces with their tulwars. Captain Middleton at once dismounted, lifted the wounded officer on his own horse and carried him from the field in safety. In the same fight, a private soldier of. the troop being un horsed and disabled by a wound, was saved in the same way by Middleton. The Victoria Cross so well merited by these gallant acts, was never actually bestowed , some red-tapeism as to Captain Middleton's having been then on the staff is supposed to have interfered with the course of justice. In accordance with the rules for the retirement of officers after a certain term of service. Major Middleton must have been compelled to leave active service in the army with the rank of Lieut-Colonel, had not his ap pointment to succeed General Luard last year given him the rank of Major-General. General Middleton is more frank in his courtesy than his predecessor, and infinitely more popular with the Canadian soldier. In face and figure he is the ideal of a military leader, and is, no doubt, one who, if necessary, can use the sword with good effect. Among the most distinguished officers on Gen. Middleton's staff are Lord Melgund and Major Buchan. Lord Melgund is also Military Secretary to the Gov ernor-General, and is the eldest son of the Earl of Minto. GEN. MIDDLETON AND HIS STAFF ON THE SCENE. 65 Born in July, 1845, he was educated at Eton College, at once one of the most aristocratic of the great public schools of England, and one of the best training places for boys to form a manly bearing and strength of char acter. From Eton he went to Trinity College, Cam bridge, where in 1866 he graduated as B.A. He entered the army in 1867, when he received a commission in the LORD MELOUND. Scotch Fusilier Guards. From this regiment he retired in 1870, holding the rank of captain. He is a captain and honorary major in the First Roxburghshire Mounted Volunteer Rifles, and, as has been stated, is a captain in the regular army. He has seen service on a considerable scale, having been in 1877 attached to Colonel Lennox, the English military attach^ with the Turkish army, and was present at several hard-contested battles. He also 66 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. served during the war in Afghanistan in 1879, when he served as a volunteer on the staff of Lieut.-General Sir Frederick Roberts, who is considered one of the best tac ticians in the British army. In 1881 he accompanied Sir Frederick Roberts to Natal in South Africa as private secretary. He subsequently took an active part in the Eo-yptian war, and was wounded at Magwar. In 1883 he married Mary Caroline, daughter of the late Hon. Charles Grey, and niece to Earl Grey, K.G. KAJOK LAWRENCE BUCHAN. Major Lawrence Buchan is descended from an ancient Scottish family. He was born in Paris, County of Brant, Ontario, and received his education at Upper Canada College, where he evinced a taste for mathematics and the study of military tactics ; he studied then at the Military College, where he received a certificate. He then spent several years in New York city, where he engaged in the commission business. Then returning to Toronto, he became a partner in the stock-broking firm of Blake GEN. MIDDLETON AND HIS STAFF ON THE SCENE. 67 and Alexander. For six years he held the position of resi dent secretary in Canada for the Scottish Commercial Insurance Company. When he had carried out the wind ing-up of this Company's affairs in Canada, he went to Brandon and displayed much energy and business talent in promoting the progress and landed estate interests of that city and the surrounding district. When the Mani toba Municipalities Act was introduced, he was appointed Secretary- Treasurer of the Western Judicial District, which position he still retains. Major Buchan was connected with the Queen's Own Rifles for a period of ten years; he entered it as ensign, and left with the rank of captain. He was much liked in the regiment, being equally a favourite with both officers and men ; of the colonel he has always been a close friend. When the present Half-breed rebellion broke out, Major Buchan telegraphed to Ottawa for leave to enlist three companies in Brandon ; he proceeded to Winnipeg where he was gazetted major, and served as adjutant on General Middleton's staff. He is a valuable aide, as he has travelled a good deal through the North- West, and is thoroughly acquainted with the country and the people. General Middleton asked the Government for a force of two thousand men, and Sir John Macdonald obtained from Parliament an additional grant of a million dollars for the expenses of the war. Meanwhile, the rebels and Indian sympathizers were actively engaged in pillage of all stores, public and pri vate. Riel detained a number of settlers, among others William Mitchel, prisoners in the little wooden church at the village of Stobart, near the scene of the Duck Lake skirmish. A leading settler named John Kerr was arrested by Riel's orders and brought before his executive council of twelve, on a charge of counselling the escape of a telegraph operator from the neighbourhood. Riel on this occasion affected clemency, and told the council that " Kerr was a good fellow." He was i eleased with a caution to abstain from taking part against Riel. CHAPTER Vin, OLD CANADA STRIPS FOR THE FIGHT. MEANWHILE every effort for defence was made at the towns and forts threatened by the insurgents. At Battleford 200 volunteers were enlisted, and a home- guard at Medicine Hat and Calgary, both of which had to fear the Blackfeet Indians in case Riel should succeed in calling them to the war-path by the influence of their chief Crowfoot who, as has been mentioned, was a rela tion of the Cree chief Poundmaker. Qu'Appelle, which was in the neighbourhood of some Cree lodges, was well defended by both divisions of the 90th Battalion of Win nipeg Rifles and by the Winnipeg Artillery. The Canadian Pacific Railway Company resolved on organizing a regiment from among their employes for the defence of the property of the railway against at tempts of the rebels, and Captain Gaul ter, of the Purchasing Department, an experienced volunteer officer, undertook the work of directing this force which was likely to form a valuable aid to the main army. At Winnipeg the students of the College organized a company of volunteers ; and from Ottawa Colonel Scott telegraphed to Winnipeg to old officers of the Red River Expedition to form companies, and if possible a battalion for active service. In Ontario the preparations for the despatch of troops continued to be pushed on with an alacrity which proved the universal determination of our people to punish the rebels. Colonel Villiers received orders to form a Provisional Regiment to be constituted as follows : — from the 46th Battalion, one company each from Port Hope and Millbrook ; from the 57th Battalion at Peterborough, one company ; from the 49 th Battalion at Belleville, one company ; from the 45th Battalion at OLD CANADA STRIPS FOR THE FIGHT. 69 Bowmanville, one company ; from the 47th Battalion, Portsmouth, one company ; these troops to concentrate at Kingston en route for Qu'Appelle, on March 31. At Port Hope Colonel Williams, M.P., in command of the 46th Battalion, made up a battalion for active service with picked men selected from the 45th Battalion of West Durham and Victoria, the 46th East Durham, and 40th Northumberland. At Cobourg Col. Rogers, of the 40th, had in readiness No. 1 Company, Captain H. J. Snelgrove ; No. 2 Company, Captain G. Gullet; No. 3 Company, Captain Bonycastle, of Campbellford. At Toronto the departure of the troops was attended with enthusiastic excitement of which the city has had no experience for the last peaceable and easy-going half- century. On Friday night (March 27) the orderly sergeants belonging to the Queen's Own and the Royal Grenadiers, were busily engaged in summoning the men of the several companies to the muster early next morning, at which the 500 picked men for the war contingent were to be chosen. At eight on Saturday morning the streets leading to the drill shed were packed with a dense multitude eager to know who would be selected for the perilous honours of battle. In the drill shed the whole available stirengfth of both the Toronto battalions was mustered, not a man being absent from the post ©f duty, except a few who were too ill to attend. By 2 p.m. the officers who had met in the orderly room of the two regiments had selected the men who were to join the war contingent, the selection being made I of those who were not only physically fit to endure the/ campaign, but who were unmarried and had no relations' depending on them. . The next day was Toronto's "Soldiers' Sunday." Every where the streets and the churches took a martial aspect, the Rifieman's dark green and the scarlet of the Grenadiers shone gaily in the feeble spring sunshine. Sermons bearing on the war and the duties and responsi- 70 Canada's north-west rebellion. bilities it brought .with it were preached in all the churches. In many a home bright eyes grew dim, and anxious prayers were breathed, at the thought of those loved ones who would depart on the morrow to the dis tant wilderness, to face the perils of savage warfare. On Menday at noon the Toronto contingent left for the .seat of war. Through the densely crowded streets, amid showers of bouquets from ladies in King Street bal conies, with all eclat of a triumph and the pomp of martial music, Toronto's soldiers held their steady march to the railway station. No mark of public sympathy was want ing. The city had bestowed a free grant of underclothing on each soldier. The rank and intellect and beauty of Toronto was conspicuous among the concourse of fifty thousand who gathered to cheer them as the train moved away. Mr. C. VanHorn, Vice-President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, had been in Toronto during March 28 and 29, making arrangements for providing comfortable car accommodation for the soldiers. To that great national railway thanks are due from everyone who is loyal to Canada, since it is only owing to the exertions made by that Company and its officers that sure, rapid and healthful means of transit were provided for the troops. On board the cars all was merry as a marriage bell. Packs and heavy accoutrements were stowed away, lunch was partaken of from the twenty-four hours' supply of cooked provisions w;hich each man had been directed to provide. Then came the singing of patriotic songs and such hymns as " Only an Armour-bearer," jokes from the regimental wit who had been practising sleight- of-hand all the week so as to juggle the rebel bullets. The time passed merrily and they reached Mattawa iP time for a hearty breakfast next morning (March 31) at the Pacific Railway's dining hall. Much exposure to cold and hardship had to be under gone by the Toronto contingent during the journey, espe cially over the gaps or uncompleted sections of the railway. Every pains was taken by the officials of the OLD CANADA STRIPS FOR THE FIGHT. 71 railway to provide teams to carry the soldiers over the gaps with as little delay as possible, and flat cars boarded to the height of four feet and spread thickly with hay were provided for the men during night journeys. But the thermometer was 20° to 30° below zero, the roads through the forests were terribly rough and broken by pitch-holes, six feet or more deep, into which the horses stumbled as into a trap. When the march was over there was no shelter but the wind-flapped walls of a canvas tent with floor of hardened snow. On this the men laid down their blankets, but many preferred to sleep on the snow outside near the huge fires which were blazing all night. Few slept ; around them lit by the camp tires were the silent aisles of the columned woods ; over all as over the homes they had left was spread the steel-blue vault with the diamond stars of a Canadian winter night. With dawn came cheerful sunshine, fresh strength and effort. The coldest and most trying part of the route was crossing the frozen surface of Lake Superior, a terrible ordeal to any but men of unusually strong constitution. As it was many had their faces partially frozen. However, on April 5, all arrived at Port Arthur in safety, but such was the eager desire to reach the front that Colonel Otter would not allow the Queen's Own to halt even long enough to partake of a hot dinner, which the people of Port Arthur had prepared. A little less haste perhaps might have been good for the health and efficiency of' the troops. The 'Tenth Royals, however, were allowed time to profit by the hospitality of Port Arthur. The Toronto contingent arrived at Winnipeg on the morning of April 7, and at Qu'Appelle, General Mid dleton's base of operations, on April 9. In Toronto some of those interested in the fortunes of the Queen's Own were inclined to wish that their ad vance by the railway to Winnipeg and Qu'Appelle had been pursued with less relentless hurry. Happily, events proved that in this matter Colonel Otter did not over estimate the powers of endurance of the men under his command. 72 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. As the march proceeded the good-humour of the men exposed to many privations was the more note-worthy as most of them were accustomed to the refined luxury of a home in which every comfort abounded. Their officers from the first endeared themselves to the men, and made hard tack and harder marching more cheerfully borne by their own cheerful readiness to share equally with the private soldiers every form of privation and exposure. The officials of the Canadian Pacific Railway were unre mitting in their efforts to make the march through " the gaps," or uncompleted portions of the road, as easy as pos sible. Mr. G. H. Middleton, Chief Engineer of the West ern Division, specially deserves the gratitude "of Canada. No better appointment could have been made by the Directors of the Railway which at that critical time held in its hands the fortunes of the war. Much of the sub sequent success of our army was due to his knowledge of the country and sagacious disposition of the materials at his disposal so as to get the troops over the ground in the quickest possible time. Owing to his exertions and those of Mr. Henry Abbott an ample stock of provisions was provided at the gaps, where the men's strength would be most heavily taxed. Mr. Abbott at his camp at Dog Lake (where the first gap began) was in the habit of bak ing bread for a large number of railway employes. Our men were well supplied with what the Roman poet described as the best of sauces, active work, and the fresh hot rolls turned out in abundance by Mr. Abbott's shanty cook needed no pate de foie gras for a relish ! Nor were slices of cold boiled pork wanting, broiled or fried in shanty fashion. When possible, sleeping accommodation was provided. Although it was not feasible to do all that was wished to spare the brave boys from exposure and discomfort. Colonel Otter and his officers were indefati gable in seeing after the wants of the men, and it was shown that they fared in every respect no better than the private soldiers. The boys bore everything with cheerful endurance. The wise counsel of their Colonel here prevailed on them to avoid the materials for " Dutch courage," strong drink forming no part of their equipment. OLD CANADA STRIPS FOR THE FIGHT. 73 Songs heard often in the entr'acte at the Toronto Grand Opera House re-echoed as they held their march over the winter-stricken forest trail, or the dark-blue ice floor of Lake Superior. Among them the lyrics of the Tyrtaeus of -the Queen's Own, John A. Fraser, held a leading place in cheering his former comrades. Many were the curious incidents resulting from their hasty departure from home. One man was telegraphed for the combination of his bank safe. Another man had left his gas burning, and another was paying three cents a day for a Free Library book, which he had forgotten to return when leaving 'Toronto. Meanwhile the dear ones left behind waited in anx ious suspense. Captious critics haunted the newspaper offices, and men who had no military experience or whose shoulders had never known the weight of a rifle were loudly asserting that " the raw levies " must fail before the experienced savage fighters of the wilderness. Of all the Toronto newspapers the Globe and the World gave accurate and unsensational intelligence, and the great mass of our people waited in calm reliance on Providence, not without fear of loss of beloved lives, not without hope that the brave youths of Canada would be victorious. The following poem, published in the Globe of May 24, describes a scene witnessed by the writer in a Toronto church on one of those anxious Sundays : — OUR BOYS IN THE NORTH-WEST AWAY. I saw the sudden tear-drop rise In sweetest, purest of blue eyes, When kneeling in the house of prayer She heard good words of comfort there, I knew the angels heard her pray For one in the North-West away. It was but noon of yesterday He bade farewell, he marched away I The rifle bright and bayonet seen Above the Queen's Own garb of green. With our five hundred's bold array He marched for the North-West away. ¦74 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. As farther then, and farther still, The dim march sounded down the 1 ill, As file on file, with steady pace. Within the cars our boys took place, As rose our farewell cheer to say " God bless you," as they passed away. They bore the foodless, dreary march, The nights that chill, the days that parch, Through drifted wilds their way they take, Their pathway is the frozen lake. Yet buoyant, bright, and bold are they, Our boys in the North- West away ! They did not fear that dark ravine Where Half-breed hell-hounds yelped unseeii. With might predestined to prevail Trod down the gusts of leaden hail, Victorious in the fight are they. Our boys in the North-West away. They could not fail, they knew not fear When Otter led the charging cheer. They charged the open, they laid low With Gatling fire the Red-skin foe, They felt the rapture of the fray, Our boys in the North-West away. God send them safe, and send them soon. Each Sabbath hour we ask the boon, Once more to march, once more to meet The cheering from each singing street, While proud resolve and daring high Blend with their notes of victory ! How sweet to grasp each strong right band And greet the saviours of the land, How good to hear the news at last Of danger gone and peril past, How proudly prized will then be they, Our boys from the North- West away ! C. Pelham Mulvanet, M.D., Formerly Na 1 Company, Q.O.R. CHAPTER IX. THE WAR CLOUD BURSTS ON BATTLEFORD. ON the last day of March Winnipeg was horrified by the news that the most dreaded calamity to be feared as an accompaniment of the Half-breed rebellion had fallen upon Battleford. The Indians had risen in large numbers and had taken possession of a portion of the town. The villagers had taken refuge in the Police Fort, but their houses and the greater portion of their effects were at the mercy of the savages. Wom out with want and suffering, embittered with the recollections of their former prosperity, these misguided people were only too willing to listen to any scheme, however absurd and impossible, that promised to give them back the country and the home which they had bartered away to the white man, but for which they had only received in return dependence, want, and shame. They thought they were on the eve of a restoration to the good old days of wealth, comfort, and happiness enjoyed by them before the advent of the white man, and to any one who has known their history for the past ten or fifteen years, it will not be very surprising that they were thus ready to insanely rush upon their own ruin. The Indians plundered the Hudson Bay Company's store, and when the agent, Mr. McKay, walked out of the barracks and remonstrated with them, several shots were fired at him. An attempt was also made to intercept him on his return to the barracks. Fortunately this failed. The Battleford barracks were protected by a substan tial stockade, and the Mounted Police force therein had arms and ammunition enough to stand a siege. Mr. Applegarth, one of the ten menaced Indian instructors, had for some time suspected that the Indian Department stores under his charge were being plundered. The immi nent death of the Chief Red Pheasant served as a pretext 76 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. for the assembling of a large body of armed men. Apple- garth, who had filled the dangerous post of instructor to Red Pheasant's band, narrowly escaped being murdered. So began the siege of Battleford, destined to be gallantly maintained by the besieged and successfully relieyed. All the civilians capable of bearing arms volun teered for service. The Home Guard were on daily drill. Sentries or scouts watched the movements of the skulking foe with incessant vigilance. Meanwhile the Ottawa Government issued the following proclamation for the appointment of a Commission to settle the Half-breed grievances : — " His Excellency the Governor-General, on the recom mendation of the Minister of the Interior, has been pleased to approve of the appointment of the following Commissioners for the purpose of making an enumeration of the Half-breeds resident in the North-West Territories outside of the limits of Manitoba previous to 15th of July, 1870, who would have been entitled to land had they resided in Manitoba previous to the transfer, with a view to an equitable settlement of their claims, viz., William Purvis, Rochefort Street, of the City of London, Esquire, Q.C., Chairman of the Commission; Roger Goulet, of the Town of St. Boniface, Manitoba, Esquire, Dominion Land Surveyor; and Amedee Edmond Forget, of the Town of Regina, N.-W.T., Esquire, Clerk of the North- West Council, barrister-at-law." CHAPTER X ON GUARD AT PRINCE ALBERT. THE town, or fortified post, known as Prince Albert, is situated on the North Branch of the Saskatchewan along a low fertile reach of alluvial deposit. It is on the south bank of the river, along which it extends for ten miles, the lots being arranged according to the old French method of survey, with frontage to the river. It is thirty miles from the Forks of the Saskatchewan, forty-nine ON GUARD AT PRINCE ALBERT. 77 from Carleton, forty-five from the scene of the fight at Duck Lake, and about fifty by the shortest trail from Batoche's Crossing, on the South Saskatchewan. The peninsula between the branches of the river is at this point about fifteen miles wide from north to south. The country in the north-eastern part of this peninsula, ex tending from a point about twelve miles east of Prince Albert, to a point about fifteen miles south-west of the same, and thence north to the Saskatchewan, is a vast sweep of rolling prairie, containing numerous bluffs or. small groves of poplar, cotton wood and gray willow. The land is of unexampled fertility, and the country is one of the most thickly settled in the North-West. In many cases extensive agricultural labour-saving machinery is in use. Much capital has been invested, and the .Eng lish settler who has learned to make his home in this wilderness of wild -flowers, has a residence, farm build ings and a garden that would compare for elegance and comfort with any in the older-settled Provinces, which have outlived the dangers of Indian war. Twelve miles west of Prince Albert a belt of heavily wooded hills extends on either bank of the South Saskatchewan, which renders its passage dangerous in the presence of an ambushed foe. The population of the town of Prince Albert previous to the siege was seven hundred. Owing to th^ attempts of the owners of land to " boom" property tor purposes of settlement. Prince Albert has grown in three distinct centres or clusters of houses. The strongest of these for purposes of military defence is that to the east, which contains the Hudson Bay Company's store, flour mill and fort, altogether about seventy buildings. There also are the Mounted Police barracks, a plain red brick building of two storeys, and a large saw-mill belonging to Messrs. Moore & Macdonald. In the central nart of the town is situated the " Mission property," and a handsome brick built Presbyterian Church, work shops, dwelling houses, and ten or fifteen of those general stores peculiar to pioneer town's in Canada. 78 Canada's north-west rebellion. Half-a-mile west of this is the third and smallest por tion of Prince Albert, comprising McKay's mill, the po.st and land offices, and several private residences, including the lately founded Commercial College, and the dwelling house of the Anglican bishop of Saskatchewan. The country around this town is sufficiently open to prc'ent an Indian attack. The Saskatchewan where it flows by Prince Albert has an average width of a hundred and fifty yards. There, since the retreat of Colonel Irvine from Fort Carleton, about three hundred and fifty available fighting men were on guard over a post more than any other likely to be made the object of Riel's attack on account of its containing a large quantity of valuable provisions and ammunition. The following letter will -give a just idea of the state of public feeling at Prince Albert at the com mencement of the war. It is from Wm. Miller, farmer, Df Prince Albert, who has been residing there for up wards often years, and has not yet received the patent for his land. He writes as follows : — " The grievances of both whites and Half-breeds are neither few nor small. Money is very hard to get hold of. The Government is to blame for a large share of it. We have to depend on a local market. "The Indian and police supplies have all ybeen given by private contract to the Hudson Bay Com pany; that means nearly all the money goes out of the coun try. It is put into their power to pay us in trade, and they have taken advantage of it to the utmost. I will give an instance or two : — They let 500 cords of wood by private contract to the Hudson Bay Company at $3.50 per cord. I would have liked to have had the job at $2 per cord, and would have done well by it. It did not cost them $1 per cord. Also a contract for hay at $25 per ton, the Hudson Bay Company paying $7 for it, and paying both in trade. I attended a large meeting a few days ago that was held at the South Branch. Some had come there over thirty miles. In their remarks they threatened rebellion. I was asked an opinion. In a few words I asked them to confer with the Government before they went any ON GUARD AT PRINCE ALBERT. 79 further. If they take up arms I don't know how they will equip and feed these men. I suppose the most of them would have a gun of some kind. It is said that Riel could gather up 10,000 Indians on this side of the line. A great many here feel very much alarmed, already talking of building fortifications with cordwood. I can not say I feel much alarmed yet, although there is a dan ger with Indians. When they get started they don't know when to stop." Meanwhile at Prince Albert, as at Battleford, the available men were organized for armed defence. The position was made stronger by that best of extemporized outworks, piles of rough cord wood ; but the wires were cut by the rebels and little communication could be obtained from the base of Middleton's operations at Qu'Appelle. In the meantime, by the night of April 7, General Middleton, who had marched from Qu'Appelle that morning, had arrived at a halting place some thirty miles north. The Queen's Own were already camped at Qu'Appelle. The entire distance, by the route chosen by General Middleton, from Qu'Appelle to the Saskatchewan was about two hundred miles. The first thirty miles of it lay through open undulating stretches of prairie, amid which, at considerable intervals, were sparsely wooded bluffs, but no caves which foes could occupy in the face of the vigil ance with which the General pushed forward his scouting parties in front and on the fianks of his main advance. Beyond this was a succession of gravelly and more thickly wooded hills, known as the 'Touchwood Hills. They bear this name for the reason that, unlike mo,st wooded tracts, especially in the North-West, they have never had their timber cleared by a conflagration. Those versed in forestry are aware that when trees are suffered to decay by the slow process of dry rot, peculiar to densely wooded regions, the product is what used to be known as touchwood or tinder. In days before the lucifer match was known, this hilly region was in great demand among 80 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. the Indians for supplies of this tinder with which, better than the dry leaves described by Virgil, they could catch the sparks latent in the flint-stone. Beyond the Touchwood Hills extends the great Salt Plain, stretching for thirty-five miles of dreary saline or alkaline morass, where the melted snow was settling into clayey slush mixed with the alkaline mud into which a settler's waggon would sink hub-deep. Here the only trees were willows, aspens, and the sad grey foliage of the poplar. Here there were many points at which it would have been difficult for the most effective scout to discover a skilfully ambushed enemy, who could have hidden behind cover in places rendered inaccessible to our men by the surrounding morass. But here the General and our Canadian army held their march unopposed. CHAPTER XI. THE SIEGE OF BATTLEFORD CONTINUES. — MAJOR WALSH GIVES HIS VIEWS. AS day after day passed the situation at Battleford be came more and more desperate. The town, by reason of its distance from the railway, was necessarily isolated from the outer world, while owing to the very imperfect state of the telegraph line only short despatches were received and that at irregular intervals. From these despatches it was evident that the rising in the district was no merely local affair, but that it was part of a very formidable system of insurrection, which even then threatened to sweep the country from the western bound ary of Manitoba to the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Half the sufferings and perils of the many isolated settlers in the North Saskatchewan region during this Indian Rising vsdll never be told, but occasionally an experience comes to the surface, which serves as a sample of ¦¦- w! they had to undergo. Here is one of them : THE SIEGE OF BATTLEFORD CONTINUES. 81 ' George E. Applegarth was Farm Instructor to Red Pheasant's band. On the night of Monday, March 30, he was making up his returns with the intention of go ing to Battleford next day. The Indians of his reserve had professed great friendliness for the whites. Like all Indians, they said that since trouble had risen they might fight, but they would fight on the side of the whites. Applegarth went to bed about midnight. At 3 o'clock in the morning he heard a tapping at the door. Getting up he went to see what was the matter, when an Indian quickly strode in and closed the door behind him. He told Applegarth that the reserve was rising, and that some of the bucks who had been to Battleford were after him. Almost while he spoke the door burst open and eighteen redskins rushed in. Applegarth thought his time had come, but luckily this was not the war party. They were eighteen in number — six bucks and twelve squaws — and the friendly Indian whispered that their mission was to hold him until the warriors arrived. Applegarth roused his wife and sister-in-law, a little girl about twelve years old, and Indian teacher Cunningham, and told them to dress. He himself slipped out behind, and hitched up his team, while the friendly Indian engaged the attention of the visitors. Like a true woman, the only article of apparel which Mrs. Applegarth took with her as the team drove off, besides the clothes she wore, was her wedding dress. About half-past three in the morning tlje party of four set out on their race for life to Swift Current, two hundred miles distant. They had got five miles away when the whiffletree broke. Applegarth hkd to walk two miles back to get a rail to make a new one not of. Then they flew on again, plunging and galloping through snow three feet deep, with the moonlight stream ing overhead. At dawn they saw six Indians in the distance. They had now struck the trail, which they left again to strike into the coulees and elude their pursuers. They drove all day, and towards nightfall caught sight of the Indians 5 82 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION, again. This time they thought it was all up with them. The Indians were certainly following them, and were pos sibly waiting till nightfall to kill them. All Applegarth could do was to tell his wife he would ask them to make short .work of the business. His wife and the little girl cried a little, but kept up their courage well. They had no arms with them. Before leaving the house Applegarth had been searched by the squaws, and his arms and money taken from him. The only defence the party had against their pursuers was an axe. At 2 o'clock in the morning of Wednesday, they rest ed for a couple of hours. The horses were nearly ex hausted. But a httle before morning they were put together again and driven on. When daylight came there were no Indians in sight. They drove on all Wed nesday, and at nightfall took another rest. Applegarth never closed his eyes, however. Sometime after mid night they went on, and on the forenoon of Thursday they came up with Judge Rouleau, who had left Battleford the previous Sunday with his wife and child, Mrs. Rae, wife of the Indian agent, a hired man, the two Parkers, of Battleford, and a man named Foster — eight in all. This brought up the party to twelve persons. "When the judge left Battleford there was no trouble, although trouble was apprehended. Applegarth 's report hurried up their movements considerably. Thirty miles from Swift Cur rent they were overtaken by Constable Storer and Mr. Smart. Storer had left Battleford on Saturday, and was the bearer of despatches to Colonel Herchmer. The Battleford garrison believed Herchmer was within a day's march of Battleford. Storer had pluckily volunteered to go out and meet him and tell him of the events that had transpired. On his way he met Smart, who was coming in with goods, and the two journeyed south to gether. They arrived at Swift Current on Monday morning. The escape of Judge Rouleau and the party of Battle ford refugees above alluded to, constitutes an interesting THE SIEGE OF BATTLEFORD CONTINUES. 83 story especially as they were the last white people to see the ill-fated Farm Instructor Payne, who was murdered by his own Indians only a few moments after he had bade them good-bye. On Monday, March 30, Mr. Rae, the Indian agent, sent a messenger up to one of the reserves to inquire as to the truth of a rumoured uprising of the Indians. Meanwhile some of the people began packing up such articles as they wished to take with them ; but they had not time to complete their preparations before the return of the messenger, who reported to Mr. Rae that the Indians were on their way, and were within eight or ten miles of Battleford. Poundmaker, however, stated that they intended no mischief, but only wanted to have a talk with the Indian agent. On account of the shortness of the time, the number of small children, and other diffi culties, most of the people gave up their intention of leaving and concluded to go to the barracks, so that the party which started consisted of Judge Rouleau, wife and three small children ; Mrs. Dr. Rouleau and two servants ; Mrs. Rae and servant ; two brothers named Parker, one of whom was ill, and Mr. Berthiaume. The party had three double rigs and one single rig. Mrs. Rae and ser vant started in the afternoon, and the others at 7.20 in the evening, arriving at the Stoney reserve at 10.30 p.m. Mr. Payne, the instructor, was to furnish a rig, supply hay and oats, and also to send an Indian with the party to take back the rig after reaching the bush forty miles distant. In the morning, however, this Indian failed to appear, and Mr. Payne sent his mother-in-law to insist upon his going. The instructor, by the way, was married to one of the daughters of the chief, a fine-looking and intelligent woman. From Mr. Payne it was learned that the Indians were painting themselves, and evidently pre paring to have a dance during the day. The party started between 8 and 9 o'clock a.m. One Indian at length con sented to go and bring the team back, and on leaving took his gun aud clothing with him. Mr. Berthiaume 84 ¦ CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. left at a quarter to 10 o'clock, shaking hands with Mr Payne in a friendly manner as he left, and fifteen minutes- afterwards the latter gentleman was shqt by his own Indians. After leaving Mr. Payne the party travelled in company with the Indian on the prairie until 11 o'clock, having no suspicion of what had been occurring in the meantime at the reserve ; and the n6xt day at about 3 o'clock they reached the bush, forty miles distant from the reserve, from which point the Indian returned with the rig. The horses being very tired, the party rested there until the next morning. As they were then getting ready to start, Mr. Applegarth arrived with his wife and her sister. They had left at 3 o'clock in the morning (Tuesday), having been informed by the brother of the chief that he had just arrived from Battleford where he had seen the Stoneys plundering the place. It appeared that, after killing Payne, they had started for Battleford, and on their way had stopped at Barney Trgmont's, about half-way to Battleford; and that they had pro ceeded to take away his horses and cattle, and on his resisting, had killed him in his own house, and then helped themselves to all they wanted. Mr. Tremont was an unmarried man, and he had been on very friendly terms with the Stoneys. many of whom had worked for him from time to time. It was further learned that, on the same Monday morning before the party left the reserve, some of the Stoneys had gone to the Cree or Red Pheasant reserve to tell them to go down to Battleford, as the day for action had come. Among the details of the plundering of Battleford, is the statement that some of the chief's squaws were enabled to present quite a stylish appearance as they promenaded in the silk dresses taken from the homes of Mrs. Rouleau, Mrs. Rae, and other ladies. The wife of Rev. Mr. Clarke, who was married last fall, lost her wed ding presents of silver, the savages smashing them in front of the house. Of course^ as the news of the rising spread, greatly exaggerated reports got abroad. It was reported that D. THE SIEGE OF BATLLEFORD CONTINUES. 85 L. Clink, instructor to Moosomin's band, had been mur dered, and at one time the impression prevailed that all the instructors, including Mr. Jefferson on Poundmaker's reserve, had been murdered. Subsequently, however, as the facts came to be known, it was found that Moosomin and his people had remained quietly on their reserve during the trouble, while Poundmaker had never mani fested a disposition to take the life of a white man as long as he was allowed to remain unmolested on his reserve. Indeed, from all that has as yet come to light the attack on Poundmaker's camp at Cut Knife Hill appears absolutely inexplicable. It is true that he came down to Battleford, but he alleges that he was coming to have a talk with the Indian agent. That he should have fought after the lodges containing his women and children had been fired on is in no way surprising. To' any one who knew the greatCree chief, the idea of his permitting the murder of a defenceless white man on his reserve was of course past belief. / During the few days' calm which foUowed the stortn of excitement, aroused by the news of the Indian rising at Battleford, Major Walsh was interviewed with regard to the rebellion, the causes leading up to it and the best method of suppressing it. Among other things he said : "When the first news of the Half-breed rising was received my opinion was asked as to its result. I replied then that there would not be a shot fired. I was led to this conclusion by two reasons. 1st. I did not believe that the Half-breeds wanted to spill any blood. They felt they had a grievance and desired to make some demonstration which would attract the attention of the Government and the people of Canada, with the hop3 that it might lead to their redress, but they never antici pated such a serious result as has been developed. I could not and do not now believe that the Half-breeds wanted war, 2nd. I did not think any official of the Government would be so lost to reason as to take the responsibility of bringing on a war and driving the 86 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. country into such a state of excitement as now exists until every resource in his possession or power was exhausted. " During the last twelve years there were two officials on the plains who had many an opportunity, by taking advantage of the simplicity of the Half-breeds and Indians, of making a little notoriety for themselves if they had been disposed to do so, at the expense of an Indian war. But diplomacy was used instead of powder. One of these men was Colonel McLeod. To show you the tractable and peaceful disposition of these people, I will, if you have time, relate a little experience I had with them at Fort Walsh in 1876. There were at that time about 2,000 families of Half-breeds and perhaps 3,000 families of Indians in the Cypress and Wood Mountains. These people feeling dissatisfied with what they called the ' Police Law ' — the criminal law of Canada — which was introduced into that country by the police in the spring of 1875, met in grand convention forty-five miles east of Fort Walsh and decided that they must appeal against the further enforcement of the law. They appointed a delegation of fifty men to present their views" to me. I met the delegation. They claimed that the law was inconsistent with the good government of a people leading a wandering life, and interfered with their domestic and social habits and comforts, and was to them oppressive. And it is easy to understand how a people living as they had been would find the law oppressive. They, in a very humble but determined manner, announced that they had decided to no longer obey the law of the police. I commenced my argument at pleading — ^I am not ashamed to say pleading — by reading over to the delegation from the statutes of Canada the Acts which govei-ned the country, and which the population of the prairie, white man. Half-breed or Indian, were amenable to, and pointed out the liberty and protection extended to every individual, and the safety given to life and property as compared with the ordinances of the / THE SIEGE OF BATTLEFORD CONTINUES. 87 Prairie Government, which were t)a-annical, and took away the liberty not only of the individual, but of families. For three days the discussion continued, and at the end of the third the conference broke up without my being able to convince the delegation that their demands were unreasonable, and they withdrew, announc ing their determination to resist the law that up to that day they had strictly but unwillingly obeyed. I went to my quarters thoroughly discouraged and wishing for the assistance of some one with more power of language and more skilled in diplomacy. I felt the fault was mine, and that I failed for want of ability to convince them. Mind yoa, I was not afraid of any personal harm, but I felt the seriousness of driving these people into hostility and instituting a war on the people of the plains. Besides I bed for these people, whom by this time I had got to know well, a Seeling of — shall I call it sympathy' ? it was more than sympathy, it was justice, and led me to desire to conquer with words rather than with arms. I felt that these people meant to do right and were only doing wrong from my want of ability to enlighten them as to what was right. I sent for my interpreter and instructed him to go and call from among the Half-breeds five men whom I had selected as the most intelligent and influen tial of the delegation. They arrived at midnight. One of these, a namesake of my own, was Vice-President of the Prairie Government. I said to him that so serious was the step they were about to take that I could not allow them to depart without once more appealing to their judgment. I told them that I had been sent among them not to be a master, but a friend, and that my treatment of them had proved this. The Government of Canada had decided that one set of laws (those I had read to them) should govern the whole country. To allow each community to make its own laws would destroy any State or country. I concluded by saying that the law would have to be enforced, even if force had to be used, and that while the Government of Canada wished to be 88 Canada's north-west rebellion. their friends, if they became enemies it would be the fault of the Half-breeds. They retired, saying the dele gation would wait on me again. It did the following- day, and informed me that our law would be observed, and that their council would be dismissed and their Government abolished. From that day till I left there, a little over a year ago, the Half-breeds were my firm allies, and on two occasions when my force was small, and I had to be a little more than firm with the Indians, they rendered me assistance. In my last disturbance with Sitting Bull at Wood Mountain, two hundred Half-breeds, some of them now with the rebels, as they are called, offered me their services and went so far as to tell the Indians that whenever a dead Red -coat was found there also would be found a dead Half-breed, meaning that they would die fighting with the police. These are the people we are now having trouble with. " I think a commission should have been sent out long ago, but that it has been neglected so long is no reason why it should not be sent at once. What great credit would it be to Canada to kill a few poor Half-breeds who feel they have been neglected ? Don't forget that these people have the hearty sympathy of all the white settlers in their district. Do you suppose if the white settlers had the grievances the Half-breeds have, that they would not have made a disturbance ? and in case they did, who is the man in Canada who would cry out against sending a commission to treat with them ? These people are not rebels, they are but demanding justice." CHAPTER XIL THE FROG LAKE MASSACRE. NO matter what the cause, no matter what the wrong he may have suffered, he incurs an awful responsi bility who incites the Indians to acts of violence and bloodshed. The demon of anarchy and rebellion becomes tenfold more horrible when he possesses the breasts of those rude tribes who have never learned to respect the usages of civilized warfare. The murder of Payne on the Assiniboine reserve near Battleford and that of the ranchman Barney Tremont, were horrifying ; but the news of the Frog Lake massacre was by all odds the most blood curdling that came over the wires during the war. On the 2nd of April the massacre took place under circumstances which will always stamp it as one of the most cruel and treacherous in the annals of Indian war fare. It had been observed that the Indians of the district had been excited and restless, they had com plained that they were not being properly fed, and were dissatisfied generally; the crops were short, and as it was not uncommon for them to grumble under almost any circum.stances, their uneasiness was not in all probability deemed to furnish reasonable grounds for anything like serious alarm. In view of the fact, however, that insur rection was rife in the country, and that Big Bear, one of the most turbulent and troublesome chiefs of the North-West, had been doing all within his power to make trouble for several months before the rebellion had broken out at Duck Lake, Sub-agent Quinn thought it advis able to act with the utmost caution and at once do all in his power to allay all semblance of trouble. When the news of the Duck Lake fight reached them. Big Bear's Indians were loud in their professions of 90 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. friendship, several times visiting the Indian sub-agency at which Thomas T. Quinn was the officer in charge. On April 2 they were in the village, having the usual jokes of the day, and in the evening they visited Quinn's house, still professing great friendship. They remained there till late. An hour before daylight next morning (April 3) they came in a body to Quinn's. Two Indians went up into the bedroom. One of Big Bear's son's. Bad Child, had intended to shoot Quinn as he lay in bed. Quinn was married to a Cree woman, and had one little girl. His brother-in-law followed up-stairs, and prevented the crime by stepping between Bad Child and Quinn's bed. Mean time the Indians below had taken three guns from Quinn's office. Travelling Spirit called out Quinn's Indian name, saying, '' Man-Speaking-Sioux, come down." His brother- in-law, Love-Man, told him not to go. Not taking his advice, Quinn went down, and was at once seized and taken over to Farm Instructor Delaney's hoase. The Indians had been blustering a good deal, but nobody sus pected that they had intended foul play. Before going to Quinn's, the Indians had already taken the Government horses from Quinn's stable, and Love- Man, who was standing up for Quinn, was going to shoot Travelling Spirit in a quarrel about them. At Delaney's house the Indians continued their threats and held a confab. Then Travelling Spirit went with others to the Hudson's Bay store. Mr. Cameron, the agent, was already up. Bad Child came in first, and said : " Have you any ammunition in the store ?" " Yes, a little," said Mr. Cameron. " Well," replied Bad Child, " I want you to give it to us. If you don't we will take it." Mr. Cameron said, " If you are bound to have it I-will give it rather than have you clean out the store." Mr. Cameron was the. only official on the premises at this time. He went from the dwelling to the store and gave them what powder, ball, and caps were in stock — only a small quantity. A keg of powder and nearly all the ball THE FROG LAKE MASSACRE. 91 cartridge had been sent to Fort Pitt from Frog Lake, on the advice of Mr. Cameron and others, after the news of the Duck Lake fight had been received. While Cameron was getting out the stuff for the Indians, they watched him narrowly with their loaded guns all ready. Big Bear now appeared on the scene. Entering the store he waved his arm round, saying to his braves : " Don't touch anything here in the Company's place. If there is anything you need, ask Mr. Cameron for it." After getting a few things all but two friendly Indians went out. Cameron followed to see what was going to be done, and was ordered by Travelling Spirit to go to Quinn's and had to obey. Other white men had meanwhile been brought there along with Pritchard, the Half-breed interpreter. The priests. Father Fafard and Father Marchand were there too, and the place was crowded with Indians. Travelling Spirit said : — " I want to know who is the head of the whites in this country. Is it the Governor or the Hud son's Bay Company, or who ?" Quinn said jokingly, " There's a man at Ottawa, Sir John Macdonald, who is at the head of affairs." The Indians said, " Will you give us beef ? " Quinn asked Delaney if he had any oxen which he could give them to kill. Delaney said he had one or two, and all then left the house. Five Indians took Mr. Came ron back to the store and asked for more goods. One of the Frog Lake Indians, William Gladien, asked Big Bear's party to leave him in charge of the store, " because," said he, " you are always wanting to get something, and there's no use taking Mr. Cameron there." They agreed to this. Shortly afterwards Travelling Spirit came up to Mr. Cameron and said : " Why don't you go to church ? All the other white people are there already." Then he took him to the Roman Catholic Church. As it was Good Friday the priests were holding service. Big Bear and Miserable Man were standing near the door and the 92 ' CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. others were kneeling while the service was going on. Travelling Spirit entered and remained half-kneeling in the centre of the little church, with his rifie in his hand. He had a war hat on and his face was daubed with yel low paint in mockery. The priests finished the service, and Father Fafard at the close got up and warned the Indians against committing excesses. The people then went to Delaney's house, while Mr. Cameron went to breakfast. Yellow Bear, a Frog Lake Indian, keeping close to him all the time. After finishing his breakfast Mr. Cameron went to his store. ¦ Travelling Spirit again called for him, ordering him to Delaney's. He went next door to the barracks, which the Indians were ransacking. King Bird (Big Bear's young son) came up saying : " Don't stay here." YfeUow Bear then came out of the barracks saying, " I want to get a hat." Mr. Cameron said, " Come with me." Yellow Bear said, " Bring it here." Mr. Cameron replied, " Travelling Spirit has ordered me to come ' here. If he sees me going back he might shoot me." The Indian said, " Never mind ; I will go with you to the store." On the road they met Travelling Spirit, who asked them where they were going. Yellow Bear said to the store. They went to the store and Yellow Bear got a hat. Miserable Man entered with an order from Quinn, probably the liast writing he ever penned. Mr. Cameron has preserved it. It read as follows : " Dea/r Cameron, — Please give Miserable Man one blanket. — Quinn." Mr. Cameron said, " I have no blankets." Miserable Man looked hard at him but said nothing. Yellow Bear spoke, " Don't you see he has no blankets. What are you looking at him for ?" " Well," said Miser able Man, " I will take something else," and he took four or five dollar's worth of odds and ends. Just as they THE FROG LAKE MASSACRE. 93 finished trading they heard the first shot. Miserable Man turned and rushed out. Cameron heard some one calling " Stop I stop !" This was Big Bear, who was in the Hudson's Bay Company's house talking to Mrs. Simp son, the factor's wife. As Mr. Cameron went out of the store he locked the door, and while he was doing this an Indian ran up and said, " If you speak twice you are a dead man. One man has spoken twice already, and he is dead." This man, as Mr. Cameron soon learned, was Quinn, who had been standing .with Charles Gouin, the Half- breed carpenter, in front of Pritchard's house. Travelling Spirit had said to Quinn, " You have a hard head ; when you say no, you mean no, and stick to it. Now if you love your life you will do as I say, go to our camp." Quinn said : " Why should I go there ?" " Go," said he. " Never mind," Quinn said, quietly, " I will stay here." Travelling Spirit then levelled his gun at Quinn's head, saying, " I tell you go !" and shot him dead. Gouin, who was an American Half-breed, was shot by the Worm immediately after on the road to the Indian camp, a short distance from Pritchard's house. Mr. Cameron asked Yellow Bear what all this meant. Yellow Bear caught him by the hand and said, " Come this way." Then seeing Mrs. Simpson about to leave her house, he said, " Go with her ; don't leave her." Mr. Cameron walked away with Mrs. Simpson. When they had got a short distance from the house she stopped and called Cameron's attention to the priests, who were standing about a hundred yards away expostulating with some Indians who were loading their guns. Delaney was close by. Suddenly the Indians raised their guns and rushed at Delaney. Father Fafard dashed up and placed himself in front, menacing the Indians, but was over powered by numbers and thftwn down, and Bare Neck shot Delaney, and then, with the other barrel, fired at the priest. Father Fafa«d and Delaney were badly wounded, 94 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION, and, as they lay writhing, Man-"WTio-Wiii8 walked up and fired at them, killing both. Father Marchand (from Onion Lake) was meanwhile attempting to keep the Indians from going after the women. When he saw that Father Fafard had been killed he attempted to push his way through the crowd of Indians to reach the body, but they resisted. He was a wiry man and fought hard. Travelling Spirit, however, rushed up and shot him in the chest and head, and he fell dead. In the rush that followed a moment after this Gowan lock was killed by the Worm. Gilchrist and Dill were together, and Little Bear — who had previously killed Williscraft — fired on them. Gilchrist fell immediately, but Dill was not hurt and started to run. The Indians chased him on horseback and he was finally killed by Man- Talking-to- Another. Mr. Cameron was horrified on seeing the killing of the priests and Delaney. Of course he could do nothing to save them. He went up and caught Mrs. Simpson by the arm, thinking she was going to fall from the shock. They walked on. She kept saying " Go on faster," for the Indians were all round ; but there was no use in try ing to run away. They afterwards learned that had this been tried Mr. Cameron would have been shot. After reaching the main camp, a Frog Lake chief named He- Stands- tlp-Before-Him and some head men took Mr. Cameron into a lodge, where they told him they would see that no harm should befall him. They then went out and brought in Travelling Spirit, and told him that he and his band were to let Cameron alone. Travelling Spirit assured them all, and Cameron himself that he would. Mrs. Gowanlock was with Mrs. Delaney, having left her own house three miles away on the first news of the trouble. The two women were walking to camp with Mr. Gowanlock and Mr. Delaney, when the two latter were shot. Gowanlocffe; fell dying in his wife's arms. The Indians then brought the women to camp. By this time almost everything in the place had been taken. THE FROG LAKE MASSACRE. 95 When Mr. Cameron left they broke open the store and raided it. When the two women arrived in camp they were bought by Half-breeds to save them from the Indians. John Pritchard, the interpreter, bought Mrs. Delaney for a horse and $30. Pierre Blondin bought Mrs. Gowanlock for three horses. The two stayed with Pritchard's family. Mr. Simpson, the Hudson's - Bay factor, was at Pitt when the massacre occurred, but returning in the evening was take'n prisoner. A day or so after this the bodies of the killed were frightfully mutilated and thrown into the empty houses, after hav ing been .-stripped of valuables. Dancing and feasting Ayent on for days. When Pitt was attacked only the men went out, returning after the garrison evacuated with the McLeans and others. The intention of the Indians was to go to Battleford and join Poundmaker and then attack the police barracks, so the whole camp moved towards Pitt, taking about ten days. However, they did not go to Pitt, but moved down the river. Several camps were made close together near the place of General Strange's subsequent skirmish, and it was from easl of there where a large thirst dance lodge had been put up, that they were hurried by the appearance of our scouts. The majority of the Indians of Frog Lake, Long Lake, and Onion Lake, and other bands of Wood Crees, were compelled to join Big Bear, though having no desire to take part in the troubles. They helped themselves to a share of the plunder, but they were in a manner obliged to do so in order to live. The Wood Crees did all they could to save the whites, and did not know anything of the intention of Big Bear's party to kill the people at Frog Lake. Some Wood Crees even threatened to shoot Big Bear's men when the murdering began, but they were too few at the time, and would only have been killed themselves. All the whites saved owe their lives to the Half-breeds and Wood Crees. During their captivity the prisoners were never hun gry nor were they closely confined, although everything 96 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. was taken from them. The two women remained with Pritchard's family and there was absolutely no founda tion for the horrible stories about them which were cir culated at the time. The McLean family was not separ ated and although at first Big Bear's party had charge of them, the Wood Crees took them over because they thought they were not used well enough. A party of Crees took Cameron and others and withdrew from Big Bear's band just prior to Strange's skirmish of the 27th of May, thinking that perhaps the Plain Crees would kill the prisoners if any of their number were wounded or killed. Big Bear's band had been wishing to kill the prisoners all along, and were only prevented by the watchfulness of the Metis and Wood Crees, while the women owe their safety entirely to Blondin, Pritchard, and other Half-breeds. The victims of this frightful massacre, so far as known at present, are as follows : — T. T. Quinn, Sub-agent, Indian Department ; Father Fafard, Father Marchand, John Delaney, Farm Instructor ; J. A. Gowanlock. Charles Gouin, William Gilchrist, John Williscraft, John Dill. Besides these, Mrs. Gowanlock, Mrs. Delaney, James K. Simpson, and several other settlers were made prisoners. It is, of course, impossible to describe the horror with which this massacre inspired public sentiment throughout Canada. Mr. T. T. Quinn, the Indian Agent, was known as one of the most capable and competent of the employes in the Indian Department in the North-West. He was born in the Red River valley, his father being an Irish trader and his mother a Cree Half-breed. He received a good education at the St. Boniface College. When a mere lad he went down into Minnesota and spent some time in a trader's store, and it was while he was there that the Minnesota massacre occurred. His employer's store was raided and its owner murdered, but in ^he midst of these scenes of horror an Indian who had THE FROG LAKE MASSACRE. 97 taken a liking to young Tom Quinn's bright and hand some face hid him under the counter among some empty salt sacks, and by that means he made his escape from savages who were sparing neither women nor children, nn matter how helpless they were. As a young man Mr. Quinn entered the service of the Hudson Bay Company, in which he soon distinguished himself for courage, intel ligence, industry, and thorough honesty. He was placed in charge of the Company's post at Malign Portage on the Dawson Route, over which passengers were carried for some three or four years between Port Arthur and Winnipeg, and remained there till trade in that locality was abandoned. He was always very popular with the Indians wherever he went, thoroughly understanding Indian character, and always conducting his business with that frankness and honesty which the aborigines are sure to respect. He spoke the English, French, Cree, Ojibewa, Saulteux, Sioux, and Assiniboine languages with perfect fiuency, and could converse intelligently with the Black feet, though he did not profess to have mastered their language. He had been in the employ of the Indian Department for some four or five years, serving some time in Battleford under the direction of Mr. Hayter Reed, who was then in charge of that agency. He waa subsequently promoted to the Sub-agency at Fort Pitt, and only made Frog Lake the headquarters of the Fort Pitt Agency some time in June, 1884. Mr. Quinn was probably one of the finest physical specimens of humanity to be found in the North-West Territory. Standing six feet two inches high and weighing about one hundred and ninety pounds he had the peculiarily erect and graceful carriage often characteristic of men of unusual strength and agility. Though no stranger would detect evidences of Indian blood in his appearance or manner, his face had just enough of it to make it unlike the face one usually expects to see when a man is described as tall, dark, handsome, and having black moustache, hair, and eyes. He was a thorough frontiersman either for 6 98 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION, bush or plain. An accomplished horseman and a skilled canoeman, he was thoroughly at home on snowshoes, an experienced traveller with dog trains, and an expert with axe, rifle, shotgun, or revolver. Mr. Quinn, who was a Catholic, laboured ih a very quiet and modest, but effec tive way toward the conversion of the Indians from paganism to Christianity, as from his boyhood he had always taken a deep interest in anything that was calcu lated to ameliorate the condition of the Indian, no matter to what tribe he might happen to belong. His death was sincerely mourned by many an old frontiersman between Lake Superior and the Rocky Mountains. Mr. John A. Gowanlock, one of the victims of the Frog Lake massacre, was a brother of Messrs. A. G. and James Gowanlock, proprietors of the Farkdale Times. He was a millwright by trade, and first visited the North-West in 1879, when he went out to Rapid City and was engaged in the erection of a grist mill. He afterwards went into business as a storekeeper at Regina and Battleford. In October of 1884 he came home, and while in Ontario married Miss Johnson, daughter of a U. E. Loyalist of that name living at Tintern, Ontario, who accomparued him on his return to the North-West. His friends were unwilling for him to return to the North-West, as he said when at home that he anticipated a disturbance ¦among the Indians ; but having been engaged in trading with them for a long time, and always being on the most friendly terms with them, he had no fears. At the time the troubles broke out he, in partnership with Mr. Laurie. son of the editor of the Saskatchewan Herald, was engaged in the construction of a grist-mill at Frog Lake, where they had shortly before completed a saw-mill. The Rev. Father Fafard was born in Berthier, P.Q., where his parents are still living. His earlier education was carried on in Montreal, and completed at L'Assomp- tion College in 1874. Immediately on finishing his col lege course he went to the North-West, where he was attached to the Battleford Mission included in the diocese THE FROG LAKE MASSACRE. 99 of Bishop Grandin, of St. Albert. His duties were those of a Catholic priest, in addition to which he undertook the education of the children of his flock, which consisted of whites. Half-breeds and Indians. Of the Rev. Father Marchand, comparatively little is known ; he was a young priest who came out from France in 1883, and was at once attached to Bishop Grandin's mission, and at the time of his martyrdom was labouring in connection with Father Fafard. Both of these mission aries were Oblat Fathers. . y0^^ft' ^ mimi^^^M\)/)ix'vr!,im " Travelling Spirit," The Leader in the Frog Lake Massacre. LIEUT. -COL. W. D. OTTEB. CHAPTER XIIL OTTERS MARCH TO BATTLEFORD, ON the 12th of April Colonel Otter and staff arrived at Swift Current. The force composing his column numbered five hundred and seventy-five, including two hundred and fifty of the Queen's Own, half of C Com pany Infantry (regulars), A Battery, Ottawa Foot Guards and fifty Mounted Police under Superintendent Herchmer. The country through which Colonel Otter's column had to pass in its journey to Battleford is thus described: The whole distance traversed between Swift Current station on the Canadian Pacific Railway and Battleford was about two hundred miles, or possibly a trifle more. The march to the Saskatchewan was about thirty miles otter's MARCH TO BATTLEFORD. 101 (perhaps thirty -four), and this brought them to the ferry, some distance west of the mouth of Swift Current Creek. The country between the railway and the river is mainly upland prairie, affording smooth, dry footing. The approach to the river is down a steep bank, about four hundred feet high, and at the foot of this spreads a strip of bottom land a mile wide, stretching to the river's bank. The river itself is about two hundred yards wide. Once across the river there were no bottom lands to cross, but the ascent of the north bank began at once. The slope is a comparatively gradual one, and the bench land on the north side is only about two hundred and fifty feet above the water ; little or no difficulty or delay was en countered at that point. Next came a short march of six or seven miles over a beautiful upland prairie which brought the column to a small sweet water lake which was the scene of the first camp north of the river. There was no wood north of this point, however, and in fact the whole plain up to a point on the line of march north of Eagle Creek, and probably ninety miles or more from the Saskatchewan, is destitute of anything in the shape of timber. After leaving the lake already alluded to, the trail leads up a long gradual ascent made over gently undulat ing prairie uplands. Here, as well as in the short march already mentioned, the . footing was reasonably dry and firm. Then comes a very sudden, but slight descent into a strange looking valley, with a smooth, level bottom about a mile wide, and covered with a rich loamy soil. This belt or valley, which appears to extend indefinitely on either side of the trail, looks as though it might have been the valley of some ancient river. On the farther, or what appears to have been the north bank, there is a lofty ridge which stands up out of the plain like a huge wall and up this ridge the trail winds through a rugged, rock-bordered, and somewhat tortuous pass. Above this ridge the ascent continues as the march leads still north ward over slightly roUing prairie for some twenty miles. 102 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. after which high rolling hills are entered. Here the soil is dry and gravelly, and alkali lakes are numerous, but there are also pools and lakes of sweet water quite suf ficient to supply all possible requirements for ¦ camping. Though the trail through these hills is always firm and dry, it is very tortuous, while some of the hills rise well towards the dignity of mountains. This rough almost mountainous country continues for about twenty miles, and then the trail leads out into a smoother, though still undulating tract. After traversing about fifteen miles of this last mentioned class of country, a big coulee is reached, which contains an abundant supply of sweet water of an excellent quality. Twelve miles further on there is a strongly saline creek forty or fifty feet wide, easily fordable, and having a fairly good bottom. This creek is not alkaline, but pronouncedly " salt " at all sea sons of the year. A little farther on Eagle Hills Creek, which is about eighty-five miles from the South Saskatch ewan, is reached. A long and rather steep hill leads down into the valley of this creek from the south, and a strip of flat bottom land a mile in width intervenes between the foot of the hill and the edge of the creek. The creek itself is swift, deep, and narrow at this point. The ascent out of this valley is a comparatively easy one, and when the benches were reached once more the' travelling was unembarrassed by anything formidable in the shape of hills or valleys. About twelve miles further on timber sufficient for fuel was reached, and from this spot until Eagle Hills were reached, the trail lay through clean, open prairie. Just at the point of the hill (twenty miles from Battleford) is the Stoney reserve, and it was here that the boys began to keep a sharp look out for trouble, and their vigilance was nowhere relaxed on the journey over the last twenty miles. The progress of Colonel Otter's command from the South Saskatchewan Crossing to Battleford was very rapid, the average being something more than thirty miles fer day. It is not to be understood, however, that otter's march to BATTLEFORD. 103 the men marched at that rate, for the fact is that after Saskatchewan Crossing was reached part of the men were able to secure a ride on the waggons for portions of the remainder of the distance. Going over the prairie in this fashion was not at all disagreeable. The weather during the day was comfortably warm, and at night, although the pools of water everywhere met with on the prairie were found each morning covered with a fresh surface of ice, the men got along very nicely under the canvas, and accommodating themselves to their changed circum stances really seemed to be beginning to enjoy the vicis situdes of soldiering. The most trying time was on picket or sentry. Those familiar with the country and the Indian method of warfare had no fear that the column would be attacked before reaching Battleford, except it might be that stragglers from the camp might be picked off or that a picket or sentry would be charged at night. While the column was advancing Colonel Herchmer's detachment of Mounted Police, numbering twenty-five. together with some scouts specially engaged, rode about a mile ahead and the same distance to the right and left, beating into every coulee or clump of poplar where an enemy might be ambushed, thus absolutely preventing the possibility of anything like a surprise. At night the pickets extended from a quarter to half-a-mile on all sides of the camp. All felt, or should have felt, perfectly safe aud rested as peacefully as need be. The camp was usually pitched between four and six in the afternoon, and struck about five in the morning. At the Eagle River, about half-way up the trail, the spring waters had carried the bridge away, but materials for the construction of a new one had been brought along, and sent on in advance to prepare a crossing for the column, so that no delay was experienced on this account. Stations were made at dis tances, in most cases of from thirty to forty miles. A couple of men were placed in each. Colonel Otter started out with only about tep. days' forage, and his provisions also were very much short of 104 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. the thirty days' rations he had expected to take with him. The difficulty was that there were not sufficient teams to get the whole under way at once. The method adopted was to send back the teams for fresh loads as soon as those they started out with were consumed. They expected to meet other loads coming on from the Crossing, pick them up and return, while the teams, thus relieved, carried the empty waggons back to the Crossing. Colonel Otter's- column presented a very formidable appearance as it wound along the crooked trail over the prairies. Its two hundred teams stretched sometimes over two or three miles, and looked at from any promin ent pasition, was such assuredly as would put dread into the heart of the Indian. The Eagle Hills, where it was expected the enemy would be encountered, if at any place along the line, were reached on Thursday, the 23rd April, about 11 a.m. A halt was made for dinner, and among the men the probabilities of the next few hours were dis cussed with much interest. The day previous Charlie Ross, one of the best-known and most daring of the Mounted Police scouts, had come across a band of proba bly a dozen Indians in one of the prairie valleys. They had a buckboard and cart, and were apparently engaged in the very peaceful occupation of slaughtering and dressing a calf. They were certainly surprised by the appearance of the scout who advanced to speak to them. When he was about two hundred yards distant they fired a couple of shots in his direction. He replied, but his rifie burst, and the bullet failed to reach its mark. He thought the accident must have occurred by the muzzle of his rifle having got filled with mud. The Indians made off as fast as they could, and Ross returned and reported the occurrence. A detachment was at once ordered to be ready for pursuit, but the Indians were not again seen. This occurrence aroused some apprehension of trouble when the Hills were reached, although it had been reported that the Indians had deserted their reserve a day or two previously. All through these Hills there otter's march TO BATTLEFORD. 105 was a considerable growth of poplar and underbrush. The ravines were deep, and in some cases precipitous, and the ground rises unevenly to a considerable length. By two o'clock on Thursday afternoon, the column had reached the reserve of Chief Mosquito, of the Stoneys. The scouts hunted it over thoroughly, but were unable to dis cover traces of a living Indian. All was in supreme dis order, and the log huts in which they had lodged gave evidences of very hasty flight. In one of the tepees a most ghastly spectacle met the eye. A couple of boxes, such as are used for dry-goods, were piled one on top of the other, and on the uppermost a smaller box which had been used for packing soap. The latter was first taken down and looked into. It contained the lifeless body of an Indian child, probably two years of age, placed in a sitting posture. Its little head had been knocked out of shape, evidently by the back of an axe, and J;he eyes, crushed nearly out of their sockets by the force of the blows from behind, seemed to be glaring out in the wild est horror. It was a most revolting sight, and bore terrible testimony to the fiendish nature of the warring Indian. The second box was looked into, and another object almost equally revolting was to be seen. The corpse of a squaw, probably twenty years of age, with what looked like a bullet hole in the left cheek, was deposited there, also in a sitting posture. About the mouth of the woman was a quantity of clotted blood, and the left hand was raised to the cheek, holding a handker chief smeared with blood. The boxes were restored to the position in which they were found and the search was continued. It was on this reserve that Indian Instructor Payne was murdered, and it was expected that his body would be found some place in the neighbourhood. Diligent search, however, failed to discover it at this time. A large quantity of flour, potatoes, and bacon was found cached in the bush near by, and as much of this as possible was at once loaded on empty waggons and carried along with the column. Preparations in the way of 106 CANADA S NORTH-WEST REBELJilON. ploughing and harrowing were already 'on foot on tht reserves for putting in the season's crop, when the Indians went on the war path. The trail through the hijls was about six miles in length, and as the column a^^anced the scouts were kept busy scouring the counti^5^'~^n all sides. A number of white people had settledgiiT' this fertile region, and were laying the foundation of 'coinf ort- able homes with plenty of every necessary of life at their doors. Their homes had all been deserted, and were looted by the Indians. No traces of an Indian were found. Seven or eight miles from Battleford the fort and village could be descried from the brow of a high hill, and as the advance of the column came into view of the beleaguered place a hearty cheer was given by the men. Just as the column was winding down the long incline towards old Battleford, and when an intervening hill obscured the Low.i from view, great volumes of black smoke shot up, and for a while it was thought the enemy otter's MARCH TO BATTLEFORD. , 107 must have obtained possession ,of the town and probably the fort as well and, seeing the advance of the force's over the hill, were setting fire to the place previous to deserting it. No news from Battleford had been received by Colonel Otter for some days, and he was, therefore, ignoirant of the position of affairs. There was a quarter of an hour of anxious suspense till the troops gained the top of the intervening hill. It was then seen at a dis tance of probably five miles that a building on the south side of Battle River in the old town was on fire. That it was the work of the Indians was apparent ; but it was a relief to find that the fort and new town were still hold ing out. The column was halted on a plain about three miles from the river, the teams corralled, and the tents pitched for the night. Scarcely had the sun set, sinking as it seemed into the great plain beyond Battleford, than the sky was lit up by another building ablaze in the old town. From a prominence near the camp, with the aid of a good glass, the Indians could be seen dancing about the fire in fiendish delight, over the ruin they were mak ing. Charlie Ross, the police scout, accompanied by sev eral others, left the camp at sundown to reconnoitre the position and numbers of the Indians. Just before he and his companions slipped away into the dark underbrush. Colonel Herchmer said, " Take care of yourself, Ross, but if you get a chance to shoot don't forget to do it." " Yes," replied Ross, in a tone that left uo doubt of his intention. The party had not gone for more than an hour before firing was heard in the direction of the town, and Colonel Herchmer ordered out a detachment of a dozen Mounted Police to go to the scouts' assistance. Ross and his com panions had scattered themselves as they approached the position of the Indians, and crept up to within a very short distance of them. Ross himself got into a dense undergrowth where he lay watching the Indians' antics. So far as he could determine there were about eighty of them, all with horses ready to mount. As Ross lay among the shrubbery he was startled by a cough within 108 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. a few yards of him, and became aware of the presence of an Indian. The latter no doubt took Ross to be one of his own people, and Ross was not averse that he should hold that opinion under such circumstances. Half -a- - dozen Indians presently rose up all around him and went to their horses a short distance away. Ross also moved away, and presently came across his companions near the main trail. There they stationed themselves till a dozen mounted Indians rode slowly along. When they were thirty yards past Ross sprang up and called, " Halt." The Indians did not halt, however, but put spurs to their ponies, and the scouts opened fire on them with their revolvers, the only firearms they carried. This was the firing they heard from the camp. The Indians in a few minutes all seemed to have disappeared, as if by magic. They were doubtless in ambush awaiting the advance of those who had fired on them. The Mounted Police squad presently came up and thought it wise that all should return to camp. The pickets thst night doubtless put in an anxious time of it. It was the general impression in camp that the Indians would make an effort to pick off some of the farthest out, but it was otherwise. The sun rose brightly over the scene of the Indians' bonfire, but no Indian was then to be seen. The house that had been burned the previous evening was Judge Rouleau's handsome residence. Immediately after breakfast the tents were struck and the whole column advanced to the brow of the some what steep declivity running down to Battle River. Here the tents were again pitched close beside the Indus trial School and only a short distance from the smoulder ing ruins of Judge Rouleau's residence. The Indians had made a complete wreck of the old town and had exercised almost devilish ingenuity in their methods of destruction. The contents of the Industrial School were thrown about in shapeless confusion, the windows smashed, and the walls battered and polluted. The interior of every otter's MARCH TO BATTLEFORD. 109 unburned house in the old town presented a similar appearance. There were shut up in the fort something over five hundred men, women, and children, composed of towns people and all the white people settled in the district. The fort is about two hundred yards square, with a stockade ten feet high. There was an abundance of pro visions — enough, it was thought, to last three months. This comprised both the police and Indian supplies. In so small a space it will be readily understood that the people were pretty well crowded, but not uncomfortably so. Numerous tents were pitched in all parts of the enclosure, and the beleaguered people contrived to make themselves tolerably comfortable. The fort is situated on an elevated plateau, and can be approached only in the open. The new town lies west of the fort, and the Indians had been kept from sacking it by a wholesome dread of the shells which the seven- pounder gun in the barracks was capable of throwing. Up to the day before Colonel Otter's arrival Colonel Morris was in command, with a detachment of twenty- five police. His situation had been unquestionably a difficult one. His first duty, of course, was to see that the fort and the people within it were protected from the enemy; his second to protect as far as possible the property of citi zens and settlers in the neighbourhood. He had suc ceeded in preserving the fort as well as the property of citizens in the new town, and in order to do this he had to exercise constant vigilance. The property of settlers in the outlying district of course easily fell a prey to the Indians, who had sacked all the houses, and burned most of them for twenty-five miles around — that is throughout the whole settlement. But Colonel Morris was very roundly blamed by many of the people for not making a more determined effort to protect the vast stores of the merchants and Hudson Bay Company in the old town. Every day up to the time of Colonel Otter's arrival the Indians could be plainly seen from the fort, about a mile 110 Canada's north-west rebellion. distant, plundering the stores and carrying off the goods and provisions with the horses and vehicles they had appropriated from the settlers ; it must indeed have been a galling sight. About one hundred and fifty of the men in the fort repeatedly requested Colonel Morris to be allowed to go out and attempt to drive the enemy off and secure the provisions. This request he refused persis tently, and the plundering went on unchecked, except on two occasions when the gun was brought out about half way to the river, and a number of shells thrown at the enemy. Four of them were killed and the rest dispersed into the woods. On the second day a dozen men of the Home Guards crossed the river, when the Indians fled, and captured a horse and buckboard, the latter loaded with looted goods. It appears the horse was baulky and would not move off with the Indians. In connection with Colonel Morris' refusal to allow a rescue party to leave the fort it must be kept in view that the com manding officer had about as great dread of the enemy within the fort as that without. Many of them were Half-breeds and their loyalty, to say the least of it, ques tionable. Had they been allowed to get out he did not know what their freedom might have developed. His position, if disaster had followed a compliance with the men's request, would have been a most unenviable one. Another reason for his refusal was that the ice in the river was in such a condition that it might be expected to break up at any moment, and if this had occurred while the men were on the opposite shore, their returif would have been next to impossible, and the fort would practically have been left at the mercy of the enemy. On Wednesday, the day before the arrival of the relief column, one of the most lamentable events of the whole siege occurred in the shooting of poor Frank A. Smart, who was one of the most popular men of the district, and one who seemed to possess the entire confi dence of the Indians. But it was a most notable circum stance during this uprising that those men who have otter's march to battleford. Ill been most kind and considerate to the Indians have been those who have first been marked for death. The situation all through this district was most deplorable. The settlers, of course, had been robbed of everything. Their cattle and horses had been driven away, their houses either burned or sacked, and thus the labour of years had been rendered vain. Those who had toiled amid innumerable hardships to bring themselves and their families into positions of comparative ease, were left homeless and penniless, in an infinitely worse condi tion than when they first set foot in the country. The seed for which the ground was just being prepared was never sown. The finding of the body of Payne, the Indian Instruc tor, on Mosquito's reserve caused something like a sensa tion in the camp and barracks. It was believed that the Indians had cut it to pieces and disposed of it in that way. Sergeant Langtry was in charge of the fatigue party that made the discovery. The murdereii man was lying apparently just as he had fallen, on his face, with his arms stretched out before him, and a number of deep, wounds on the back of his head told of the deadly and cowardly nature of the attack. A quantity of straw had been loosely thrown over the corpse, and the wind blow ing a portion of this away disclosed the form. In the house which he occupied everything was in confusion. His diary, containing entries up to the night before his death, was discovered. There was no reference to an expected rising, excepting in an entry made three days previous to his death, which showed that Indian Agent Rae had been on the reserve that day, and had had a talk with the Indians and was convinced of their loyalty. The conduct of Judge Rouleau in deserting the place immediately that the slightest danger showed itself, was very severely commented on by nearly all those in the fort. Ever since cause for fear had manifested itself by the sullen manner of the Indians, Judge Rouleau, it is said, persistently maintained that there was no reason for 112 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. I alarm, and being constituted a censor of all despatches' going over the wires, refused to permit any mention of the true condition of affairs to be sent out. Every effort ! seems to have been made by him to suppress the real condition of affairs, but immediately that matters assumed a gravity that could no longer be gainsaid, he took to horse and " skinned " out of the country. A correspond ent in referring to this matter said : " People have stolidly maintained that he did not stop running till he had got to the other side of the big bridge at Ottawa, and that according to the last bulletin of his ^ight, he had got safely into the Citadel at Quebec, and is now barricaded from the arrows of the enemy by many thicknesses of iron plate. Almost everybody, even his compatriots and personal friends, are thus referring to him." In referring to the volunteers the same correspondent says : " No words of mine can sufficiently express the heroic manner in which the Queen's Own regiment has withstood the trials and hardships of the month intervening since their departure from the Union Station, Toronto. There is not a man of them ailing at present, and they take their work and submit to the rigid discipline of active service with a cheerfulness that is in the highest sense creditable. I believe that almost every man in the regiment is roundly disappointed and dissatisfied that an opportunity has so long been denied them to show their merit in the field, and when it comes to that they may be depended on to do their duty. From most of their faces the sun has already removed the outer film of skin, and what remains is tanned a glorious brown. Most of them have perforce allowed their beards to grow, and as they were seen at church parade to-day they presented aji appearance vastly different from that they wore on a King Street parade last summer. Until the column arrived here the rations consisted of hard-tack, pork, canned meat, dried apples, beans, and tea, and there was abundance of it, notwithstanding that reports have gone GENERAL MIDDLETON'S ADVANCK 113 forward to the contrary. Since pitching camp here, fre.sh beef has been occasionally served, and this change has been hailed with great glee. Whenever a good fat steer is found it is appropriated and slaughtered forthwith, and if the owner is not near by he is settled with as soon as he happens to turn up. " While making the above remarks about the Queen's Own, the other bodies composing the brigade must not be lost sight of. Company C, of the Toronto Infantry School, half of which are here under Captain Wadmore, are admired by all for their soldierly bearing and hand some appearance in column. Captain Todd's Ottawa Foot Guards are a thoroughly disciplined body of men, and it is only necessary to mention B Battery to provoke plaudits among Canadian militiamen." Thus the siege of Battleford was raised, and it was thought that the work of Colonel Otter's column was done. How little we know of what is before us. The tragedy of Cut Knife Hill was still to be enacted. CHAPTER XIV GENERAL middleton's ADVANCE — WAITING FOR SUPPLIES AND REINFORCEMENTS. WHILE these events were taking place in the West, matters in the eastern portion of the disturbed district were bv no means at a stand-still. Recognizing the pressing necessity of doing his utmost to nip the rebellion in the bud. General Middleton was hurrying forward with all possible speed. The provisions for transport service, having been hurriedly made, were of course not particularly efficient nor satisfactory. It too often happens that in emergencies of this kind, people selected in a hurry to fill positions of responsibility auvl 7 114 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. trust, are selected on account of personal popularity, or in acknowledgment of political services rather than because of any especial fitness for the place. The conduct of the campaign in the North-West was not altogether free from blunders of this kind, and it would be too much to expect that it should have been. At the season of the year when the journey from Qu'Appelle' to Clark's Crossing had to be undertaken, the grass was not in such a state as to furnish suitable forage for any but native or thoroughly acclimatized horses. In consequence of this supplies for man and beast had to be freighted through. In this way it will be seen that a large proportion of the supplies hauled in were consumed by the horses engaged in the transport service, so that the amount of freighting necessary to keep the force in the field properly supplied was something enormous. With the trails in the worst possible condition, with both horses and teamsters all green at the business, and with, possibly, a very limited aptitude for the work himself, it is not surprising that Mr. Bedson should have made a very sorry job of the transport service. General Middleton was very consider ably handicapped in his efforts to push forward by the . lack of supplies ; his patience was sorely tried at having to wait day after day at Clark's Crossing, knowing well that every day of such inaction was equivalent to giving aid and comfort to the rebel cause. Every day Gabriel Dumont was strengthening his position at Batoche, and still General Middleton was powerless to advance against him. Every day Riel's runners were carrying into Indian camps all over the Territory the news that the white men dared not attack them, and yet, well-knowing this. General Middleton was powerless to advance against him. Find ing the transport service via Qu'Appelle would be nearly or quite inadequate to meet the demands of the situation General Middleton determined to open another route for bringing in supplies. The Midland Battalion and a Gatling gun in charge of Lieutenant Howard, an ex tensive store of supplies, and other necessities for the THE FALL OF FORT PITT 115 campaign were started from Saskatchewan Landing near Swift Current to make the long journey down the river by boat. On the 18th of April, Lord Melgund, with Captain French and Major Boulton with a party of scouts, made a reconnoissance from Middleton's camp and captured three Indians, whom they found hiding in a coulee. One of these was a cousin and two were sons of the Sioux chief. White Cap. Of course they told the old story of being forced into the fight by Riel and the rest of the Half- breeds, but as White Cap and his band manifested a par ticular fondness for the scalps of white men during the Minnesota massacre, it appears extremely probable that neither he nor his followers required much coaxing to induce them to join Riel. On the 21st of April the steamer Northcote started from Saskatchewan Landing with the first instalment of the South Saskatchewan branch of the expedition. On the 22nd a few of Major Boulton's scouts chased two rebels on the west side of the Saskatchewan for some fifteen miles but failed to capture them. They also came upon a small party of rebel scouts with whom they exchanged shots at long range, but nobody was injured. CHAPTER XVL THE FALL OF FORT PITT. THE events in this tragic history now began to tread close upon the heels of one another. While Colonel Otter was preparing his column for an attack on Polind- maker's reserve, and while General Middleton and his force were impatiently awaiting the hour when they should stand face to face with Gabriel Dumont's Half- breeds, there was, away in the far North-West on the banks of the Great Saskatchewan, far beyond the reach of 116 CANADA'S NORTH-WEST REBELLION. present assistance, a little band of red-coated prairie troopers, every one of them with as brave a heart as ever beat beneath the scarlet. Their leader was a well-tried soldier whose modest worth, though blazoned by no hire ling chroniclers, was well-known to soldier comrades in India, on the rugged mountain slopes of Montana, and in INSPKOTOB FRANCIS j. DICKENS. every portion of the North-West, from Fort Pelly to Kootenay, and from Edmonton to Wood -Mountain. This was Inspector Francis J. Dickens, son of the famous novelist, and though one of the most modest and retir ing officers of the North-West Mounted Police, weU- known to be one of its coolest and most intrepid soldiers. THE FALL OF FORT PITT. 117 Under Inspector Dickens, who held Fort Pitt, were twenty-two of the Mounted Police, and it was their charge to protect a little handful of white settlers, and prevent a very considerable store of supplies, arms, and ammunition from falling into the hands of the Indians. Opposed to them was Big Bear, one of the most war-like and powerful chiefs of the North-West. He had under him a force which,in all probability,numbered not less than PLAN OF "FOET PITT." three hundred. Fort Pitt is situated on the north bank of the North Saskatchewan, ninety-eight miles north west from Battleford, and two hundred and four miles east from Edmonton, by the trail running along the north side of the river. It is situated on a low, rich flat, which lies from twelve to fifteen feet above the river level, and- which runs back about half-a-mile to where it meets 118 Canada's north-west rebellion. the high rolling country that stretches away on all sides in the rear of the post. The fort consisted of several log buildings arranged in a hollow square, and was formerly enclosed by a stockade with bastions on the corners, but as this had been removed some years before, it then lay completely unprotected in the midst of some cultivated fields surrounded by common rail fences. Big Bear, who was besieging Fort Pitt, had been induced by means of much coaxing and many presents to remove from the South, where in his close vicinity to the border line he was continually a causp of anxiety to Fort Pitt, where in the midst of a number of hitherto quiet and peaceful bands of his own nation, and hemmed in on the South by the North Saskatchewan, it was sup posed he would settle down and give no further trouble. Big Bear was the last to take treaty and when he did one of his strongest objections to doing so was that he did not like the idea of hanging as a punishment for murder. It was late in 1882 when Big Bear signed his adhesion to the treaty and expressed his wilHugness to go on a reserve near Fort Pitt. Whether or not Big Bear was sincere in his professions of loyalty at that time remains to be seen. He had been down in Montana hunting buffaloes all summer in the same region where Riel was at that time said to be doing his best to sow the seeds of discontent and rebellion among both Half-breeds and Indians from north of the border. Big Bear had originally come from' Fort Pitt, but in the autumn of 1876 he went South hunting buffaloes, and from that time till after he took treaty about the end of 1882 he remained South making Fort Walsh headquarters for himself and his band. The buffalo hunting was bad even south of the boundary line where he spent the summer, and as early as the latter part of August or beginning of September he sent five of his young men North with a message to his particular friend Piapot. At this time he believed that Piapot was settled on a reserve at Indian Head, and the messengers were instructed to ask Piapot the fall of fort PITT. 119 if Lieutenant-Governor Dewdney* had carried out his agreements with the latter fairly and honestly, and if the answer proved to be in- the affirmative Piapot was to be requested to signify to the Indian Department that Big Bear was also anxious to take treaty to go upon a reserve. These messena-ers, however, were met by Piapot before HON. EDOAE DEWDNEY, LIEUT. -GOV. If.W. TKEBIT0KIE8. they reached Qu'Appelle, and the great chief of the South ? Hon. Edgar Dewdney is an Englishman by birth, but with many of his adventurous countrymen found his way to British Columbia during the earlier portion of the gold excitement. Like many others he made and lost more than one handsome competency in that country, but was fortunate enough to finally light on his feet financially. As a representative from British Columbia in the Dominion Parliament he became a man of some importance politically, and on, or soon after, the accession of Sir John Macdonald to power in 1878 he was appointed Indian Commissioner, and on the expiry of Ex-Governor Laird's term in 1881, he was appointed Lieu tenant-Governor of the Territory, still retaining his Indian Commisaionship. 120 CANADA'S north-west REBELLION. Crees was in no humour to report favourably to Big Bear's enquiry, as he was then fresh from his famous interview with Lieutenant-Governor Dewdney at F