Who was Gabriel Dumont
Gabriel Dumont is best known as the man who led the small Métis
military forces during the Northwest Resistance of 1885. He was
born in the Red River area in 1837, the son of Isidore Dumont, a
Métis hunter, and Louise Laframboise.
Although unable to read or write, Dumont could speak six
languages and was highly adept at the essential skills of the
plains: horseback riding and marksmanship. These abilities made
Dumont a natural leader in the large annual Buffalo hunts that were
an important part of Métis culture. At the age of fourteen Dumont
received his initiation in plains warfare when he took part in a
Métis skirmish with a large group of Sioux at the Grand Coteau of
the Missouri River.
By the 1860s, Dumont was the leader of a group of hunters living
in the Fort Carlton area. In 1872, he took advantage of the growing
traffic on the Carlton trail and opened a ferry across the South
Saskatchewan River and a small store upstream from Batoche. In
1873, his position as a leader was formalized when he was elected
as president of the short-lived local government created by the
Métis living on the south branch of the Saskatchewan.
His leadership role in the South Branch community continued. In
1877 and 1878, Dumont chaired meetings which drew up petitions to
the federal government asking for representation on the Territorial
Council, farming assistance, schools, land grants, and title to
already occupied lands. Dumont was also a member of the delegation
which convinced Louis Riel to return to Canada and plead the Métis
case to the federal government.
When a provisional government was declared in 1885, Dumont was
named "adjutant general of the Métis people." He proved himself an
able commander and his tiny army experienced some success against
government forces at Duck Lake and Fish Creek. The Canadian
militia, however, proved too large and too well equipped for
Dumont's army, which collapsed on 12 May 1885 after a four day
battle near Batoche.
Dumont avoided capture by escaping to the United States where,
in 1886, he accepted an offer to demonstrate his marksmanship by
performing in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. After visits to
Quebec (where he dictated his memoires in 1889) Dumont returned to
his old homestead near Batoche. He lived there quietly until his
death in 1906.