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Title: The Red River Colony
A Chronicle of the Beginnings of Manitoba
Author: Louis Aubrey Wood
Release Date: September 20, 2009 [EBook #30040]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RED RIVER COLONY ***
Produced by Al Haines
[Frontispiece: Thomas Douglas, Fifth Earl of Selkirk. From the
painting at St Mary's Isle]
THE
RED RIVER COLONY
A Chronicle of the Beginnings of Manitoba
BY
LOUIS AUBREY WOOD
TORONTO
GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY
1915
_Copyright in all Countries subscribing to
the Berne Convention_
TO
MY FATHER
{ix}
CONTENTS
Page
I. ST MARY'S ISLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
II. SELKIRK, THE COLONIZER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
III. THE PURSE-STRINGS LOOSEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
IV. STORNOWAY--AND BEYOND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
V. WINTERING ON THE BAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
VI. RED RIVER AND PEMBINA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
VII. THE BEGINNING OF STRIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
VIII. COLIN ROBERTSON, THE AVENGER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
IX. SEVEN OAKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
X. LORD SELKIRK'S JOURNEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
XI. FORT WILLIAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
XII. THE PIPE OF PEACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
{xi}
ILLUSTRATIONS
THOMAS DOUGLAS, FIFTH EARL OF SELKIRK . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
From the painting at St Mary's Isle.
PLACE D'ARMES, MONTREAL, IN 1807 . . . . . . . . . . _Facing page_ 20
From a water-colour sketch after Dillon in
M'Gill University Library.
JOSEPH FROBISHER, A PARTNER IN THE
NORTH-WEST COMPANY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 22
From an engraving in the John Ross Robertson
Collection, Toronto Public Library.
THE COUNTRY OF LORD SELKIRK'S SETTLERS . . . . . . . " " 48
Map by Bartholomew.
HUNTING THE BUFFALO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 58
From a painting by George Catlin.
PLAN OF THE RED RIVER COLONY . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 64
Drawn by Bartholomew.
FORT WILLIAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 116
From an old print in the John Ross Robertson
Collection, Toronto Public Library.
SIMON M'TAVISH, FOUNDER OF THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY . " " 118
From a water-colour drawing in M'Gill
University Library.
WILLIAM M'GILLIVRAY, A PARTNER IN
THE NORTH-WEST COMPANY . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 122
From a photograph in M'Gill University Library.
{1}
CHAPTER I
ST MARY'S ISLE
When the _Ranger_ stole into the firth of Solway she carried an
exultant crew. From the cliffs of Cumberland she might have been
mistaken for a trading bark, lined and crusted by long travel. But she
was something else, as the townsfolk of Whitehaven, on the north-west
coast of England, had found it to their cost. Out of their harbour the
_Ranger_ had just emerged, leaving thirty guns spiked and a large ship
burned to the water's edge. In fact, this innocent-looking vessel was
a sloop-of-war--as trim and tidy a craft as had ever set sail from the
shores of New England. On her upper deck was stationed a strong
battery of eighteen six-pounders, ready to be brought into action at a
moment's notice.
On the quarter-deck of the _Ranger_, deep in thought, paced the
captain, John Paul Jones, a man of meagre build but of indomitable
will, and as daring a fighter as roved the ocean {2} in this year 1778.
He held a letter of marque from the Congress of the revolted colonies
in America, and was just now engaged in harrying the British coasts.
Across the broad firth the _Ranger_ sped with bellying sails and shaped
her course along the south-western shore of Scotland. To Paul Jones
this coast was an open book; he had been born and bred in the stewartry
of Kirkcudbright, which lay on his vessel's starboard bow. Soon the
Ranger swept round a foreland and boldly entered the river Dee, where
the anchor was dropped.
A boat was swung out, speedily manned, and headed for the shelving
beach of St Mary's Isle. Here, as Captain Paul Jones knew, dwelt one
of the chief noblemen of the south of Scotland. The vine-clad,
rambling mansion of the fourth Earl of Selkirk was just behind the
fringe of trees skirting the shore. According to the official report
of this descent upon St Mary's Isle, it was the captain's intention to
capture Selkirk, drag him on board the _Ranger_, and carry him as a
hostage to some harbour in France. But it is possible that there was
another and more personal object. Paul Jones, it is said, believed
that he was a natural son of the Scottish nobleman, {3} and went with
this armed force to disclose his identity.
When the boat grated upon the shingle the seamen swarmed ashore and
found themselves in a great park, interspersed with gardens and walks
and green open spaces. The party met with no opposition. Everything,
indeed, seemed to favour their undertaking, until it was learned from
some workmen in the grounds that the master was not at home.
In sullen displeasure John Paul Jones paced nervously to and fro in the
garden. His purpose was thwarted; he was cheated of his prisoner. A
company of his men, however, went on and entered the manor-house.
There they showed the hostile character of their mission. Having
terrorized the servants, they seized the household plate and bore it in
bags to their vessel. Under full canvas the _Ranger_ then directed her
course for the Irish Sea.
Thomas Douglas, the future lord of the Red River Colony, was a boy of
not quite seven years at the time of this raid on his father's mansion.
He had been born on June 20, 1771, and was the youngest of seven
brothers in the Selkirk family. What he thought of Paul Jones and his
marauders can only be {4} surmised. St Mary's Isle was a remote spot,
replete with relics of history, but uneventful in daily life; and a
real adventure at his own doors could hardly fail to leave an
impression on the boy's mind. The historical associations of St Mary's
Isle made it an excellent training-ground for an imaginative youth.
Monks of the Middle Ages had noted its favourable situation for a
religious community, and the canons-regular of the Order of St
Augustine had erected there one of their priories. A portion of an
extensive wall which had surrounded the cloister was retained in the
Selkirk manor-house. Farther afield were other reminders of past days
to stir the imagination of young Thomas Douglas. A few miles eastward
from his home was Dundrennan Abbey. Up the Dee was Thrieve Castle,
begun by Archibald the Grim, and later used as a stronghold by the
famous Black Douglas.
The ancient district of Galloway, in which the Selkirk home was
situated, had long been known as the Whig country. It had been the
chosen land of the Covenanters, the foes of privilege and the defenders
of liberal principles in government. Its leading families, the
Kennedys, the Gordons, and {5} the Douglases, formed a broad-minded
aristocracy. In such surroundings, as one of the 'lads of the Dee,'
Thomas Douglas inevitably developed a type of mind more or less
radical. His political opinions, however, were guided by a cultivated
intellect. His father, a patron of letters, kept open house for men of
genius, and brought his sons into contact with some of the foremost
thinkers and writers of the day. One of these was Robert Burns, the
most beloved of Scottish poets. In his earlier life, when scarcely
known to his countrymen, Burns had dined with Basil, Lord Daer, Thomas
Douglas's eldest brother and heir-apparent of the Selkirk line. This
was the occasion commemorated by Burns in the poem of which this is the
first stanza:
This wot ye all whom it concerns:
I, Rhymer Robin, alias Burns,
October twenty-third,
A ne'er-to-be-forgotten day,
Sae far I sprachl'd up the brae
I dinner'd wi' a Lord.
One wet evening in the summer of 1793 Burns drew up before the Selkirk
manor-house in company with John Syme of Ryedale. The two friends were
making a tour of Galloway on horseback. The poet was in bad humour.
{6} The night before, during a wild storm of rain and thunder, he had
been inspired to the rousing measures of 'Scots wha hae wi' Wallace
bled.' But now he was drenched to the skin, and the rain had damaged a
new pair of jemmy boots which he was wearing. The passionate appeal of
the Bruce to his countrymen was now forgotten, and Burns was as cross
as the proverbial bear. It was the dinner hour when the two wanderers
arrived and were cordially invited to stay. Various other guests were
present; and so agreeable was the company and so genial the welcome,
that the grumbling bard soon lost his irritable mood. The evening
passed in song and story, and Burns recited one of his ballads, we are
told, to an audience which listened in 'dead silence.' The young mind
of Thomas Douglas could not fail to be influenced by such associations.
In 1786 Thomas Douglas entered the University of Edinburgh. From this
year until 1790 his name appears regularly upon the class lists kept by
its professors. The 'grey metropolis of the North' was at this period
pre-eminent among the literary and academic centres of Great Britain.
The principal of the university was William Robertson, the {7}
celebrated historian. Professor Dugald Stewart, who held the chair of
philosophy, had gained a reputation extending to the continent of
Europe. Adam Smith, the epoch-making economist, was spending the
closing years of his life at his home near the Canongate churchyard.
During his stay in Edinburgh, Thomas Douglas interested himself in the
work of the literary societies, which were among the leading features
of academic life. At the meetings essays were read upon various themes
and lengthy debates were held. In 1788 a group of nineteen young men
at Edinburgh formed a new society known as 'The Club.' Two of the
original members were Thomas Douglas and Walter Scott, the latter an
Edinburgh lad a few weeks younger than Douglas. These two formed an
intimate friendship which did not wane when one had become a peer of
the realm, his mind occupied by a great social problem, and the other a
baronet and the greatest novelist of his generation.
When the French Revolution stirred Europe to its depths, Thomas Douglas
was attracted by the doctrines of the revolutionists, and went to
France that he might study the new movement. But Douglas, like so many
of his {8} contemporaries in Great Britain, was filled with disgust at
the blind carnage of the Revolution. He returned to Scotland and began
a series of tours in the Highlands, studying the conditions of life
among his Celtic countrymen and becoming proficient in the use of the
Gaelic tongue. Not France but Scotland was to be the scene of his
reforming efforts.
{9}
CHAPTER II
SELKIRK, THE COLONIZER
From the north and west of Scotland have come two types of men with
whom every schoolboy is now familiar. One of these has been on many a
battlefield. He is the brawny Highland warrior, with buckled tartan
flung across his shoulder, gay in pointed plume and filibeg. The other
is seen in many a famous picture of the hill-country--the Highland
shepherd, wrapped in his plaid, with staff in hand and long-haired dog
by his side, guarding his flock in silent glen, by still-running burn,
or out upon the lonely brae.
But in Thomas Douglas's day such types of Highland life were very
recent factors in Scottish history. They did not appear, indeed, until
after the battle of Culloden and the failure of the Rebellion of 1745.
Loyalty, firm and unbending, has always been a characteristic of the
mountaineer. The {10} Highlanders held to the ancient house of Stuart
which had been dethroned. George II of England was repudiated by most
of them as a 'wee, wee German Lairdie.' More than thirty thousand
claymores flashed at the beck of Charles Edward, the Stuart prince,
acclaimed as 'King o' the Highland hearts.' When the uprising had been
quelled and Charles Edward had become a fugitive with a price on his
head, little consideration could be expected from the house of Hanover.
The British government decided that, once and for all, the power of the
clans should be broken.
For centuries the chief strength of the Highland race had lain in the
clan. By right of birth every Highlander belonged to a sept or clan.
His overlord was an elected chief, whom he was expected to obey under
all circumstances. This chief led in war and exercised a wide
authority over his people. Just below him were the tacksmen, who were
more nearly related to him than were the ordinary clansmen. Every
member of the clan had some land; indeed, each clansman had the same
rights to the soil as the chief himself enjoyed. The Highlander dwelt
in a humble shealing; but, however poor, he {11} gloried in his
independence. He grew his own corn and took it to the common mill; he
raised fodder for his black, shaggy cattle which roamed upon the rugged
hillsides or in the misty valleys; his women-folk carded wool sheared
from his own flock, spun it, and wove the cloth for bonnet, kilt, and
plaid. When his chief had need of him, the summons was vivid and
picturesque. The Fiery Cross was carried over the district by swift
messengers who shouted a slogan known to all; and soon from every
quarter the clansmen would gather at the appointed meeting-place.
The clans of the Highlands had led a wild, free life, but their dogged
love for the Stuart cause brought to them desolation and ruin. By one
stroke the British government destroyed the social fabric of centuries.
From the farthest rock of the storm-wasted Orkneys to the narrow home
of Clan Donald in Argyllshire, the ban of the government was laid on
the clan organization. Worst of all, possession of the soil was given,
not to the many clansmen, but to the chiefs alone.
While the old chiefs remained alive, little real hardship was
inflicted. They were {12} wedded to the old order of things, and left
it unchanged. With their successors, however, began a new era. These
men had come under the influence of the south, whither they had gone
for education, to correct the rudeness of their Highland manners. On
their return to their native country they too often held themselves
aloof from the uncouth dwellers in the hills. The mysterious love of
the Gael for his kith and kin had left them; they were no longer to
their dependants as fathers to children. More especially had these
Saxon-bred lordlings fallen a prey to the commercial ideas of the
south. It was trying for them to possess the nominal dignity of
landlords without the money needed to maintain their rank. They were
bare of retinue, shabby in equipage, and light of purse. They saw but
one solution of their difficulty. Like their English and Lowland
brethren, they must increase the rents upon their Highland estates. So
it came about that the one-time clansmen, reduced to mere tenants,
groaned for the upkeep of their overlords.
Nor did this end the misfortunes of the clansmen. An attractive lure
was held out to the new generation of chieftains, and greed and avarice
were to triumph. Southern {13} speculators had been rambling over the
Highlands, eager to exploit the country. These men had seen a land of
grass and heather, steep crag, and winter snow. Observing that the
country was specially adapted to the raising of sheep, they sought by
offering high rents to acquire land for sheep-walks. Thus, through the
length and breadth of the Highlands, great enclosures were formed for
the breeding of sheep. Where many crofters had once tilled the soil,
only a lone shepherd was now found, meditating on scenes of desolation.
Ruined dwellings and forsaken hamlets remained to tell the tale. Human
beings had been evicted: sheep had become the 'devourers of men.' In
many parts of the Highlands the inhabitants, driven from mountain
homes, were forced to eke out a meagre existence on narrow strips of
land by the seashore, where they pined and where they half-starved on
the fish caught in the dangerous waters.
From such a dilemma there was but one escape. Behind the evicted
tenantry were the sheep-walks; before them was the open sea. Few
herrings came to the net; the bannock meal was low; the tartan
threadbare. In their utter hopelessness they listened to the good news
which came of a land beyond the {14} Atlantic where there was plenty
and to spare. It is small wonder that as the ships moved westward they
carried with them the destitute Highlander, bound for the colonies
planted in North America.
This 'expatriation' was spread over many weary years. It was in full
process in 1797, when Thomas Douglas became Lord Daer. His six elder
brothers had been ailing, and one by one they had died, until he, the
youngest, alone survived. Then, when his father also passed away, on
May 24, 1799, he was left in possession of the ancestral estates and
became the fifth Earl of Selkirk.
As a youngest son, who would have to make his own way in the world,
Thomas Douglas had prepared himself, and this was a distinct advantage
to him when his elevation in rank occurred. He entered into his
fortune and place an educated man, with the broad outlook upon life and
the humanitarian sympathy which study and experience bring to a
generous spirit. Now he was in a position to carry out certain
philanthropic schemes which had begun earlier to engage his attention.
His jaunts in the Highlands amid 'the mountain and the flood' were now
to bear fruit. The dolorous plaint of the hapless clansmen had {15}
struck an answering chord in the depths of his nature. As Thomas
Douglas, he had meant to interest himself in the cause of the
Highlanders; now that he was Earl of Selkirk, he decided, as a servant
of the public, to use his wealth and influence for their social and
economic welfare. With this resolve he took up what was to be the main
task of his life--the providing of homes under other skies for the
homeless in the Highlands.
In the spring of 1802 the young earl addressed a letter to Lord Pelham,
a minister in the British government, in which he dwelt with enthusiasm
upon the subject of emigration. His letter took the form of an appeal,
and was prophetic. There had previously come into Selkirk's hands
Alexander Mackenzie's thrilling story of his journeys to the Arctic and
the Pacific. This book had filled Selkirk's mind with a great
conception. Men had settled, he told Lord Pelham, on the sea-coast of
British America, until no tract there was left uninhabited but--frozen
wastes and arid plains. What of the fruitful regions which lay in the
vast interior? It was thither that the government should turn the
thoughts of the homeless and the improvident. Leading to this
temperate and fertile area was {16} an excellent northern highway--the
waters of Hudson Bay and the Nelson.
Lord Selkirk received a not unfavourable reply to his appeal. The
authorities said that, though for the present they could not undertake
a scheme of emigration such as he had outlined, they would raise no
barrier against any private movement which Lord Selkirk might care to
set on foot. The refusal of the government itself to move the
dispossessed men was dictated by the political exigencies of the
moment. Great Britain had no desire to decrease her male population.
Napoleon had just become first consul in France. His imperial eagles
would soon be carrying their menace across the face of Europe, and
Great Britain saw that, at any moment, she might require all the men
she could bring into the field.
As the government had not discountenanced his plan, the Earl of Selkirk
determined to put his theories at once into practice. He made known in
the Highlands that he proposed to establish a settlement in British
North America. Keen interest was aroused, and soon a large company,
mostly from the isle of Skye, with a scattering from other parts of
Scotland, was prepared to embark. {17} It was intended that these
settlers should sail for Hudson Bay. This and the lands beyond were,
however, by chartered right the hunting preserve of the Hudson's Bay
Company, of which more will be said. Presumably this company
interfered, for unofficial word came from England to Selkirk that the
scheme of colonizing the prairie region west of Hudson Bay and the
Great Lakes would not be pleasing to the government. Selkirk, however,
quickly turned elsewhere. He secured land for his settlers in Prince
Edward Island, in the Gulf of St Lawrence. The prospective colonists,
numbering eight hundred, sailed from Scotland on board three chartered
vessels, and reached their destination in the midsummer of 1803.
Lord Selkirk had intended to reach Prince Edward Island in advance of
his colonists, in order to make ready for their arrival. But he was
delayed by his private affairs, and when he came upon the scene of the
intended settlement, after sunset on an August day, the ships had
arrived and one of them had landed its passengers. On the site of a
little French village of former days they had propped poles together in
a circle, matted them with foliage from the trees, and were {18}
living, like a band of Indians, in these improvised wigwams.
There was, of course, much to be done. Trees and undergrowth had to be
cleared away, surveys made, and plots of land meted out to the various
families. Lord Selkirk remained for several weeks supervising the
work. Then, leaving the colony in charge of an agent, he set out to
make a tour of Canada and the United States.
Meanwhile, Selkirk's agents in Scotland were not idle. During the same
summer (1803) a hundred and eleven emigrants were mustered at
Tobermory, a harbour town on the island of Mull. Most of them were
natives of the island. For some reason, said to be danger of attack by
French privateers, they did not put out into the Atlantic that year;
they sailed round to Kirkcaldy and wintered there. In May 1804 the
party went on board the ship _Oughton_ of Greenock, and after a six
weeks' journey landed at Montreal. Thence they travelled in bateaux to
Kingston.
These settlers were on their way to Baldoon Farm, a tract of about nine
hundred and fifty acres which Lord Selkirk had purchased for them in
Upper Canada, near Lake St Clair. Selkirk himself met the party at
Kingston, {19} having journeyed from Albany for that purpose. He
brought with him an Englishman named Lionel Johnson and his family.
The new settlement was to be stocked with a thousand merino sheep,
already on the way to Canada, and Johnson was engaged to take care of
these and distribute them properly among the settlers. The journey
from Kingston to the Niagara was made in a good sailing ship and
occupied only four days. The goods of the settlers were carried above
the Falls. Then the party resumed their journey along the north shore
of Lake Erie in bateaux, and arrived at their destination in September.
Baldoon Farm was an ill-chosen site for a colony. The land,
prairie-like in its appearance, lay in what is now known as the St
Clair Flats in Kent county, Ontario. It proved to be too wet for
successful farming. It was with difficulty, too, that the settlers
became inured to the climate. Within a year forty-two are reported to
have died, chiefly of fever and dysentery. The colony, however,
enjoyed a measure of prosperity until the War of 1812 broke out, when
the Americans under General M'Arthur, moving from Detroit, despoiled it
of stores, cattle, and sheep, and almost obliterated it. In 1818 Lord
Selkirk {20} sold the land to John M'Nab, a trader of the Hudson's Bay
Company. Many descendants of the original settlers are, however, still
living in the neighbourhood.
[Illustration: Place D'Armes, Montreal, in 1807. From a water-colour
sketch after Dillon in M'Gill University Library.]
Before returning to Great Britain, Lord Selkirk rested from his travels
for a time in the city of Montreal, where he was fêted by many of the
leading merchants. What the plutocrats of the fur trade had to relate
to Selkirk was of more than passing interest. No doubt he talked with
Joseph Frobisher in his quaint home on Beaver Hall Hill. Simon
M'Tavish, too, was living in a new-built mansion under the brow of
Mount Royal. This 'old lion of Montreal,' who was the founder of the
North-West Company, had for the mere asking a sheaf of tales, as
realistic as they were entertaining. Honour was done Lord Selkirk
during his stay in the city by the Beaver Club, which met once a
fortnight. This was an exclusive organization, which limited its
membership to those who dealt in furs. Every meeting meant a banquet,
and at these meetings each club-man wore a gold medal on which was
engraved the motto, 'Fortitude in Distress.' Dishes were served which
smacked of prairie and forest--venison, bear flesh, and {21} buffalo
tongue. The club's resplendent glass and polished silver were marked
with its crest, a beaver. After the toasts had been drunk, the jovial
party knelt on the floor for a final ceremony. With pokers or tongs or
whatever else was at hand, they imitated paddlers in action, and a
chorus of lusty voices joined in a burst of song. It may be supposed
that Lord Selkirk was impressed by what he saw at this gathering and
that he was a sympathetic guest. He asked many questions, and nothing
escaped his eager observation. Little did he then think that his hosts
would soon be banded together in a struggle to the death against him
and his schemes of western colonization.
{22}
CHAPTER III
THE PURSE-STRINGS LOOSEN
Traffic in furs was hazardous, but it brought great returns. The
peltry of the north, no less than the gold and silver of the south,
gave impetus to the efforts of those who first settled the western
hemisphere. In expectation of ample profits, the fur ship threaded its
way through the ice-pack of the northern seas, and the trader sent his
canoes by tortuous stream and toilsome portage. In the early days of
the eighteenth century sixteen beaver skins could be obtained from the
Indians for a single musket, and ten skins for a blanket. Profits were
great, and with the margin of gain so enormous, jealousies and quarrels
without number were certain to arise between rival fur traders.
[Illustration: Joseph Frobisher, a partner in the North-West Company.
From the John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library.]
The right to the fur trade in America had been granted--given away, as
the English of the time thought--by the hand of Charles II of England.
In prodigal fashion Charles {23} conceded, in 1670, a charter, which
conveyed extensive lands, with the privileges of monopoly, to the
'Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay.' But if
the courtiers of the Merry Monarch had any notion that he could thus
exclude all others from the field, their dream was an empty one.
England had an active rival in France, and French traders penetrated
into the region granted to the Hudson's Bay Company. Towards the close
of the seventeenth century Le Moyne d'Iberville was making conquests on
Hudson Bay for the French king, and Greysolon Du Lhut was carrying on
successful trading operations in the vicinity of Lakes Nipigon and
Superior. Even after the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) had given the Hudson
Bay territories to the English, the French-Canadian explorer La
Vérendrye entered the forbidden lands, and penetrated to the more
remote west. A new situation arose after the British conquest of
Canada during the Seven Years' War. Plucky independent traders, mostly
of Scottish birth, now began to follow the watercourses which led from
the rapids of Lachine on the St Lawrence to the country beyond Lake
Superior. These men treated with disdain the royal charter of the
Hudson's {24} Bay Company. In 1783 a group of them united to form the
North-West Company, with headquarters at Montreal. The organization
grew in strength and became the most powerful antagonist of the older
company, and the open feud between the two spread through the wide
region from the Great Lakes to the slopes of the Rocky Mountains.
The Nor'westers, as the partners and servants of the North-West Company
were called, were bold competitors. Their enthusiasm for the conflict
was all the more eager because their trade was regarded as illicit by
their rivals. There was singleness of purpose in their ranks; almost
every man in the service had been tried and proved. All the Montreal
partners of the company had taken the long trip to the Grand Portage, a
transit station at the mouth of the Pigeon river, on the western shore
of Lake Superior. Other partners had wintered on the frozen plains or
in the thick of the forest, tracking the yellow-grey badger, the
pine-marten, and the greedy wolverine. The guides employed by the
company knew every mile of the rivers, and they rarely mistook the most
elusive trail. Its interpreters could converse with the red men like
natives. Even the clerks who looked {25} after the office routine of
the company laboured with zest, for, if they were faithful and
attentive in their work, the time would come when they, too, would be
elected as partners in the great concern. The canoemen were mainly
French-Canadian coureurs de bois, gay voyageurs on lake and stream. In
the veins of many of them flowed the blood of Cree or Iroquois. Though
half barbarous in their mode of life, they had their own devotions. At
the first halting-place on their westward journey, above Lachine, they
were accustomed to enter a little chapel which stood on the bank of the
Ottawa. Here they prayed reverently that 'the good Saint Anne,' the
friend of all canoemen, would guard them on their way to the Grand
Portage. Then they dropped an offering at Saint Anne's shrine, and
pointed their craft against the current. These rovers of the
wilderness were buoyant of heart, and they lightened the weary hours of
their six weeks' journey with blithe songs of love and the river. When
the snow fell and ice closed the river, they would tie their 'husky'
dogs to sledges and travel over the desolate wastes, carrying furs and
provisions.
It was a very different company that traded into Hudson Bay. The
Hudson's Bay {26} Company was launched on its career in a princely
manner, and had tried to cling fast to its time-worn traditions. The
bundles of uncured skins were received from the red men by its servants
with pomp and dignity. At first the Indians had to bring their 'catch'
to the shores of Hudson Bay itself, and here they were made to feel
that it was a privilege to be allowed to trade with the company.
Sometimes they were permitted to pass in their wares only through a
window in the outer part of the fort. A beaver skin was the regular
standard of value, and in return for their skins the savages received
all manner of gaudy trinkets and also useful merchandise, chiefly
knives, hatchets, guns, ammunition, and blankets. But before the end
of the eighteenth century the activity of the Nor'westers had forced
the Hudson's Bay Company out of its aristocratic slothfulness. The
savages were now sought out in their prairie homes, and the company
began to set up trading-posts in the interior, all the way from Rainy
Lake to Edmonton House on the North Saskatchewan.
Such was the situation of affairs in the fur-bearing country when the
Earl of Selkirk had his vision of a rich prairie home for the {27}
desolate Highlanders. Though he had not himself visited the Far West,
he had some conception of the probable outcome of the fierce rivalry
between the two great fur companies in North America. He foresaw that,
sooner or later, if his scheme of planting a colony in the interior was
to prosper, he must ally himself with one or the other of these two
factions of traders.
We may gain a knowledge of Lord Selkirk's ideas at this time from his
own writings and public utterances. In 1805 he issued a work on the
Highlands of Scotland, which Sir Walter Scott praised for its
'precision and accuracy,' and which expressed the significant sentiment
that the government should adopt a policy that would keep the
Highlanders within the British Empire. In 1806, when he had been
chosen as one of the sixteen representative peers from Scotland, he
delivered a speech in the House of Lords upon the subject of national
defence, and his views were afterwards stated more fully in a book.
With telling logic he argued for the need of a local militia, rather
than a volunteer force, as the best protection for England in a moment
of peril. The tenor of this and Selkirk's other writings would
indicate the staunchness of {28} his patriotism. In his efforts at
colonization his desire was to keep Britain's sons from emigrating to
an alien shore.
'Now, it is our duty to befriend this people,' he affirmed, in writing
of the Highlanders. 'Let us direct their emigration; let them be led
abroad to new possessions.' Selkirk states plainly his reason. 'Give
them homes under our own flag,' is his entreaty, 'and they will
strengthen the empire.'
In 1807 Selkirk was chosen as lord-lieutenant of the stewartry of
Kirkcudbright, and in the same year took place his marriage with Jean
Wedderburn-Colvile, the only daughter of James Wedderburn-Colvile of
Ochiltree. One year later he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, a
distinction conferred only upon intellectual workers whose labours have
increased the world's stock of knowledge.
After some shrewd thinking Lord Selkirk decided to throw in his lot
with the Hudson's Bay Company. Why he did this will subsequently
appear. At first, one might have judged the step unwise. The
financiers of London believed that the company was drifting into deep
water. When the books were made up for 1808, there were no funds
available for dividends, and bankruptcy seemed {29} inevitable. Any
one who owned a share of Hudson's Bay stock found that it had not
earned him a sixpence during that year. The company's business was
being cut down by the operations of its aggressive rival. The chief
cause, however, of the company's financial plight was not the trade war
in America, but the European war, which had dealt a heavy blow to
British commerce. Napoleon had found himself unable to land his army
in England, but he had other means of striking. In 1806 he issued the
famous Berlin Decree, declaring that no other country should trade with
his greatest enemy. Dealers had been wont to come every year to London
from Germany, France, and Russia, in order to purchase the fine skins
which the Hudson's Bay Company could supply. Now that this trade was
lost to the company, the profits disappeared. For three seasons bale
after bale of unsold peltry had been stacked to the rafters of the
London warehouse.
The Earl of Selkirk was a practical man; and, seeing the plight of the
Hudson's Bay Company, he was tempted to take advantage of the situation
to further his plans of emigration. Like a genuine lord of Galloway,
however, he proceeded with extreme caution. His {30} initial move was
to get the best possible legal advice regarding the validity of the
company's royal charter. Five of the foremost lawyers in the land were
asked for their opinion upon this matter. Chief of those who were
approached was Sir Samuel Romilly, the friend of Bentham and of
Mirabeau. The other four were George Holroyd and James Scarlet, both
distinguished pleaders, and William Cruise and John Bell. The finding
of these lawyers put the question out of doubt. The charter, they
said, was flawless. Of all the lands which were drained by the many
rivers running into Hudson Bay, the company was the sole proprietor.
Within these limits it could appoint sheriffs and bring law-breakers to
trial. Besides, there was nothing to prevent it from granting to any
one in fee-simple tracts of land in its vast domain.
Having satisfied himself that the charter of 1670 was legally
unassailable, the earl was now ready for his subsequent line of action.
He had resolved to get a foothold in the company itself. To effect
this object he brought his own capital into play, and sought at the
same time the aid of his wife's relatives, the Wedderburn-Colviles, and
of other personal friends. Shares in the company had depreciated in
value, and the owners, in many {31} cases, were jubilant at the chance
of getting them off their hands. Selkirk and his friends did not stop
buying until they had acquired about one-third of the company's total
stock.
In the meantime the Nor'westers scented trouble ahead. As soon as Lord
Selkirk had completed his purchase of Hudson's Bay stock, he began to
make overtures to the company's shareholders to be allowed to plant a
colony in the territories assigned to them by their royal charter. To
the Nor'westers this proposition was anathema. They argued that if a
permanent settlement was established in the fur country, the
fur-bearing animals would be driven out, and their trade ruined. Their
alarm grew apace. In May 1811 a general court of the Hudson's Bay
Company, which had been adjourned, was on the point of reassembling.
The London agents of the North-West Company decided to act at once.
Forty-eight hours before the general court opened three of their number
bought up a quantity of Hudson's Bay stock. One of these purchasers
was the redoubtable explorer, Sir Alexander Mackenzie.
Straightway there ensued one of the liveliest sessions that ever
occurred in a general court of the Hudson's Bay Company. The {32}
Nor'westers, who now had a right to voice their opinions, fumed and
haggled. Other share holders flared into vigorous protest as the Earl
of Selkirk's plan was disclosed. In the midst of the clash of
interests, however, the earl's following stated his proposal
succinctly. They said that Selkirk wished to secure a tract of fertile
territory within the borders of Rupert's Land, for purposes of
colonization. Preferably, this should lie in the region of the Red
River, which ran northward towards Hudson Bay. At his own expense
Selkirk would people this tract within a given period, foster the early
efforts of its settlers, and appease the claims of the Indian tribes
that inhabited the territory. He promised, moreover, to help to supply
the Hudson's Bay Company with labourers for its work.
Had Lord Selkirk been present to view the animated throng of merchant
adventurers, he would have foreseen his victory. In his first tilt
with the Nor'westers he was to be successful. The opposition was
strong, but it wore down before the onslaught of his friends. Then
came the show of hands. There was no uncertainty about the vote:
two-thirds of the court had pledged themselves in favour of Lord
Selkirk's proposal.
{33}
By the terms of the grant which the general court made to Selkirk, he
was to receive 116,000 square miles of virgin soil in the locality
which he had selected. The boundaries of this immense area were
carefully fixed. Roughly speaking, it extended from Big Island, in
Lake Winnipeg, to the parting of the Red River from the head-waters of
the Mississippi in the south, and from beyond the forks of the Red and
Assiniboine rivers in the west to the shores of the Lake of the Woods,
and at one point almost to Lake Superior, in the east. If a map is
consulted, it will be seen that one-half of the grant lay in what is
now the province of Manitoba, the other half in the present states of
Minnesota and North Dakota.[1]
A great variety of opinions were expressed in London upon the subject
of this grant. Some wiseacres said that the earl's proposal was as
extravagant as it was visionary. One of Selkirk's acquaintances met
him strolling along Pall Mall, and brought him up short on the street
with the query: 'If you are bent {34} on doing something futile, why do
you not sow tares at home in order to reap wheat, or plough the desert
of Sahara, which is nearer?'
The extensive tract which the Hudson's Bay Company had bestowed upon
Lord Selkirk for the nominal sum of ten shillings had made him the
greatest individual land-owner in Christendom. His new possession was
quite as large as the province of Egypt in the days of Caesar Augustus.
But in some other respects Lord Selkirk's heritage was much greater.
The province of Egypt, the granary of Rome, was fertile only along the
banks of the Nile. More than three-fourths of Lord Selkirk's domain,
on the other hand, was highly fertile soil.
[1] It will be understood that the boundary-line between British and
American territory in the North-West was not yet established. What
afterwards became United States soil was at this time claimed by the
Hudson's Bay Company under its charter.
{35}
CHAPTER IV
STORNOWAY--AND BEYOND
On June 13, 1811, the deed was given to Selkirk of his wide possessions
with the seal and signature of the Hudson's Bay Company, attached by
Alexander Lean, the secretary. Before this, however, Selkirk had
become deeply engrossed in the details of his enterprise. No time was
to be lost, for unless all should be in readiness before the Hudson's
Bay vessels set out to sea on their summer voyage, the proposed
expedition of colonists must be postponed for another year.
Selkirk issued without delay a pamphlet, setting forth the advantages
of the prospective colony. Land was to be given away free, or sold for
a nominal sum. To the poor, transport would cost nothing; others would
have to pay according to their means. No one would be debarred on
account of his religious belief; all creeds were to be treated alike.
The seat of the colony was to be called {36} Assiniboia, after a tribe
of the Sioux nation, the Assiniboines, buffalo hunters on the Great
Plains.
Wherever this pamphlet was read by men dissatisfied with their lot in
the Old World, it aroused hope. With his usual good judgment, Selkirk
had engaged several men whose training fitted them for the work of
inducing landless men to emigrate. One of these was Captain Miles
Macdonell, lately summoned by Lord Selkirk from his home in Canada.
Macdonell had been reared in the Mohawk valley, had served in the ranks
of the Royal Greens during the War of the Revolution, and had survived
many a hard fight on the New York frontier. After the war, like most
of his regiment, he had gone as a Loyalist to the county of Glengarry,
on the Ottawa. It so chanced that the Earl of Selkirk while in Canada
had met Macdonell, then a captain of the Royal Canadian Volunteers, and
had been impressed by his courage and energy. In consequence, Selkirk
now invited him to be the first governor of Assiniboia. Macdonell
accepted the appointment; and promptly upon his arrival in Britain he
went to the west coast of Ireland to win recruits for the settlement.
Owing to the straitened circumstances {37} of the Irish peasantry, the
tide of emigration from Ireland was already running high, and Lord
Selkirk thought that Captain Macdonell, who was a Roman Catholic, might
influence some of his co-religionists to go to Assiniboia.
Another agent upon whom Selkirk felt that he could rely was Colin
Robertson, a native of the island of Lewis, in the Hebrides. To this
island he was now dispatched, with instructions to visit other sections
of the Highlands as well. Robertson had formerly held a post under the
North-West Company in the Saskatchewan valley. There he had quarrelled
with a surly-natured trader known as Crooked-armed Macdonald, with the
result that Robertson had been dismissed by the Nor'westers and had
come back to Scotland in an angry mood.
A third place of muster for the colony was the city of Glasgow. There
the Earl of Selkirk's representative was Captain Roderick M'Donald.
Many Highlanders had gone to Glasgow, that busy hive of industry, in
search of work. To the clerks in the shops and to the labourers in the
yards or at the loom, M'Donald described the glories of Assiniboia.
Many were impressed by his words, but objected to the low wages offered
for their {38} services. M'Donald compromised, and by offering a
higher wage induced a number to enlist. But the recruits from Glasgow
turned out to be a shiftless lot and a constant source of annoyance to
Selkirk's officers.
While this work was being done the Nor'westers in London were burning
with wrath at their inability to hinder Lord Selkirk's project. Their
hostility, we have seen, arose from their belief, which was quite
correct, that a colony would interfere with their trading operations.
In the hope that the enterprise might yet be stopped, they circulated
in the Highlands various rumours against it. An anonymous attack,
clearly from a Nor'wester source, appeared in the columns of the
Inverness _Journal_. The author of this diatribe pictured the rigours
of Assiniboia in terrible colours. Selkirk's agents were characterized
as a brood of dissemblers. With respect to the earl himself words were
not minced. His philanthropy was all assumed; he was only biding his
time in order to make large profits out of his colonization scheme.
Notwithstanding this campaign of slander, groups of would-be settlers
came straggling along from various places to the port of rendezvous,
Stornoway, the capital of the {39} Hebrides. When all had gathered,
these people who had answered the call to a new heritage beyond the
seas proved to be a motley throng. Some were stalwart men in the prime
of life, men who looked forward to homes of their own on a distant
shore; others, with youth on their side, were eager for the trail of
the flying moose or the sight of a painted redskin; a few were women,
steeled to bravery through fires of want and sorrow. Too many were
wastrels, cutting adrift from a blighted past. A goodly number were
malcontents, wondering whether to go or stay.
The leading vessel of the Hudson's Bay fleet in the year 1811 was the
commodore's ship, the _Prince of Wales_. At her moorings in the Thames
another ship, the _Eddystone_, lay ready for the long passage to the
Great Bay. Besides these, a shaky old hulk, the _Edward and Ann_, was
put into commission for the use of Lord Selkirk's settlers. Her grey
sails were mottled with age and her rigging was loose and worn.
Sixteen men and boys made up her crew, a number by no means sufficient
for a boat of her size. It seemed almost criminal to send such an
ill-manned craft out on the tempestuous North Atlantic. However, the
three ships sailed from the {40} Thames and steered up the east coast
of England. Opposite Yarmouth a gale rose and forced them into a
sheltering harbour. It was the middle of July before they rounded the
north shore of Scotland. At Stromness in the Orkneys the _Prince of
Wales_ took on board a small body of emigrants and a number of the
company's servants who were waiting there.
At length the tiny fleet reached the bustling harbour-town of
Stornoway; and here Miles Macdonell faced a task of no little
difficulty. Counting the Orkneymen just arrived, there were one
hundred and twenty-five in his party. The atmosphere seemed full of
unrest, and the cause was not far to seek. The Nor'westers were at
work, and their agents were sowing discontent among the emigrants.
Even Collector Reed, the government official in charge of the customs,
was acting as the tool of the Nor'westers. It was Reed's duty, of
course, to hasten the departure of the expedition; but instead of doing
this he put every possible obstacle in the way. Moreover, he mingled
with the emigrants, urging them to forsake the venture while there was
yet time.
Another partisan of the North-West {41} Company also appeared on the
scene. This was an army officer named Captain Mackenzie, who pretended
to be gathering recruits for the army. He had succeeded, it appears,
in getting some of Selkirk's men to take the king's shilling, and now
was trying to lead these men away from the ships as 'deserters from His
Majesty's service.' One day this trouble-maker brought his dinghy
alongside one of the vessels. A sailor on deck, who saw Captain
Mackenzie in the boat and was eager for a lark, picked up a nine-pound
shot, poised it carefully, and let it fall. There was a splintering
thud. Captain Mackenzie suddenly remembered how dry it was on shore,
and put off for land as fast as oars would hurry him. Next day he sent
a pompous challenge to the commander of the vessel. It was, of course,
ignored.
In spite of obstacles, little by little the arrangements for the ocean
voyage were being completed. There were many irritating delays.
Disputes about wages broke out afresh when inequalities were
discovered. There was much wrangling among the emigrants as to their
quarters on the uninviting _Edward and Ann_. At the last moment a
number of the party took fear and decided to stay at home. {42} Some
left the ship in unceremonious fashion, even forgetting their effects.
These were subsequently sold among the passengers. 'One man,' wrote
Captain Macdonell, 'jumped into the sea and swam for it until he was
picked up.' It may be believed that the governor of Assiniboia heaved
a thankful sigh when the ships were ready to hoist their sails. 'It
has been a herculean task,' ran the text of his parting message to the
Earl of Selkirk.
On July 26 a favourable breeze bore the vessels out to sea. There were
now one hundred and five in the party, seventy of whom had professed an
intention to till the soil. The remainder had been indentured as
servants of the Hudson's Bay Company. Seventy-six of the total number
were quartered on board the _Edward and Ann_. As the vessels swept
seaward many eyes were fastened sadly on the receding shore. The white
houses of Stornoway loomed up distinctly across the dark waters of the
bay. The hill which rose gloomily in the background was treeless and
inky black. On the clean shingle lay the cod and herring, piled loose
to catch the sun's warm rays. The settlers remembered that they were
perhaps scanning for the last time the rugged outline {43} of that
heather-clad landscape, and their hearts grew sick within them.
Foreland after foreland came into view and disappeared. At length the
ships were skirting the Butt of Lewis with its wave-worn clefts and
caverns. Then all sight of land vanished, and they were steering their
course into the northern main.
A man-of-war had been sent as a convoy to the vessels, for the
quick-sailing frigates of France had been harrying British shipping,
and the mercantile marine needed protection. After standing guard to a
point four hundred miles off the Irish coast, the ship-of-the-line
turned back, and the three vessels held their way alone in a turbulent
sea. Two of them beat stoutly against the gale, but the _Edward and
Ann_ hove to for a time, her timbers creaking and her bowsprit catching
the water as she rose and fell with the waves. And so they put out
into the wide and wild Atlantic--these poor, homeless, storm-tossed
exiles, who were to add a new chapter to Great Britain's colonial
history.
{44}
CHAPTER V
WINTERING ON THE BAY
Little is known of the many strange things which must have taken place
on the voyage. On board the _Edward and Ann_ sickness was prevalent
and the ship's surgeon was kept busy. There were few days on which the
passengers could come from below-decks. When weather permitted,
Captain Macdonell, who knew the dangers to be encountered in the
country they were going to, attempted to give the emigrants military
drill. 'There never was a more awkward squad,' was his opinion, 'not a
man, or even officer, of the party knew how to put a gun to his eye or
had ever fired a shot.' A prominent figure on the _Edward and Ann_ was
a careless-hearted cleric, whose wit and banter were in evidence
throughout the voyage. This was the Reverend Father Burke, an Irish
priest. He had stolen away without the leave of his bishop, and it
appears that he and Macdonell, {45} although of the same faith, were
not the best of friends.
After a stormy voyage of nearly two months the ships entered the long,
barren straits leading into Hudson Bay. From the beginning of
September the fleet had been hourly expected at York Factory, and
speculation was rife there as to its delay in arriving. On September
24 the suspense ended, for the look-out at the fort descried the ships
moving in from the north and east. They anchored in the shallow haven
on the western shore, where two streams, the Nelson and the Hayes,
enter Hudson Bay, and the sorely tried passengers disembarked. They
were at once marched to York Factory, on the north bank of the Hayes.
The strong palisades and wooden bastions of the fort warned the
newcomers that there were dangers in America to be guarded against. A
pack of 'husky' dogs came bounding forth to meet them as they
approached the gates.
A survey of the company's buildings convinced Macdonell that much more
roomy quarters would be required for the approaching winter, and he
determined to erect suitable habitations for his people before
snowfall. With this in view he crossed over to the Nelson {46} and
ascended it until he reached a high clearing on its left bank, near
which grew an abundance of white spruce. He brought up a body of men,
most of whom now received their first lesson in woodcraft. The pale
and flaky-barked aromatic spruce trees were felled and stripped of
their branches. Next, the logs were 'snaked' into the open, where the
dwellings were to be erected, and hewed into proper shape. These
timbers were then deftly fitted together and the four walls of a rude
but substantial building began to rise. A drooping roof was added, the
chinks were closed, and then the structure was complete. When a
sufficient number of such houses had been built, Macdonell set the
party to work cutting firewood and gathering it into convenient piles.
The prudence of these measures became apparent when the frost king
fixed his iron grip upon land and sea. As the days shortened, the
rivers were locked deep and fast; a sharp wind penetrated the forest,
and the salty bay was fringed with jagged and glistening hummocks of
ice. So severe was the cold that the newcomers were loath to go forth
from their warm shelter even to haul food from the fort over the
brittle, yielding snow. Under such {47} conditions life in the camp
grew monotonous and dull. More serious still, the food they had to eat
was the common fare of such isolated winterers; it was chiefly salt
meat. The effect of this was seen as early as December. Some of the
party became listless and sluggish, their faces turned sallow and their
eyes appeared sunken. They found it difficult to breathe and their
gums were swollen and spongy. Macdonell, a veteran in hardship, saw at
once that scurvy had broken out among them; but he had a simple remedy
and the supply was without limit. The sap of the white spruce was
extracted and administered to the sufferers. Almost immediately their
health showed improvement, and soon all were on the road to recovery.
But the medicine was not pleasant to take, and some of the party at
first foolishly refused to submit to the treatment.
The settlers, almost unwittingly, banded together into distinct groups,
each individual tending to associate with the others from his own home
district. As time went on these groups, with their separate
grievances, gave Macdonell much trouble. The Orkneymen, who were
largely servants of the Hudson's Bay Company, were not long in
incurring his {48} disfavour. To him they seemed to have the appetites
of a pack of hungry wolves. He dubbed them 'lazy, spiritless and
ill-disposed.' The 'Glasgow rascals,' too, were a source of annoyance.
'A more ... cross-grained lot,' he asserted, 'were never put under any
person's care.'
[Illustration: The country of Lord Selkirk's Letters.]
Owing to the discord existing in the camp, the New Year was not ushered
in happily. In Scotland, of all the days of the year, this anniversary
was held in the highest regard. It was generally celebrated to the
strains of 'Weel may we a' be,' and with effusive handshakings, much
dining, and a hot kettle. The lads from the Orkneys were quite wide
awake to the occasion and had no intention of omitting the customs of
their sires. On New Year's Day they were having a rollicking time in
one of the cabins. But their enthusiasm was quickly damped by a party
of Irish who, having primed their courage with whisky, set upon the
merry-makers and created a scene of wild disorder. In the heat of the
_mêlée_ three of the Orkneymen were badly beaten, and for a month their
lives hung in the balance. Captain Macdonell later sent several of the
Irish back to Great Britain, saying that such 'worthless blackguards'
were {49} better under the discipline of the army or the navy.
One of the number who had not taken kindly to Miles Macdonell as a
'medicine-man' was William Findlay, a very obdurate Orkneyman, who had
flatly refused to soil his lips with the wonder-working syrup of the
white spruce. Shortly afterwards, having been told to do something, he
was again disobedient. This time he was forced to appear before
Magistrate Hillier of the Hudson's Bay Company and was condemned to
gaol. As there was really no such place, a log-house was built for
Findlay, and he was imprisoned in it. A gruff-noted babel of dissent
arose among his kinsfolk, supported by the men from Glasgow. A gang of
thirteen, in which both parties were represented, put a match to the
prison where Findlay was confined, and rescued its solitary inmate out
of the blaze. Then, uttering defiance, they seized another building,
and decided to live apart. Thus, with the attitude of rebels and well
supplied with firearms, they kept the rest of the camp in a state of
nervousness for several months. In June, however, these rebels allowed
themselves to fall into a trap. Having crossed the Nelson, they found
their return cut off by {50} the melting of the ice. This put them at
the mercy of the officials at York Factory, and they were forced to
surrender. After receiving their humble acknowledgments Macdonell was
not disposed to treat them severely, and he took them back into service.
But what of jovial Father Burke since his arrival on the shores of
Hudson Bay? To all appearances, he had not been able to restrain his
flock from mischief. He had, however, been exploring on his own
account, and thoroughly believed that he had made some valuable
discoveries. He had come upon pebbles of various kinds which he
thought were precious stones. Some of them shone like diamonds; others
seemed like rubies. Father Burke was indeed sure that bits of the sand
which he had collected contained particles of gold. Macdonell himself
believed that the soil along the Nelson abounded in mineral wealth. He
told the priest to keep the discovery a secret, and sent samples of
sand and stone to Lord Selkirk, advising him to acquire the banks of
the Nelson river from the company. In the end, to the disgust of
Macdonell and Father Burke, not one sample proved of any value.
Weeks before the ice had left the river, the {51} colonists became
impatient to set forward on the remainder of their journey. To
transport so many persons, with all their belongings and with
sufficient provisions, seven or eight hundred miles inland was an
undertaking formidable enough to put Captain Macdonell's energies to
the fullest test. The only craft available were bark canoes, and these
would be too fragile for the heavy cargoes that must be borne. Stouter
boats must be built. Macdonell devised a sort of punt or flat-bottomed
boat, such as he had formerly seen in the colony of New York. Four of
these clumsy craft were constructed, but only with great difficulty,
and after much trouble with the workmen. Inefficiency, as well as
misconduct, on the part of the colonists was a sore trial to Macdonell.
The men from the Hebrides were now practically the only members of the
party who were not, for one reason or another, in his black book.
It was almost midsummer before the boats began to push up the Hayes
river for the interior. There were many blistered hands at the oars;
nevertheless, on the journey they managed to make an average of
thirteen miles each day. Before the colonists could reach Oxford
House, the next post of the Hudson's {52} Bay Company, three dozen
portages had to be passed. It was with thankful hearts that they came
to Holy Lake and caught sight of the trading-post by its margin. Here
was an ample reach of water, reminding the Highlanders of a loch of
far-away Scotland. When the wind died down, Holy Lake was like a giant
mirror. Looking into its quiet waters, the voyagers saw great fish
swimming swiftly.
From Oxford House the route lay over a height-of-land to the
head-waters of the Nelson. After a series of difficulties the party
reached Norway House, another post of the Hudson's Bay Company, on an
upper arm of Lake Winnipeg. At this time Norway House was the centre
of the great fur-bearing region. The colonists found it strongly
entrenched in a rocky basin and astir with life. After a short rest
they proceeded towards Lake Winnipeg, and soon were moving slowly down
its low-lying eastern shore. Here they had their first glimpse of the
prairie country, with its green carpet of grass. Out from the water's
edge grew tall, lank reeds, the lurking place of snipe and sand-piper.
Doubtless, in the brief night-watches, they listened to the shrill cry
of the restless lynx, or heard the yapping howl of the timber wolf as
he slunk {53} away among the copses. But presently the boats were
gliding in through the sand-choked outlet of the Red River, and they
were on the last stage of their journey.
Some forty miles up-stream from its mouth the Red River bends sharply
towards the east, forming what is known as Point Douglas in the present
city of Winnipeg. Having toiled round this point, the colonists pushed
their boats to the muddy shore. The day they landed--the natal day of
a community which was to grow into three great provinces of Canada--was
August 30, 1812.
{54}
CHAPTER VI
RED RIVER AND PEMBINA
Scarcely had the settlers taken stock of their surroundings on the Red
River when they were chilled to the marrow with a sudden terror.
Towards them came racing on horseback a formidable-looking troop,
decked out in all the accoutrements of the Indian--spreading feather,
dangling tomahawk, and a thick coat of war-paint. To the newcomers it
was a never-to-be-forgotten spectacle. But when the riders came within
close range, shouting and gesticulating, it was seen that they wore
borrowed apparel, and that their speech was a medley of French and
Indian dialects. They were a troop of Bois Brûlés, Métis, or
half-breeds of French and Indian blood, aping for the time the manners
of their mothers' people. Their object was to tell Lord Selkirk's
party that settlers were not wanted on the Red River; that it was the
country of the fur traders, and that settlers must go farther afield.
{55}
This was surely an inhospitable reception, after a long and fatiguing
journey. Plainly the Nor'westers were at it again, trying now to
frighten the colonists away, as they had tried before to keep them from
coming. These mounted half-breeds were a deputation from Fort
Gibraltar, the Nor'westers' nearest trading-post, which stood two miles
higher up at 'the Forks,' where the Red River is joined by the
Assiniboine.
Nevertheless, Governor Macdonell, having planned as dignified a
ceremony as the circumstances would allow, sent to the Nor'westers at
Fort Gibraltar an invitation to be present at the official inauguration
of Lord Selkirk's colony. At the appointed hour, on September 4,
several traders from the fort, together with a few French Canadians and
Indians, put in an appearance. In the presence of this odd company
Governor Macdonell read the Earl of Selkirk's patent to Assiniboia.
About him was drawn up a guard of honour, and overhead the British
ensign fluttered in the breeze. Six small swivel-guns, which had been
brought with the colonists, belched forth a salute to mark the
occasion. The Nor'westers were visibly impressed by this show of
authority and power. In pretended friendship they {56} entered
Governor Macdonell's tent and accepted his hospitality before
departing. At variance with the scowls of trapper and trader towards
the settlers was the attitude of the full-blooded Indians who were
camping along the Red River. From the outset these red-skins were
friendly, and their conduct was soon to stand the settlers in good
stead.
The provisions brought from Hudson Bay were fast diminishing and would
soon be at an end. True, the Nor'westers offered for sale supplies of
oats, barley, poultry, and the like, but their prices were high and the
settlers had not the means of purchase. But there was other food.
Myriads of buffalo roamed over the Great Plains. Herds of these
animals often darkened the horizon like a slowly moving cloud. In
summer they might be seen cropping the prairie grass, or plunging and
rolling about in muddy 'wallows.' In winter they moved to higher
levels, where lay less snow to be removed from the dried grass which
they devoured. At that season those who needed to hunt the buffalo for
food must follow them wherever they went. This was now the plight of
the settlers: winter was coming on and food was already scarce. The
settlers must seek out the winter haunts of the buffalo. {57} The
Indians were of great service, for they offered to act as guides.
A party to hunt the buffalo was organized. Like a train of pilgrims,
the majority of the colonists now set out afoot. Their dark-skinned
escort, mounted on wiry ponies, bent their course in a southerly
direction. The redskins eyed with amusement the queer-clad strangers
whom they were guiding. These were ignorant of the ways of the wild
prairie country and badly equipped to face its difficulties. Sometimes
the Indians indulged in horse-play, and a few of them were unable to
keep their hands off the settlers' possessions. One Highlander lost an
ancient musket which he treasured. A wedding ring was taken by an
Indian guide from the hand of one of the women. Five days of
straggling march brought the party to a wide plateau where the Indians
said that the buffalo were accustomed to pasture. Here the party
halted, at the junction of the Red and Pembina rivers, and awaited the
arrival of Captain Macdonell, who came up next day on horseback with
three others of his party.
Temporary tents and cabins were erected, and steps were taken to
provide more commodious shelters. But this second winter {58}
threatened to be almost as uncomfortable as the first had been on
Hudson Bay. Captain Macdonell selected a suitable place south of the
Pembina river, and on this site a storehouse and other buildings were
put up. The end of the year saw a neat little encampment, surrounded
by palisades, where before had been nothing but unbroken prairie. As a
finishing touch, a flagstaff was raised within the stockade, and in
honour of one of Lord Selkirk's titles the name Fort Daer was given to
the whole. In the meantime a body of seventeen Irishmen, led by Owen
Keveny, had arrived from the old country, having accomplished the feat
of making their way across the ocean to Hudson Bay and up to the
settlement during the single season of 1812. This additional force was
housed at once in Fort Daer along with the rest. Until spring opened,
buffalo meat was to be had in plenty, the Indians bringing in
quantities of it for a slight reward. So unconscious were the buffalo
of danger that they came up to the very palisades, giving the settlers
an excellent view of their drab-brown backs and fluffy, curling manes.
[Illustration: Hunting the Buffalo. From a painting by George Catlin.]
On the departure of the herds in the springtime there was no reason why
the colonists {59} should remain any longer at Fort Daer. Accordingly
the entire band plodded wearily back to the ground which they had
vacated above 'the Forks' on the Red River. As the season of 1813
advanced, more solid structures were erected on this site, and the
place became known as Colony Gardens. An attempt was now made to
prepare the soil and to sow some seed, but it was a difficult task, as
the only agricultural implement possessed by the settlers was the hoe.
They next turned to the river in search of food, only to find it almost
empty of fish. Even the bushes, upon which clusters of wild berries
ought to have been found, were practically devoid of fruit. Nature
seemed to have veiled her countenance from the hapless settlers, and to
be mocking their most steadfast efforts. In their dire need they were
driven to use weeds for food. An indigenous plant called the prairie
apple grew in abundance, and the leaves of a species of the goosefoot
family were found to be nourishing.
With the coming of autumn 1813 the experiences of the previous year
were repeated. Once more they went over the dreary road to Fort Daer.
Then followed the most cruel winter that the settlers had yet endured.
The {60} snow fell thickly and lay in heavy drifts, and the buffalo
with animal foresight had wandered to other fields. The Nor'westers
sold the colonists a few provisions, but were egging on their allies,
the Bois Brûlés, who occupied a small post in the vicinity of the
Pembina, to annoy them whenever possible. It required courage of the
highest order on the part of the colonists to battle through the
winter. They were in extreme poverty, and in many cases their
frost-bitten, starved bodies were wrapped only in rags before spring
came. Those who still had their plaids, or other presentable garments,
were prepared to part with them for a morsel of food. With the coming
of spring once more, the party travelled northward to 'the Forks' of
the Red River, resolved never again to set foot within the gates of
Fort Daer.
Meanwhile, some news of the desperate state of affairs on the Red River
had reached the Earl of Selkirk in Scotland. So many were the
discouragements that one might forgive him if at this juncture he had
flung his colonizing scheme to the winds as a lost venture. The lord
of St Mary's Isle did not, however, abandon hope; he was a persistent
man and not easily turned aside from his {61} purpose. Now he went in
person to the straths and glens of Sutherlandshire to recruit more
settlers. For several years the crofters in this section of the
Highlands had been ejected in ruthless fashion from their holdings.
Those who aimed to 'quench the smoke of cottage fires' had sent a
regiment of soldiers into this shire to cow the Highlanders into
submission. Lord Selkirk came at a critical moment and extended a
helping hand to the outcasts. A large company agreed to join the
colony of Assiniboia, and under Selkirk's own superintendence they were
equipped for the journey. As the sad-eyed exiles were about to leave
the port of Helmsdale, the earl passed among them, dispensing words of
comfort and of cheer.
This contingent numbered ninety-seven persons. The vessel carrying
them from Helmsdale reached the _Prince of Wales_ of the Hudson's Bay
Company, on which they embarked, at Stromness in the Orkneys. The
parish of Kildonan, in Sutherlandshire, had the largest representation
among these emigrants. Names commonly met with on the ship's register
were Gunn, Matheson, MacBeth, Sutherland, and Bannerman.
After the _Prince of Wales_ had put to sea, {62} fever broke out on
board, and the contagion quickly spread among the passengers. Many of
them died. They had escaped from beggary on shore only to perish at
sea and to be consigned to a watery grave. The vessel reached Hudson
Bay in good time, but for some unknown reason the captain put into
Churchill, over a hundred miles north of York Factory. This meant that
the newcomers must camp on the Churchill for the winter; there was
nothing else to be done. Fortunately partridge were numerous in the
neighbourhood of their encampment, and, as the uneventful months
dragged by, the settlers had an unstinted supply of fresh food. In
April 1814 forty-one members of the party, about half of whom were
women, undertook to walk over the snow to York Factory. The men drew
the sledges on which their provisions were loaded and went in advance,
clearing the way for the women. In the midst of the company strode a
solemn-visaged piper. At one moment, as a dirge wailed forth, the
spirits of the people drooped and they felt themselves beaten and
forsaken. But anon the music changed. Up through the scrubby pine and
over the mantle of snow rang the skirl of the undefeated; and as they
heard the gathering song of Bonnie Dundee {63} or the summons to fight
for Royal Charlie, they pressed forward with unfaltering steps.
This advance party came to York Factory, and, continuing the journey,
reached Colony Gardens without misadventure early in the summer. They
were better husbandmen than their predecessors, and they quickly
addressed themselves to the cultivation of the soil. Thirty or forty
bushels of potatoes were planted in the black loam of the prairie.
These yielded a substantial increase. The thrifty Sutherlanders might
have saved the tottering colony, had not Governor Macdonell committed
an act which, however legally right, was nothing less than foolhardy in
the circumstances, and which brought disaster in its train.
In his administration of the affairs of the colony Macdonell had shown
good executive ability and a willingness to endure every trial that his
followers endured. Towards the Nor'westers, however, he was inclined
to be stubborn and arrogant. He was convinced that he must adopt
stringent measures against them. He determined to assert his authority
as governor of the colony under Lord Selkirk's patent. Undoubtedly
Macdonell had reason to be indignant at the {64} unfriendly attitude of
the fur traders; yet, so far, this had merely taken the form of petty
annoyance, and might have been met by good nature and diplomacy.
[Illustration: Plan of Red River Colony]
In January 1814 Governor Macdonell issued a proclamation pronouncing it
unlawful for any person who dealt in furs to remove from the colony of
Assiniboia supplies of flesh, fish, grain, or vegetable. Punishment
would be meted out to those who offended against this official order.
The aim of Macdonell was to keep a supply of food in the colony for the
support of the new settlers. He was, however, offering a challenge to
the fur traders, for his policy meant in effect that these had no right
in Assiniboia, that it was to be kept for the use of settlers alone.
Such a mandate could not fail to rouse intense hostility among the
traders, whose doctrine was the very opposite. The Nor'westers were
quick to seize the occasion to strike at the struggling colony.
{65}
CHAPTER VII
THE BEGINNING OF STRIFE
Stormy days were coming. Once Governor Macdonell had published his
edict, he did not hesitate to enforce its terms. Information had been
received at Colony Gardens that the Nor'westers had stored a quantity
of provisions in their trading-post at the mouth of the Souris, a large
southern tributary of the Assiniboine. It was clear that, in defiance
of Macdonell's decree, they meant to send food supplies out of
Assiniboia to support their trading-posts elsewhere. The fort at
Souris was in close proximity to Brandon House on the Assiniboine, a
post founded by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1794. Macdonell decided on
strong action. His secretary, John Spencer, was ordered to go to the
Souris in the capacity of a sheriff, accompanied by a strong guard and
carrying a warrant in his pocket. When Spencer drew near the stockades
of the Nor'westers' fort and found the {66} gate closed against him, he
commanded his men to batter it in with their hatchets. They obeyed
with alacrity, and having filed inside the fort, took charge of the
contents of the storehouse. Six hundred bags of pemmican were seized
and carried to Brandon House. Already there was a state of war in
Assiniboia.
The territory which comprised the colony was of great value
economically to the North-West Company. The food supplies which
supported its traders in the far interior were largely drawn from this
area. In the eyes of the Nor'westers, Sheriff John Spencer had
performed an act of pure brigandage at their Souris post. Still, they
were in no hurry to execute a counter-move. In order to make no
mistake they thought it best to restrain themselves until their
partners should hold their summer meeting at Fort William,[1] on Lake
Superior.
The partners of the North-West Company {67} met at Fort William in the
month of July 1814. Their fond hope had been that Lord Selkirk's
colony would languish and die. Instead, it was flourishing and waxing
aggressive. The governor of Assiniboia had published an edict which he
seemed determined to enforce, to the ruin of the business of the
North-West Company. The grizzled partners, as they rubbed elbows in
secret conclave, decided that something must be done to crush this
troublesome settlement. Whether or not they formed any definite plan
cannot be ascertained. It is scarcely believable that at this meeting
was plotted the opposition to Lord Selkirk's enterprise which was to
begin with deceit and perfidy and to culminate in bloodshed. Among the
Nor'westers were men of great worth and integrity. There were,
however, others in their ranks who proved base and irresponsible.
During this conference at Fort William a bitter animosity was expressed
against Lord Selkirk and the company which had endorsed his colonizing
project. It was the Nor'westers' misfortune and fault that some of
their number were prepared to vent this outspoken enmity in deeds of
criminal violence.
Two 'wintering partners' of the {68} North-West Company--men who
remained in the interior during the winter--appear to have been
entrusted by their fellows with the task of dealing with the settlers
on the Red River. Both these men, Duncan Cameron and Alexander
Macdonell, had a wide experience of the prairie country. Of the pair,
Cameron was unquestionably the more resourceful. In view of the fact
that later in life he became a trusted representative of the county of
Glengarry in the legislature of Upper Canada, there has been a tendency
to gloss over some of his misdemeanours when he was still a trader in
furs. But he was a sinister character. His principal aim, on going to
the Red River, was to pay lavish court to the settlers in order to
deceive them. He was a born actor, and could assume at will the
gravest or the gayest of demeanours or any disposition he chose to put
on.
Alexander Macdonell, the other emissary of the Nor'westers, was of an
inferior type. He was crafty enough never to burn his own fingers.
Macdonell had some influence over the Indians of the Qu'Appelle
district and of the more distant west. His immediate proposal was to
attract a band of redskins to the neighbourhood of Colony Gardens with
the {69} avowed intention of creating a panic among the settlers.
Shortly after the July meeting at Fort William these two men started on
their mission for the Red River. On August 5, while at a
stopping-point by the way, Alexander Macdonell dated a letter to a
friend in Montreal. The tenor of this letter would indicate that only
a portion of the Nor'westers were ready to adopt extreme measures
against the settlement. 'Something serious will undoubtedly take
place,' was Macdonell's callous admission. 'Nothing but the complete
downfall of the colony,' he continued, 'will satisfy some, by fair or
foul means--a most desirable object if it can be accomplished. So here
is at them with all my heart and energy.'
Towards the end of August the twain arrived at Fort Gibraltar, where
they parted company. Alexander Macdonell proceeded to his winter
quarters at Fort Qu'Appelle, on the river of the same name which
empties into the upper Assiniboine. Duncan Cameron made his appearance
with considerable pomp and circumstance at Fort Gibraltar. The
settlers soon knew him as 'Captain' Duncan Cameron, of the Voyageur
Corps, a battalion which had ranged the border during the recent {70}
war with the United States. Cameron decked himself in a crimson
uniform. He had a sword by his side and the outward bearing of a
gallant officer. Lest there should be any want of belief on the part
of the colonists, he caused his credentials to be tacked up on the
gateway of Fort Gibraltar. There, in legible scrawl, was an order
appointing him as captain and Alexander Macdonell as lieutenant in the
Voyageur Corps. The sight of a soldier sent a thrill through the
breasts of the Highlanders and the fight-loving Irish. Cameron had in
fact once belonged to the Voyageurs, and no one at Colony Gardens yet
knew that the corps had been disbanded the year before. At a later
date Lord Selkirk took pains to prove that Cameron had been guilty of
rank imposture.
To pose in the guise of a captain of militia was not Duncan Cameron's
only role. Having impressed his martial importance upon all, he next
went among the settlers as a comrade. He could chat at ease in Gaelic,
and this won the confidence of the Highlanders. Some of the colonists
were invited to his table. These he treated with studied kindness, and
he furnished them with such an abundance of good food that they felt
disgust for the scant {71} and humble fare allowed them at the
settlement. At the same time Cameron began to make bold insinuations
in his conversation. He had, he said, heard news from the interior
that a body of Indians would raid them in the spring. He harped upon
the deplorable state in which the settlers were living; out of
fellow-feeling for them, he said, he would gladly act as their
deliverer. Why did they not throw themselves upon the mercies of the
North-West Company? In their unhappy condition, abandoned, as he
hinted, by Lord Selkirk to their own resources, there was but one thing
for them to do. They must leave the Red River far behind, and he would
guarantee that the Nor'westers would assist them.
As a result of Cameron's intrigues, signs of wavering allegiance were
soon in evidence. One of the settlers in particular, George Campbell,
became a traitor in the camp. Campbell had negotiated with Lord
Selkirk personally during Selkirk's visit to Sutherlandshire. Now he
complained vigorously of his treatment since leaving Scotland, and was
in favour of accepting the terms which Cameron, as a partner in the
North-West Company, offered. As many colonists as desired it, said
Cameron, would be transported by the {72} Nor'westers free of charge to
Montreal or other parts of Canada. A year's provisions would be
supplied to them, and each colonist would be granted two hundred acres
of fertile land. Tempting bribes of money were offered some of them as
a bait. An influential Highlander, Alexander M'Lean, was promised two
hundred pounds from Cameron's own pocket, on condition that he would
take his family away. Several letters which were penned by the sham
officer during the winter of 1815 can still be read. 'I am glad,' he
wrote to a couple of settlers in February, 'that the eyes of some of
you are getting open at last ... and that you now see your past follies
in obeying the unlawful orders of a plunderer, and I may say, of a
highway robber, for what took place here last spring can be called
nothing else but manifest robbery.'
As yet Duncan Cameron had refrained from the use of force, but as
winter wore on towards spring he saw that, to complete his work, force
would be necessary. The proportion of settlers remaining loyal to Lord
Selkirk was by no means insignificant, and Cameron feared the pieces of
artillery at Colony Gardens. He decided on a bold effort to get these
field-pieces into his possession. {73} Early in April he made a
startling move. Miles Macdonell was away at Fort Daer, and Archibald
Macdonald, the deputy-governor of the colony, was in charge. To him
Cameron sent a peremptory demand in writing for the field-pieces, that
they might be 'out of harm's way.'
This missive was first given into the hands of the traitor George
Campbell, who read it to the settlers on Sunday after church. Next
day, while rations were being distributed, it was delivered to the
deputy-governor in the colony storehouse. About one o'clock on the
same afternoon, George Campbell and a few kindred spirits broke into
the building where the field-pieces were stored, took the guns outside,
and placed them on horse-sledges for the purpose of drawing them away.
At this juncture a musket was fired as a signal, and Duncan Cameron
with some Bois Brûlés stole from a clump of trees. 'Well done, my
hearty fellows,' Cameron exclaimed, as he came hurrying up. The guns
were borne away and lodged within the precincts of Fort Gibraltar, and
a number of the colonists now took sides openly with Duncan Cameron and
the Nor'westers.
Meanwhile Cameron's colleague, Alexander {74} Macdonell, was not
succeeding in his efforts to incite the Indians about Fort Qu'Appelle
against the colony. He found that the Indians did not lust for the
blood of the settlers; and when he appeared at Fort Gibraltar, in May,
he had with him only a handful of Plain Crees. These redskins lingered
about the fort for a time, being well supplied with liquor to make them
pot-valiant. During their stay a number of horses belonging to the
settlers were wounded by arrows, but it is doubtful if the perpetrators
of these outrages were Indians. The chief of the Crees finally visited
Governor Miles Macdonell, and convinced him that his warriors intended
the colonists no ill. Before the Indians departed they sent to Colony
Gardens a pipe of peace--the red man's token of friendship.
An equally futile attempt was made about the same time by two traders
of the North-West Company to persuade Katawabetay, chief of the
Chippewas, to lead a band of his tribesmen against the settlement.
Katawabetay was at Sand Lake, just west of Lake Superior, when his
parley with the Nor'westers took place. The two traders promised to
give Katawabetay and his warriors all the merchandise and rum in three
of the {75} company's posts, if they would raise the hatchet and
descend upon the Red River settlers. The cautious chief wished to know
whether this was the desire of the military authorities. The traders
had to confess that it was merely a wish of the North-West Company.
Katawabetay then demurred, saying that, before beginning hostilities,
he must speak about the matter to one of the provincial military
leaders on St Joseph's Island, at the head of Lake Huron.
Finding it impossible to get the Indians to raid the settlement,
Cameron now adopted other methods. His party had been increasing in
numbers day by day. Joined by the deserters from the colony, the
Nor'westers pitched their camp a short distance down the river from
Fort Gibraltar. At this point guns were mounted, and at Fort Gibraltar
Cameron's men were being drilled. On June 11 a chosen company,
furnished with loaded muskets and ammunition, were marched towards
Governor Macdonell's house, where they concealed themselves behind some
trees. James White, the surgeon of the colony, was seen walking close
to the house. A puff of grey smoke came from the Nor'westers' cover.
The shot went wide. Then John Bourke, the {76} store-keeper, heard a
bullet whiz by his head, and narrowly escaped death. The colonists at
once seized their arms and answered the Nor'westers' fire. In the
exchange of volleys, however, they were at a disadvantage, as their
adversaries remained hidden from view. When the Nor'westers decamped,
four persons on the colonists' side had been wounded.
Apparently there was no longer security for life or property among
those still adhering to Lord Selkirk's cause at Colony Gardens. Duncan
Cameron, employing a subterfuge, now said that his main object was to
capture Governor Macdonell. If this were accomplished he would leave
the settlers unmolested. In order to safeguard the colony Macdonell
voluntarily surrendered himself to the Nor'westers. Cameron was
jubilant. With the loyal settlers worsted and almost defenceless, and
the governor of Assiniboia his prisoner, he could dictate his own
terms. He issued an explicit command that the settlers must vacate the
Red River without delay. A majority of the settlers decided to obey,
and their exodus began under Cameron's guidance. About one hundred and
forty, inclusive of women and children, stepped into the canoes of the
North-West Company to be borne away {77} to Canada. Miles Macdonell
was taken to Montreal under arrest.
The forty or fifty colonists who still clung to their homes at Colony
Gardens were left to be dealt with by Alexander Macdonell, who was
nothing loath to finish Cameron's work of destruction. Once more
muskets were brought into play; horses and cattle belonging to the
settlers were spirited away; and several of the colonists were placed
under arrest on trumped-up charges. These dastardly tactics were
followed by an organized attempt to raid the settlement. On June 25 a
troop of Bois Brûlés gathered on horseback, armed to the teeth and led
by Alexander Macdonell and a half-breed named Cuthbert Grant. The
settlers, though mustering barely one-half the strength of the raiders,
resolved to make a stand, and placed themselves under the command of
John M'Leod, a trader in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. The
Bois Brûlés bore down upon the settlement in menacing array. The
colonists took what shelter they could find and prepared for battle.
Fighting coolly, they made their shots tell. The advancing column
hesitated and halted in dismay at the courage of the defenders. Then
John M'Leod {78} remembered a cannon which was rusting unused at the
small post which the Hudson's Bay Company had on the river. Hugh
M'Lean and two others were ordered to haul this to the blacksmith's
shanty. The three men soon found the cannon, and set it up in the
smithy. For shot, cart chains were chopped into sections; and the Bois
Brûlés were treated to a raking volley of 'chain shot.' This was
something they had not looked for; their courage failed them, and they
galloped out of range.
But the remnant of Lord Selkirk's settlers who had dared to linger on
the Red River were at the end of their resources. Taking counsel
together, they resolved to quit the colony. They launched their boats
on the river, and followed the canoe route which led to Hudson Bay.
They were accompanied by a band of Indians of the Saulteaux tribe as
far as the entrance to Lake Winnipeg. From there a short journey
placed them outside the boundaries of Assiniboia. When they arrived at
the northern end of Lake Winnipeg they found a temporary refuge, in the
vicinity of Norway House, on the Jack river.
Alexander Macdonell and his Bois Brûlés were now free utterly to blot
out Colony {79} Gardens. They visited every part of the settlement and
set fire to everything. Not a single house was left standing. Cabins,
storehouses, the colony's grinding mill--all were reduced to a mass of
ruins. Cameron's duplicity had been crowned with success; Alexander
Macdonell's armed marauders had finished the task; Lord Selkirk's
colony of farmers-in-the-making was scattered far and wide.
Nevertheless, the Nor'westers were not undisputed masters of the
situation. In the Hudson's Bay smithy, but ten feet square, four men
continued the struggle. John M'Leod, James M'Intosh, and Archibald
Currie, of the Hudson's Bay Company, defended their trading-post, with
the assistance of 'noble Hugh M'Lean,' the only settler remaining on
the Red River banks. By day and by night these men were forced to keep
watch and ward. Whenever the Bois Brûlés drew near, the 'chain shot'
drove them hurriedly to cover. At length the enemy withdrew, and
M'Leod and his comrades walked out to survey the scene of desolation.
[1] After it had been discovered that the Grand Portage was situated
partly on land awarded by treaty to the United States, the Nor'westers,
in 1803, had erected a new factory thirty or forty miles farther north
where the Kaministikwia river enters Thunder Bay. This post became
their chief fur emporium west of Montreal, and was given the name Fort
William as a tribute to William M'Gillivray, one of the leading
partners in the company.
{80}
CHAPTER VIII
COLIN ROBERTSON, THE AVENGER
Three years of self-sacrificing effort seemed to have been wasted. The
colony of Assiniboia was no more; its site was free to wandering
redskins and greedy traders. Yet, at the very time when the colonists
were being dispersed, succour was not far off. Lord Selkirk had
received alarming news some time before, and at his solicitation Colin
Robertson had hired a band of voyageurs, and was speeding forward with
them to defend the settlement. Since 1811, when we saw him recruiting
settlers for Lord Selkirk in Scotland, Colin Robertson had been in the
service of the Hudson's Bay Company. Having been a servant of the
Nor'westers he knew the value of Canadian canoemen in the fur trade,
and, on his advice, the Hudson's Bay Company now imitated its rival by
employing voyageurs. In temperament Colin was dour but audacious, a
common type among the men of the Outer {81} Hebrides, and he had a
grievance to avenge. He was sprung from the Robertson clan, which did
not easily forget or forgive. He still remembered his quarrel with
Crooked-armed Macdonald on the Saskatchewan. In his mind was the
goading thought that he was a cast-off servant of the North-West
Company; and he yearned for the day when he might exact retribution for
his injuries, some of them real, some fancied.
It thus happened that before the final crisis came help was well on the
way. When the party of rescuers arrived, the charred and deserted
dwellings of Colony Gardens told their wordless story. They had come
too late. It is quite possible that the newcomers had met by the way
the throng of settlers who were bound for Canada, or at least had heard
of their departure from the Red River. It is less likely that before
arriving they had learned of the destruction of the settlement. A
portion of the colonists still remained in the country, and Colin
Robertson thought that he might yet save the situation. He had done
all that Lord Selkirk had instructed him to do, and he now took further
action on his own initiative. At his command the sun-tanned voyageurs
descended to the {82} river bank and launched their light canoes on the
current. Down-stream, and northward along Lake Winnipeg, the party
travelled, until they reached the exiles' place of refuge on the Jack
river.
Robertson's resolute demeanour inspired the settlers with new courage,
and they decided to go back with him and rebuild their homes. Before
the summer was spent they were once more on the Red River. To their
surprise the plots of ground which they had sown along the banks had
suffered less than they had expected. During their absence John M'Leod
had watchfully husbanded the precious crops, and from the land he so
carefully tended fifteen hundred bushels of wheat were realized--the
first 'bumper' crop garnered within the borders of what are now the
prairie provinces of Canada. M'Leod had built fences, had cut and
stacked the matured hay, and had even engaged men to erect new
buildings and to repair some of those which had escaped utter
destruction. Near the spot where the colonists had landed in 1812 he
had selected an appropriate site and had begun to erect a large
domicile for the governor. 'It was of two stories,' wrote M'Leod in
his diary, {83} 'with main timbers of oak; a good substantial house.'
John M'Leod was a man of faith. He expected that Lord Selkirk's colony
would soon be again firmly on its feet, and he was not to be
disappointed. A fourth contingent of settlers arrived during the month
of October 1815, having left Scotland in the spring. This band
comprised upwards of ninety persons, nearly all natives of Kildonan.
These were the most energetic body of settlers so far enlisted by the
Earl of Selkirk. They experienced, of course, great disappointment on
their arrival. Instead of finding a flourishing settlement, they saw
the ruins of the habitations of their predecessors, and found that many
friends whom they hoped would greet them had been enticed or driven
away.
Along with these colonists came an important dignitary sent out by the
Hudson's Bay Company. The 'Adventurers of England trading into
Hudson's Bay' were now alarmed regarding the outlook for furs in the
interior, and the general court of their stockholders had taken a new
and important step. It was decided to appoint a resident
governor-in-chief, with power not merely over the colony of Assiniboia,
but over all the company's {84} trading-posts as well. The man chosen
to fill this office was Robert Semple, a British army captain on the
retired list. He was a man of upright character and bull-dog courage,
but he lacked the patience and diplomacy necessary for the problem with
which he had to deal. Another to arrive with the contingent was Elder
James Sutherland, who had been authorized by the Church of Scotland to
baptize and to perform the marriage ceremony.
The occupants of Fort Gibraltar viewed the replanting of the settlement
with baleful resentment. Their ranks were augmented during the autumn
by a wayfarer from the east who hung up his musket at the fort and
assumed control. This was none other than Duncan Cameron, returned
from Canada, with the plaudits of some of his fellow-partners still
ringing in his ears. To Colin Robertson the presence of Cameron at
Fort Gibraltar was not of happy augury for the settlers' welfare.
Robertson decided on prompt and radical action. In a word, he
determined to take the Nor'westers' post by surprise. His raid was
successful. The field-pieces and the property of the colonists which
had been carried away in June were recovered. {85} Cameron himself was
made a prisoner. But he was not held long. The man was a born actor
and a smooth talker. In all seeming humility he now made specious
promises of future good behaviour, and was allowed to return to his
fort.
The houses of the colonists were ranged in succession along the Red
River until they reached an elevated spot called Frog Plain. Some of
the houses appear to have been situated on Frog Plain as well. Along
the river, running north and south, was a road worn smooth by constant
traffic. The spacious residence for the governor reared by John
M'Leod, and the other buildings grouped about it, were surrounded by a
strong palisade. To the whole the name of Fort Douglas was now given.
In spite, however, of their seeming prosperity, the settlers found it
necessary to migrate for the winter to the basin of the Pembina in
order to obtain food. But again they found that the buffalo were many
miles from Fort Daer, and the insufficiently clad winterers suffered
greatly. They were disturbed, too, by frequent rumours of coming
danger. The 'New Nation,' as the half-breeds chose to call themselves,
were gathering, it was said, from every quarter, and with {86} the
breaking up of winter would descend like a scourge upon the colony.
The trouble brewing for the settlement was freely discussed among the
Nor'westers. About the middle of March 1816 Alexander Macdonell sent a
note to Duncan Cameron from Fort Qu'Appelle. 'A storm is gathering in
the north,' declared Macdonell, 'ready to burst on the rascals who
deserve it; little do they know their situation. Last year was but a
joke. The New Nation under their leaders are coming forward to clear
their native soil of intruders and assassins.' A few words written at
the same time by Cuthbert Grant show how the plans of the Bois Brûlés
were maturing. 'The Half-breeds of Fort des Prairies and English River
are all to be here in the spring,' he asserted; 'it is to be hoped we
shall come off with flying colours.'
Early in 1816 Governor Semple, who had been at Fort Daer, returned to
Fort Douglas. Apparently he entertained no wholesome fears of the
impending danger, for, instead of trying to conciliate his opponents,
he embittered them by new acts of aggression. In April, for the second
time, Colin Robertson, acting on the governor's instructions, captured
Fort {87} Gibraltar. Again was Duncan Cameron taken prisoner, and this
time he was held. It was decided that he should be carried to England
for trial. In charge of Colin Robertson, Cameron was sent by canoe to
York Factory. But no vessel of the Hudson's Bay Company was leaving
for England during the summer of 1816, and the prisoner was detained
until the following year. When at length he was brought to trial, it
was found impossible to convict him of any crime, and he was
discharged. Subsequently Cameron entered a suit against Lord Selkirk
for illegal detention, asking damages, and the court awarded him £3000.
Shortly after Colin Robertson had departed with his prisoner, Governor
Semple decided to dismantle Fort Gibraltar, and towards the end of May
thirty men were sent to work to tear it down. Its encircling rampart
was borne to the river and formed into a raft. Upon this the salvage
of the demolished fort--a great mass of structural material--was driven
down-stream to Fort Douglas and there utilized.
The tempest which Alexander Macdonell had presaged burst upon the
colony soon after this demolition of Fort Gibraltar. The {88}
incidents leading up to an outbreak of hostilities have been narrated
by Pierre Pambrun, a French Canadian. In April Pambrun had been
commissioned by Governor Semple to go to the Hudson's Bay fort on the
Qu'Appelle river. Hard by this was the Nor'westers' trading-post,
called Fort Qu'Appelle. Pambrun remarks upon the great number of
half-breeds who had gathered at the North-West Company's depot. Many
of them had come from a great distance. Some were from the upper
Saskatchewan; others were from Cumberland House, situated near the
mouth of the same river. Pambrun says that during the first days of
May he went eastward along with George Sutherland, a factor of the
Hudson's Bay Company on the Qu'Appelle, and a number of Sutherland's
men. The party journeyed in five boats, and had with them twenty-two
bales of furs and six hundred bags of pemmican. On May 12 they were
attacked on their way down the river by an armed force of forty-nine
Nor'westers, under the leadership of Cuthbert Grant and Peter Pangman.
All were made prisoners and conducted back to Fort Qu'Appelle, where
they were told by Alexander Macdonell that the seizure had been {89}
made because of Colin Robertson's descent upon Fort Gibraltar. After
five days' imprisonment George Sutherland and the servants of the
Hudson's Bay Company were released. This did not mean, however, any
approach of peace. Pierre Pambrun was still held in custody. Before
the close of May Macdonell caused the furs and provisions which his men
had purloined from Sutherland's party to be placed in boats, and he
began to move down the Qu'Appelle, taking Pambrun with him. A band of
Bois Brûlés on their horses kept pace with the boats. At the
confluence of the Qu'Appelle and the Assiniboine Macdonell made a
speech to a body of Saulteaux, and endeavoured to induce some of them
to join his expedition to the Red River. The Hudson's Bay post of
Brandon House, farther along the Assiniboine, was captured by Cuthbert
Grant, with about twenty-five men under his command, and stripped of
all its stores. Then the combined force of half-breeds, French
Canadians, and Indians, in round numbers amounting to one hundred and
twenty men, advanced to Portage la Prairie. They reached this point on
or about June 16, and proceeded to make it a stronghold. They arranged
bales of {90} pemmican to form a rude fortification and planted two
brass swivel-guns for defence. They were preparing for war, for the
Nor'westers had now resolved finally to uproot Lord Selkirk's colony
from the banks of the Red River.
{91}
CHAPTER IX
SEVEN OAKS
In the meantime, far removed from the Red River, other events bearing
upon this story were happening. The Earl of Selkirk had had many
troubles, and early in 1815 he was again filled with anxiety by news
received in Scotland concerning the imperilled condition of Assiniboia.
In consequence of these evil tidings he was led to petition Lord
Bathurst, secretary for War and the Colonies in the administration of
Lord Liverpool, and to ask that some protection should be afforded his
colonists, who were loyal subjects of the crown. Lord Bathurst acted
promptly. He wrote in March to Sir Gordon Drummond, administrator of
the government of Canada, saying that Lord Selkirk's request should be
granted and that action should be taken in Canada to protect the
colony. But Sir Gordon Drummond, after looking into the matter,
decided not to grant the protection which {92} Selkirk desired. He had
reasons, which he sent to the British minister.
By this time the affairs of his colony had come to such a sorry pass
that Lord Selkirk felt it necessary to travel to America. Accordingly,
in the autumn of 1815, he embarked for New York, accompanied by Lady
Selkirk and his three children, Dunbar, Isabella, and Katherine.
Arriving on November 15, he heard for the first time of the overthrow
of his colony through the machinations of Duncan Cameron and Alexander
Macdonell. At once he hastened to Montreal, where he received from
eye-witnesses a more detailed version of the occurrence. Many of the
settlers brought to the east were indignant at the treatment they had
received at the hands of the Nor'westers and were prepared to testify
against them. In view of this, Lord Selkirk applied to magistrates at
York (Toronto) and Montreal, desiring that affidavits should be taken
from certain of the settlers with respect to their experiences on the
Red River. In this way he hoped to accumulate a mass of evidence which
should strengthen his plea for military assistance from the Canadian
government. Among those whom Selkirk met in Montreal was {93} Miles
Macdonell. The former governor of Assiniboia was then awaiting trial
on charges brought against him by officers of the North-West Company.
He was never tried, however, for the charges were dropped later on.
In November Lord Selkirk saw Sir Gordon Drummond and urged that help be
sent to Assiniboia. From this time until the expiration of Drummond's
term of office (May 1816) a correspondence on this question was kept up
between the two men. No steps, however, were taken by Drummond to
accede to Selkirk's wishes, nor did he inform Selkirk officially why
his requests were denied. During the winter news of the restoration of
the colony was brought to Selkirk by a French Canadian named
Laguimonière, who had travelled two thousand miles on foot with the
information. On receipt of this news Selkirk became even more urgent
in his appeals for armed assistance. 'If, however, your Excellency,'
he wrote to Drummond on April 23, 'persevere in your intention to do
nothing till you receive further instructions, there is a probability
almost amounting to a certainty that another season must be lost before
the requisite force can be sent up--during another year the settlers
must remain exposed to {94} attack, and there is every reason to expect
that in consequence of this delay many lives may be lost.'
Lord Selkirk wished to send a message of encouragement to his people in
the colony. Laguimonière, the wonderful Canadian wood-runner, would
carry it. He wrote a number of letters, telling of his arrival in
Canada, giving assurance of his deep concern for the settlement's
welfare, and promising to come to the aid of the colonists as soon as
the rivers were free of ice, with whatever force he could muster.
Bearing these letters, the messenger set out on his journey over the
wild spaces between Montreal and the Red River. In some way his
mission became known to the Nor'westers at Fort William, for on June 3
Archibald Norman M'Leod, a partner of the North-West Company, issued an
order that Selkirk's courier should be intercepted. Near Fond du Lac,
at the western end of Lake Superior, Laguimonière was waylaid and
robbed. The letters which he carried were taken to Fort William, where
several of them were found later.
As we have seen in the last chapter, it was in this same month that
Alexander Macdonell, at Portage la Prairie, was organizing his {95}
half-breeds for a raid on Fort Douglas. His brigade, as finally made
up, consisted of about seventy Bois Brûlés, Canadians, and Indians, all
well armed and mounted. As soon as these troopers were ready to
advance, Macdonell surrendered the leadership to Cuthbert Grant,
deeming it wise not to take part in the raid himself. The marauders
then marched out in the direction of the settlement.
The settlers in the meantime were not wholly oblivious of the danger
threatening them. There was a general feeling of insecurity in the
colony, and a regular watch had been instituted at Fort Douglas to
guard against a surprise attack. Governor Semple, however, did not
seem to take a very serious view of the situation. He was about to
depart to York Factory on business. But a rough awakening came. On
June 17 two Cree Indians arrived at Fort Douglas with the alarming
tidings that in two days an attack would be made upon the settlement.[1]
About five o'clock in the afternoon of June 19, a boy who was stationed
in the {96} watch-house of the fort cried out that he saw a party of
half-breeds approaching. Thereupon Governor Semple hurried to the
watch-house and scanned the plains through a glass. He saw a troop of
horsemen moving towards the Red River--evidently heading for a point
some distance to the north of Fort Douglas.
'We must go out to meet these people,' said Governor Semple: 'let
twenty men follow me.'
There was a prompt response to the call, and Semple led his volunteers
out of the fort and towards the advancing horsemen. He had not gone
far when he met a number of colonists, running towards Fort Douglas and
shouting in wild excitement:
'The half-breeds! the half-breeds!'
Governor Semple now sent John Bourke back to Fort Douglas for one of
the guns, and instructed him to bring up whatever men could be spared
from among those garrisoning the fort. The advance party halted to
wait until these should arrive; but at length Semple grew impatient and
ordered his men to advance without them. The Nor'westers had concealed
themselves behind a clump of trees. As Semple approached they galloped
out, extended their line into a half-moon {97} formation, and bore down
to meet him. They were dressed as Indian warriors and painted in
hideous fashion. The force was well equipped with guns, knives, bows
and arrows, and spears.
A solitary horseman emerged from the hostile squadron and rode towards
Governor Semple. This was François Boucher, a French-Canadian clerk in
the employ of the North-West Company, son of a tavern-keeper in
Montreal. Ostensibly his object was to parley with the governor.
Boucher waved his hand, shouting aloud:
'What do you want?'
Semple took his reply from the French Canadian's mouth. 'What do _you_
want?' he questioned in plainer English.
'We want our fort,' said Boucher.
'Go to your fort,' answered Semple.
'Why did you destroy our fort, you d--d rascal?' exclaimed the French
Canadian.
The two were now at close quarters, and Governor Semple had seized the
bridle of Boucher's horse.
'Scoundrel, do you tell me so?' he said.
Pritchard says that the governor grasped Boucher's gun, no doubt
expecting an attack upon his person. The French Canadian leapt {98}
from his horse, and at this instant a shot rang out from the column of
the Nor'westers. Lieutenant Holt, a clerk in the colony's service,
fell struggling upon the ground. Boucher ran in the direction of his
own party, and soon there was the sound of another musket. This time
Governor Semple was struck in the thigh. He called at once to his men:
'Do what you can to take care of yourselves.'
The band ignored this behest, and gathered round him to ascertain the
extent of his injury. The Nor'westers now began to bring the two ends
of their column together, and soon Semple's party was surrounded. The
fact that their foe was now helpless did not keep the Nor'westers from
pouring in a destructive fire. Most of Semple's men fell at the first
volley. The few left standing pulled off their hats and begged for
mercy. A certain Captain Rogers hastened towards the line of the
Nor'westers and threw up his hands. He was followed by John Pritchard.
One of the Bois Brûlés shot Rogers in the head and another rushed on
him and stabbed him with a knife. Luckily Pritchard was confronted by
a French Canadian, named {99} Augustin Lavigne, whom he had formerly
known and who now protected him from butchery.
The wounded governor lay stretched upon the ground. Supporting his
head with his hand, he addressed Cuthbert Grant:
'I am not mortally wounded,' he said, 'and if you could get me conveyed
to the fort, I think I should live.'
Grant promised to comply with the request. He left the governor in
charge of one of his men and went away, but during his absence an
Indian approached and shot Semple to death.
Meanwhile John Bourke had gone back for a field-piece and for
reinforcements. Bourke reached the fort, but after he had placed the
small cannon in a cart he was permitted by those in the fort to take
only one man away with him. He and his companion began to drag the
cart down the road. Suddenly they were startled by the sound of the
musketry fire in the distance which had struck down Semple's party.
Fearing lest they might lose the gun, the pair turned back towards the
fort. On their way they were met by ten men from Fort Douglas,
hurrying to the scene of the conflict. Bourke told his {100} comrade
to take the field-piece inside the fort, and himself joined the rescue
party. But they were too late: when they arrived at the scene of the
struggle they could effect nothing.
'Give up your arms,' was the command of the Nor'westers.
The eleven men, seeing that resistance on their part would be useless,
took to their heels. The Nor'westers fired; one of the fleeing men was
killed and John Bourke was severely wounded. For the numbers engaged
the carnage was terrible. Of the party which had left Fort Douglas
with Governor Semple there were but six survivors. Michael Heden and
Daniel M'Kay had run to the riverside during the _mêlée_. They
succeeded in getting across in a canoe and arrived at Fort Douglas the
same night. Michael Kilkenny and George Sutherland escaped by swimming
the river. In addition to John Pritchard, another prisoner, Anthony
Macdonell, had been spared. The total number of the dead was
twenty-three. Among the slain were Rogers, the governor's secretary,
Doctor Wilkinson, Alexander M'Lean, the most enterprising settler in
the colony, and Surgeon James White. The Irish colonists suffered
severely in proportion to their number: they lost {101} seven in all.
The Nor'westers had one man killed and one wounded. This sanguinary
encounter, which took place beside the highway leading along the Red
River to Frog Plain, is known as the massacre of Seven Oaks.
There was much disappointment among the Nor'westers when they learned
that Colin Robertson was not in the colony. Cuthbert Grant vowed that
Robertson would have been scalped had he been captured. 'They would
have cut his body into small bits,' said Pritchard, 'and boiled it
afterwards for the dogs.' Pritchard himself was carried as a prisoner
to Frog Plain, where the Nor'westers made their encampment. A savage
spirit had been aroused. Pritchard found that even yet the lust for
blood had not been sated, and that it would be necessary to plead for
the wives and children of the colonists. He remonstrated with Cuthbert
Grant and urged him not to forget that the women of the settlement were
of his dead father's people. At length the half-breed leader softened,
and agreed that Pritchard should act as a mediator. Grant was willing
that the settlers should go in peace, if the public property of the
colony were given up. Pritchard made three trips between Grant's
headquarters and the fort {102} before an agreement was reached. 'On
my arrival at the fort,' he said, 'what a scene of distress presented
itself! The widows, children and relations of the slain, in horrors of
despair, were lamenting the dead,[2] and were trembling for the safety
of the survivors.'
On the morning of June 20 Cuthbert Grant himself, with over a score of
his followers, went to Fort Douglas. It was then agreed that the
settlers should abandon their homes and that the fort should be
evacuated. An inventory was made of the goods of the colony, and the
terms of surrender were signed by Cuthbert Grant as a clerk and
representative of the North-West Company. Contrary to Grant's
promises, the private effects of the colonists were overhauled and
looted. Michael Heden records that even his clothes and blankets were
stolen.
On the evening of the same day a messenger presented himself at Portage
la Prairie bringing Alexander Macdonell an account of the massacre.
Pierre Pambrun declares that {103} Macdonell and others who were with
him became hilarious with joy. 'Good news,' shouted Macdonell in
French, as he conveyed the tidings to his associates.
Again disaster had overtaken Lord Selkirk's plans. The second
desolation of his colony and expulsion of his colonists occurred on
June 22, 1816. The evicted people set out in canoes down the Red
River. Michael Heden and John Bourke both declared that the number of
those who embarked was approximately two hundred. This total would
appear, however, to be much too large, unless additions had been made
to the colony of which we have no documentary evidence. Some
French-Canadian families had settled at 'the Forks,' it is true, but
these were not numerous enough to bring the population of the
settlement to two hundred persons, leaving uncounted the number who had
lately perished.
On June 24, as the exiles were proceeding down the river, they met nine
or ten canoes and one bateau. In these were almost a hundred armed
Nor'westers under the command of Archibald Norman M'Leod of Fort
William. M'Leod's purpose was apparently to assist in the
extermination of the colony. His first question of the party
travelling {104} northward was 'whether that rascal and scoundrel
Robertson was in the boats.' When he was told of the calamity which
had befallen Governor Semple and his band, he ordered all the exiles
ashore. By virtue of his office as a magistrate for the Indian
Territories he wished to examine them.[3]
He searched the baggage belonging to the evicted settlers and
scrutinized their books and papers. 'Those who play at bowls,'
remarked 'Justice' M'Leod, 'must expect to meet with rubbers.'
Pritchard was told to write his version of the recent transactions at
'the Forks,' and did so; but his account did not please M'Leod. 'You
have drawn up a pretty paper,' he grumbled; 'you had better take care
of yourself, or you will get into a scrape.'
Michael Heden also was examined as to his knowledge of the matter.
When M'Leod heard the answers of Heden he was even more wrathful.
'They are all lies,' he declared with emphasis.
{105}
The result of M'Leod's judicial procedure was that five of the party
were detained and placed under arrest. The others were allowed to
proceed on their way. John Bourke was charged with felony, and Michael
Heden and Patrick Corcoran were served with subpoenas to give evidence
for the crown against him, on September 1, at Montreal. John Pritchard
and Daniel M'Kay were among the five detained, presumably as crown
witnesses. After some delay--M'Leod had to visit Fort Douglas and the
neighbourhood--the prisoners were sent on the long journey to Fort
William on Lake Superior. Bourke was at once stripped of his valuables
and placed in irons, regardless of the fact that his wound was causing
him intense suffering. During the whole of the journey he was
compelled to lie manacled on a pile of baggage in one of the canoes.
Fort Douglas on the Red River was still standing, but the character of
its occupants had changed radically. At first Cuthbert Grant took
command, but he soon made way for Alexander Macdonell, who reached Fort
Douglas shortly after the affair at Seven Oaks. When Archibald Norman
M'Leod appeared, he was the senior officer in authority, and he {106}
took up his residence in the apartments of the late Governor Semple.
One day M'Leod and some followers rode over to an encampment of Crees
and Saulteaux near the ruins of Fort Gibraltar. Here M'Leod collected
and harangued the Indians. He upbraided them for their failure to
interfere when Duncan Cameron had been forcibly removed to Hudson Bay,
and he spoke harshly of their sympathy for the colonists when the
Nor'westers had found it necessary to drive them away. Peguis, chief
of the Saulteaux and the leading figure in the Indian camp, listened
attentively, but remained stolidly taciturn. On the evening of the
same day the Nor'westers returned to Fort Douglas and indulged in some
of their wildest revelries. The Bois Brûlés stripped themselves naked
and celebrated their recent triumph in a wild and savage orgy, while
their more staid companions looked on with approval.
According to the testimony of Augustin Lavigne, M'Leod during his stay
at Fort Douglas publicly made the following promise to an assembly of
Bois Brûlés: 'My kinsmen, my comrades, who have helped us in the time
of need; I have brought clothing for you I expected to have found
about forty of you {107} here with Mr Macdonell, but there are more of
you. I have forty suits of clothing. Those who are most in need of
them may have these, and on the arrival of the canoes in autumn, the
rest of you shall be clothed likewise.'
[1] For the details of the tragedy which now occurred we are chiefly
indebted to the accounts of John Pritchard, a former Nor'wester, who
had settled with his family at the Red River, of Michael Heden, a
blacksmith connected with the settlement, and of John Bourke, the
colony store-keeper.
[2] Some of the dead were afterwards taken from the field of Seven Oaks
to Fort Douglas by Cree and Saulteaux Indians. These received decent
burial, but the others, lying uninterred as they had fallen, became a
prey to the wild beasts of the prairie.
[3] An act of the Imperial parliament of 1803 had transferred
jurisdiction in the case of offences committed in the Indian
Territories from Great Britain to Canada, and had allowed the Canadian
authorities to appoint magistrates for these rather undefined regions.
M'Leod was one of these magistrates.
{108}
CHAPTER X
LORD SELKIRK'S JOURNEY
We left Lord Selkirk at Montreal. Several days before the massacre of
Seven Oaks he had completed the preparations for his journey to the
west, and was hastening forward in the hope of arriving at the Red
River in time to save his colony. He had secured his own appointment
as justice of the peace for Upper Canada and the Indian Territories,
and also the promise of a bodyguard of one non-commissioned officer and
six men for his personal defence. This much he had obtained from the
Canadian authorities. They remained unwilling, however, to send armed
aid to Assiniboia. This want Lord Selkirk was himself supplying, for
he was bringing with him a fresh contingent of settlers--of a class
hitherto unknown among his colonists. These new settlers were trained
soldiers, disciplined and tried in active service on many a battlefield.
{109}
The close of the War of 1812 by the Treaty of Ghent, signed on December
24,1814, had left in Canada several battalions of regular soldiers
under colours. In the early summer of 1816 orders were issued that the
De Meuron regiment, in barracks at Montreal, and the Watteville
regiment, stationed at Kingston, should be honourably disbanded. These
regiments were composed of Swiss, Italian, and other mercenaries who
had fought for Great Britain in her struggle with Napoleon. In 1809
the De Meuron regiment had been sent from Gibraltar to the island of
Malta. In 1813 it had been transported to Canada with the reputation
of being 'as fine and well-appointed a regiment as any in his Majesty's
service.' It consisted of more than a thousand men, with seventy-five
officers. The Watteville regiment, a force equally large, had landed
at Quebec on June 10, 1813. Its ensign indicated that it had been in
the campaigns waged against France in the Spanish peninsula and had
served under Sir John Stuart in southern Italy.
About two hundred of the disbanded De Meurons desired to remain in
Canada, and Selkirk at once sought to interest them in his western
enterprise. Four officers--Captains {110} Matthey and D'Orsonnens and
Lieutenants Graffenreid and Fauché--and about eighty of the rank and
file were willing to enlist. It was agreed that they should receive
allotments of land in Assiniboia on the terms granted to the settlers
who had formerly gone from Scotland and Ireland. They were to be
supplied with the necessary agricultural implements, and each was to be
given a musket for hunting or for defence. Their wages were to be
eight dollars a month for manning the boats which should take them to
their destination. In case the settlement should not be to their
liking, Lord Selkirk pledged himself to transport them to Europe free
of cost, by way of either Montreal or Hudson Bay.
On June 4 the contingent of men and officers began their journey from
Montreal up the St Lawrence. At Kingston a halt was made while Captain
Matthey, acting for the Earl of Selkirk, enlisted twenty more veterans
of the Watteville regiment. It is stated that an officer and several
privates from another disbanded regiment, the Glengarry Fencibles, were
also engaged as settlers, but it is not clear at what point they joined
the party. When all was ready for the long journey, the combined
forces skirted the northern shore {111} of Lake Ontario from Kingston,
until they reached York, the capital of Upper Canada. Thence their
route lay to Georgian Bay by way of Lake Simcoe and the Severn.
Lord Selkirk left Montreal on June 16, following in the wake of his
new-won colonists, and overtook them at the entrance into Georgian Bay.
Apparently he went over the same route, for he crossed Lake Simcoe.
Information is lacking as to his companions. Miles Macdonell could not
have been with him, for Macdonell had been sent forward earlier with a
small body of men in light canoes that he might reach the settlement in
advance of Lord Selkirk. One hundred and twenty Canadian voyageurs had
been recently engaged to go to Assiniboia in the service of the
Hudson's Bay Company. Possibly these canoemen accompanied Selkirk on
the first stages of his journey.
On Drummond Island, at the head of Lake Huron, was situated the most
westerly military station maintained by the government of Upper Canada.
Here Lord Selkirk halted and allowed his company to go on in advance
into the straits of St Mary. At the military post at Drummond Island
he was furnished with the promised escort of six men under a {112}
non-commissioned officer of the 37th regiment. On July 22 he was
present at a council held on the island by the Indian authorities
stationed there. One of the principal figures at this council was
Katawabetay, chief of the Chippewas, from Sand Lake. On being
questioned, Katawabetay told of his refusal the year before to join the
Nor'westers in an attack on the Red River Colony; he also declared that
an attempt had been made during the previous spring by a trader named
Grant to have some of his young Chippewas waylay Lord Selkirk's
messenger, Laguimonière, near Fond du Lac. Grant had offered
Katawabetay two kegs of rum and some tobacco, but the bribe was
refused. The Ottawa Indians, not the Chippewas, had waylaid the
messenger. This trader Grant had told Katawabetay that he was going to
the Red River 'to fight the settlers.'[1]
Lord Selkirk put a question to Katawabetay.
'Are the Indians about the Red River, or that part of the country you
come from,' asked the earl through an interpreter, 'pleased {113} or
displeased at the people settling at the Red River?'
'At the commencement of the settlement at Red River, some of the
Indians did not like it,' answered the chief, 'but at present they are
all glad of its being settled.'
Meanwhile the party which had gone on in advance had entered the St
Mary's river, connecting Lakes Huron and Superior, had crossed the
half-mile portage of the Sault Rapids, and had pitched their camp some
distance farther up-stream. Before the end of July Lord Selkirk was
again among them. He gave the order to advance, and the boats were
launched. But, only a few miles out from Sault Ste Marie, there
suddenly appeared two canoes, in one of which was Miles Macdonell. For
the first time Lord Selkirk now learned of the disaster which had
befallen the colony in the month of June. Macdonell had gone as far as
the mouth of the Winnipeg before he learned the news. Now he was able
to tell Lord Selkirk of the massacre of Semple and his men, of the
eviction of the settlers, and of the forcible detention of those sent
by M'Leod to the Nor'westers' trading-post at Fort William.
Selkirk had entertained the hope of averting a calamity at the
settlement by bringing {114} in enough retired soldiers to preserve
order. But this hope was now utterly blasted. He might, however, use
the resources of the law against the traders at Fort William, and this
he decided to attempt. He was, however, in a peculiar position. He
had, it is true, been created a justice of the peace, but it would seem
hardly proper for him to try lawbreakers who were attacking his own
personal interests. Accordingly, before finally setting out for Fort
William, he begged Magistrate John Askin, of Drummond Island, and
Magistrate Ermatinger, of Sault Ste Marie, to accompany him. But
neither of these men could leave his duties. When Selkirk thus failed
to secure disinterested judges, he determined to act under the
authority with which he had been vested. In a letter, dated July 29,
to Sir John Sherbrooke, the recently appointed governor of Canada, he
referred with some uneasiness to the position in which he found
himself. 'I am therefore reduced to the alternative of acting alone,'
he wrote, 'or of allowing an audacious crime to pass unpunished. In
these circumstances, I cannot doubt that it is my duty to act, though I
am not without apprehension that the law may be openly resisted by a
set of men who {115} have been accustomed to consider force as the only
criterion of right.'
Selkirk advanced to Fort William. There is no record of his journey
across the deep sounds and along the rock-girt shores of Lake Superior.
His contingent was divided into two sections, possibly as soon as it
emerged from the St Mary's river and entered Whitefish Bay. Selkirk
himself sped forward with the less cumbersome craft, while the
soldier-settlers advanced more leisurely in their bateaux. Early in
August the vanguard came within sight of the islands that bar the
approach to Thunder Bay. Then, as their canoes slipped through the
dark waters, they were soon abeam of that majestic headland, Thunder
Cape, 'the agèd Cape of Storms.' Inside the bay they saw that long,
low island known as the Sleeping Giant. A portion of the voyageurs,
led by a Canadian named Chatelain, disembarked upon an island about
seven miles from Fort William. Selkirk, with the rest of the advance
party, went on. Skirting the settlement at Fort William, they ascended
the river Kaministikwia for about half a mile, and on the opposite bank
from the fort, at a spot since known as Point De Meuron, they erected
their temporary habitations.
[1] The trader was probably Charles Grant, a clerk in the North-West
Company's fort at Fond du Lac, and not Cuthbert Grant, the leader at
Seven Oaks.
{116}
CHAPTER XI
FORT WILLIAM
Fort William was the Mecca of the traders and voyageurs who served the
North-West Company. It was the divisional point and the warehousing
centre of sixty trading-posts. No less than five thousand persons were
engaged in the trade which centred at Fort William. During the season
from May to September the traffic carried on at the fort was of the
most active character. A flotilla of boats and canoes would arrive
from Lachine with multifarious articles of commerce for inland barter.
These boats would then set out on their homeward journey laden with
peltry gathered from far and near. Every season two or three of the
principal partners of the company arrived at the fort from Montreal.
They were 'hyperborean nabobs,' who travelled with whatever luxury
wealth could afford them on the express service by lake and stream.
[Illustration: Fort William. From an old print in the John Ross
Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library.]
{117}
At this time Fort William had the proportions of a good-sized village.
Its structures were of wood and were of all shapes and sizes. One
commodious building near the centre of the fort, fronted by a wide
verandah, immediately caught the eye of the visitor. It contained a
council-hall, the mercantile parliament-chamber of the Nor'westers.
Under the same roof was a great banqueting-hall, in which two hundred
persons could be seated. In this hall were wont to gather the notables
of the North-West Company, and any guests who were fortunate enough to
gain admission. Here, in the heart of the wilderness, there was no
stint of food when the long tables were spread. Chefs brought from
Montreal prepared savoury viands; the brimming bowl was emptied and too
often replenished; and the songs of this deep-throated race of
merchantmen pealed to the rafters until revelry almost ended in riot.
At one end of the room stood the bust of Simon M'Tavish, placed so that
his gaze seemed to rest upon the proprietors and servants of the
company he had called into being. About the walls hung numerous
portraits--one of the reigning monarch, George III, another of the
Prince Regent, a third of Admiral Lord {118} Nelson. Here, too, was a
painting of the famous battle of the Nile, and a wonderful map of the
fur-bearing country, the work of the intrepid explorer David Thompson.
[Illustration: Simon M'Tavish, Founder of the North-West Company. From
a water-colour drawing in M'Gill University Library.]
The unexpected appearance of Lord Selkirk in the vicinity of Fort
William found the Nor'westers off their guard and created a great
sensation. It was a matter of common knowledge among the Nor'westers
that Selkirk was on his way to the Red River with a squad of armed men,
but they understood that he would follow the route leading past their
fort at Fond du Lac. There is evidence to show that a plot to compass
Selkirk's death or seizure had been mooted some weeks before. John
Bourke, on the road to Fort William as a prisoner, had overheard a
conversation between Alexander Macdonell and several other partners of
the North-West Company. This conversation had occurred at night, not
far from Rainy Lake. According to the story, Bourke was lying on the
ground, seemingly asleep, when the partners, standing by a camp-fire,
fell to discussing their recent coup at 'the Forks.' Their talk
drifted to the subject of Lord Selkirk's proposed visit to Assiniboia,
and Macdonell assured the others {119} that the North-West Company had
nothing to fear from Selkirk, and that if extreme measures were
necessary Selkirk should be quietly assassinated. 'The half-breeds,'
he declared, 'will take him while he is asleep, early in the morning.'
Macdonell went so far as to mention the name of a Bois Brûlé who would
be willing to bring Lord Selkirk down with his musket, if necessary.
Bourke told to his fellow-prisoners, Patrick Corcoran and Michael
Heden, what he had overheard. It thus happened that when Heden now
learned that the founder of Assiniboia was actually camping on the
Kaministikwia, he became alarmed for his safety. Though a prisoner, he
seems to have had some liberty of movement. At any rate, he was able
to slip off alone and to launch a small boat. Once afloat, he rowed to
the island where Chatelain and his voyageurs had halted on the way to
Fort William. The water was boisterous, and Heden had great difficulty
in piloting his craft. He gained the island, however, and told
Chatelain of his fear that Lord Selkirk might come to harm. Heden
returned to the fort, and was there taken to task and roughly handled
for his temerity in going to see one of Lord Selkirk's servants.
{120}
On August 12 the second section of the contingent arrived with the
experienced campaigners. From the moment they raised their tents Lord
Selkirk began to show a bold front against the Nor'westers. Captain
D'Orsonnens was entrusted on the day of his arrival with a letter from
Selkirk to William M'Gillivray, the most prominent partner at Fort
William. In this M'Gillivray was asked his reason for holding in
custody various persons whose names were given, and was requested to
grant their immediate release. M'Gillivray was surprisingly
conciliatory. He permitted several of the persons named in the letter
to proceed at once to Selkirk's camp, and assured Lord Selkirk that
they had never been prisoners. John Bourke and Michael Heden he still
retained, because their presence was demanded in the courts at Montreal.
Acting as a justice of the peace, Selkirk now held a court in which he
heard evidence from those whom M'Gillivray had surrendered. Before the
day was over he had secured sufficient information, as he thought, to
justify legal action against certain of the partners at Fort William.
He decided to arrest William M'Gillivray first, and sent two men as
constables with a warrant against {121} M'Gillivray. On the afternoon
of August 13 these officers went down the river to the fort. Along
with them went a guard of nine men fully armed. While the guard
remained posted without, the constables entered the fort. They found
M'Gillivray in his room writing a letter. He read the warrant which
they thrust into his hand, and then without comment said that he was
prepared to go with them. His only desire was that two partners,
Kenneth M'Kenzie and Dr John M'Loughlin, might accompany him to furnish
bail. The constables acceded to this request, and the three
Nor'westers got into a canoe and were paddled to Point De Meuron.
The officers conducted their prisoners to the Earl of Selkirk's tent.
When Selkirk learned that the two other partners of the North-West
Company were also in his power, he resolved upon an imprudent act, one
which can scarcely be defended. Not only did he refuse his prisoner
bail; he framed indictments against M'Kenzie and M'Loughlin and ordered
the constables to take them in charge. A short examination of William
M'Gillivray convinced Lord Selkirk that he would not be going beyond
his powers were he to apprehend the remaining partners who {122} were
at Fort William. To accomplish this he drew up the necessary papers,
and then sent the same constables to make the arrests. Twenty-five De
Meuron soldiers under Captain D'Orsonnens and Lieutenant Fauché were
detailed as an escort.
[Illustration: William M'Gillivray, a partner in the North-West
Company. From a photograph in the M'Gill University Library.]
When the constables strode up the river bank to the fort to perform
their official duty, they found a great throng of Canadians,
half-breeds, and Indians gathered about the entrance. D'Orsonnens and
the bulk of the escort remained behind on the river within easy call.
Near the gateway the officers saw two of the partners whom they were
instructed to apprehend, and immediately served them with warrants. A
third partner, John M'Donald, made a sturdy show of resistance. He
declaimed against the validity of the warrant, and protested that no
stranger dare enter the fort until William M'Gillivray was set free. A
scramble followed. Some of the Nor'westers tried to close the gate,
while the constables struggled to make their way inside. When one of
the constables shouted lustily for aid, the bugle blew at the boats.
This was by prearrangement the signal to Captain Matthey at Point De
Meuron that the constables had met with opposition. The signal, {123}
however, proved unnecessary. In spite of the angry crowd at the
entrance, Selkirk's men pushed open the gate of the fort. They seized
M'Donald, who struggled fiercely, and bore him away towards the boats.
The soldiers marched up from the boats, and, in a moment, Fort William
was in their possession. Before further help arrived, in response to
the bugle-call, the struggle was over. Six partners of the North-West
Company were taken to the boats and carried to Lord Selkirk's
encampment. These were John M'Donald, Daniel M'Kenzie, Allan M'Donald,
Hugh M'Gillis, Alexander M'Kenzie, and Simon Fraser, the last named
being the noted explorer. Captain D'Orsonnens stationed a guard within
the fort, and himself remained behind to search the papers of those who
had been arrested.
By the time Lord Selkirk had finished the examination of his fresh
group of prisoners the hour was late. He did not wish to keep any of
the partners in confinement, and so he arranged that they should go
back to their quarters at the fort for the night. The prisoners
promised that they would behave in seemly fashion, and do nothing of a
hostile nature. There is evidence to show that before {124} morning
many papers were burned in the mess-room kitchen at the fort. Word was
also brought to Lord Selkirk that a quantity of firearms and ammunition
had been removed from Fort William during the night. In consequence of
this information he issued another warrant, authorizing a 'search for
arms.' When the search was made fifty or more guns and fowling-pieces
were found hidden among some hay in a barn. Eight barrels of gunpowder
were also found lying in a swampy place not far from the fort, and the
manner in which the grass was trampled down indicated that the barrels
had been deposited there very recently. When Selkirk learned of this
attempt to remove arms and ammunition, he felt justified in adopting
stringent measures. He ordered what was practically an occupation of
Fort William. Most of the Canadians, Bois Brûlés, and Indians in the
service of the North-West Company were commanded to leave the fort and
to cross to the other side of the river. Their canoes were
confiscated. The nine partners were held as prisoners and closely
watched. Selkirk's force abandoned Point De Meuron and erected their
tents on ground near Fort William. The hearing was continued, and it
{125} was finally decided that the accused should be committed for
trial at York and conducted thither under a strong guard.
Selkirk had not exceeded his authority as a justice of the peace in
holding the investigations and in sending the partners for trial to the
judicial headquarters of the province. But he had also seized the
property of the North-West Company and driven its servants from their
fort, and this was straining his legal powers. The task of taking the
nine partners to York was entrusted to Lieutenant Fauché. Three canoes
were provisioned for the journey. Indians regularly employed by the
North-West Company were engaged as canoemen and guides. On August 18
the party set out from Fort William. At first the journey went
tranquilly enough. On the eighth day, about one o'clock in the
afternoon, the party drew up their canoes on Isle au Parisien, in
Whitefish Bay, to take dinner. A heavy westerly breeze sprang up, but
they were on the leeward side of the island and did not notice its full
strength. Lieutenant Fauché had misgivings, however, and before he
would resume the journey he consulted his prisoner, William
M'Gillivray, who was an expert canoeman. M'Gillivray was confident
that {126} the 'traverse' to Sault Ste Marie could be made in safety if
the Indian guides exercised great caution. The guides, on the other
hand, objected to leaving the island. Their advice was not heeded, and
the three canoes put out. Very soon they were running before a squall
and shipping water. The first canoe turned its prow in the direction
of Isle aux Erables, lying to the left, and the other two followed this
example. Near Isle aux Erables there were some shoals destined now to
cause tragic disaster. In attempting to pass these shoals the leading
canoe was capsized. The others, so heavily laden that they could do
nothing to rescue their companions, paddled hurriedly to shore,
unloaded part of their cargoes, and then hastened to the spot where
their comrades were struggling in the stormy waters. But it was too
late. In spite of the most heroic efforts nine of the twenty-one
persons belonging to the wrecked canoe were drowned. Kenneth M'Kenzie,
of the North-West Company, was one of those who perished; six of the
others were Indians; the remaining two were discharged soldiers.
Another canoe was procured at Sault Ste Marie. The party continued its
journey and reached York on September 3. Fauché at once sought the
{127} attorney-general, in order to take proper legal steps, but found
that he was absent. The prisoners meanwhile applied for a writ of
habeas corpus, and Fauché was instructed to take them to Montreal.
This was to take them to the home of the Nor'westers, where they would
be supported by powerful influences. On September 10, when the
partners arrived in Montreal, they were at once admitted to bail.
Meanwhile, Lord Selkirk continued to exercise full sway over Fort
William and its environs. He had himself no misgivings whatever with
regard to the legality of his treatment of the Nor'westers. In his
view he had taken possession of a place which had served, to quote his
own words, 'the last of any in the British dominions, as an asylum for
banditti and murderers, and the receptacle for their plunder.' During
the ensuing winter he sent out expeditions to capture the posts
belonging to the North-West Company at Michipicoten, Rainy Lake, and
Fond du Lac. In March he commissioned a part of his followers to
advance into the territory of Assiniboia to restore order. The
veterans whom he sent artfully arranged their journey so that they
should approach 'the Forks' from {128} the south. The Nor'westers in
Fort Douglas were wholly unaware that a foe was advancing against them.
On a blustering night, amid storm and darkness, Selkirk's men crept up
to the walls, carrying ladders. In a trice they had scaled the
ramparts, and the fort was in their possession.
On the first day of May 1817 Lord Selkirk himself went forward to the
west from Fort William, taking with him the bodyguard which he had
procured at Drummond Island. He followed the fur traders' route up the
Kaministikwia to Dog Lake, thence, by way of the waters which connect
with Rainy Lake, on to the Lake of the Woods, and down the rushing
Winnipeg. After a journey of seven weeks he emerged from the
forest-clad wilderness and saw for the first time the little row of
farms which the toil of his long-suffering colonists had brought into
being on the open plains.
{129}
CHAPTER XII
THE PIPE OF PEACE
'The parish shall be Kildonan.'
As Lord Selkirk spoke, he was standing in what is to-day the northern
part of the city of Winnipeg. A large gathering of settlers listened
to his words. The refugees of the year before, who were encamped on
the Jack river, had returned to their homes, and now, in instituting a
parish for them and creating the first local division in Assiniboia,
Lord Selkirk was giving it a name reminiscent of the vales of
Sutherlandshire. 'Here you shall build your church,' continued his
lordship. The Earl of Selkirk's religion was deep-seated, and he was
resolved to make adequate provision for public worship. 'And that
lot,' he said, indicating a piece of ground across a rivulet known as
Parsonage Creek, 'is for a school.' For his time he held what was
advanced radical doctrine in regard to education, for he believed that
there should be a common school in every parish.
{130}
Selkirk's genial presence and his magnanimity of character quickly
banished any prejudices which the colonists had formed against him. In
view of the hardships they had endured, he divided among them, free of
all dues, some additional land. To the discharged soldiers he gave
land on both sides of the river. They were to live not far removed
from Fort Douglas, in order that they might give speedy aid in case of
trouble. The settlers were enjoined to open roads, construct bridges,
and build flour-mills at convenient places.
Meanwhile, the disturbances in the fur country were being considered in
the motherland. When news of the Seven Oaks affair and of other acts
of violence reached Great Britain, Lord Bathurst thought that the home
government should take action. He sent an official note to Sir John
Sherbrooke, the governor of Canada, instructing him to deal with the
situation. Sherbrooke was to see that the forts, buildings, and
property involved in the unhappy conflict should be restored to their
rightful owners, and that illegal restrictions on trade should be
removed. When Sherbrooke received this dispatch, in February 1817, he
selected two military {131} officers, Lieutenant-Colonel Coltman and
Major Fletcher, to go to the Indian Territories in order to arbitrate
upon the questions causing dissension. The two commissioners left
Montreal in May, escorted by forty men of the 37th regiment. From
Sault Ste Marie, Coltman journeyed on ahead, and arrived at 'the Forks'
on July 5. In Montreal he had formed the opinion that Lord Selkirk was
a domineering autocrat. Now, however, he concluded after inquiry that
Selkirk was neither irrational nor self-seeking, and advised that the
accusations against him should not be brought into the courts. At the
same time he bound Selkirk under bail of £10,000 to appear in Canada
for trial. When Coltman returned to Lower Canada in the autumn of
1817, Sherbrooke was able to write the Colonial Office that 'a degree
of tranquility' had been restored to the Indian Territories.
While in the west Lord Selkirk had gained the respect of the Indians,
and in token of their admiration they gave him the unusual name of the
'Silver Chief,' Selkirk was anxious to extinguish the ancient title
which the Indians had to the lands of Assiniboia, in order to prevent
future disputes. To effect this he brought together at Fort {132}
Douglas a body of chiefs who represented the Cree and Saulteaux
nations. The Indian chiefs made eloquent speeches. They said that
they were willing to surrender their claim to a strip on either side of
the Red River up-stream from its mouth as far as the Red Lake river
(now Grand Forks, North Dakota), and on either side of the Assiniboine
as far as its junction with the Muskrat. Selkirk's desire was to
obtain as much on each bank of these streams for the length agreed upon
as could be seen under a horse's belly towards the horizon, or
approximately two miles, and the Indians agreed. At three places--at
Fort Douglas, Fort Daer, and the confluence of the Red and Red Lake
rivers--Selkirk wished to secure about six miles on each side of the
Red River, and to this the chiefs agreed. In the end, on July 18,
1817, Selkirk concluded a treaty, after distributing presents. It was
the first treaty made by a subject of Great Britain with the tribes of
Rupert's Land. In signing it the several chiefs drew odd pictures of
animals on a rough map of the territory in question. These animals
were their respective totems and were placed opposite the regions over
which they claimed authority. It was stipulated {133} that one hundred
pounds of good tobacco should be given annually to each nation.
Having finished his work, Lord Selkirk bade the colony adieu and
journeyed southward. He made his way through the unorganized
territories which had belonged to the United States since the Louisiana
Purchase of 1803, and at length reached the town of St Louis on the
Mississippi. Thence he proceeded to the New England States, and by way
of Albany reached the province of Upper Canada. Here he found that the
agents of the North-West Company had been busy with plans to attack him
in the courts. There were four charges against him, and he was ordered
to appear at Sandwich, a judicial centre on the Detroit. The
accusations related to his procedure at Fort William. Selkirk
travelled to Sandwich. One of the charges was quickly dismissed. The
other three were held over, pending the arrival of witnesses, and he
was released on bail to the amount of £350.
In May 1818 Colin Robertson and several others were charged at Montreal
with the wilful destruction of Fort Gibraltar, but the jury would not
convict the accused upon the evidence presented. In September, at the
{134} judicial sessions at Sandwich, Lord Selkirk was again faced with
charges. A legal celebrity of the day, Chief Justice Dummer Powell,
presided. The grand jury complained that John Beverley Robinson, the
attorney-general of the province, was interfering with their
deliberations, and they refused to make a presentment. Chief Justice
Powell waited two days for their answer, and as it was not forthcoming
he adjourned the case. The actions were afterwards taken to York and
were tried there. For some reason the leaders of the political faction
known in the annals of Upper Canada as the Family Compact were not
friendly to Lord Selkirk; the Rev. John Strachan, the father-confessor
of this group of politicians, was an open opponent. As a result of the
trials Selkirk was mulcted in damages to the extent of £2000.
The courts of Lower Canada alone were empowered to deal with offences
in the Indian Territories. The governor-general of Canada could,
however, transfer the trial of such cases to Upper Canada, if he saw
fit. This had been done in the case of the charges against Selkirk,
and Sir John Sherbrooke, after consulting with the home authorities,
decided to refer Selkirk's charges against the Nor'westers, in {135}
connection with the events of 1815 and 1816 on the Red River, to the
court of the King's Bench at its autumn sitting in York. Beginning in
October 1818, there were successive trials of persons accused by Lord
Selkirk of various crimes. The cases were heard by Chief Justice
Powell, assisted by Judges Boulton and Campbell. The evidence in
regard to the massacre at Seven Oaks was full of interest. A passage
from the speech of one of the counsel for the defence shows the ideas
then current in Canada as to the value of the prairie country.
Sherwood, one of the counsel, emphatically declared that Robert Semple
was not a governor; he was an emperor. 'Yes, gentlemen,' reiterated
Sherwood, his voice rising, 'I repeat, an emperor--a bashaw in that
land of milk and honey, where nothing, not even a blade of corn, will
ripen.' The result of the trials was disheartening to Selkirk. Of the
various prisoners who were accused not one was found guilty.
Lord Selkirk did not attend the trials of the Nor'westers at York, and
seems to have returned to Britain with his wife and children before the
end of the year 1818. He was ill and in a most melancholy state of
mind. {136} Unquestionably, he had not secured a full measure of
justice in the courts of Canada. A man strong in health might have
borne his misfortunes more lightly. As it was, Selkirk let his wrongs
prey upon his spirit. On March 19, 1819, he addressed a letter to Lord
Liverpool, asking that the Privy Council should intervene in order to
correct the erroneous findings of the Canadian courts. Sir James
Montgomery, Selkirk's brother-in-law, moved in the House of Commons, on
June 24, that all official correspondence touching Selkirk's affairs
should be produced. The result was the publication of a large
blue-book. An effort was made to induce Sir Walter Scott to use his
literary talents on his friend's behalf. But at the time Scott was
prostrate with illness and unable to help the friend of his youth.
Meanwhile, Lord Selkirk's attachment for his colony on the Red River
had not undergone any change. One of the last acts of his life was to
seek settlers in Switzerland, and a considerable number of Swiss
families were persuaded to migrate to Assiniboia. But the heads of
these families were not fitted for pioneer life on the prairie. For
the most part they were poor musicians, pastry-cooks, {137}
clock-makers, and the like, who knew nothing of husbandry. Their chief
contribution to the colony was a number of buxom, red-cheeked
daughters, whose arrival in 1821 created a joyful commotion among the
military bachelors at the settlement. The fair newcomers were quickly
wooed and won by the men who had served in Napoleon's wars, and
numerous marriages followed.
Selkirk's continued ill-health caused him to seek the temperate climate
of the south of France, and there he died on April 8, 1820, at Pau, in
the foothills of the Pyrenees. His body was taken to Orthez, a small
town some twenty-five miles away, and buried there in the Protestant
cemetery. The length of two countries separates Lord Selkirk's place
of burial from his place of birth. He has a monument in Scotland and a
monument in France, but his most enduring monument is the great
Canadian West of which he was the true founder. His only son, Dunbar
James Douglas, inherited the title, and when he died in 1885 the line
of Selkirk became extinct. Long before this the Selkirk family had
broken the tie with the Canadian West. In 1836 their rights in the
country of Assiniboia, in so far as it lay in British territory, {138}
were purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company for the sum of £84,000.
The character of the fifth Earl of Selkirk has been alike lauded and
vilified. Shortly after his death the _Gentleman's Magazine_ commended
his benefactions to the poor and his kindness as a landlord. 'To the
counsels of an enlightened philosophy and an immovable firmness of
purpose,' declared the writer, 'he added the most complete habits of
business and a perfect knowledge of affairs.' Sir Walter Scott wrote
of Selkirk with abundant fervour. 'I never knew in my life,' said the
Wizard of the North, 'a man of a more generous and disinterested
disposition, or one whose talents and perseverance were better
qualified to bring great and national schemes to conclusion.' History
has proved that Lord Selkirk was a man of dreams; it is false to say,
however, that his were fruitless visions. Time has fully justified his
colonizing activity in relation to settlement on the Red River. He was
firmly convinced of what few in his day believed--that the soil of the
prairie was fruitful and would give bread to the sower. His worst
fault was his partisanship. In his eyes the Hudson's Bay Company was
endowed with all the virtues; and he never properly {139} analysed the
motives or recognized the achievements of its great rival. Had he but
ordered his representatives in Assiniboia to meet the Nor'westers
half-way, distress and hardship might have been lessened, and violence
might very probably have been entirely avoided.
The presence of Lord Selkirk on the Red River had led to renewed energy
on the part of the colonists. They began to till the land, and in 1818
the grain and vegetable crops promised an abundant yield. In July,
however, when the time of harvest was approaching, the settlers
experienced a calamity that brought poverty for the present and despair
for the future. The sky was suddenly darkened by a great cloud of
locusts, which had come from their breeding-places in the far
south-west. During a single night, 'crops, gardens, and every green
herb in the settlement had perished, with the exception of a few ears
of barley gleaned in the women's aprons.' In the following year the
plague reappeared; the insects came again, covering the ground so
thickly that they 'might be shovelled with a spade.' The stock of
seed-grain was now almost exhausted, and the colonists resolved to send
an expedition to the Mississippi for a fresh supply. Two hundred {140}
and fifty bushels of grain were secured at Lord Selkirk's expense, and
brought back on flatboats to the colony. Never since that time has
there been a serious lack of seed on the Red River.
The year 1821 brings us to a milestone in the history of the Canadian
West, and at this point our story terminates. After Lord Selkirk's
death the two great fur-trading companies realized the folly of
continuing their disastrous rivalry, and made preparations to bury
their differences. Neither company had been making satisfactory
profits. In Great Britain especially, where only the echoes of the
struggle had been heard, was there an increasing desire that the two
companies should unite. One of the foremost partners of the North-West
Company was Edward Ellice, a native of Aberdeenshire, and member of the
House of Commons for Coventry. Ellice championed the party among the
Nor'westers who were in favour of union, and the two M'Gillivrays,
Simon and William, earnestly seconded his efforts. Terms acceptable to
both companies were at length agreed upon. On March 26, 1821, a formal
document, called a 'deed-poll,' outlining the basis of union, was
signed by the two parties {141} in London. In 1822 Edward Ellice
introduced a bill in parliament making the union of the companies
legal. The name of the North-West Company was dropped; the new
corporation was to be known as the Hudson's Bay Company. Thus passed
away for ever the singular partnership of the North-West Company which
had made Montreal a market for furs and had built up Fort William in
the depths of the forest. No longer did two rival trading-posts stand
by lake or stream. No longer did two rival camp-fires light up blazed
tree-trunk or grass-strewn prairie by the long and sinuous trail. From
Labrador to Vancouver, and from the Arctic to the southern confines of
the Canadian West and farther, the British flag, with H.B.C. on its
folds, was to wave over every trading-post. Midway between the
Atlantic and the Pacific a little hamlet was to struggle into life, to
struggle feebly for many years--a mere adjunct of a fur-trading post;
but at length it was to come into its own, and Winnipeg, the proudest
city of the plains, was in time to rear its palaces on the spot where
for long years the Red River Colony battled for existence against human
enemies and the obstacles of nature.
{142}
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
PRIMARY SOURCES
The Selkirk Papers in the Dominion Archives consist of seventy-nine
portfolios containing transcripts of correspondence, legal evidence,
and other proceedings relating to the Earl of Selkirk's colonizing
enterprises.
Lord Selkirk's principal works are: _Observations on the Present State
of the Highlands in Scotland_ (published in 1805 and describing the
journey to Prince Edward Island, etc., in 1803); _On the Necessity of a
more Efficient System of National Defence_ (1808); _A Sketch of the
British Fur Trade in North America_ (1816).
The Letter Book of Miles Macdonell--July 27, 1811, to February 25, 1812
(Dominion Archives Report, 1886)--contains ten letters addressed by
Macdonell to Selkirk from Yarmouth, Stornoway, York Factory, and Nelson
Encampment; besides others to various individuals.
In consequence of the disasters which befell the Red River Colony in
1815 and 1816, there appeared in Great Britain _A Statement respecting
the Earl of Selkirk's Settlement upon the Red River in North America,
etc._ (republished by John Murray, {143} London, 1817). In answer to
this the North-West Company put forth _A Narrative of Occurrences in
the Indian Countries, etc._ (1817), to which were appended twenty-nine
documents to substantiate claims made. These works, although written
in a partisan spirit, contain information which cannot be had from any
other source.
The following are also useful: John M'Leod's Diary, 1815; Letter of
Cuthbert Grant to J. D. Cameron, March 13, 1816; North-West Company's
Account Book for Fort Gibraltar, 1815; Governor Macdonell's
Proclamation, January 1814; Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company;
Colonel W. B. Coltman's Report, 1817; A. Amos, _Report of the Trials in
the Courts of Canada relative to the Destruction of the Earl of
Selkirk's Settlement on the Red River, with Observations_ (1820);
_Trials of the Earl of Selkirk against the North-West Company in 1818_
(Montreal, 1819); Notices of the Claims of the Hudson's Bay Company,
and the Conduct of its Adversaries (Montreal, 1817); Chief Justice
Powell's Report _re_ North-West Disputes (Dominion Archives Report,
1897); a pamphlet against Lord Selkirk by John Strachan, D. D. (1816),
and the reply thereto by Archibald Macdonald (1816); the communications
of 'Mercator' appearing in the Montreal _Herald_ (1816); Blue-book on
Red River Settlement (Imperial House of Commons, 1819); Original
Letters regarding the Selkirk Settlement (Manitoba Historical and
Scientific Society, 1889); Lord Selkirk's Treaty {144} with the Western
Indians (_vide_ Appendix to _The Treaties of Canada_ by Alexander
Morris, 1880).
SECONDARY MATERIAL
Since the present story closes with 1821, it is necessary to classify
as secondary material a work that is to be regarded as a primary source
on the later history of the colony--_The Red River Settlement_ (1856)
by Alexander Ross. Ross was a pioneer emigrant to the colony of
Astoria on the Pacific Coast. In 1817 he entered the service of the
North-West Company; after the union of the fur companies in 1821 he
remained in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1825 he went as
a settler to the Red River Colony, where he soon became an influential
officer. His narrative is vigorous in style as well as fair-minded in
its criticisms, and is an indispensable authority on the beginnings of
Manitoba.
The most prolific writer upon the career of Lord Selkirk and the
history of the Red River Colony is Professor George Bryce, of Winnipeg,
who has been a resident at 'the Forks' of the Red and Assiniboine
rivers since 1871. He has thus been in a position to gather and
preserve the traditions handed down by redskin, trapper, and colonist.
Consult his _Romantic Settlement of Lord Selkirk's Colonists_ (1909);
also_ Manitoba: Infancy, Progress and Present Condition_ (1872); _The
Remarkable History of the Hudson's Bay Company_ (1900); _Mackenzie,
Selkirk and Simpson_ (1906).
{145}
An account of Lord Selkirk will be found in Kingsford, _History of
Canada_, vol. ix. The reader should also consult, in _Canada and its
Provinces_ (vol. xix), the excellent monograph by Professor Chester
Martin. This is the most recent and probably the most thoroughly
grounded study of the Red River Colony. The same work contains a good
account of the Selkirk Settlement in Prince Edward Island (vol. xiii,
p. 354) by Dr Andrew Macphail. The Baldoon Settlement is treated of by
Dr George W. Mitchell in the _Proceedings of the Ontario Historical
Society_ for 1913. See also the monograph, 'Pioneer Settlements' [of
Upper Canada], by A. C. Casselman in _Canada and its Provinces_, vol.
xvii.
{147}
INDEX
Assiniboia, the seat of Selkirk's colony on the Red River, 35-36. See
Red River Colony.
Assiniboines, and Red River Colony, 36; their friendliness, 56, 57.
Baldoon Farm, Selkirk's settlement at, 18-20.
Bathurst, Lord, colonial secretary, 91, 130.
Beaver Club, entertain Lord Selkirk, 20-1.
Bois Brûlés, their hostility to the Red River colonists, 54, 60; attack
Colony Gardens, 77-9, 86; at Seven Oaks, 95-101; their savage orgy at
Fort Douglas, 106.
Boucher, François, his parley with Governor Semple at Seven Oaks, 97-8.
Bourke, John, store-keeper of Colony Gardens, 76; severely wounded at
Seven Oaks, 95 n., 96, 99, 100, 103; charged with felony, 105, 120;
overhears plot to assassinate Lord Selkirk, 118-19.
Brandon House, a Hudson's Bay Company post, 65, 66; captured by
Cuthbert Grant, 89.
Burke, Father, accompanies first contingent of Red River colonists, 44,
50.
Burns, Robert, at St Mary's Isle, 5-6.
Cameron, Duncan, a partner of the North-West Company, 68; his imposture
and work of destruction at Colony Gardens, 69-73, 75, 76; taken
prisoner at Fort Gibraltar, 84; sent to England for trial, 87.
Campbell, George, a traitor in the camp at Colony Gardens, 71, 73.
Churchill river, Selkirk's colonists winter on, 62.
Colony Gardens, 59. See Red River Colony.
Coltman, Lieut.-Col., arbitrates between Lord Selkirk and the
North-West Company, 131.
Corcoran, Patrick, at Seven Oaks, 105, 119.
Coureurs de bois, the, 25.
Crees, and Red River Colony, 95, 102 n., 132; and the North-West
Company, 106.
Currie, Archibald, in the defence of Colony Gardens, 79.
Daer, Lord Basil, and Robert Burns, 5.
De Meuron regiment, provides recruits for Red River Colony, 109-10,
122, 130.
D'Orsonnens, Captain, enlists with Lord Selkirk, 110; at Fort William,
120, 122, 123.
Drummond, Sir Gordon, refuses Lord Selkirk armed assistance, 91-2, 93.
Ellice, Edward, his bill to legalize the union of the North-West and
the Hudson Bay Companies, 140-1.
Family Compact, the, and Lord Selkirk, 134.
Fauché, Lieut., enlists with Lord Selkirk, 110; at Fort William, 122;
takes North-West Company partners to Montreal for trial, 125-7.
Findlay, William, an obdurate Orkneyman, 49.
Fletcher, Major, arbitrates between Lord Selkirk and the North-West
Company, 131.
Fort Daer, the Red River colonists' winter quarters on the Pembina, 58,
85.
Fort Douglas, in Colony Gardens, 85; evacuated, 102, 105; occupied by
Nor'westers, 128; retaken, 128.
Fort Gibraltar, the North-West Company post on the Red River, 55-6, 74,
75, 84; demolished, 87.
Fort Qu'Appelle, a North-West Company post, 88.
Fort William, 66-7, 113, 115; the Mecca of the North-West Company,
116-18; taken and occupied by Lord Selkirk, 123-4.
Fraser, Simon, explorer, his arrest at Fort William, 123, 124-5.
Glengarry Fencibles, provide recruits for Red River Colony, 110, 130.
Graffenreid, Lieut., enlists with Lord Selkirk, 110.
Grant, Charles, bribes Indians to waylay Laguimonière, 112 and note.
Grant, Cuthbert, attacks Colony Gardens, 77, 86; captures Brandon
House, 88, 89; leads in Seven Oaks massacre, 95, 99, 101-2, 105.
Heden, Michael, escapes at Seven Oaks, 95 n., 100, 102, 103, 104, 105;
and Lord Selkirk's safety, 119, 120.
Highlanders of Scotland, their loyalty, 9-10, 11; their conditions of
life, 9, 10-11; dispossessed of their heritage, 12-13; their
expatriation, 13-14, 16-17, 18-20, 27-8, 38-43, 61-3, 83.
Hillier, a magistrate at York Factory, 49.
Holt, Lieut., killed at Seven Oaks, 98.
Hudson Bay, Red River colonists winter on, 45-51, 62.
Hudson's Bay Company, 25-6, 80; and Lord Selkirk's emigration scheme,
17; their flawless charter, 22-3, 30; some early troubles, 28-9; their
grant of land to Lord Selkirk, 31-4; appoint a governor over
Assiniboia, 83; and purchase Lord Selkirk's rights, 137-8; their union
with the North-West Company, 140-1.
Indians, their relations with Red River Colony, 36, 54, 56, 57, 78, 89,
95, 102 n., 112-13.
Isle aux Erables, canoe disaster at, 126.
Johnson, Lionel, with Selkirk's settlers at Baldoon Farm, 19.
Jones, Captain John Paul, his raid on the British coasts, 1-3.
Katawabetay, a Chippewa chief, 74; meets Lord Selkirk, 112-13.
Keveny, Owen, arrives with party of Irish colonists at Colony Gardens,
58.
Kildonan parish, in Scotland, 61, 83; in Winnipeg, 129.
Kilkenny, Michael, escapes at Seven Oaks, 100.
Laguimonière, brings news of restoration of Colony Gardens to Lord
Selkirk, 93; waylaid and robbed on his return, 94, 112.
Lavigne, Augustin, with the Nor'westers at Seven Oaks, 99, 106.
Liverpool, Lord, and Selkirk's charges against the North-West Company,
136.
Macdonald, Archibald, deputy-governor of Assiniboia, 73.
M'Donald, John, his arrest at Fort William, 122-3, 124-5.
M'Donald, Capt. Roderick, Selkirk's agent in Glasgow, 37-8.
Macdonell, Alexander, a partner of the North-West Company, 68, 86, 87,
88; destroys Colony Gardens, 69, 73-4, 77-79; organizes a raid on Fort
Douglas, 89, 94-5; and the massacre at Seven Oaks, 102-103, 105, 107;
his plot to assassinate Lord Selkirk, 118-19.
Macdonell, Anthony, taken prisoner at Seven Oaks, 100.
Macdonell, Capt. Miles, first governor of Assiniboia, 36-7, 74; his
herculean task, 40-2, 44; establishes winter quarters on the Nelson,
45-6, 47; his opinion of the emigrants, 47-51; officially inaugurates
Red River Colony, 55-6; erects Fort Daer, 57-8; his disastrous
proclamation, 63-64, 65, 67; surrenders himself to Cameron, 76-7, 93;
sent to Red River in advance of Lord Selkirk, 111, 113.
M'Gillivray, William, a partner of the North-West Company, 66 n.; his
arrest at Fort William, 120-1, 124-5; an expert canoeman, 125-6;
favours union with the Hudson's Bay Company, 140.
M'Intosh, James, in the defence of Colony Gardens, 79.
M'Kay, Daniel, escapes at Seven Oaks, 100, 105.
Mackenzie, Sir Alexander, explorer, and Lord Selkirk, 15, 31.
Mackenzie, Captain, and the nine-pound shot, 41.
M'Kenzie, Kenneth, his arrest at Fort William, 121, 124-5; drowned, 126.
M'Lean, Alexander, 72; killed at Seven Oaks, 100.
M'Lean, Hugh, his defence of Colony Gardens, 78, 79.
M'Leod, Archibald Norman, a partner of the North-West Company, 94; as
magistrate of Indian Territories examines evicted Red River colonists,
103-5; at Fort Douglas, 105-7.
M'Leod, John, his gallant defence of Colony Gardens, 77-78, 79; his
guardianship, 82-83, 85.
M'Loughlin, Dr John, his arrest at Fort William, 121, 124-5.
M'Nab, John, buys Baldoon Farm from Lord Selkirk, 20.
M'Tavish, Simon, founder of the North-West Company, 20, 117.
Matthey, Captain, enlists with Lord Selkirk, 110; at Fort William, 122.
Métis, 54. See Bois Brûlés.
Montgomery, Sir James, brother-in-law of Lord Selkirk, 136.
Napoleon I, 16; his Berlin Decree, 29.
Nelson river, New Year celebrations on the, 48-9.
New Nation, the, 85, 86. See Bois Brûlés.
North-West Company, 23-5, 117; entertain Lord Selkirk in Montreal,
20-1; their opposition to his colonizing schemes, 31-2, 38, 40-1, 55,
67, 133; their antagonism towards Red River Colony, 55-6, 60, 63-4,
65-6, 67; their efforts to destroy the colony, 74-5, 89-90; the Seven
Oaks massacre, 95-101; trial of partners at York, 134-5; union with the
Hudson's Bay Company, 140-1.
Norway House, a Hudson's Bay Company post, 52, 78.
Ottawas, waylay Lord Selkirk's messenger, 112.
Pambrun, Pierre, held prisoner by the Nor'westers, 88-9, 102.
Pangman, Peter, and Cuthbert Grant, 88.
Pelham, Lord, and Selkirk's scheme of emigration, 15, 16, 17.
Powell, Chief Justice, and the trial of Lord Selkirk, 134; and the
Nor'westers, 135.
Prince Edward Island, Selkirk's colony on, 17-18.
Pritchard, John, taken prisoner at Seven Oaks, 95 n., 97, 98; acts as
mediator, 101-2, 104, 105.
Red River Colony, 32, 141; its extent and position, 33-4, 132;
conditions of settlement, 35, 110; types of settlers, 37-8, 39, 40, 42,
47, 48, 51, 63, 83, 108-10, 136-7; the departure of first contingent of
colonists from Stornoway, 38-43; reach Hudson Bay, 44-5; and winter on
the Nelson, 45-51; journey to Red River, 51-4; the official
inauguration of the colony, 55-6; relations with the Indians, 54, 56,
57, 74, 78, 89, 95, 102 n., 112-13, 132; dire straits of colonists in
winter, 57-8, 59-60, 85; the arrival of Irish colonists, 58; Colony
Gardens built, 59; the arrival of Sutherland men, 61-63; exodus of the
settlers, 76, 78; Colony Gardens destroyed, 77-9; restored, 81-82; a
fourth contingent of colonists, 83; the Seven Oaks massacre, 95-102;
the second expulsion, 102-4; Lord Selkirk arrives, 128-30; the locust
plagues, 139-40; comes into its own, 141. See Highlanders.
Reed, Collector, a tool of the Nor'westers, 40.
Robertson, Colin, his grievance against the North-West Company, 37,
80-1; restores Colony Gardens, 81-2; his revenge at Fort Gibraltar,
84-5, 86-7, 101, 104, 133.
Robinson, J. B., attorney-general of Upper Canada, 127, 134.
Rogers, Captain, killed at Seven Oaks, 98, 100.
Rupert's Land, Lord Selkirk's Colony in, 32, 132.
Saint Anne's chapel, a halting-place of the coureurs de bois, 25.
St Mary's Isle, the Selkirk mansion on, 2-3, 4.
Saulteaux, and Red River Colony, 78, 89, 102 n., 132; and the
North-West Company, 106.
Scott, Sir Walter, his friendship with Lord Selkirk, 7, 27, 136, 138.
Selkirk, fourth Earl of, 2; a patron of letters, 5.
Selkirk, fifth Earl of, his boyhood, 3, 4, 5, 6; at Edinburgh
University, 6-7; studies the conditions of life in the Highlands, 8,
14; succeeds to the title, 14; his scheme of emigration, 15-16, 27-8,
32, 35-6; his colony on Prince Edward Island, 16-18; at Baldoon Farm,
18-20; fêted by fur merchants of Montreal, 20-1; his speech on national
defence in the House of Lords, 27; his marriage, 28; his efforts in
securing a grant of land in Assiniboia, 28-35; his colony at Red River,
55-63, 76-83; endeavours to persuade the government to send armed
assistance to his colony, 91-4; his message of encouragement, 94; his
relief expedition, 108, 110-11, 113, 115, 127-8; at Indian council on
Drummond Island, 112-13; hears of the Seven Oaks disaster and makes for
Fort William, 113-15, 118; takes possession of the fort and arrests the
partners of the North-West Company, 120-7; arrives at Colony Gardens,
128-9, 130; receives the name of 'Silver Chief' and concludes a treaty
with the Indians, 131-3; his trial, 131, 133, 134; his charges against
the North-West Company, 70, 87, 134-6; his death, 137; his character,
5, 7, 14, 120, 131, 138-9.
Selkirk, sixth Earl of, 92, 137.
Semple, Robert, governor-in-chief in Assiniboia, 84, 86, 87, 95, 135;
killed at Seven Oaks, 95-9.
Seven Oaks, the massacre of, 95-102 and note, 130; the trial of
Nor'westers, 135.
Sherbrooke, Sir John, governor of Canada, 114, 130-1, 134-135.
Sherwood, counsel for Nor'westers, 135.
Spencer, John, enforces Governor Macdonell's decree on the Nor'westers,
65-6.
Stornoway, the departure of emigrants from, 38-43.
Strachan, Rev. John, his antagonism to Lord Selkirk, 134.
Sutherland, George, 88, 89; escapes at Seven Oaks, 100.
Sutherland, Elder James, authorized to baptize and perform the marriage
ceremony at Colony Gardens, 84.
War of 1812, and Selkirk's settlement at Baldoon Farm, 19, 109.
Watteville regiment, provides recruits for Red River Colony, 109-10,
130.
Wedderburn-Colvile, James, father-in-law of Lord Selkirk, 28, 30.
White, James, surgeon at Colony Gardens, 75; killed at Seven Oaks, 100.
Wilkinson, Dr, killed at Seven Oaks, 100.
Winnipeg, site of Colony Gardens, 53, 129, 141.
Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press
THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA
THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED
Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON
THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA
PART I
THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS
1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY
By Stephen Leacock.
2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO
By Stephen Leacock.
PART II
THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE
3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE
By Charles W. Colby.
4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS
By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.
5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA
By William Bennett Munro.
6. THE GREAT INTENDANT
By Thomas Chapais.
7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR
By Charles W. Colby.
PART III
THE ENGLISH INVASION
8. THE GREAT FORTRESS
By William Wood.
9. THE ACADIAN EXILES
By Arthur G. Doughty.
10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE
By William Wood.
11. THE WINNING OF CANADA
By William Wood.
PART IV
THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA
12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA
By William Wood.
13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS
By W. Stewart Wallace.
14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES
By William Wood.
PART V
THE RED MAN IN CANADA
15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS
By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.
16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS
By Louis Aubrey Wood.
17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE
By Ethel T. Raymond.
PART VI
PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST
18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY
By Agnes C. Laut.
19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS
By Lawrence J. Burpee.
20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH
By Stephen Leacock.
21. THE RED RIVER COLONY
By Louis Aubrey Wood.
22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST
By Agnes C. Laut.
23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL
By Agnes C. Laut.
PART VII
THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM
24. THE FAMILY COMPACT
By W. Stewart Wallace.
25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37
By Alfred D. DeCelles.
26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA
By William Lawson Grant.
27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT
By Archibald MacMechan.
PART VIII
THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY
28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION
By A. H. U. Colquhoun.
29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD
By Sir Joseph Pope.
30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER
By Oscar D. Skelton.
PART IX
NATIONAL HIGHWAYS
31. ALL AFLOAT
By William Wood.
32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS
By Oscar D. Skelton.
TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY
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