CANADA, DOMINION OF. 



125 



seeds in the spring ; the reservation of about 

 100 townships, chosen in the swampy lands, 

 which are not likely to be settled before a long 

 time; these lands to be distributed to the halt- 

 breed children of the coming generation and 

 during 120 years; each child to receive his 

 share when he reaches the age of eighteen 

 years ; a subvention of at least $1,000 to sus- 

 tain an establishment of nuns in each place 

 where a great number of half-breed families are 

 established ; an amelioration in the conditions 

 of labor asked from the Indians and a greater 

 care of their persons, so as to prevent them 

 dying with hunger." The half-breeds com- 

 plained greatly of the Roman Catholic bishops 

 and clergy holding aloof from the movement. 

 These, while sympathizing with some of the 

 aims of the half-breeds, would not counte- 

 nance their methods. Kiel's movements were 

 closely watched by the Northwest Mounted 

 Police. On Dec. 22, in conversation with Mr. 

 Macdowell, member of the Northwest Council, 

 Kiel declared himself tired of Canada, and 

 offered to return to Montana and remain there 

 and to guarantee to give up all connection with 

 the Canadian half-breeds after inducing them 

 to drop all their claims against the Govern- 

 ment, if the Government would give him some 

 pecuniary assistance and settle something on 

 his wife and family. Mr. Macdowell thought 

 $5,000 would be accepted. However, it was 

 not offered. At the beginning of March the 

 mounted police reported a.rising imminent, and 

 during that month Kiel for the second time 

 established a ''Provisional Government" in the 

 Northwest. On the 18th the rebels made pris- 

 oners of the Indian agent at Duck Lake and a 

 number of teamsters, and on the 25th they 

 seized the Government stores at Duck Lake. 

 The following day a collision occurred between 

 the rebels and a party of sixty mounted police 

 and forty volunteers under the command of 

 Major L. N. F. Crozier, Superintendent of the 

 Northwest Mounted Police. The rebels were 

 seen in a coulee about two miles from Duck 

 Lake. Major Crozier called upon the half- 

 breeds to surrender. Gabriel Dumont, the 

 leader and the commander-in-chief of the rebels 

 throughout the subsequent campaign, asked, " Is 

 it to be a fight ? " For answer Major Crozier 

 gave the order to fire. After an engagement 

 of half an hour, it became evident that the 

 rebels, who were well sheltered in the coulee, 

 were masters of the situation, and Crozier's 

 force retreated, having lost fourteen killed and 

 nine wounded. The rebel loss was six killed 

 and three wounded. Crozier retired to Fort 

 Carleton, where he met Colonel Irvine with a 

 hundred mounted police. Fort Carleton was 

 immediately evacuated, and either by accident 

 or design, to prevent the stores falling into the 

 hands of the rebels, was burned. The police 

 retired to Prince Albert. 



Encouraged by the success of the half-breeds, 

 the Indians now became actively aggressive. 

 Battleford was besieged by Poundinaker's tribe, 



and the settlers forced to take refuge in the 

 barracks. On March 29 a band of Indians 

 murdered their farm instructor (Payne), and on 

 April 3, Good Friday, some of Big Bear's In- 

 dians committed a horrible massacre at Frog 

 Lake, killing two Roman Catholic missionaries, 

 Father Marchand and Father Fafard, Indian 

 agent Finn, and half a dozen others. They 

 also made several prisoners, including Mrs. 

 Gowanlock and Mrs. Delaney, whose husbands 

 were among the slain, and about whose fate 

 there was the greatest anxiety during their long 

 captivity. 



On March 24, the day after Sir John Mac- 

 donald announced in the House of Commons 

 that the Government had been informed of the 

 outbreak, Maj.-Gen. Middleton, the officer com- 

 manding the Canadian militia, started for Win- 

 nipeg, ostensibly on the ordinary business of 

 his department. On the 25th a hundred men 

 of the Ninetieth Battalion (Winnipeg) left for 

 Qu'Appelle to keep in order the Indians of 

 that district ; and two days later Gen. Middle- 

 ton, with a demi-battery of the Winnipeg 

 Field Battery, followed. On the 28th " A" and 

 " B " Batteries of the Regiment of Canadian 

 Artillery were ordered to muster a hundred 

 men each to proceed to the front, and the 

 troops left the same morning. The Canadian 

 Pacific Railway not being completed, the troops 

 had to march across the gaps in the line, north 

 of Lake Superior, a distance of about eighty 

 miles, and suffered greatly through the heavy 

 snow and severe cold. On the 28th also, the 

 Queen's Own, the Tenth Royal Grenadiers, 

 " C " Company of the Infantry School Corps, 

 all of Toronto, and the Sixty-fifth Mount 

 Royal Rifles of Montreal (a French-Canadian 

 battalion), were ordered out. Subsequently 

 Lieut.-Col. Williams, M. P., of the Forty-sixth 

 Battalion, was authorized to raise a battalion 

 consisting of a company each from the Fortieth, 

 Fifteenth, Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, Forty-sev- 

 enth, Forty-ninth, and Fifty-ninth Battalions, 

 to be known as the Midland Battalion. Lieut.- 

 Col. O'Brien, M. P., was authorized to raise a 

 provisional battalion by taking four companies 

 each from the Thirty-fifth and Twelfth Battal- 

 ions. Lieut.-Col. Scott and Lieut.-Col. Osborne 

 Smith were each authorized to raise battalions 

 in Manitoba with headquarters at Winnipeg, 

 and known respectively as the Ninety-first and 

 Ninety-second Battalions. A detachment of 

 fifty sharp-shooters from the Governor-Gen- 

 eral's Foot-Guards, Ottawa, was placed under 

 the command of Capt. Todd. The Seventh 

 Fusiliers of London, the Ninth Rifles of Que- 

 bec, and a provisional battalion from Halifax, 

 consisting of detachments from the Sixty-sixth 

 and Sixty-third Battalions and Halifax Garrison 

 Artillery, under command of Lieut. -Col. Brem- 

 ner, were also ordered out. There was consid- 

 erable delay in getting all the troops to the 

 front, owing to the time lost in crossing the 

 gaps in the railway. 



About April 1 Gen. Middleton went from 



