Editing North-West Rebellion (section)

==The course of the rebellion and its suppression==
On March 18, 1885, Riel, [[Gabriel Dumont (Métis leader)|Gabriel Dumont]], [[Honoré Jackson]] (a.k.a. Will Jackson), and others set up the [[Provisional Government of Saskatchewan]]. Riel had been invited in to lead the movement but he turned it into a military action with a heavily religious tone, thereby alienating the Catholic clergy, the whites, nearly all of the First Nations, and most of the Métis. He had a force of a couple hundred Métis and a smaller number of First Nations at Batoche in May 1885, confronting isolated groups of armed settlers, HBC trading posts and NWMP detachments, and  two small militia units at Winnipeg.<ref name="James Rodger Miller 2004 44"/>

Reports of the provisional government were discredited at Ottawa and at first thought to be a device of the Liberal party,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mulvaney |title=The North-West Rebellion |pages=29}}</ref> but on March 23 Prime Minister Macdonald publicly confirmed the news of the rebellion. Immediately the federal government sent Major General [[Frederick Middleton]], the commander of the [[Canadian Militia]], to Winnipeg, where a militia unit, the [[90th Winnipeg Rifles]], and a militia artillery unit, the Winnipeg Field Battery, already existed. Eventually, over a period of many weeks, Middleton brought 3,000 troops to the West, and incorporated another 2,000, mostly English-Canadian volunteers, and [[North-West Mounted Police during the North-West Rebellion|500 North-West Mounted Police]] into his force.<ref name="rebellion statistics" /> They were formed into three columns that independently marched north from the line of the CPR.  [[File:Battle of Duck Lake.jpg|thumb|In March 1885, a [[Battle of Duck Lake|skirmish]] broke out between the [[Canadian Militia]], the [[North-West Mounted Police]] (NWMP), and Métis and aboriginal warriors.]]
Hearing that rebels had seized Duck Lake, a settlement near Batoche, a force of 90 [[Prince Albert Volunteers]] and North-West Mounted Police, led by their superintendent [[Leif Newry Fitzroy Crozier]], set off from Fort Carlton on March 26, 1885, to confront the rebels. They were stopped and turned back by 150 to 200 Métis and Aboriginal fighters, under the command of Gabriel Dumont, in the [[Battle of Duck Lake]].<ref>{{Citation|publisher = A.H. Hovey & Co|location = Toronto|title = The history of the North-West Rebellion of 1885 (The Duck Lake Disaster) |page=30|url = http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1508/30.html|author = Mulvaney, Charles Pelham|date = 1885|access-date = 2014-04-10|archive-date = 2013-11-11|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131111011733/http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1508/30.html|url-status = live}}</ref><ref name="Mulvany_1886" /><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Tales of our own Country |journal=Gleichen Call |issue=July 14, 1920 |pages=2}}</ref>

On March 30, a group of armed Cree, short of food due to declining [[bison]] populations, approached Battleford. The inhabitants fled to the nearby North-West Mounted Police post at [[Fort Battleford]]. The Cree then took food and supplies from the abandoned stores and houses.<ref>{{Citation|publisher=A.H. Hovey & Co|location=Toronto|title=The history of the North-West Rebellion of 1885 (The War Cloud Bursts on Battleford) |page=76|url=http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1508/76.html|author=Mulvaney, Charles Pelham|date=1885|access-date=2014-04-10|archive-date=2013-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111011833/http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1508/76.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In March 1885, Fort Carlton was destroyed by fire accidentally as it was being evacuated.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Canadian Encyclopedia: Fort Carlton |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/fort-carlton}}</ref>

===Government mobilization===
After the declaration of a provisional government, lawlessness in the Batoche area and the Battle at Duck Lake, the government immediately commenced the mobilization of some of Canada's ill-equipped part-time militia units (the [[Non-Permanent Active Militia]]), as well as the units of cavalry, artillery and infantry regulars that made up the tiny [[Permanent Active Militia]], Canada's almost-nonexistent regular army.[[File:Qu Appalle Valley 1885 Rebellion.jpg|thumb|The Canadian Militia on the march towards the conflict, near the [[Qu'Appelle River|Qu'Appelle Valley]].]]
By March 30, after hasty mobilization in Toronto, two trains containing the [[10th Royal Grenadiers]] and [[Queen's Own Rifles]] militia battalions were ready to leave Toronto. Other militia units, the [[9th Voltigeurs]] from Quebec City, and the [[65th Mount Royal Rifles]] from Montreal, were also quickly mobilized. Soon every major city in the East was the scene of embarkation for inexperienced young militiamen cheered by immense crowds.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

Many of the soldiers suffered from the winter weather during the transit to the trouble spot. The militia struggling westward had to contend with the many large breaks in the CPR line in northern Ontario. They marched through snow or were carried in exposed sleighs. They rode on rustic railway flatcars over the completed stretches of track, which did not shelter them from the cold. During the campaign the troops dealt with snow, [[muskeg]] and black mud.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |title=Home Sweet Home |journal=Illustrated War News |issue=July 18, 1885 |pages=9}}</ref><ref name="Beal_Macleod_1984"/>{{rp|168–177}}

Enlistment and popular engagement in the suppression of the rebellion rose after several non-combatants were killed at Frog Lake. On April 2, at [[Frog Lake, Alberta|Frog Lake, District of Saskatchewan]] (now in Alberta) a Cree raiding party led by Cree war chief [[Wandering Spirit (Cree leader)|Wandering Spirit]], attacked local officials in the small settlement. Wandering Spirit's men were angered by what seemed to be unfair treaties and the withholding of vital provisions by the Canadian government, and also by the dwindling buffalo population, their main source of food. The attack was made against the leadership of Big Bear, following the arrival of news of the Métis victory at Duck Lake. Gathering the white settlers in the area into or near the local church, they killed Thomas Quinn, the town's [[Indian agent]], after a disagreement broke out. The Cree then killed eight more and took three hostages.<ref name="encyc_sask_NWR_2006"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Dempsey|first=Hugh A.|title=The Early West|year=1957|publisher=Historical Society of Alberta|location=Edmonton|page=1|url=http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=245913|access-date=2014-04-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904074848/http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=245913|archive-date=2015-09-04|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|publisher = Ryerson Press|location = Toronto|title = The war trail of Big Bear (The Frog Lake Massacre)|year = 1888|url = http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1360/76.html|author = William Bleasdell Cameron|publication-date = 1926|access-date = 2014-04-10|archive-date = 2021-02-24|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210224022631/http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1360/76.html|url-status = live}}</ref> When the conflict was over, the government hanged Wandering Spirit and several others for what they had done at Frog Lake.

The Canadian militia was commanded by [[Frederick Dobson Middleton|Major General Frederick Middleton]], who had had previous experience imposing imperial rule over [[New Zealand Wars|Maori]] and [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian Mutineers]]. Middleton assembled a force that detrained from CPR trains at [[Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan|Qu'Appelle]] and then moved north toward Batoche. His column left from Qu'Appelle on April 6 and arrived at Batoche a month later, on the way fighting the [[Battle of Fish Creek]] 26&nbsp;km from Batoche.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beal and Macleod |title=Prairie Fire |pages=223}}</ref>

Meanwhile, William Otter's force detrained at [[Swift Current]] and proceeded north to restore order at the Battlefords, fighting the [[Battle of Cut Knife]] on the way<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beal and Macleod |title=Prairie Fire |pages=238}}</ref>
[[File:Battle of Fish Creek.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Battle of Fish Creek]] was a major [[Métis]] victory, persuading Major General [[Frederick Dobson Middleton|Frederick Middleton]] to temporarily halt his advance.]]

Other forces were formed in the West. The Alberta Field Force led by [[Thomas Bland Strange]], assembled at Calgary, moved north on the [[Calgary and Edmonton Trail]] to secure Edmonton  from attack, then went down the North Saskatchewan River to secure Victoria Settlement, recapture Fort Pitt, then moved overland in pursuit of Big Bear's band.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Historic Sites of the Province of Alberta |pages=19}}</ref>

===April–May Métis and First Nations victories===
On April 15, 200 Cree fighters [[Battle of Fort Pitt|descended on Fort Pitt]]. They intercepted an NWMP scouting party, killing Constable Cowan, wounding another, and captured a third. Surrounded and outnumbered, garrison commander [[Francis Jeffrey Dickens|Inspector Francis Dickens]], son of the famous author, negotiated with the attackers and capitulated. Big Bear allowed the remaining police officers to leave safely. Inspector Dickens and his officers reached safety at [[Battleford, Saskatchewan|Battleford]] six days later. The Cree fighters kept the townspeople as hostages, taking them to their camp at Frog Lake, and after a second raid in May, destroyed the fort.<ref>{{Citation |author=William Bleasdell Cameron |title=The war trail of Big Bear (The Fall of Fort Pitt) |publication-date=1926 |year=1888 |url=http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1360/129.html |access-date=2013-10-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029205251/http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1360/129.html |archive-date=2013-10-29 |url-status=live |location=Toronto |publisher=Ryerson Press}}</ref>

Cree insurgents looted Hudson's Bay Company posts at [[Lac La Biche, Alberta|Lac la Biche]] and [[Green Lake, Saskatchewan|Green Lake]] on April 26.<ref name="Beal_Macleod_1984" />{{rp|234–235}} The HBC post at [[Lac La Biche, Alberta|Lac La Biche]] was pillaged. [[Fort Victoria, Alberta|Fort Victoria]] (Pakan) was attacked but the attack was thwarted.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rowand |title=The Rebellion at Lac La Biche |journal=Alberta History |volume=Summer 1973 |pages=3}}</ref>

By April 24, Middleton's column had made a gradual but unopposed advance to Fish Creek only 26&nbsp;km from Batoche. That day 200 Métis achieved a [[Battle of Fish Creek|remarkable victory]] over Middleton's column numbering 900 soldiers. The reversal, though not decisive enough to alter the outcome of the war, temporarily halted the advance of Middleton's column toward Batoche. That was where the Métis made their final stand two weeks later.<ref>{{Citation |publisher=A.H. Hovey & Co |location=Toronto |title=The history of the North-West Rebellion of 1885 (The Battle of Fish Creek) |page=127 |url=http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1508/128.html |author=Mulvaney, Charles Pelham |date=1885 |access-date=2014-04-10 |archive-date=2013-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111060633/http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1508/128.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Otter's column, working toward Battleford, meanwhile also suffered a setback. The column, led by Lieutenant Colonel [[William Dillon Otter|William Otter]], attacked a sleeping Cree encampment on Cut Knife Hill 45&nbsp;km northwest of Battleford on May 2. Cree fighters under war chief [[Fine-Day]] successfully held off the soldiers in the [[Battle of Cut Knife]]. Despite its use of a [[Gatling gun]], Otter's [[flying column]] of militia was forced to retreat. Big Bear did not fight in the battle and personally prevailed on the Cree fighters not to harass the retreating Canadian troops. Fine-Day was affiliated with the chief Poundmaker, who surrendered to government troops later that same month.<ref>{{Citation|publisher = A.H. Hovey & Co|location = Toronto|title = The history of the North-West Rebellion of 1885 (The Battle of Cut Knife Creek) |page=156|url = http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1508/157.html|author = Mulvaney, Charles Pelham|date = 1885|access-date = 2014-04-10|archive-date = 2013-11-11|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131111011831/http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1508/157.html|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|publisher = Department of Militia and Defence|location = Ottawa|title = Report upon the suppression of the rebellion in the North-West Territories and matters in connection therewith, in 1885: Presented to Parliament.|url = http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1519/51.html|author = Panet, Charles Eugène|date = 1886|access-date = 2014-04-10|archive-date = 2013-11-11|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131111094149/http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1519/51.html|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Beal and Macleod |title=Prairie Fire |pages=252–253}}</ref>

=== Ending the Métis uprising ===
[[File:Metisprisoners.jpg|thumb|Métis prisoners of war after the North-West Rebellion, August, 1885]]
On May 12, Middleton's force captured [[Battle of Batoche|Batoche]] itself. The greatly outnumbered but well-entrenched Métis fighters ran out of ammunition after three days of battle and siege. The Métis resorted to firing sharp objects and small rocks from their guns. They were finally killed or dispersed when Canadian soldiers advanced on their own and overran the Métis fighters in their rifle pits.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beal and Macleod |title=Prairie Fire |pages=271–272}}</ref>

Riel surrendered on May 15. Gabriel Dumont and other participants in the uprising escaped across the border to the [[Montana Territory]] of the United States.<ref>{{Citation |author=Mulvaney, Charles Pelham |title=The history of the North-West Rebellion of 1885 (The Battle at Batoche's Ferry) |date=1885 |page=197 |url=http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1508/197.html |access-date=2013-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111060631/http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1508/197.html |archive-date=2013-11-11 |url-status=live |location=Toronto |publisher=A.H. Hovey & Co}}</ref> The defeat of the Métis and Riel's capture led to the collapse of the Provisional Government.

=== Ending the Cree uprising ===
[[File:Battle of Batoche Print by Seargent Grundy.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Batoche]] was a decisive victory for the Canadian militia, with the capture of [[Louis Riel]], and the collapse of the [[Provisional Government of Saskatchewan]].]]

But the capture of Batoche did not end the separate conflict with the Cree insurgents.

Otter's column recovered from its defeat at Cut Knife Hill (today's Poundmaker Hill) and pressed on to secure Battleford from additional Cree raids. Poundmaker and several of the chiefs loyal to him marched into Battleford and surrendered on May 26.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mulvaney |title=The North-West Rebellion |pages=384}}</ref>

On May 14 Major General Thomas Bland Strange led the Alberta Field Force, a mixed force of militia and an NWMP detachment from [[Calgary]], eastwards down the North Saskatchewan, toward the scene of unrest. Part of his force was on barges; the rest on foot or horseback on shore. Conditions were unpleasant as it was cold and snowy. By May 25 the force was at Fort Pitt and Frog Lake. On May 28, the force came into contact with Big Bear's band who had been holding a Thirst Dance on a hill north of Fort Pitt, camped with hostages from Frog Lake and Fort Pitt. The soldiers advanced to attack, but fighters in the band won a battle [[Battle of Frenchman's Butte|at Frenchman's Butte]], 43&nbsp;km northeast of Lloydminster, at the end of May.<ref>{{Citation|publisher =Ryerson Press|location =Toronto|title =The war trail of Big Bear (The Battle of Frenchman's Butte)|year =1888|url =http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1360/202.html|author =William Bleasdell Cameron|publication-date =1926|access-date =2013-10-27|archive-date =2013-10-29|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20131029205656/http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1360/202.html|url-status =live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Morton |title=The Last War Drum |pages=123}}</ref> Big Bear's band pushed off the north, and NWMP Major [[Sam Steele|Sam Steele's]] mounted scouts followed the trail.

At [[Battle of Loon Lake|Loon Lake]], about 60&nbsp;km northeast of Frenchman's Butte, on June 3, the scouts and Big Bear's band fought in the last armed engagement of the 1885 rebellion. That day [[Sam Steele|Steele's]] scouts, numbering 65, caught up to Big Bear's force. Big Bear's fighters were almost out of ammunition. They released their hostages and fled across the lake at Steele Narrows, after a short exchange of fire.<ref>{{Citation|publisher=Ryerson Press|location=Toronto|title=The war trail of Big Bear (Battle of Loon Lake)|year=1888|url=http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1360/227.html|author=William Bleasdell Cameron|publication-date=1926|access-date=2013-10-27|archive-date=2013-10-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029210131/http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/1360/227.html|url-status=live}}; Myrna Kostash, The Frog Lake Reader</ref>

Demoralized, defenceless, and with no hope of relief after Poundmaker's surrender, most of Big Bear's fighters surrendered over the next few weeks. On July 2 Big Bear voluntarily surrendered to NWMP Sargeant Smart, stationed at an NWMP post near the destroyed Fort Carlton.<ref name=":0" />