This area was the location of a significant battle during the
North West Rebellion. The battle took place April 24th, 1885
between the Canadian milita, led by General Middleton and the Métis
forces led by Gabriel Dumont. It was deisgnated a National Historic
Site in 1923 known as Battle of Fish Creek. On November 17th, 2007
the name was officially changed to Battle of Tourand's Coulee/Fish
Creek National Historic Site. This is to reflect the history more
accurately. Before the battle, the coulee was known to local Metis
as La Couli des Tourand because the Tourand family had made its
home there. Some members of the Tourand family even died in the
1885 battle.
The following is the most detailed account of the battle:
The Battle at Fish Creek was General Middleton’s first
encounter with the Métis. On April 23, 1885, he moved his newly
divided forces from Clarke’s Crossing, which was only a few
days march away from Batoche. That night Gabriel Dumont’s
scouts told him that the Canadian troops were camped at the
McIntosh Farm, which was about ten km south of Fish Creek. After
hearing this, Dumont sent couriers to Pitikwahanapiwiyin
(Poundmaker) and Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear) to ask for military
assistance. The two chiefs rebuffed Dumont’s overture because
they felt that the Crees’ best interests were to remain
neutral.
To counter the marching Canadian troops, Dumont at first
proposed a night attack in which Middleton’s sentries would
be quietly stabbed and a prairie fire started. Dumont then
suggested that two hundred Métis horsemen would then sweep into the
camp to attack the inexperienced Canadian soldiers. However,
Dumont’s scouts saw some of Major Boulton’s men
securing forage for their horses. Thinking that the scouts were on
patrol, Dumont called off the attack. The Métis then decided to
ambush Middleton’s forces during the day at Tourond’s
Coulée, which was a ravine that twisted from Tourond’s farm
towards the South Saskatchewan River, and down to where Fish Creek
ran into the river. It was the perfect place for an ambush because
marksmen could be placed in the creek bed and on its slopes. The
Métis could also monitor the road down to the ravine. They were
also well camouflaged: the low thick woods at the start of the
bridge would have prevented the soldiers from seeing the
Métis.
Late on the evening of April 23, Louis Riel and Gabriel
Dumont set out for Fish Creek. Gabriel’s brother Eduoard
Dumont was left to guard Batoche. Late that evening, Noël Champagne
and Moïse Carrière warned Riel and Dumont that the North-West
Mounted Police were about to attack Batoche by surprise via the
Qu’Appelle Road. Upon hearing this intelligence, Louis Riel
decided to leave with fifty men to reinforce Batoche. The remaining
Métis force at Fish Creek would be less than a fifth of the size of
the Canadian Army.
On April 24, Gabriel Dumont rode south with his men at 4:00
a.m. He ordered them not to use the road through Tourond’s
Coulée. He then borrowed Ignace Poitras’ fast horse and, with
Napoléon Nault, rode to reconnoiter (gain intelligence about)
Middleton’s camp. At 7:00 a.m., Gilbert Bréland warned that
eight hundred soldiers were advancing. Dumont then placed a hundred
and thirty men in a hollow on the left bank of Fish Creek, hid
horses in the woods, and then went with twenty men farther down the
creek’s pathway. He ordered his men not to attack until all
of Middleton’s troops were in the coulee; then the trapped
soldiers could be shot at like bison.
At Fish Creek, the Métis had many superb marksmen such as
Philippe Gariépy, James Short, and Gilbert Bréland, but they also
had many inexperienced youth. Some Dakota fought with the Métis as
well. Middleton’s English-Métis scouts said that the Métis
were well armed with repeating rifles, but many only had shot guns
or muskets. The Métis only had three or four Winchesters.
On the morning of April 24, 1885, the Métis’ positions
were discovered. This occurred when Middleton’s English Métis
scouts saw tracks on the trail, made by a young Métis who had
disobeyed Gabriel Dumont’s order of stay off the road. Major
Boulton sent scouts to explore the ravine. One rode near Gabriel
Dumont. Dumont then rose up and ran after him. Someone fired at the
scout, while some of Dumont’s men shouted that the Métis had
just encountered Middleton’s advance guard of forty men.
Dumont then shot the scout and jumped back into the coulée to
rejoin his men.
The fighting started at 9:00 a.m. Some of Gabriel
Dumont’s men fled the battle. However, Dumont decided to set
an example by shooting at all available targets. When the soldiers
started firing directly at him, he galloped back, with Napoléon
Nault, to a position higher up the ravine, where the rest of the
Métis forces were located. At this point, Dumont stopped fifteen of
his men from deserting. However, only forty-seven of the a hundred
and thirty men with whom he started with remained. He also had
fifteen horsemen, which meant that he was left with approximately
sixty men to fight four hundred soldiers. Dumont, who was still in
pain from his wound at Duck Lake, inspired the remaining Métis to
fight on.
The Métis kept the Canadian Army from advancing all day. As
the battle raged, the Métis sang Pierre Falcon’s songs to
keep up their courage. When they were down to only seven cartridges
of bullets, Dumont set fire to the prairie grass, sending thick
clouds of smoke towards Middleton’s troops. When the wind
shifted he then returned to his fifteen horsemen after trying to
get back to the rest of his main force in the rifle pits. He
returned to find that the Dakota had retired from the
fighting.
At this point, only seven men remained with Gabriel Dumont,
but then reinforcements came. Edouard Dumont, along with Yellow Mud
Blanket, Ambroise Champagne, and eighty horsemen reinforced the
Métis’ beleaguered position. Marguerite Caron, wife and
mother of some of the participants, compelled Louis Riel to send in
the re-enforcements. Edouard Dumont led a cavalry charge that
forced the Canadians back. This action led to General
Middleton’s decision to withdraw, which would ensure that the
battle would end as a draw.
On the Canadian side, ten men were killed and forty-five were
wounded, while the Métis suffered the loss of four men, one being
Gabriel Dumont’s nephew, Pierre Parenteau. Three Métis were
wounded, one mortally. They also lost fifty-five horses in the
battle. The Métis picked up thirty-two Canadian carbines, and at
first light, rode back to Batoche to prepare for another
battle.
Reference: Hildebrandt, Walter. The Battle of Batoche: British
Small Warfare and the Entrenched Métis. Ottawa: National Historic
Parks and Sites Branch, Environment Canada, Parks Canada, 1985.
In "Gabriel Dumont's Account of the North-West Rebellion, 1885"
(by George, F. G. Stanley, Canadian Historical Review, Volume 30,
Number 3, September, 1949, pp. 259--261), Dumont describes the
Battle of Fish Creek as follows, "It was daybreak [April 24,
1885] before we were in sight of Middleton, who was camped at the
McIntosh farm. I thought it wise to retire and go and wait for the
enemy at Fish-Creek Coulee, known among us as Little Beaver River,
which flows from west to east, into the right of the Saskatchewan
River. The Tourond family lived on the right bank of this stream. I
had given orders not to follow the road from Clarke's Crossing to
Dumont's Ferry cutting across the coulee at the Touronds', in order
not to leave any tracks, but this order was not followed by our
young men, who allowed themselves to become involved in chasing
cattle. I set out about four in the morning with Napoleon Naud
[Nault], to reconnoitre the enemy camp, and I went ahead about half
a mile from the place where I left him. I dismounted on a piece of
high ground. As I saw the enemy scouts pursuing our scouts, I tried
to draw them into the woods. I heard them sounding the bugle, but
they didn't dare to follow us.... Around seven o'clock, a scout,
Gilbert Berland, warned us that a column of about 800 men was
advancing upon us. I therefore placed 130 of my men, in a hollow,
on the left bank of Fish Creek, opposite the Touronds' house, and I
had the horses hidden in the woods. I left with 20 horsemen to take
cover further ahead along the path to be followed by the troops,
with the idea of not charging them until they should be thrust back
by the others, and I gave orders to my principal force not to
attack them until they were all in the coulee. I wanted to treat
them as we would buffalo.... Napoleon Naud [Nault], who was one of
the few remaining brave fellows with me, shouted to me 'Let's join
the men who are getting out of here.' I jumped on my horse and
dashed to the body of 130, which was considerably reduced in
numbers by the flight of some of the men, and I halted about
fifteen of the fugitives, the rest escaped. Of my detachment of
130, there remained only 47 men, and of my 20 horsemen, I counted
only 15.... We kept them in check all day, because I kept firing
hard, and so that I could do so more quickly, the young fellows
about me kept supplying me with cartridges which were rapidly
becoming exhausted. When I saw there were only seven cartridges
left, I decided to set fire to the prairie grass to make the enemy,
who found themselves facing the wind, withdraw. I figured on going,
under cover of the smoke, to pick up the ammunition and arms which
they would abandon in their flight. I instructed my men to shout
and sing during this operation.... It was then about eight o'clock
at night. Thanks to Providence, in the whole of the day of
continuous and desperate fighting we lost only 4 men; that is to
say: 2 Sioux, my nephew St. Pierre and Jose Vermette. Two others
were wounded: Francois Boyer, my nephew, and Michel Desjarlais, who
died three days later. We picked up our dead and wounded, and set
out towards Batoche."
For the first time in Canadian history newspapers sent special
field correspondents to travel with the Canadian Militia. The field
correspondents were each given old Snider Rifles to protect
themselves during the Battle of Fish Creek but most chose not to
use them. It was difficult for them to file their stories as they
traveled. The nearest telegraph to the Fish Creek Battle was 18
miles away at Clarke's Crossing so the correspondents made a deal
to file a joint report even though they were from competing
newspapers. Because these men were present there are actual
photographs from the battle. Some of these photographs can be found
here:
link Here is a link to the one of the actual articles that ran
in the newspapers:
article
Please ignore the number inside the log book. The puzzle cache
it was a part of no longer exists.
