o were defeated with a small loss of life. This success
had much effect on the Indian tribes in the Saskatchewan district,
among whom Riel and his associates had been intriguing for some time,
and Poundmaker, Big Bear, and other chiefs of the Cree communities
living on the Indian reserves, went on the warpath. Subsequently
Battleford, then the capital of the Territories, was threatened by
Indians and _Metis_, and a force under Big Bear massacred at Frog Lake
two Oblat missionaries, and some other persons, besides taking several
prisoners, among whom were Mrs. Delaney and Mrs. Gowanlock, widows of
two of the murdered men, who were released at the close {396} of the
rising. Fort Pitt, on the North Saskatchewan, thirty miles from Frog
Lake, was abandoned by Inspector Dickens--a son of the novelist--and
his detachment of the Mounted Police, on the approach of a large body
of Indians under Big Bear. When the news of these outrages reached
Ottawa, the government acted with great promptitude. A French
Canadian, now Sir Adolphe Caron, was then minister of militia in Sir
John Macdonald's ministry, and showed himself fully able to cope with
this, happily, unusual, experience in Canadian Government. From all
parts of the Dominion--from French as well as English Canada--the
volunteers patriotically rallied to the call of duty, and Major-General
Middleton, a regular officer in command of the Canadian militia, led a
fine force of over four thousand men into the Northwest. The Canadian
Pacific Railway was now built, with the exception of a few breaks of
about seventy-two miles in all, as far as Qu'Appelle, which is sixteen
hundred and twenty miles from Ottawa and about two hundred and
thirty-five miles to the south of Batoche. The Canadian troops,
including a fine body of men from Winnipeg, reached Fish Creek, fifteen
miles from Batoche, on the 24th of April, or less than a month after
the orders were given at Ottawa to march from the east. Here the
insurgents, led by Dumont, were concealed in rifle-pits, ingeniously
constructed and placed in a deep ravine. They checked Middleton, who
does not appear to have taken sufficient precautions to ascertain the
position of the enemy--thoroughly trained marksmen who were able to
shoot down a considerable {397} number of the volunteers. Later, at
Batoche, the Canadian troops, led with great bravery by Colonels
Straubenzie, Williams, Mackeand, and Grassett, scattered the
insurgents, wh