The recent rebellion in North-west Canada [microform]

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312

THE NINETEENTH CENTUHY,

Aug.

THE RECENT
REBELLION IN NORTH-WEST CANADA.

The Rebellion in the North-West Territories would appear to have
aroused little interest in England. Telegrams published in the
London newspapers have been meagre and incorrect, and owing their
origin generally to American sources, have been frequently misleading.
All eyes at home have been fixed on the more stirring events in the
Soudan or in the probabilities of war in Afghanistan, while the
campaign in the Far West, undertaken at a day's warning, and brilliantly
brought to a close in a few weeks, has passed by almost unnoticed.

Having, by General Middlcton's request, accompanied him to the
front as chief of the staff, I may be able to furnish some account of
his operations in the Saskatchewan which may not be without interest.
To understand them let us glance back at the events of fifteen years
ago, and at the Red River Rebellion of 1 870.

Louis Riel, a French Canadian half-breed, tlirotigh tlie in-
fluence of Archbishop Tache was educated for the Roman Catholic
Church. Riel first came into notice in the autumn of 18G9 when,
oil the transfer of Prince Rupert's l^and from the Hudson's Bay
Company to the Government of the Dominion, he espoused the
cause of the French half-breeds, or !Metis, as they are called, and
published a Bill of Rights, his chief assumption lieing that the
Hudson's Bay Company had no legal power to hand over land,
the property of ]Metis and Indians, to the Dominion Government
without their formal consent. With some 400 ' breeds ' he esta-
blished himself at Fort Garry, a Hudson's Jiay post at tlie junction
of the Red River and Assiniboine. He there proclaimed a provisional
government, one of the first acts of which was tlie execution, or rather
the cold-blooded murder, after a mock trial, of Scott, a settler who
had dared to resist his authority. An expedition, consisting of a
mixed force of British and Canadian troops, in all about 1,200 men,
was organised for the suppression of the revolt, and during the spring
and summer of 1870 Colonel Wolseley, with his birch bark canoes-
and voyageurs, was pushing up the rapids and over the portages of
the Shebaudowan, and threading his way through Rainy Lake and
Lake of the Woods, and with him McNeill, Redvers Buller, and

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1885 THE RECEIPT REBELLION IN CANADA.

313

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Butler were sowing the seed of future laurels. Wolseley reached
Fort Garry in > 'gust without firing a shot. The gates of the old
fort stood open. Kiel had fled to the State?. He was tried for his
life, and outlawed for five years.

Fort Garry, the palisaded Hudson's Bay post of 1870, is now
the important city of Winnipeg ; the three months from Toronto
to the Ked Kiver by boat and canoe are now five days, in the
luxurious carriages of the Canada Pacific Kailway ; and Kiel's re-
l)ellion of 1885 has taken place 500 miles beyond the Fort Garry of
1870, wliile the Iroquois and the Voyageurs of the St. Lawrence and
Upper Ottawa have faithfully stood by their chief on the rapids of
the Nile.

By the Manitoba Act of 1870 the claims of the Red River Metis
were justly recoj»nised. Each half-breed born in the province before
tlie 1st of July 1870 received a grant of 240 acres of land in satis-
faction of his half-breed title. Nevertheless, many of tliem fell back
before the intrusion of the iVrainion officials, and j^ought homes still
further north, amongst their near relatives the Crees, beyond the Great
Salt Plains on the banks of the Saskatchewan — they wished to be let
alone. Now their bugbear, the red tape of civilisation, has again
surrounded them, and the wilds of the North-West have given birth to
the provinces of Saskatchewan, Assinaboia, and Athabasca, and these
Metis and their descendants are again accused of rebellion.

But besides the Manitoba ' breeds ' many whites moved north-
wards. The line of the Canada Pacific Railway, as originally pro-
posed, lay far north of that which it now pursues, and in anticipation
of the northern route, white adventurers, speculating on the prospect
of future fortunes to be picked up along the line of railway, settled
at Prince Albert, Battleford, and Edmonton. When the route was
changed tliey found tliemselves en Vdir^ and have remained to sow
discontent, and to spread sedition, should opportunity oti'er, against
tlie common enemy, the Dominion Government.

Riel liaving long since completed his sentence of banishment was
quite within the law when he made liis appearance in the North-West
dining the summer of 1S84; and thougli his arrival there was
jealously watched at Ottawa, he was believed to have learned wisdom
duriiig ])is sojourn in the States, and no harm was expected from his
visit.

At Ottawa the winter passed witliout a whisper of uneasiness, and
it was not till late in March that, almost without warning, we found
ourselves face to face with an organised rel)ellion.

The Metis of the North-West claim to be placed on the same foot-
ing as the Manitoba half-breeds, viz. to receive grants of 240 acres.
They ask that patents for their land should be issued to settlers in
possession, and they protest against the form of Government land-
surveying, as likely to interfere with the arrangement of their farms

314

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Auj;.

as at present existing. According to the old French custom, the
Metis settlements line the river-banks, each farm having a small river
frontage, and extending in a narrow strip a considerable distance in-
land. It is asserted that should the Grovernment method of surveying
in squares and giving grants in squares be insisted on, the river
frontages will in many cases disappear from certain farms, and that
at any rate much unnecessary annoyance would be caused by a new
division of the settlements. The Metis say that it is now some ten
years since they first put forward their claims, and that they have con-
tinued ever since to agitate in vain. In September 188-4 a meeting
was held at their settlement of St. I/aurent, on the Saskatchewan, and
the following Bill of Rights agreed upon :—

1. The subdivision into provinces of tlie North-West.

2. The half-breeds to receive the same grants and other advan-
tages as the Manitoba half-breeds.

3. Patents to be issued at once to the settlers in possession.

4. The sale of half a million acres of Dominion lands, the proceeds
to bo applied to the establishment in the half-breed settlements of
schools, hospitals, and similar institutions, and to the equipment of
the poorer half-breeds with seed-grain and implements.

5. The reservation of a hundred townships of swamp land ^/>r
distribuiion among the children of half-breeds during the next 120

years.

6. A grant of at least ^1,000 a year for the maintenance of our
institutions, to be conducted by the nims in each half-breed settlement.

7. Better provision for the support of the Indians.

The purely half-breed dispute practically rested on three points,
viz. the grant of patents for lands already in possession, equal claims
with Manitoba 'breeds,' and objections to Government form of survey.
But there is also a feeling in the North-West, not at all confined to
Metis, that local claims and interests are not understood or sufficiently
recognised at distant Ottawa ; and the feeling would have been more
universally pronounced had not the first shot fired at Duck Lake at
once alienated the loyal settlers from the Metis cause.

To these claims and assertions Ottawa answers that a commission
had already been appointed to inquire into half-ltreod claims, that it
was in the power of any half-breed legally entitled to obtain a patent
for his farm by following the ordinary legal process, that the claims
put forward for the Manitoba settlement are made ])y the very men
who were already settled with in 1870, and that the Government form
of survey can and will be, if required, so arranged as not in any way
to interfere with the river frontages and farms— in fact, that ' the
breeds ' have no case at all.

Now that the rebellion has been brought to a close, we may be able
to look behind the scenes, and to account for the cause which led to
the final outbreak. We shall probably discover much white sedition.

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1885 T/i^' RECENT REBELLION IN CANADA,

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We shall see that Kiel and Gabriel Dumont were not counting
only on tlieir half-breed and liedskin rifles, but on the support of
white men, wlio they had been gulled into believing would stand by
them. Kiel ptit his fighting men in his first line, but in his second
line we may perhaps find the disappointed white contractor, the dis-
appointed white land sliark, the disappointed white farmer. There
have been mtich bigger interests at stake than ISIetis claims.

Warnings of tlie coming storm, if given, had been underrated, when
news; arrived in Ottawa on March the 22nd, that Kiel had seized the
mail-bags near Duck Lake, and that the telegraph wire was cut
between Prince Albert and Clarke's Crossing.

Prince Albert is a white settlement on the North Saskatchewan,
not far above its Junction with its southern branch, and is 279 miles
from the nearest point in the Canada Pacific Kailway. Between the
two branches of the river is the reserve of tlie Cree chief ' Beardy,'
and along the south branch are the Metis settlements of St. Laurent
and St. Antoine de Padua, while to the south again is the reserve of
' ( >ne Arrow.' Tliere is a mounted police post at Prince Albert, and
also at Fort Carlton, forty-two miles higher up the river. At Duck
liake, close to Fort Carlton and between the two branches of the
Saskatchewan, Kiel first showed his hand.

It was an anxious time, for, in all this great North-West territory,
reaching from the frontier of Manitoba to the Kockies,and stretching
far away north into the little known prairie land of Athabasca and
Peace Kiver, there was no one to give a hand to the women and
children dotted down along the river- banks, save 500 mounted police,
scattered in small detachments over a country in which was a
population of over o(>,0()0 Indians.

The bad news reached Ottawa on the 22nd of March. On the 2.3rd
General Middleton started for Winnipeg and the North-West. At
that time not a shot had been fired, and it was hoped that with a
display of force the rising might still be quelled without bloodshed ;
but on the 2Sth came the news of a fight between a detachment of
mounted police under Major Crozier and a band of rebels under Kiel,
in which some police and eleven volunteers from Prince Albert were
killed, and Major Crozier forced to retire to Fort Carlton. He had
left the fort in the morning with about 100 men to secure some stores
in the neighbourhood of Duck Lake. He was met by Kiel at the head
of a small band of rebels. There was some hasty conversation between
the leaders on either side, a squabble and then a shot. Who fired first
is doubtful, but an encounter ensued, in which Major Crozier was
partially surrounded, and fell back to Fort Carlton, leaving his dead
on the field. The same day Colonel Irvine,' with 100 mounted police,
joined him at the Fort. Putting aside the loss of life the affair was
unfortunate, as the actual collision would appear to have been avoid-
' ( 'olon(!l Irvine commands the North-West Mounted Police.

316

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Aug.

(1

able, or at any rate could have been postponed till after tlie j (motion
of the two forces. The mounted police burned their fort at Carlton,
and retired to Prince Albert, where they remained till General
Middleton's arrival, after Kiel's defeat at liatoclies.

With Kiel's success at Duck Lake, the white settlements of the
Saskatchewan and Battle Kiver, Prince Albert, Battlefonl, and Edmon-
ton were immediately threatened with half-breed and Indian risings.
It was for the relief of these distant settlements that General Middle-
ton had to provide.

Before attempting to describe the military operations which
followed on General Middleton'.. departure from Ottawa, it may be as
well to consider the connection between the half-breed rebellion and
the Indian fights which resulted from it.

Kiel took \ip arms for the Metis cause, nominally so at any rate.
Though a miserable creature himself, lie named his price, and could
have been bought out of the country in the autumn of last year. But
he posed as a !Metis patriot — the Indians were not directly interested
in the rebellion — and ' Poundmaker ' and ' Big Bear ' would appear
only to have followed the instincts of their race, when seeing, as they
tliought, Kiel successful, they were tempted by the love of tighting
and the love of plunder, and in many cases by the necessity of getting
something to eat, to commit depredations for vhich no doubt tliey
must be severely punished. Kiel well knew the assistance which the
Indians coidd ati'ord him, and by at once driving in all the settlers'
cattle, he c vibe them with food, and they could hardly be ex-

pected to resi. .lie temptation. And yet it is doubtful if he had
more tlian 250 armed Indians witli him at Batoches. 'Poundmaker'
and 'Big Bear,' urged on by Kiel's emissaries, rose at Battleford and
Fort Pitt. Jvobbory, murder, and perhaps a lew atrocities they have
committed, but grave as the danger was, Canada has escaped the
Iiorrors of an Indian war. The great nation of the Blackfeet, the
Bloods, and the Piegans, have stood l)y her loyally in her trouble,
while their liereditary enemies the Crees, closely allied by marriage to
the Metis, have only partially joined the rebel cause. With 500
mounted police and without a single soldier Canada lias ruii-d from
Lake Winnipeg to the frontiers of British Columlii, and she may
well be proud that during the tenure of the North-West territories
previous to the rebellion of this summer, she had not lost a life in
Indian warfare.

The haters of the Ked Man should remember that he luis a strong
case against the White. He sees his hunting-grounds surveyed and
broken up, and now the backbone of his existence, the buffalo, has
vanished. In 1883, 150,000 buifalo robes were sold in St. Paul, and
in 1884, 300. In Canada the buffalo has disappeared, and the Ked
Man, confined to his reserve, is mainly dependent for subsistence on
the honesty of the Indian agencies, while they are not held blame-

1885 THE RECENT REBELLION IN CANADA.

317

less for the events of the last three months. Granted that, half-starved,
the Ked Man cannot attain to the Fennimore Cooper standard,
jifranted that liis race is doomed, he still exists, and was once the
ruler of thf soil. ' The Viest Indian is a dead one,' is an if|[noble sen-
timent for a conquerinpf race. We may congratulate ourselves that
tliere has been no general Indian rising, and that with the defeat of
Riel the Indian disturbance collapsed.

On the 1st of April I joined General Middleton at Qu'appelle,
a station on the Canada Pacific Railway. We had with us the 90th
Battalion from Winnipeg, the Winnipeg Field Battery, and two nine-
pounder guns, and twenty-nine mounted scouts recruited from the
settlers in the neighbourhood — in all about three hundred and eighty
men. The Indian Reserves far and near were in a simmer of ex-
pectation, ' sitting on the fence,' as the Canadian says. Panic was
spreading amongst the white settlements. Telegrams poured in
hourly to the General, imploring help or arms. News arrived of
murders by Indians at Rat tleford, while between us and Riel was
two Imndreil and fifty miles of prairie. A blow must l)e dealt at
him at onoc )>efore the further spread of the rebellion. Troops must
also be sent to succour Rattleford and to reassure Edmonton. Let
us consider the militiiry resources at the disposal of the Dominion
authorities, and the distances over which troops would require to
move.

Canada's Army consists of a militia force of .^0,000 men, not
including the Reserve .'Militia. The force is sometimes spoken of
as volunteers, sometimes as militia, but there is in reality no such
difference. The force is essentially a volunteer forct, composed of
civilians from the towns and country, those raised in the former
being called 'city corps,' and in the latter 'rural corps.' The
amount of drill recpiired by tlie .Militia Act for each man is
about sixteen days in two years. Many of the rural corps are
not called out annually, and do no more drill tlian that required of
them, while the city corps resemble much the volunteer corps of our
large towns at home, and drill annually as arranged by their com-
manding ot^cers. Tiie men receive 50 cents = 2,s'. a day for autho-
rised drill. They are armed with the Snider ritie. In addition to
her militia, Canada possesses a regular force enlisted as soldiers, and
distributed in schools throughout the different provinces for purposes
of instruction, and composed as follows : — Two schools of artillery,
one at (Juebec, one at Kingston, each possessing two field guns (9-pr.
R.M.L.) ; a cavalry scliool at P(»int Lewis, Quebec ; and three in-
fantry schools, viz., at Toronto, St. John's, P.Q., and Fredericton, Xew
Brunswick. The total strength of all schools combined cannot, by
the Militia Act, exceed 750 men.

At the outbreak of the rebellion, with the exception of the 90th
(Winnipeg) Battalion and a Field Battery (two guns) from Winnipeg, all

318

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Aujj.

troops would bo required to move up from Lower Canada. The Canada
Pacific Kail way was not entirely completed alonj; the north shore of
Jiake Superior, there were breaks of seventy or eighty miles over wliich
troops would have to march or to be conveyed by sleigh. With that ex-
ception there was railway communication from (Juebec to the Kocky
JMountains. The distance fiom Ottawa to Winnipeg is, by tlie
Canadian Pacific Kailway, l,.il2 miles. From Winnipeg to Calgarry
800 miles. Troops would require to leave the railway at certain
stations between Winnipeg and Cilgarry, and niaicli across the
prairie to the threatened points — Prince Albert, Battleford, and
Edmonton. The stations selected were : Calgarry, for tiie Kdraonlon
column, Swift Current, for the liattleford column,'- and liu'appelle
Station, for t lie Prince Albert column. To General Strange (late
R.A.) was given the command of tlie troops at Calgarry, Lieutenant-
Colonel Otter commanded the Kattleford column, and General
Middleton accompanied the troops intended to attack Kiel, witli a
general command of the whole force in the field. I intend only to
follow the movements of General Middleton's column.

The time of year was the most unpleasant for campaigning, tlie
winter was just breaking up, snow was still on the ground, but was
rapidly becoming slusli, and we feared that with eacli succeeding day the
trails would become more difficult. It was evident that we should
draw no supplies from the coimtry through wliieh we liad to march.
We should pass no settlements of any importance, and though the
snow woidd soon be gone, there would as yet be no grass for our
horses. We sliould have to carry everything — men's rations, hay and
corn. Army transport did not exist, and tlie (Jeneral was at once
thrown upon his own resources as to tlie arrangements for feeding
the troops about to take the field. Providentially, there existed in
the North-West a ready-made transport and supply office. Tiie
Hudson's Bay Company knew the country and its customs, and where
to obtain what was required. The (Company agreed to furnish trans-
port and supplies, the detailed arrangements being left with the
officers of the expedition selected by the General. To the Hudson's Bay
Company, and to the untiring zeal and the organisation of Captain
Piedson, General ]Middleton's chief transport officer, a large share of
the success of the expedition is due.

Our transport consisted of light four-wheeled wagons, carrying
about one and a half tons, with two horses — the horses, as a rule,
being excellent. The Bell Farm (a farm of 60,000 acres, and one of
the great agricultural speculations of the Xorth-W'est) itself supplied
sixty teams. At the commencement of the campaign we paid ^10 a
day per team, but latterly the price was somewhat reduced. Towards
the end of the campaign we had in General Middleton's line of eom-

2 Krnm Calgarry to Edmonton is a march of 104 miles. From Swifl (Jurrcnt 'o
Battleford is a march of 200 miles.

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1885 THE RECENT REBELLION IN CANADA, 319

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miinications 745 teams,'' working in perfect order, in connection with a
Hystem of depots.

On the 2iid of April General Middleton left Qu'appelle Station,
and marched nineteen miles to Fort (Qu'appelle, a Hudson's Hay post.
He halted tliere till the Gth, the time heing fully occupied in riHo
practice and j,'eneral instruction of our small force, and in organisa-
tion of transport.

( )n the ()th we commenced our marcli in earnest. Thecountry is not
diHieult for troops, liolling prairie land, covered here and there more
or less thickly with poplar ' bluffs,* ' it resembles much an English
park. Enj^ineennl roads there are none, but there are few l)ad
gradients, and few watercourses ; and luckily for us the frost was
still deep enough in the ground to give good bottom to wliat might
later in the season have proved awkward quagmires. Though the
season was breaking, the cold was intense. v)ur tent-pegs froze fast in
the ground, and we hail to cut them out on striking camp. Oiu-
boots froze to the stirrup-irons. There was a perpetual high wind,
rain, and occasional ' blizzard.' ■' JJut the troops t rudged on constantly,
doing tw(!nty miles a day. At night we formed our wagons into a
' corrule,' after the American fashion, wheel to wheel and poles in-
wards, with the teamsters, tents, and horses inside the circle — the
camp outside the ^ corrale.'

Firewood and water were generally to be found in abimdance.
On the i;Uh we arriveil at Humboldt, Halted the 14th, marched
aijainthc lath. The (reneral was anxious to secure Clarke's Crossinir
on the {Saskatchewan as soon as possible. He hoped to be able to
utdise the river as a line of communication, and the Crossing as an
advanced post was therefore important. It was also on the teh'graph
line between iJattleford and Humboldt. We had followed the wire
since leaving (^Hiappelle, and by tapping it were generally in com-
munication with Hattleford and Ottawa.

We arrived at Clarke's Crossing on the 17th, having marched 177
miles in twelve days, or nearly iifteen miles a day including' halts,
and nearly eighteen miles a day exclusive of halts. We found there
a small white settlement, capable of affording us a few supplies at
extravagant prices, a telegraph station, and two ferry boats or ' scows.'
The Saskatchewan is here about 300 yards across a muddy rapid river,
with steep banks some 150 feet high, deep mud and shingle to the
water's edge, strewn with huge masses of ice left there by the spring
freshets. At the Crossing and on the march there we were overtaken
by A Battery from (Quebec, with two guns (Dpr. K.M.L.), the 10th
Grenadiers from Toronto, and Bolt.a's Mounted Infantry.

■' A ti'iiiii iiH'iiiiN ii. jiair of horses.

* ' l?lii(Y ' is tlu! North-West term for a wood. ' Heavy bhiff ' means thick wood.

* A s:iio\vstoriii with liigli wind.

320

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Aug.

The force destined to attack Kiel's position was now complete,
and was composed as follows : —

All nuik-i

A Bnttory (Quebec), ii 0-pv. Tv^\.\.. gruns . . .111

C f "ompnny, Infantry School (Toronto) . . .Ah

10th (trenadiers (Toronto) .... f?(57

OOtli (Winnipeg) ...... .'U4

Irregular ( "orps raised from I Piolton's Mounted Infantry . 70
sett\ rs ° I French's Mounted Scouts . L".)

Total . SO(J

Our line of commimications was almost imguarded. We liad
been unable to spare troops to look after the Indian reserves at
Touchwood and the File Hills. Our convoys arrived daily without
escort, and we had to hor)e that the show of force might overawe the
country we had left behind us.

Our information was invariably bad. We found more certainly
every day that reports as to the nature of the country were qtiite
imreliable ; otu- maps were faulty, and the luigeness of the country
would seem to have eliminated from the settler's mind all power of
estimating distances, while it has strangely developed liis faculty of
imagination. The incorrectness of the detailed information we got
from time to time from persons who should have been well informed
was maddening. It was, however, evident that Kiel hud left the
neighbourliood of Duck Lake, and had established himself on the
east side of the Saskatchewan at Untoches Ferry. We were told
tliat the main body of tlie ' breeds ' were there, and that they had
i^trengthened their position witli rifle-pits. The Indian portion of
Kiel's force were reported on the west side of the Saskatchewan,
opposite Eatoclies. As there was a good ferry at that place, lie would
have no difficulty in moving to whitever side he pleased. ' Beardy '
and 'One Arrow,' the Cree chiefs, had joined him, and also the
' Wliiteeap ' Sioux from Saskatoon. He was reported to have with
him about 500 men, badly armed, half of whom were Indians, and
the other half French half-breeds. He hud established a provisional
government, with a council at Ijatoches, and had put the direction
of military matters into the liands of Gabriel Dumont, a well-known
buffalo hunter and crack rifle shot.

From Clarke's Crossing to Batoches is thirty-three miles. The trail
along the east bank was reported clear of wood to Ciabriel's Crossing
(twenty-eight miles), after which it was said to enter thick bush, and
to be very dangerous. The trail along the west bank passed througli
an open country to nearly opposite liatoches, where it also entered tluj
bush. The General decided to divide his force and to advance by the
trails on both sides of the river. Kiel would then, if defeated on
either side, be unable to make good his retreat by crossing the river.
We also intercepted his line of retreat to the States, while if he

"'■ Dotb these corps wore calleil the Sout.-i.

4

4'

1885 THE RECENT REBELLION IN CANADA.

321

i

attempted to go north he must run tlie gauntlet of Colonel Irvine's
scouts from Prince Albert.

On the 18th, Bolton's Mounted Infantry reconnoitred the trail on
the east bank. The day was stormy, snowing hard, but we succeeded
in taking three Sioux Indians of Whitecap's band, who proved to be
two sons of the chief and his son-in-law. On the 22nd, French's
scouts went out on the west side of tlie river, and again came on
Kiel's scouts, and exchanged a few shots. By the evening of the 23rd
we had, with much labour, by means of a roughly contrived ferry,
succeed id in passing over to the opposite bank the troops to form
the western column.

Our force was pretty equally divided. Lieut. -Colonel !Montizambert
of the Canadian Artillery commanded the Western Force, consisting of
the 10th Grenadiers, the Winnipeg Field Battery and two gims, a
detachment from A Battery, and fifty mounted men of the Irregular
Corps. The General remained on the east bank, and had with him
the 90th A Battery and two guns, forty men of the Infantry School,
and fifty of Bolton's Mounted Infantry ; each column was about 400
strong. I accompanied the Western Force. A scow ^ had orders to
follow us down the river, taking with it a small boat, in case we
wished to commimicate.

On tlie morning of the 23rd l)oth columns, within sight of each
other, commenced their march down the river. The weather was
getting much warmer, and the prairie was already dotted with
llowers. In the evening we cimpod opposite each other, the Generars
force at a small settlement called .Mackintosh's Farm.

As Colonel Montizambert's column was very short of hay and corn
I crossed tlie river early on the 24tli, and arranged for some to be
sent over to us by means of tlie scow, and after breakfasting with the
(Jcneral returneii to the westi-rn bunk. I had hardly got into camp
when our scouts reported firing on the bank I had just left. We soon
distinctly heard the rattle of musketry and the firing of Middleton's
guns, and following the sound moved down the river bank. But the
bush was thick, and we had to guard against attack ourselves. The
smoke from the guns was clearly visible, and soon a mounted man
came down to the opposite bank and called over to us to come across.
The river was broad and rapid, fording it was out of the question ;
and the scow was some distance behind us waiting to load with hay.
Wo at last got her down, and picking our way through the ice
boulders 1 crossed with one company of the 1 0th Grenadiers and some
scouts, forced our way through the thick wood and up the steep
bank on the opposite side, and joined the General about 1 r.M.
After a hard tussle he had beaten back a rebel attack, and was doing
his best to force them from their rifle pits in a deep ravine, called
Fish Creek. He had been attacked soon after striking his camp at

Vol. XVIIL-

' A large lliit-bottorued boat.
-No. 102.

322

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,

Aug.

Mackintosh's Farm. Bolton's Mounted Infantry, pushed well to the
front, had been suddenly fired on. The trail crosses Fish Creek, and
it was probably the rebel intention that his column should descend
into the Creek before it was attacked ; but our scouts, in extended
order, had turned each copsewood as they came to it, and the hidden
enemy, probably not liking to allow men to pass his flanks, fired too
soon and let the cat out of the bag. The General had time to get up
his infantry and guns, and though attacked on both his flanks, he
drove them back. But immediately to his front, in a deep hollow of
the wooded ravine, were rifle pits commanding the trail, and from
these the rebels never budged. Our men lined the crest of the ravine,
and fired into the pits. We sent our two nine-pounders across, and
took them in reverse with case shot, but in vain. And all day long
almost entirely concealed the rebels picked off our men. The tfeneral
was shot through his fur cap. Both liis aides-de-camp were wounded,
one having two horses shot under him. And my orderly's horse was
shot. Evening was coming on, and we had lost heavilj'. The General
decided that to rush the pits would entail a heavy loss of life, which
the advantage gained would not in any way repay. And he decided
to pitch his camp. We chose a place half a mile from the Creek, near
tlie Saskatchewan, on a fine open piece of prairie. Two more com-
panies of the 10th Grenadiers and the Winnipeg Field Bi'ttery had
joined us late in the afternoon ; but all the transport of the western
column was still on the other side of the river, and with it were only
fifty scouts and one company of the 10th.

Night came on with pelting rain. None of us are likely co forget
the dark wet night of the 24th close to the deep ravine, still holding,
for all we knew, a concealed enemy, and with us nothing l)ut raw
troops, totally unaccustomed to night work, and hampered by
wounded men, or the briglit moonlight and the false alarm of the
2Gth, wlien Darcy Baker, of the Scouts, lying badly wounded, sprang
up, called for his rifle and his horse, and fell back dead. We tliought
we had come out for a picnic, and it was impossible to hel]) feeling
that war's hardships are doubly cruel to the civilian soldier.

On the 2oth we did nothing. We wanted ])reathing time. On
the 26th a strong party went to the scene of the fight, and recovered
two of our men whom we had left dead. They were not scalped, and
had not been touched. We found two dead Indians, and fifty-five
dead or dying rebel ponies. The enemy had evidently left the
neiirhbourhood. Our own loss was ten killed or died of wounds, and
forty-seven wounded, out of about four hundred men engaged. The
rebel loss, as subsequently ascertained, was, I believe, six killed and
about fifteen or sixteen wounded. The main body of their whole
force had probably been brought against us.

Late in the afternoon our half-breed interpreter Peter Tlouri had
called over the edge of the ravine to the men in the pits, ' Is Gabriel

i

%

Aug.

"^^11 to the
P''^^^ and

"^d descend

'" extended
t^^e fiidden

'«' fii-ed too

'^ *o S-et up
flanks, he
^'oiiow of

' 'ind from

^^« I'avine.

•^■<3^'S and

f^-'ij ion^

»^onnded,
iorse was

General
^% ^viiic/i

f'ecided
^t, near
'■p com-
«''y had
">'>torn
'e on]y

Idinir.

1885

TffJ? RECENT REBELLION IN CANADA.

323

raw

d ]>y

fariff
ling

On

red
ml
ve

a

e
i

i

Dumont there ? ' Answer, * Yes.' ' Are there many of you there ? '
' There are plenty of us left.' ' Will you have a talk with me ? '
No answer. We believed that the rebels were fightinfy on the orders
of Gabriel Dumont, but that Kiel himself was not present. The
.Metis had met us on their frontier. Fish Creek is the boundary of
the half-breed settlement, St. Antoine de Padua.

We halted at Fish Creek till tlui 7tli of -May, hoping daily for tlie
arrival of the steamer ' Northcote ' from Swift Current with men and
siipplies ; but the Saskatchewan played us very false, and owing to
shallow water and sand banks there was tantalising delay. We made
frequent reconnaissances with our mounted scouts, and foimd that
the country was deserted to below Gabriel's Oossing, some ten miles
from our camp. All along the river banks we found comfortable
farmhouses, whose ]Metis owners had fled.

On the 5th of May the ' Northcote ' arrived, bringing a large
quantity of ammunition and supplies, two companies of the Midland
I:?attalion under Colonel Williams, and a (Jatling gun, with Captain
Howard, an American officer who liad been sent with it from the
Ciatling factory at St. Paid, to exphiin its working. Lieut. -
Colonel Van Straubenzee also cam(( in tlic ' Northcote,' and assumed
oommand of the infantry of tiie force.

After Fisli Creek the General decided to reunit(! his forces, and
the column on the west bank rejoined lum. On the 7th he
struck his camp and marched to Gabriel's Crossing, some six
miles from Patoches, and on the 8th left (labriel's Crossing, and
instead of keeping to the river trail marched straight away from
Ihe river till he reached the open prairie, and then turned to the
left across country, picking his (jwn line, till he struck the main
trail from Humboldt to Hat oches, some eight miles from thatplace,
and pitched his camp on the open prairie just outside the bush.'*
There would appear to be a belt of bush ('iimmencing near Fish
Creek, and running parallel to the river for a breadth of some miles.
We had avoided it so far, btit now liad to pass through it to reacli
Ikitoches. On the evening of tlie 8th we puslied the ^lounted
Infantry some five miles through tiiebush towards Batoches, putting
to tiight some rel)el scouts, and returning to camp in the evening.

On the morning of the IHli we marclied to attack Eatoches.
We left our camp standing, and took with us every available man.
The 'Northcote," with thirty-five men of C Company, had been told
to drop down the river from Gabriel's Crossing, and be ofi' Batoches
at 8 A.^r. on the 9th, so as to intercept Kiel should he attempt to

* Wo liad boon led to bi'lievc llial lij' leaving,' tin- river hank wc .sliould avoid
somo dangerous busli, an<l by crossing; tlio (i|jcn ])rairio coidil arrive at a point in the
open tiderably near liatoelies. 'I'iio iul'ormation was not oorrcet, and wo camped
on the cveninj^ of tlio Hth turtlier than \vc! expeete<l from JJatoclie.s; but llu! busii
throujrh whieli we had to pass wa^ probablv not so ilanyerous as if wo had continued
l)y tliu river trail.

T2

i

324

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

Aug.

cross the river. She was to get into action as soon as possible after
8 A.M., and to make any diversion she could in our favour. We
hoped to attack on the land side at the same time. Keveille sounded
at 4 A.M., and we marched between 5 a.m. and 6 a.m. on a lovely
spring morning.

Order of 31arcu.

Bolton's Mounted Infantry extended with Mounted Infantry supports to extended

men on both Hanks.

Main body of Bolton's Mounted Infantry.

Gatlinpf pun.

Advanced fjuard 10th Grenadiers.

DOth Battalion.

A Battery: 2 '.)-pr. Il.M.L. guns.

2 Companies Midland Battalion.

^Viunipeg field battery : '2 fl-pr. Il.M.L. gun?.

Ammunition wagons.

Ambulance.

French's Scouts.

At 8 A.M. we heard the ' Northcote ' whistling, and slie soon
commenced a sharp musketry fire. At the same time we struck the
river bank, and found ourselves in more open ground, almost in wliat
may be called the suburbs of the Batoches settlement. We got up
our field guns, opened fire on the houses, and pushed ou with a
company of the lOth Grenadiers extended. The trail here run:*
close to the river bank, which is high and precipitous, covered with
bush to the water's edge. We soon found ourselves on an open space
in front of the Roman Catholic church and the priest's house, which
was full of priests and nuns and half-breed women and children.
From here you could see right into the settlement, which Jay in a
hollow below us, fringed with thick ' bluff' — Kiel's council house in
the centre of the hollow some eight hundred yards from us. On the
other side of the river were the numerous ' tepees ' '■• of an Indian
camp. We opened fire on his council house. Twq guns luid been
moved off the trail a few yards down the bank, which was not here
so steep, in order to get a better range at the houses ; Howard, with
his Gatling gun, was there too. A scout reported to me that he
had been fired on from a rifle pit on our right front ; but we had
met with little opposition, when suddenly there was a slirill war
whoop of many voices under the muzzle of the right-hand gun.
Unseen, the Crees had crept almost to the guns. There was a
general hurried move to tue open, when the rattle of the Gatling
and a sudden cessation of the war whoops told that Howard had not
moved.

Between us and the settlement in the hollow was this belt of
bush ; and all day long from it came a nasty galling fire, a.ssisted by

" Indian tents.

V.

i

Aug.

\Ue after

^ir. We

I ^'ounded

^Vely

^tended

1885 THE RECENT REBELLION IN CANADA.

325

'^

i

a dropping cross-fire from the opposite side of the river. In the
afternoon the rebels set light to the bush in front of us, and a
great cloud of smoke and fire moved down towards the church. We
took our wounded from the church and placed them in wagons
ready to move, for, hard pressed, we could not gain an inch. We
had no supports ; things looked critical, and there was eight miles of
bush between ns and our camp.

In the afternoon I was sent by the General to the telegraph
station at Humboldt (sixty-five miles). How the little column
gallantly forced its way into l*)atoches on the morning of the 1 1th is
now a part of Canadian history. It lost, in the three days' fighting,
nine killed and tliirty wounded — the rebel loss being fifty-one killed
and one hundred and seventy-three wounded.'"

On the 15th Kiel surrendered to Middleton's scouts. His chief
lieutenant, Gabriel Dumont, escaped across the frontier. The rebel-
lion was practically at an end. ' Poundmaker ' surrendered to General
jNIiddleton at liattleford on the 2Gth. General Strange had gua-
ranteed the safety of Edmonton, and though the pursuit of ' Big Bear '
;gave the troops more hard work, all cause for anxiety had disappeared
with Kiel's defeat at Batoches.

The trial of Kiel at Kegina will now bring to light the secret
history of the rebellion. We shall learn what the intentions of the
rebel leaders were had they been successful — did tliey mean to
proclaim a Sas]<atchewan Kepublic, or had they any idea of asking
for Imperial protection, or had they no plan at all? Kiel, as a Metis,
will probably say that in insurrection lay the ouly certainty of insuring
attention to Metis wrongs, that he resisted the injustice of the
Dominion (iovcrnment and the Dominion police, but he may possibly
assure us of his allegiatice to the (^ueen, for amongst Indians 'the
Quteu," the ' great mother,' is venerated, and the Metis may share
the same feeling.

After Fish Creek a man of the 90th picked up a piece of paper,
which he brought to me. The rebel leaders had feasted before the
tight, and this was their programme for the evening :

I'Koiir.AM.Mi;.
]'■'. Sciiipci'.
1""". Di'ssort.

.■)'"". I ill Siuitc dv lii Itfiiio.

4""'. I.ii Sinitt' tlt> .M. I-ouis Uiol et Tailrosso de M, Philippe Garnot."
C'"". T.a SfiiiU' tU'S Hiuue^.

The Queen first, and then Louis Kiel. It looks as if the rebels
still claimed allegiance to their sovereign. We shall also learn how
much bad times amongst the farming whites of the Saskatchewan may
have influenced their sympathy with the ' Breeds.'

'" These numbers have no doubt since been ofticially corrected.
" Kiel's priviitc secretarj'.

32G

THE NINETEENTH (JENTUHT.

Atig.

On tlie whole, the rebellion will do good. It will render necessary
a searcliing inquiry into tlie system of government of the North-
West, the system of Indian agencies, and the means to be employed
for the future ruling of the country. Immigration may be checked
for a year or two, but in future tlie immigrant will be safer than he
has ever been before. Prince Albert and 13attleford have no doubt
sutl'ered heavily, but settlers generally will have benefited by the
visit of the troops, while the insurrection has united in one common
cause all the Provinces of the Dominion ; battalions from Manitoba,
Ontario, the Maritime Provinces, and (Juebec, have served side by
side in the field ; and while French C'anadians may reasonably hope
that their blood relations may have a fair trial, they have as loyally
condemned the rebellion as the people of Ontario.

The military experience gained will be valuable. When the cam-
paign commenced the militia department knew nothing of the capa-
bilities of its officers in the field, now many reputations have been
made, and it will know in future what commanders it can rely on.
The faults of the militia system have been bro)ight into relief, and
every good Canadian soldier m' st hope that the department which
has done so well will seize the opportunity of disallowing, once for
all, the immilitary outside influences, which through custom have so
often prevailed in purely military questions.

It has been General JMiddleton's lot to command the first volunteer
or civilian soldiers wlio have lieen in action. And most galUntly
have men and officers done their work. The men of his force were
almost universally of the same class as our English volunteers — clerks
in offices, mechanics, tradesmen. They were not soldiers by trade.
Excellent material, splendid marchers, apt to learn, possessed of
mucli handiness and ingenuity, especially with the axt, but un-
accustomed to the work required of them, and with no time allowed
them to gain experience, they went straight from their homes into
action. The risk of much loss of life in a force so composed is an
exceptionally lieavy risk for a commander to incur, and no man in
General ^Nliddleton's column is likely to forget their chief's generous
solicitude for the safety of his troops. An imseen enemy is always
a trying one, especially for an inexperienced force.

The Metis never showed themselves, but though good shots at
short ranges, in other points they were contemptible. They never
attacked a convoy, they never cut the wire behind us, and though
Indians and ' Breeds ' are born mounted infantry, who can shoot as
well from their horses as on foot, they never harassed us on the
march. Possibly the want of grass for their horses, owing to the
earliness of the season, may account for this, but it would seem as if
they intended only to defend their homes against invasion. At
Fish Creek they met us on their frontier, at Batoches they fought us
on their own doorstep. They were badly armed with a certain

\

)

1

\

■ \

1

I

)

I

1885 THE RECENT REBELLION IN CANADA. 327

number of repeating Winchester rifles, hut many old smooth hor .s
they were short of ammunition, and it is doubtful if the force wi h
Kiel ever numbered 700 men, Indians and « Breeds combined. The
prisoners they took they treated well, and they respected the dead.

As a military achievement the success of the campaign has been
brilliant. The Hon. Mr. Caron, Minister of Militia may justly
be proud of the department wliich between the 23rd ot March and
the 20th of May placed 4,419 men in the field, the whole ot which
force, with the exception of the Winnipeg Corps and the irregular
mounted troops, were sent from Lower Canada. A complete system
of transport for three columns marching at great distances from each
other had to be organised; and six weeks after General Middleton s
departure from Fort Qu'appelle, Kiel had been brought a prisoner
into his camp. From Ottawa to Qu'appelle is 1,03- -J -• l^^™
Qu'appelle to Batoches is a march of 243 miles. Lord Wolseley lett
Toronto on the 21st of May, 1870, and arrived at lort Garry on the
24th of August, three months. In 1885 the last troops ordered out
left Montieal for the front on the 11th of May, and arrived at
Winnipeg on the 20th of May, nine days. So much has fafteen years
of civilisation and a railway done for Canada.

Melgund.