Northwest Rebellion

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The Northwest Resistance ( Northwest Resistance ), formerly North-West Rebellion or Saskatchewan Rebellion called, was an uprising of the Métis and local clans of the tribe of the Cree - and Assiniboine - Indians against the Canadian government and found in 1885 in the area of today's Canadian Saskatchewan Province .

background

Métis on the buffalo hunt, sketch by the Canadian painter Paul Kane from 1846
Decline in buffalo populations

The Métis, descendants of mainly French fur traders and Indian women, had settled on the banks of the Red River in the first half of the 19th century . There they practiced agriculture in the old style of the French immigrants, but their more important source of food and income was buffalo hunting . They sold the buffalo that were hunted beyond their own needs to the Hudson's Bay Company , which needed large quantities of pemmican for the fur trade in the poor north.

Two developments should end this situation soon. On the one hand, farmers pushed from the east from Québec and Ontario into the vast prairies of today's provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan and from the west from British Columbia into what is now Alberta . They practiced agriculture in a more economical form, but also needed much larger areas for their farms. On the other hand, the approximately 60 million buffaloes on the North American prairie were almost wiped out between 1872 and 1884 because they were hopelessly at the mercy of the Europeans' firearms and were shot in huge quantities and transported to the east coast on the Central Pacific Railroad , which was completed in 1869 .

The Canadian Dominion , founded in 1867 , the forerunner of today's Canada, bought the vast areas of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1869, which also included the prairie north of the border with the United States . The closest area from Ontario and Québec to the Canadian Pacific Railway , which was under construction, was the Red River District, and when Canadian surveyors arrived there and staked land for new settlers without regard to the Métis, the Red River Rebellion broke out among them Leader Louis Riel . The uprising came to a bloodless end and with the Manitoba Act , the Canadian government also partially considered the concerns of the Métis. But they refused to give their political leader Riel an amnesty for the rebellion, and he was never able to take his seat in parliament, to which he was elected several times, and remained in exile in the USA.

In the years after the Red River Rebellion, however, the Métis followed the declining buffalo populations westwards and left the Red River District . In their new settlements of Batoche and St. Laurent de Grandin in what is now southern Saskatchewan, they initially led a life similar to that previously on the Red River. In 1884, Riel was asked by a delegation from Batoche to make another attempt to establish a province there. This time, however, all diplomatic efforts were ignored by the government in Ottawa . In addition, at the beginning of the 1880s, the planned course of the transcontinental route in this area was relocated 200 km to the south, and the area to be opened up for new settlers was superimposed on the new Métis settlements.

At the same time, the situation of the Cree and Assiniboine Indians in the area was also becoming dire with the disappearing buffalo herds. At times, thousands of starving Indians camped around government posts in order to demand guaranteed food aid in reservation contracts, which was only partially complied with.

Course of events

The Saskatchewan Provisional Government

Gabriel Dumont

After Riel's return to the Métis, they founded the Provisional Government of Saskatchewan , but most of the Indians and Anglo-Métis (Métis of English origin) did not submit to it. Their power was limited to Batoche, mainly populated by French Métis. Gabriel Dumont was declared governor of the Provisional Government, even if in fact Riel held supreme power. The government secretary was Honoré Jackson, a journalist .

In the meantime, the Canadian government largely rejected the new concerns of the Métis and decided, by reversing the hitherto moderate policy, to rigorously suppress the Provisional Government. Today this is also attributed to Prime Minister John Macdonald's open intention to keep all options open for settlement along the new railroad.

At the beginning of 1885, the Canadian government drew all expendable forces from the region towards Batoche to end the uprising. Due to the extremely sparse settlement of the huge new territories, these were few in number at around 200 men. At the same time, under the leadership of High Commander Major General Frederick Middleton, about 3,000 men and a new Gatling cannon were set in motion towards Winnipeg , the former Red River District, as the extent of the rebellion could already be guessed.

The Battle of Duck Lake

Poster with a map of the theater of war

On March 26, 1885, the first regional troops under Leif Crozier moved from Fort Carlton in the direction of Batoche and there was a skirmish at Duck Lake on the Carlton Trail . After an attempt at negotiations in which the two Métis emissaries were shot, Crozier's men attacked, were repulsed and retreated. At Riel's instigation, Dumont refrained from pursuing the defeated troops. The date marked the outbreak of the rebellion.

Middleton plans in Winnipeg

The next day, March 27, General Middleton arrived in Winnipeg at the same time as the news of the Battle of Duck Lake. He conferred with Edgar Dewdney , governor of the Northwest Territories , to which present-day Saskatchewan still belonged. They made the decision to focus on the arrest or removal of Riel as they believed he had a devastating influence in the rebellion.

Batoche was thus set as the main route of the troops and the troops arriving by rail from Ontario , Québec and Halifax in the following days were forwarded to Qu'Appelle , the closest accessible point to Batoche on the recently completed railway line to British Columbia of the Canadian Pacific Railway . Only a small part of the troops under Colonel William Otter should continue to Swift Current , from there to steamship on the South Saskatchewan River to Batoche after the snow melts with the corresponding water level .

The Frog Lake Massacre

As early as 1884, the Cree under Big Bear , who felt cheated by the reservation treaties and were in a precarious position due to the ongoing extermination of the buffalo, decided to take joint action against the European Canadians. Probably encouraged by the victory of the Métis at Duck Lake on April 2, 1885, young Indian warriors under Wandering Spirit at Frog Lake in what is now southern Alberta rounded up all the white settlers in the area in a church. They shot and killed nine settlers and held the remaining three hostage. News of the event, known as the Frog Lake Massacre , reached Middleton a few days later. Otter was immediately sent on to Battleford to stop the rebellion from expanding west. Battalions that had just arrived in Winnipeg were also forwarded there and, under General Strange, even troops broke out from Calgary in Alberta. It was feared that the rebellion among the Cree under Big Bear would escalate; but most of the soldiers kept moving towards Batoche.

The Battle of Fish Creek

The Battle of Fish Creek

After reaching Qu'Appelle by train, the troops marched to the South Saskatchewan River en route to Batoche and followed it downstream. Shortly before Batoche, near the settlements at the mouth of Fish Creek , Middleton's troops were attacked by the Métis led by Dumont. Ever since Qu'Appelle left, Dumont and Riel had been well informed of Middleton's movements through their scouts . So they had prepared the rifle pits that are typical for them and on April 24th in the Battle of Fish Creek they beat the advancing soldiers with only minor losses of their own. On the other hand, the two field guns used were of little use, the gunners were even particularly badly affected by losses due to their exposed position. Middleton, optimistic and fearless before and during the battle, became overly cautious and hesitant afterwards.

The battle at the Cut Knife

Meanwhile, Colonel Otter was in Battleford, reinforced by the troops that had advanced. The Indians living in the neighboring reservation under Poundmaker had maintained neutrality until then and did not take part in the rebellion. However, there had been minor looting by some of the severely starving Indians. Driven by worried settlers and his own restless, battle-hungry soldiers, Otter moved on May 1, 1885, against a telegraphic order from Middleton with about 300 men from Battleford towards the reservation. On the morning of May 2, they were ambushed on the Cut Knife Hill reservation , just outside the Indian camp. Otter's men found themselves at the mercy of the bare hill, while the Indians could shoot lower elevations from good cover, and so Poundmaker's warchief, Fine-Day Otter, defeated the modern Gatling cannon at the Battle of the Cut Knife . He could even have crushed her on their retreat, but Poundmaker held him back.

The Battle of Batoche

The Battle of Batoche begins

Middleton was still standing in front of Batoche and had meanwhile been reinforced by more crews and a new Gatling cannon, which had arrived by steamboat. On the morning of May 9th, he left for the Battle of Batoche . Supported by the Gatling on a small steamboat and this time better prepared, he was not surprised a second time and quickly advanced to Batoche. Having become extremely fearful, he hesitated to take the city for no apparent reason and almost withdrew. On May 12th, several troops, who had become very restless, attacked the Métis lines in front of Batoche, even without Middleton's order. Ultimately, the besieged ran out of ammunition. Dumont fled into exile in southern Montana in the United States and Riel, who refused to go abroad again, surrendered on May 15.

Pursuit of Big Bear and the End of the Rebellion

Coming from the west, Strange reached Frog Lake with his Alberta Field Force via Edmonton and the North Saskatchewan River on May 25th. Big Bear, however, had long since disappeared with his people and the hostages from the Frog Lake massacre and had meanwhile burned down Fort Pitt of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP), which had been abandoned by the Mounties . When Strange and his men reached the Cree camp at Fort Pitt on May 29th, they were well prepared and the skirmish, the Battle of Frenchman's Butt , ended with the withdrawal of both parties. A small division of the NWMP under Sam Steele followed the Cree northward and eventually fought them in the Battle of Loon Lake on June 3. The Indians, with almost no ammunition, released their hostages and dispersed, and Steele turned south with the liberated, depleted supplies and some wounded. It was the last "battle" that has taken place on Canadian soil to this day.

In the weeks that followed, the Indians surrendered one after the other, most recently Big Bear on July 2, which ended the rebellion for good.

Aftermath

Captured Métis and Indians after the Northwest Rebellion

Louis Riel was tried and sentenced to death by hanging, causing great tension between French and English Canadians. Gabriel Dumont surrendered to the US cavalry on his escape in Montana , but was recognized as a political refugee and returned to Canada in 1888 after an amnesty . Many Batoche Métis were taken prisoner.

Poundmaker and Big Bear were sentenced to prison terms, but eight other Indians, including Wandering Spirit, were sentenced to death.

The Canadian Pacific Railway had given the Canadian military a mobility that was unthinkable during the Red River Rebellion and was rewarded with new, cheap loans from the government. In the same year she was able to complete the route from the east to Vancouver in British Columbia .

Web links

Commons : Northwest Rebellion  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

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Footnotes

  1. ↑ see e.g. E.g .: RC Macleod (Ed.): Reminiscences of a Bungle. By One of the Bunglers, and Two Other Northwest Rebellion Diaries. University of Alberta Press, Edmomton 1983, ISBN 0-88864-077-3 ( Western Canada Reprint Series 3), introduction pp. Xx-xxii: on the politics of Lawrence Vankoughnet.
  2. ↑ a b See Sylvia M. Van Kirk, Kapapamahchakwew (Wandering Spirit) . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ). .
  3. ↑ See Desmond Morton, William Otter . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ). .