Battle at the Cut Knife
| date | May 2, 1885 |
|---|---|
| place | Near Battleford, Saskatchewan |
| output | Victory of the Cree and Assiniboine |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 50 | 350 |
| losses | |
|
5 dead |
8 dead, |
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The Battle of the Cut Knife took place on May 2, 1885, when a small band of Indian warriors from the Cree and Assiniboine was attacked by Canadian government forces, consisting of police forces, militias and regular army units. The outnumbered warriors managed to repel the Canadians.
prehistory
In the spring of 1885, the Métis in the Saskatchewan District called a Provisional Government under the leadership of Louis Riel , which controlled the area around Batoche . Riel soon made contact with the local Indian tribes of the Cree and Assiniboine. The Canadian government decided to quell the riot for fear of spreading further among the tribes of the Northwest Territories . Several extended Cree families, led by Poundmakers , went to Battleford to see the Indian agent to discuss the general situation with him and to ask for relief supplies (many members were starving). When the people of Battleford and the surrounding area heard of such a large number of Indians approaching from their reservations , they left the city in fear and sought protection with the Canadian police in the Ford Battleford . After the arrival of Poundmakers with his men in town, the Indian agent refused to leave the fort and instead made them wait two days, so that the delegation left Battleford after another day.
Meanwhile, the abandoned buildings were looted, but the identity of the looters is controversial. While some reports blame Poundmaker's people, one observer claims that most of the looting was carried out by whites. Oral records of historical events state that the looting was carried out by members of the Nakoda tribe and that Poundmaker did his best to prevent it.
The Canadian government sent General Frederick Middleton to quell the riot. The small police force at Ford Battleford - suddenly responsible for the safety of 500 civilians - asked him for reinforcements and quickly set up a militia to manned the post office. Middleton raised a column led by Colonel William Otter to pacify Bettleford.
Otter reached Battleford with his units on April 24th. Delighted by his arrival, the townspeople and the settlers demanded vengeance on the Indians for their loss of people and material. And even his own units urged action, so that Otter - contrary to General Middleton's order to stay in Battleford - telegraphed the Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories , Edgar Dewdney , with the request "to be allowed to punish Poundmaker", which he did was also granted. A crew was left behind at Battleford while Otter and 392 men set out to attack the Cree and Assiniboine on Knife Hill. His armed force consisted of Canadian police, volunteer militiamen and regular army units. He had two 7-pound field rifles and a Gatling with him. They set out on May 1st with the intention of marching until dusk and, after a short rest, to march on when the moon rises, to surprise the Cree and Assiniboine in their sleep early in the morning.
In the meantime, the Cree had made camp on their reservation west of Battlefield, and more extended families had joined them. They knew that thousands of soldiers were in the area to put down the Métis rebellion. You decided to protect yourself. As is customary with the Cree, Chief Fine Day in charge of the war replaced the politically responsible Chief Poundmaker as supreme commander until the war was over. The entire camp was moved across the "Cut Knife" stream to the west. It was protected to the rear by the mountain "Cut Knife" and to the side by ravines that were filled with bushes. Their total number was about 1,500 men, women and children.
The battle
As planned, Otter's column reached their destination early on May 2nd. However, Otter had expected the Indian camp on the prairie east of the "Cut Knife" creek, and he had not expected to have to cross the creek. After crossing the river, they had to work their way through a marshland until they finally came across the Indian camp. But they did not go unnoticed, and the alarm went off. So the attackers immediately began shooting at the camp. The women and children of the Indians now went to the side ravines for their safety, followed by the male defenders. These organized themselves into small raiding parties , while Fine Day coordinated the actions from the mountain. Individual raiding parties attacked from one side of the ravines and withdrew in time before the Canadians caught them. Meanwhile, more raiders stormed up from the opposite gorge and attacked the Canadians from behind. Otter, for his part, could not launch coordinated attacks because he could not locate the enemy in the thick undergrowth and had no idea of the number of opponents. Robert Jefferson - an eyewitness - reported that “no more than 50 natives in total took part in the battle. That was understandable, as very few were armed. ”Douglas Light's research indicates that there were 243 men among the Indians. He also mentions that a number of young men also took part in the fight.
Otter tried to counter the situation by dividing his troop into two groups, each facing a canyon. For their part, the Indians attempted a flank attack by approaching the soldiers along the ravines and firing. But since they hid behind the trees and bushes, they remained incomprehensible to the Canadians. Otter and his men were trapped: to their left and right were the ravines and behind them swampy terrain. When Otter decided to retreat after six hours of fighting, she only saved Poundmaker's intercession from being wiped out in the marshland by enemy cavalry attacks.
The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan portrays the terrain and the initial skirmish a little differently, but the Fine Days tactic appears even more brilliant in many ways according to the report there.
Effects
The Battle of the Cut Knife was the most successful battle of the Northwest Rebellion from the natives' point of view. Their advantage of having their own land was offset by a number of disadvantages: they were outnumbered, they were caught by surprise, and their ammunition was limited. 14 of Otter's soldiers were wounded and 8 killed, including one man who was abandoned and maimed by the Indian women. Three natives were wounded and five killed, including a Nez Percé who had moved from the United States a few years earlier. The battle instilled a previously unseen respect for the Indians in some of Otter's people. Otter had expected to find Poundmaker and his family demoralized and quickly surrendered. Despite this bitter defeat, the Canadians, because of their numerical superiority and better equipment, remained at an advantage for the further course of the clashes. Just weeks later, the starving Cree went to Battleford to make peace with General Middleton. Fine Day, the Cree chief and battle commander, fled to the United States . Poundmaker was arrested and imprisoned. Colonel William Otter survived the battle and remained a significant figure in the military, where he commanded, among other things, the Royal Canadian Regiment in the Second Boer War . He was also head of an internment camp during the First World War .
This battle is often compared to the Battle of Little Bighorn . And indeed there are similarities: In both cases the officers disregarded the orders, and attempts were made to use the element of surprise when taking the native camp. Both Custer and Otter misunderstood the site so badly that they had to slow their attack efforts. And both finally found themselves surrounded by their opponents, with no possibility of getting hold of them. Otter at least realized that the withdrawal was necessary (and the enemy let him be) while Custer fought on. This resulted in Custer and a third of his soldiers losing their lives while Otter and most of his soldiers survived the battle and developed respect for the Indian warriors.
Trivia
In the town of Cut Knife is the largest Tomahawk in the world, Poundmaker Historical Center and the Big Bear Monument, built by the Ministry of National Monuments . A stone memorial has been erected on Cut Knife Mountain, overlooking the site of the battle and the Battle River Valley.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Jefferson, Fifty Years, 146
- ^ Robert Jefferson, Fifty Years on the Saskatchewan, 127
- ↑ Stonechild, Blair. "An Indian View of the 1885 Uprising" in "Sweet Promises: A Reader on Indian-White Relations in Canada", JR Miller (ed)
- ^ Dewdney Papers, Vol. 5, p. 1806, Otter to Dewdney, April 26, 1885.
- ^ Light, Douglas W. Footprints in the Dust . Turner-Warwick Publications, 1987.
- ^ Battle of Cut Knife Hill, May 2, 1885 ( February 11, 2009 memento in the Internet Archive ), Canadian Military Heritage.
- ^ [1] , Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan.
- ↑ Morton, Desmond. The Canadian general: Sir William Otter . Toronto: AM Hakkert Ltd., 1974.
- ^ Brian M Brown .: Poundmaker Historical Center and Big Bear monument . July 4, 2002. Retrieved September 20, 2009.
- ↑ David McLennan: Cut Knife . Canadian Plains Research Center University of Regina. 2006. Archived from the original on September 11, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 20, 2009.
- ↑ David Yanciw: Town of Cut Knife, Saskatchewan . In: Big Things of Saskatchewan . August 10, 2001. Archived from the original on October 6, 2009. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 20, 2009.
