The North-West Rebellion, also known as the North-West Resistance, was an armed resistance movement by the Métis under Louis Riel and an associated uprising by First Nations Cree and Assiniboine of the District of Saskatchewan against the Canadian government. Many Métis felt that Canada was not protecting their rights, their land, and their survival as a distinct people.
Major General Sir Samuel Benfield Steele was a distinguished Canadian soldier and police official. He was an officer of the North-West Mounted Police, most famously as head of the Yukon detachment during the Klondike Gold Rush, and commanding officer of Strathcona's Horse during the Boer War.
Events from the year 1885 in Canada.
The Battle of Cut Knife, fought on May 2, 1885, occurred when a flying column of mounted police, militia, and Canadian army regular army units attacked a Cree and Assiniboine teepee settlement near Battleford, Saskatchewan. First Nations fighters forced the Canadian forces to retreat, with losses on both sides.
Pîhtokahanapiwiyin, also known as Poundmaker, was a Plains Cree chief known as a peacemaker and defender of his people, the Poundmaker Cree Nation. His name denotes his special craft at leading buffalo into buffalo pounds (enclosures) for harvest.
The Battle of Fish Creek, fought April 24, 1885 at Fish Creek, Saskatchewan, was a major Métis victory over the Canadian forces attempting to quell Louis Riel's North-West Rebellion. Although the reversal was not decisive enough to alter the ultimate outcome of the conflict, it was convincing enough to persuade Major General Frederick Middleton to temporarily halt his advance on Batoche, where the Métis would later make their final stand.
The Battle of Batoche was the decisive battle of the North-West Rebellion, which pitted the Canadian authorities against a force of First Nations and Métis people. Fought from May 9 to 12, 1885, at the ad hoc Provisional Government of Saskatchewan capital of Batoche, the greater numbers and superior firepower of General Frederick Middleton's force eventually overwhelmed the Métis fighters.
General Sir Frederick Dobson Middleton was a British general noted for his service throughout the Empire and particularly in the North-West Rebellion in Canada.
The Battle of Fort Pitt was part of a Cree uprising coinciding with the Métis revolt that started the North-West Rebellion in 1885. Cree warriors began attacking Canadian settlements on April 2. On April 15, they captured Fort Pitt from a detachment of North-West Mounted Police.
The Battle of Loon Lake, also known as the Battle of Steele Narrows, concluded the North-West Rebellion on June 3, 1885, and was the last battle fought on Canadian soil. It was fought in what was then the District of Saskatchewan of the North-West Territories, at what is now known as Steele Narrows at Makwa Lake, in Saskatchewan's Steele Narrows Provincial Park. Steele Narrows is a channel that separates Sanderson Bay from Makwa Lake.
The Frog Lake Massacre was part of the Cree uprising during the North-West Rebellion in western Canada. Led by Wandering Spirit, young Cree men attacked officials, clergy and settlers in the small settlement of Frog Lake in the District of Saskatchewan in the North-West Territories on 2 April 1885. Nine settlers were killed in the incident.
Wandering Spirit was a Cree war chief of a band of Plains Cree. There is little information on Wandering Spirit's life. Most of what is known begins shortly before the 1885 Frog Lake Massacre and ends with the Canadian justice system's convicting him of murder and hanging him. However, there is some information regarding his role within the Plains Cree people.
Francis Jeffrey Dickens was the third son and fifth child of Victorian English novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine Dickens née Hogarth.
The Looting of Battleford began at the end of March, 1885, during the North-West Rebellion, in the town of Battleford, Saskatchewan, then a part of the Northwest Territories.
The North West Canada Medal is a British campaign medal issued to the soldiers, volunteers, and North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) personnel who participated in putting down the North-West Rebellion in 1885.
The Bell of Frog Lake is a church bell that once hung on a timber frame next to the church dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel in the settlement of Frog Lake. The settlement was the site of the Frog Lake Massacre part of the Cree uprising of the North-West Rebellion in western Canada. Led by Wandering Spirit, young Cree warriors attacked the village of Frog Lake in the District of Saskatchewan of the Northwest Territories on 2 April 1885, where they killed nine residents.
The Rocky Mountain Rangers were one of the volunteer militia units raised in Canada's North West in response to the 1885 North-West Rebellion. It was a body of mounted irregulars, mostly cowboys and ranchers from the area around Fort Macleod, the headquarters of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, about 150 miles (240 km) west of Medicine Hat. This unit is not to be confused with the present-day Canadian Army Reserve unit The Rocky Mountain Rangers of Kamloops, British Columbia. Rather, it is the ultimate ancestor of the South Alberta Light Horse (SALH).
The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) played a significant role during the North-West Rebellion in Canada in 1885. The NWMP suffered early reverses and, although they supported the relief force sent to the region under the command of Major-General Frederick Middleton, their performance was heavily criticized. Commissioner Acheson Irvine resigned from his command of the police as a result.
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