The Final Battles of the Northwest Rebellion/Resistance

The Final Battle of the Northwest Rebellion/Resistance

The group of Cree led by Chief Big Bear joined the North-west Rebellion of 1885. As the group of Cree’s were heading towards the Frenchman’s Butte, they seized food and supplies from the white settlers and they captured Fort Pitt taking prisoners. Major-General Thomas Bland Strange, a retired British Officer gathered about a 1000 men. He left some of his force members to protect the white settlers while he led the rest east to Fort Pitt. The Cree however, burnt down the Fort before General Strange and his men got there.

General Strange’s troop fought skirmished with small groups of Cree. They then walked to Frenchman’s Butte where the Cree dug in at the top of a hill east to the butte and waited. During the morning of May.28th, the group of Cree split up; half of the group was led by Big Bear while the other half stayed there to protect the camp.

About six in the morning, General Strange’s men arrived on the opposite side of the Cree. General Strange’s men started firing cannons at the Cree and the Cree responded by firing back at them. Some Canadian Troops were attempting to cross the valley but they were trapped. General Strange however, deployed his troop along the bottom of the valley. The firing continued for about three hours. Some of the Canadian troop got wounded, trenches got damaged and there were many holes on the hillside.

After all that damage, General Strange called Major Sam Steele to lead north and outnumber the Cree. When the Cree heard of the order they led the group along the top of the hill across from Steele and they started firing at them. Instead of the Major Steele’s men outnumbering the Cree, the Cree outnumbered them. Afraid of being attacked from behind, general Strange and his men withdrew and they left for Fort Pitt. The Cree’s also left later on that day.

The war was not over, the Canadian were looking for the Cree. Major Steele caught up with the Cree on Loon Lake on June 3rd, but the Cree fled after a few exchanging of fire. They finally found him on July 2 and they surrendered him. The other members of the group Cree either surrendered or they went somewhere else. The Big Bear’s surrender marked the last day of the North-west resistance.

References:

Frenchman's Butte

Lake Loon