Editing North-West Rebellion (section)

===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>